Ask HN: Anyone else had clean test results while their body was clearly broken?
A Tokyo web director with five years of gut issues got clean results from four doctors. A CGM later showed 240 mg/dL post-lunch with zero symptoms, revealing a gap between data and body. He asks if others have experienced a "diagnostically invisible" phase.
Background
- The author is a data professional (web analytics, A/B testing) in Tokyo who applies a data-driven mindset to diagnosing his own unexplained health problems — making the irony of accepting "normal" lab results a central theme.
- CGM = continuous glucose monitor, a wearable device that tracks blood sugar in real time. A post-meal reading of 240 mg/dL is severely elevated (normal is under 140), suggesting prediabetes or diabetes — yet the author felt no symptoms, which is why standard tests never caught it.
- The post reflects a growing frustration among people with "medically unexplained symptoms" — conditions where standard clinical tests (blood panels, MRIs) come back normal despite the patient being clearly unwell. This gap between subjective experience and objective measurement is a known failure mode of modern diagnostic medicine.
- Common conditions that can be "invisible" to standard tests: reactive hypoglycemia, insulin resistance, autoimmune issues, mast cell disorders, gut microbiome imbalances, and various post-viral syndromes.