At 22, Ashley Ringstaff went to a doctor complaining of constant facial numbness and tingling. She was given a prescription for antidepressants and sent on her way. 

"You have to help me, something is very wrong," she begged the third ER doctor she saw. He listened to her and did the right tests, and a much more serious diagnosis emerged.

Jen Curran, 38, isn't the first woman to bring troubling symptoms to a doctor's attention and have them wrongly dismissed as weight-related. Here's how to help make sure this doesn't happen to you.

At a specialist's office, Katie Wood explained she felt very unwell and believed it was related to a tick bite. "He looked me up and down and replied, 'You don’t look unwell,'" she recalls.

One doctor insisted Tori Geib's pain was caused by depression; another brushed it off as work stress. Then the truth emerged: She had stage 4 breast cancer that had spread to her spine. 

Lina Kharnak's gut feeling about what was behind her terrible pain turned out to be right. 

After my first panic attack, it took a full year to discover the real reason for my racing heart and constant exhaustion.

This dangerous infection robbed Amanda Flores of her arms and legs. Here, she recalls the flu-like symptoms that progressed until she was near death, and her hard-won fight to adjust to her new normal as a quadruple amputee.

Sasha Ottey, executive director of PCOS Challenge: The National Polycystic Ovary Syndrome Association, wants other girls and women to have an easier time getting a diagnosis than she did.

After fighting for years to get to the bottom of symptoms like bloating, pain, and digestive distress, Ashley Walkley finally found out what was wrong.

She cried tears of relief when she finally got the diagnosis. 

For months, Vicky Veness was misdiagnosed with asthma. Her viral Facebook photo proves that you don't always look sick when you have a life-threatening illness.

Misdiagnoses are the most common, costly, and dangerous medical errors. 

It's called "white coat syndrome," and you should resist it.

Sarah Hyland gave voice to one frustration of women everywhere. 

A fresh perspective can make all the difference for your health.

Gender bias begins early in life, a new study suggests.

How to handle a physician who doubts or dismisses your symptoms.