The Doctor’s Diagnosis

A doctor saw a patient with a headache. Headaches are common — usually tension or fatigue. She started with that assumption.

The patient mentioned blurred vision. The doctor updated: tension headaches rarely cause blurred vision, but migraines sometimes do. Migraine rose in her estimation.

Then the patient mentioned a stiff neck. Now the doctor updated sharply. Headache with blurred vision and stiff neck — this combination was rare in migraines but characteristic of something more serious.

She ordered urgent tests. Each symptom alone was innocuous. But the combination, evaluated against her prior knowledge and updated with each new fact, pointed to a diagnosis that none of the symptoms individually suggested.