My wife had a tumor on her pituitary gland. Four different MDs came up empty on her symptoms. The fourth doctor ran the right endocrine system test, but was only able to conclude "it's not [her] thyroid."
It took me about thirty minutes with the test results and Google to make the diagnosis. I was lucky, in that I had a colleague who was acquainted with the head of Stanford endocrinology, who confirmed the diagnosis and found us a good surgeon. Wife is fine today.
It's anecdotal, but my experience with the medical system is that nearly all doctors see the same handful of things day in and day out, and are not trained to see beyond their expertise.
It took me about thirty minutes with the test results and Google to make the diagnosis. I was lucky, in that I had a colleague who was acquainted with the head of Stanford endocrinology, who confirmed the diagnosis and found us a good surgeon. Wife is fine today.
It's anecdotal, but my experience with the medical system is that nearly all doctors see the same handful of things day in and day out, and are not trained to see beyond their expertise.