Worst diagnosis

This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.

D elegans

Full Member
10+ Year Member
Joined
Mar 30, 2011
Messages
780
Reaction score
63
I think there might have been a thread like this a while back but whatever...

Inspired by the gloomy day here in my area, what's the worst diagnosis you could receive?



For me it would be ALS. Knowing that you would become slowly paralyzed until you couldn't breathe all the while being fully conscious of it is terrifying.
 
Maybe it's just because I've been around it for so long and seen what it does but schizoaffective bipolar type.

Something that would actually kill me, DMD. Woof.
 
Oh ****, I forgot about that one. That would be excruciating.

Major props for your username and avatar.

A yo listen here D elegans. You come at the king, you best not miss 😡
 
who cares? you can always kill self if you really want to.
 
Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis always seemed like a pretty bad deal to me... slowly suffocating to death...
 
advanced stage. glioblastoma multiforme.

I think there are worse ones. That is a death sentence, yes, but usually means you only have to deal with it for a couple of months.

No cancer is fun but I think there are those out there that are just as lethal and much more drawn out.
 
Hadn't seen that one yet. Looked it up --> 😱

Replacing normal cells with bone in the event of the smallest injury. :scared:


Necrotizing fasciitis would suck, or ankylosing spongylitis.
 
Last edited:
Pancreatic Ca

I get it. Because you're dead so fast, you don't even have the time to properly spell out "cancer."

edit: before I get flamed, yes, I do know "Ca" is an abbreviation. It was a joke, people.
 
diabetes- doesn't have the courtesy to kill you, just lets you rot slowly.
 
diabetes- doesn't have the courtesy to kill you, just lets you rot slowly.

You would rather have something horribly disfiguring or debilitating than diabetes? Or have we morphed the thread from worst diagnosis to "what makes this diagnosis suck"?
 
Epidermolysis bullosa
 
Gender identity disorder. It futzes with everything that makes you you, especially in society.
 
Huntington's and finding out after you have had children who have 50% chance of getting it.
 
schizophrenia-that isolates the patient from the society and makes him die of illusion, fear and loneliness 🙂
 
fatal familial insomnia

Agreed.

Also, CIPA or Permanent Paralytic Oscillopsia (complete loss of inner ear function incl. hearing, balance, and VOR w/ constant nausea/vomiting)
 
Fibrodysplasia Ossificans Progressiva or something else slowly debilitating is terrible, but now, I'd say anything that would kill me quickly, like a year or two. I have two little kids, and the thought of dying young and leaving them without their mother (particularly my younger child, who wouldn't have any memory of me at all at this point), is a thousand times worse than something that takes me out slowly. Something like Fatal Familial Insomnia would probably be the worst because of the fact I may have passed it onto my kids.
 
The ginger gene.


Sent from my iPhone using SDN Mobile app please excuse punctuation and spelling
 
pt I saw last week...
progressive bronchiolitis obliterans...got secondarily infected, then septic leading to (in rapid progression):
respiratory failure (Intubated on arrival at e.d.)
renal failure
hepatic failure
D.I.C.

initial abg ph 7.02, pco2 90, po2 40
lactate 8
fibrinogen too low to measure...
blood culture citrobacter sensitive only to imipenem
still alive in ICU...barely...on levophed drip....and spouse insists they remain a full code....
 
pt I saw last week...
progressive bronchiolitis obliterans...got secondarily infected, then septic leading to (in rapid progression):
respiratory failure (Intubated on arrival at e.d.)
renal failure
hepatic failure
D.I.C.

initial abg ph 7.02, pco2 90, po2 40
lactate 8
fibrinogen too low to measure...
blood culture citrobacter sensitive only to imipenem
still alive in ICU...barely...on levophed drip....and spouse insists they remain a full code....

Holy ****.
 
pt I saw last week...
progressive bronchiolitis obliterans...got secondarily infected, then septic leading to (in rapid progression):
respiratory failure (Intubated on arrival at e.d.)
renal failure
hepatic failure
D.I.C.

initial abg ph 7.02, pco2 90, po2 40
lactate 8
fibrinogen too low to measure...
blood culture citrobacter sensitive only to imipenem
still alive in ICU...barely...on levophed drip....and spouse insists they remain a full code....

Holy ****.

But in seriousness, I don't know the prognosis of this condition. Has she arrested at all during her stay?
 
Holy ****.

But in seriousness, I don't know the prognosis of this condition. Has she arrested at all during her stay?
this is an older individual.
DIC by itself is a very poor dx.
add on sepsis, resp/renal/liver failure and the chances of survival are slim to none.
 
Locked in syndrome.

#1)Link2swim!-- Great direct and indirect response!

#2) Ill return with my answer... **Hmm, 3rd degree burns covering 75% surface area.
I like to swim and already know that Id rather drown then burn to death! Although drowning to death might not be that fast and comfortable!
 
Last edited:
Maybe it's just because I've been around it for so long and seen what it does but schizoaffective bipolar type.

Something that would actually kill me, DMD. Woof.

would have said schizoaffective disorder as well but forgot about locked in syndrome. that also is bad. i can't decide which sounds worse.
 
A second worst diagnosis that I just re-learned on psychiatry

Koro (look it up if you don't know)

Lol koro doesn't actually cause it to shrink though. Imagine a disease that actually did!
 
Top