With the creation of online medical websites like WebMD, many of us like to take to the Internet to evaluate our symptoms and diagnose ourselves without seeing a doctor. However, when we schedule appointments with medical professionals, that means we are expecting a real diagnosis from a true professional. Unfortunately, even with years of medical school and life experience under their belts, many doctors still misdiagnose their patients.

A misdiagnosis can be extremely scary because a patient may receive incorrect treatments for months before anyone notices the problem. Losing valuable time can mean the difference between life and death for some patients with terminal diseases, while undergoing incorrect treatments or taking the wrong medicine can make a person with a less serious condition more sick.

Here are some of the most common misdiagnoses that are occurring in medicine today:

• Stroke
• Fibromyalgia
• Heart attack or heart disease
• Lyme disease
• Multiple sclerosis
• Hypothyroidism
• Celiac disease
• Pulmonary emboli
• Infections
• Cancer, more specifically breast cancer, colorectal cancer, and skin cancer

If you receive a diagnosis from a doctor, never be afraid to seek a second (or third, or fourth) opinion before proceeding with a treatment plan. So many conditions have symptoms that mimics other conditions and if a doctor misses one key sign of a disease, she may issue a completely wrong diagnosis. When your health and well-being are at stake, getting opinions from a variety of medical professionals is never a bad idea.

If you know someone who is in the process of trying to have a condition diagnosed, please share this article with him. You may save a life.