I saw this book at B & N this evening, picked it up, and read as much as possible in the slightly less than 3 hours I was there.

I know there is a lot of bitterness on this board about failures in diagnosis, being told "it's all in your head, etc.

The introduction chapter features a woman with Celiac Disease, who was misdiagnosed for many years. There are many other examples in the chapters I managed to read while I was there (not of Celiac Disease, but of other misdiagnoses, and how they happen. It is an excellent and interesting read; I recommend it highly, though I don't plan on buying it. Maybe your local library will have a copy soon. I'll finish it the next time I'm at B&N (one of my favorite places!)

Fran

So what's the name of the book????

Sorry, it's "How Doctors Think" by Jerome Groopman, MD . I put it in as a subtitle, but maybe it didn't show up on your computer.

Fran

I actually was supposed to go to a discussion being held with Mr. Groopman last month about this book, but unfortunately I didn't make it. I've heard it's very interesting.

I have the book and I've read it. Actually, I don't think it told me anything I didn't know, it just confirmed things that I've thought for years. Like doctors don't believe patients tell the truth, if it doesn't seem to match with the diagnosis or idea that the doctor already has. So if you say, have liver disease, and the doctor thinks it's because you are an alcoholic, he's already made up his mind and isn't going to test for anything else. And if you tell him you're a life-long teetotaler, he's still not going to test for anything else, because he thinks you're lying. Some other things like that - doctors don't think of testing for so-called 'rare' diseases even if you have all the symptoms. They're told in medical school that they'll never see a patient with this, so they don't test for it. Well, honestly, no matter how rare it is, if it exists at all, some doctor eventually has to see it, right? So if you have the symptoms for it, the doctor should test for it, but they don't. Anyway, the book did describe typical 'doctor think' and had a couple of suggestions for dealing with it. It wasn't a bad book, but I'm more tempted to bring it to my doctor next time I go in, and point out the things my doc does, and why that's not good medical practice. If I did that though, I probably wouldn't have the doc any longer. LOL
Debbie

Jerome Groopman writes articles for The New Yorker Magazine. He posted an article approx 7 years ago regarding Fibromyalgia. Based on his lack of research and closedmindedness, in addition to his response to people who wrote regarding his article (did you get that? lol), I found him to be NOT very openminded thus I quickly looked thru his book and put it down. He had a very nasty attitude. I still read his articles in The New Yorker, but I don't put much merit in them. Just my opinion..........