User reviews

Fascinating, upsetting, encouraging. The poor people trying to find out what's wrong with themselves or their kids! It looks exhausting and overwhelming.

The crowd sourcing idea is great. Reaching out to the whole globe to get help. People are arguing; if it is not professional medical advice isn't that negligent? Well, sometimes it IS a Dr or med student replying, sometimes a member of the public, often thousands reply and offer suggestions. Who cares if they're professional if it's just a way of getting some more information and new options? The ideas that seem viable are followed up at hospitals to see if tests prove it one way or another and it has proven to be a life changer for some. Each episode could be 15 minutes shorter though as they do drag on a little.

What it does also show is how awful the health care system in USA is. People with extreme conditions that noone can diagnose being charged thousands for testing that proves nothing? I'm sorry but how far behind the times! Almost all first world countries have a free healthcare system for situations just like this and that's highlighted when one episode shows some testing done free in Italy. You can pay to go private but being low income doesn't exclude you from getting medical help in most countries. How sad to go bankrupt over medical bills when noone can help you! There are some lovely, helpful doctors but they're hamstrung by a flawed system.

However, the good outweighs the bad in this series. It shows strangers coming together from all round the world to help people who are feeling overwhelmed by their illness. A good use for the internet.

Amazing series not only delving into the world of medicine and the raw emotions and struggles of the people inflicted with rare and unusual conditions. All the episodes were incredible but episodes 2 and 4 (dealing with young children), had me in tears. A must see on Netflix.

The power of crowdsourcing to search for a cure for an impossibly rare disease! Dramatic, emotionally powerful. I've only seen the 1st episode and this is a winner! Not to be missed!

An interesting project, but an overstretched tv-show. Each episode could have been 20-30 min shorter. The drama is prolonged to the extent that it becomes boring.

Some of the cases are fascinating, and the presentation is fine. There is some interesting human drama to observe in the way patients and family members behave through the process as well. I think my primary issue with the storytelling is just that they haven't allowed enough time to elapse to actually assess whether significant progress was made. That left almost all the cases with a feeling that nothing had really been resolved other than more tests to arrive at no firm diagnosis Given the alleged concept of the show, it doesn't seem like that should have been the case. Time is often the friend of a great documentary, and more time to follow up on some of the cases likely would have made this more interesting.

What really shocked me was to see how disconnected science from real life is. Andrea Meredith, a research scientist who spent her entire career investigating this particular gene: "I study KCNMA1 gene...for 20 years....unbeknownst to me, there had been a group of patients on Facebook, that all carry mutations in KCNMA1.." This is really shocking. How narrow focused minds of scientists are that in the year 2019 it never crossed their minds to see if there are people with mutations. It would have taken just few clicks on keyboard.

In each of the seven episodes of the miniseries, we learn the story of a patient, or patients contracting a mysterious disease, who have come to Dr. Lisa Sanders for help. The diagnostician, who publishes medical articles in the New York Times and specializes in the most difficult cases, with the help of a forum on the Internet, helps them solve the mystery and find the right diagnosis.

In general, the series drew me in. I watched all seven episodes at once. The cases do indeed seem puzzling, unusual - by the way, this was to be expected, a little reminiscent of the series " House M. D.", which the doctor personally consulted, and this also presents the mysterious diseases themselves.

I think it's worth watching , "Diagnosis", it will appeal especially to fans of medical-themed productions. BUT there is a drawback. In some episodes there is more speculation than diagnosis and treatment. In addition, I was disappointed by the ending of most of the episodes. Patients whose mysterious illnesses were making their daily lives miserable and even life-threatening, for whom Dr. Lisa's help seemed to be a last resort, many times, as if nothing ever happened, the end simply gave up on the diagnosis and the further steps she proposed. Quite an unusual, not to say strange approach....

It's worth watching and forming your own opinion.

I just finished binge watching this over two days. Fascinating stuff. It presents both the best and the worst of medicine, and how serendipity and chance can mean the difference between life and death.

I just finished watching this, and quite a compelling series, a real life "House" where instead of a brilliant but quirky Doctor solving Medical Mysteries, you have Lisa Sanders and the Crowd doing it.

The episodes involving kids and the war veteran I thought were the most touching to watch. Some like the hardheaded ones not so much, but overall just awesome to watch, it gives hope, joy and sometimes lessons as well.

I hope there will be several more seasons of this from hereon.

