All his life, his health was poor. It took more than 50 years to find out why

washingtonpost.com

9 points·vo2maxer··3 comments

Answer: atypical cystic fibrosis.

Although I guess if you like medical mysteries you might enjoy the article otherwise skip it. Especially since, even as medical mysteries go, it's not really a very good one.

Patients diagnosed later in life with atypical CF, may undergo years of costly evaluation and frustrating dismissal by physicians as illustrated in the article. Multiple system involvement with its physiologic abnormalities and genotypic findings, turns this complex disease into a fascinating diagnostic mystery. Why wouldn’t this be of interest to some readers in HN?

Thanks for this. These diagnostic mysteries are not uncommon enough. Suffering from illness is bad enough. Adding "frustrating dismissal by physicians" makes it nearly intolerable, especially since so many people place physicians in such high regard.

"One doctor suggested Knapp’s problems might be psychological."

Gaslighting by people such as those from "science-based" or "evidence-based" medicine is such a demoralizing and psychologically abusive experience, particularly as these "experts" have self-appointed "skeptic" coattail-riders who heap abuse on sick people online and irl.

Stories like this man's should help us understand that with all the scientific progress that has been made, our experts are still human beings with incomplete information and imperfect knowledge.

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