Millions of people wake up each day to pain and other symptoms from diseases and conditions that have not yet been diagnosed. Marianne Genetti is trying to do something about that. She founded "In Need Of Diagnosis," a non-profit organization committed to helping undiagnosed patients find appropriate doctors and resources.

Genetti plans to work with other nonprofit groups to create a database of symptoms. It's hard to believe that in this age of supercomputers, someone hasn't already done something like this. But in fact, there's nothing like it anywhere.

With all the billions of dollars spent on medical care and research each year, very little of it goes into diagnosing. And that's despite the fact the about forty percent of all illnesses are misdiagnosed. According to an article in the Journal of the American Medical Association, fatal illnesses are misdiagnosed in 20 out of every 100 cases.

In May of 2008, the National Institutes of Health launched an Undiagnosed Diseases Program to study some of the most difficult undiagnosed cases. As it only accepts 50 to 100 patients per year, it does little to address the crying need for proper diagnosis for millions of people in the United States alone. Marianne Genetti hopes her organization will help fill the gap by collecting information that may advance the medical communities knowledge.

Genetti was motivated to start In Need Of Diagnosis after her own struggle with a serious and undiagnosed lung problem. She recognized the need for a national database of symptoms, as well as the need to encourage undiagnosed patients to be more aggressive in asking their doctors for more tests, information and input. In Need Of Diagnosis is a young organization. It is in need of volunteers and donations. If you are in need of help and support in finding a proper diagnosis for chronic pain or any other health-related issue, I encourage you to visit In Need Of Diagnosis at their web site, http://www.inod.org

### Bonnie Boots publishes Pain Health News to provide information and motivation to people living with chronic pain.  You can stay in touch with her by typing your email address into the subscribe box in the upper right corner of this page.