Basic Trope: Once a disease is diagnosed, the symptoms get much worse.
- Straight: Alice seems a bit out of sorts and has a cough. When Bob diagnoses her with pneumonia, however, she immediately becomes bedridden and becomes very short of breath.
- Exaggerated: Apart from her cough, Alice seems perfectly fine and full of energy. However, when Bob determines that it's pneumonia, she instantly dies.
- Downplayed:
- Alice is already bedridden and short of breath, but after Bob diagnoses her with pneumonia, she starts having chest pain as well.
- Alice seems to be okay except for having sneezing fits. When Bob determines that she has a cold, however, she becomes sleepy and develops a cough.
- Justified:
- It's partially psychosomatic.
- Bob just happened to diagnose Alice right when the disease was coincidentally getting worse.
- Inverted: Alice is bedridden with coughing fits, chest pain, and shortness of breath. When Bob diagnoses her with pneumonia, she becomes a bit more active and her chest pain ends.
- Subverted: For the next day or so after Bob diagnoses Alice with pneumonia, she becomes lethargic and short of breath, but the next day, her symptoms return to normal.
- Double Subverted: ...For about an hour.
- Parodied:
- Zigzagged: Alice's symptoms fluctuate after she's diagnosed.
- Averted: Alice either doesn't get sick, or her symptoms remain consistent.
- Enforced: "We need to have Alice's symptoms be serious for dramatic effect, but if she has all the symptoms from the get-go, then the audience will figure out she has pneumonia before the reveal. Better wait 'til she's diagnosed."
- Lampshaded: "Whoa, being told she had pneumonia really hit Alice! I've heard of the power of suggestion, but this is ridiculous!"
- Invoked: Bob is a Mad Doctor who deliberately diagnoses patients just as they're about to take a turn for the worse.
- Exploited:
- Defied:
- Discussed: "When my girlfriend got pneumonia, she seemed to take a turn for the worse right after her diagnosis."
- Conversed: "Alice got worse right as she was diagnosed?! These soap operas are so unrealistic!"
- Implied:
- Deconstructed:
- Reconstructed:
- Played for Laughs: Alice looks normal, but when Bob says, "You have chickenpox," lesions poof onto her body.
- Played for Drama: After Alice's is diagnosed, everyone has to rush to treat her before she dies.
- Played for Horror: Alice seems fine, except for mood swings. When Bob diagnoses her with lycanthropy, she immediately turns into a werewolf.
Back to Lethal Diagnosis.
