Oh my. This resonates. As a kid, I was competitive figure skater and got hurt all. the. time. But everyone thought I was faking and trying to get out of training. I rejoiced at age 10 when an x ray revealed a lightning shaped crack in my tailbone. I had...PROOF! Ugh.
Stick to your guns, even in the face of normal results. It took me THIRTY-THREE years to finally solve the mystery of my GI pain and constant nausea (Note, I solved it, not my string of THIRTEEN specialists). I kept giving up and accepting that I was crazy or overestimating the symptoms like they told me (and fat and stressed and hormonal and...). But I always wondered in the back of my mind.
Surprise, surprise: I've had alpha-gal syndrome this entire time. And not one medical professional thought of it, tested for it, or asked about my tick bite history.
I finally went the private doctor route that I pay thousands of dollars out of pocket annually not covered by insurance. It’s wild to me that I can go in and say something bothers me and they actually want to figure out what’s wrong. I get a full 90 minutes if I need it. It feels like a sin to be able to have this kind of care.
I once got fired by a doctor for asking too many questions and insisting we focus on the problem at hand. After she fired me as her patient, I was angry at her, but also pretty happy with myself.
I love the before, during and after hints but am instantly brought to a memory of a doctor accusing me of drug seeking because I had been "so very specific". I was not asking about narcotics. I had been forced to go to him while my own Dr. was away for a refill on my thyroid medication which he wrote down the wrong dosage. I followed up with my regular doctor upon his return, giving me prescriptions from 2 doctors. That doctor accused me of double doctoring and the pharmacist fully participated in the public shaming. It is a synthetic hormone, on a prescription for which he screwed up the dosage!
Ugh, this feels so real. My teen has hellacious, miss-days-of-school periods and on the last trip to the er because the pain was so bad it triggered a migraine the idiot doctor said “I think what you have is dysmenorrhea. My sister took birth control and it helped her”. The 12year old in me replied “no shit, Sherlock. How long was your gynecology rotation - 20 minutes?” And with a gender fluid autistic kiddo who has a hard time communicating when the pain is this bad...I worry for them being heard at all.
"Even when they're on the rag" lolol. Dear god YES to all of this. (And thank you so much for quoting my shit!!)
I wanted to quote the entire piece! Every word is perfect.
Unreal
Medical gaslighting: This article is so great. Yes to all of it.
And when you're 70, add gendered ageism into the mix. Here's my take on that:
https://stellafosse.com/3-steps-to-push-back-on-medical-ageism/
Oh my. This resonates. As a kid, I was competitive figure skater and got hurt all. the. time. But everyone thought I was faking and trying to get out of training. I rejoiced at age 10 when an x ray revealed a lightning shaped crack in my tailbone. I had...PROOF! Ugh.
Oh GOD! don't get me started on this fricking subject!! YES!
(I wish they would put FRICKIN' in the Dictionary/spellcheck)
Stick to your guns, even in the face of normal results. It took me THIRTY-THREE years to finally solve the mystery of my GI pain and constant nausea (Note, I solved it, not my string of THIRTEEN specialists). I kept giving up and accepting that I was crazy or overestimating the symptoms like they told me (and fat and stressed and hormonal and...). But I always wondered in the back of my mind.
Surprise, surprise: I've had alpha-gal syndrome this entire time. And not one medical professional thought of it, tested for it, or asked about my tick bite history.
I finally went the private doctor route that I pay thousands of dollars out of pocket annually not covered by insurance. It’s wild to me that I can go in and say something bothers me and they actually want to figure out what’s wrong. I get a full 90 minutes if I need it. It feels like a sin to be able to have this kind of care.
Every word, the truth. Has happened to me my whole adult life from brain tumors to a heart abnormality. 🫤
I once got fired by a doctor for asking too many questions and insisting we focus on the problem at hand. After she fired me as her patient, I was angry at her, but also pretty happy with myself.
I love the before, during and after hints but am instantly brought to a memory of a doctor accusing me of drug seeking because I had been "so very specific". I was not asking about narcotics. I had been forced to go to him while my own Dr. was away for a refill on my thyroid medication which he wrote down the wrong dosage. I followed up with my regular doctor upon his return, giving me prescriptions from 2 doctors. That doctor accused me of double doctoring and the pharmacist fully participated in the public shaming. It is a synthetic hormone, on a prescription for which he screwed up the dosage!
Ugh, this feels so real. My teen has hellacious, miss-days-of-school periods and on the last trip to the er because the pain was so bad it triggered a migraine the idiot doctor said “I think what you have is dysmenorrhea. My sister took birth control and it helped her”. The 12year old in me replied “no shit, Sherlock. How long was your gynecology rotation - 20 minutes?” And with a gender fluid autistic kiddo who has a hard time communicating when the pain is this bad...I worry for them being heard at all.