Michael Moseley's What's My Diagnosis is a similar theme but more about the medicine and diagnostics rather than the "human story" (even though it's still there, it isn't the focus).

I like the concept of Diagnosis but I feel like there is a bit too much fluff.

What I do like is that this is a worldwide story so medical professionals from anywhere can come up with the answers.

Modern medicine and diagnostics nightmare "by the top specialists in the world".

1. The guy faints when he is SITTING and in the middle of discussing where to get coffee. He is NOT standing, his blood isn't pooled into his extremities, therefore not causing his BP to drop, he is not stressed. WE DISREGARD ALL that and still think it could be Vasovagal syncope.

Okay! Lets do Tilt Table Test.

2. "..typical scenario.... your blood pressure starts to drop...and his fainting caused by reduced blood flow to the brain...." , so TTT should show us what happens to his HR and BP when he is STANDING, BUT NOT TO THE FLOW OF BLOOD TO HIS BRAIN; remember, he faints in a sitting position.

In true Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS), NOT VASOVAGAL SYNCOPE, a person faints while STANDING, BUT his BP remains NORMAL. Yes, HR goes up, blood pools into legs, BUT BP remains normal..and the person faints. In Vasovagal syncope, his BP DROPS. Who knows what is going on systemwide when a person experiencing Cerebral syncope.

3. In his case, he is investigated for Vasovagal syncope, not POTS. His doctor doesn't even mention POTS. Then he tells us that fainting is typically caused by reduced blood flow to the brain. Typically? Based on what ?? On assumption I guess. I don't see any transcranial dopplers (TCD) during TTT procedure. TCD is a non-invasive, painless ultrasound technique that uses high-frequency sound waves to measure the rate and direction of blood flow inside vessels. They don't use TCD during his TTT, yet make conclusions about blood flow!?!

4. So we have no idea if blood vessels in his brain constrict or dilate when he passes out.

The existing theories of cerebral blood flow autoregulation would have predicted a sudden cerebral arteriolar vasodilation at the time of syncope, in order to help preserve cerebral perfusion. Instead, what was uniformly reported was a sudden significant increase in cerebral vascular resistance (signifying arteriolar vasoconstriction) as measured by TCD, which occurred concomitant with the loss of consciousness. They even call it "A Paradoxic and Unexpected Response".

But it is not investigated in his (or most) case. So we don't know.

5. Did they consider association between Syncope and Myocardial Bridge? Myocardial bridging: A 'forgotten' cause of acute coronary syndrome. Was he investigated for that?

Yes, we all know stress exacerbate symptoms. But heart just don't stop beating out of the blue when a person is not stressed- playing board games or SITTING in a car and talking..

Lastly, why ALL cardiovascular test are performed when a person is in a supine position? People rarely, if ever, have a syncope or presyncope while being horizontal. To really know what is going on one has to replicate real life conditions, don't you think?

It's like an emotion rollercoaster that from going through the devastating heart breaking symtoms to the diagnosis then to the happy or at least enthusiastic ending. A crier to my girl.

If you love medical tv shows, this is a great docuseries for you. Very interesting and keeps you wondering.

I went into this with high expectations, like this would be an interesting detective-like story where the culprit is the disease - much like in House MD. Unfortunately reality is much more mundane than a tv show.

What's more, I felt that some of those stories where pretty boring because there wasn't much investigatory medical work to be done so they ended up showing all the rest of the interpersonal relationships almost to the level of a reality show.

This show had me on an emotional roller coaster. Each episode is so well put together. I watched this show because I love science and the medical field is so mysterious and intriguing to me. It opened my mind to a whole new part of it, I just love it. I look forward to future seasons.

On the surface, this show is about uncovering a particular patient's (theoretically rare) diagnosis. Across episodes, we see it's really about patients (or their parents) demonstrating self-advocacy and navigation skills as they maneuver from specialist to specialist.

There are many amazing things about modern medicine, but this is a profession still relatively young. Most of the patients are drawn into the crowdsourcing approach because their regular doctors have minimal knowledge about endocrine or neurological diseases. We are lucky to live in a time where we have access to the internet, and can track patterns and study on our own so that the patient can make a diagnosis. From this series my takeaway is that patients should not expect their doctor to "solve" a diagnosis for them. Be informed, advocate for yourself and do your own research.

I really enjoy the intrigue in this medical mystery series. It really is amazing to see how many people out there can collectively help these patients find options and help diagnosing their maladies. Fascinating series, love to see more!