Reply To: Was I misdiagnosed? Here's my strange GBS story.

Neuropathies are often difficult to diagnose. The spinal fluid test is used to narrow the possibilities. You should have more confidence in the diagnosis when there are tests to back it up.

As for the disagreement between doctors, the procedure seems a little confused to me. The emergency department is not the best place to get a neurological diagnosis. The function of the ED is to stabilize the patient, treating problems demanding immediate treatment, and diagnose to the extent necessary to decide where to transfer the patient.

The way it was done in my case makes more sense. My family doctor didn’t know what was wrong, but at the second appointment he realized it was neurological because of my loss of knee reflex. Right away he referred me to a neurologist, and he stayed out of it after that. The neurologist put me in hospital the same day he saw me. The diagnosis was not resolved at that point. After the spinal fluid test it was confirmed as likely GBS, but a few weeks later it was changed to CIDP. I was not misdiagnosed. Diagnosis is a process which sometimes takes awhile to arrive at the best conclusion.