Things Doctors Say

Dr: “I won’t send you for allergy testing; you react to so much and it would be a waste of time.”
Me:................
.
[Medical Trauma] #ChronicIllness

Me: *spends 15 mins with the nurse going over my medication allergies*
[later during my appointment]
Dr: “I'm going to prescribe you [medication].”
Me: “l'm allergic to [medication]; it should be in my chart. I thought I told the nurse that earlier.”
Dr: *scoffs* “I don't read your chart.”
Me:......

Dr: “To be pedantic, we can't assume you had an infection even though your bacteria was positive for one.”
Me:................
.
[Medical Trauma]

Me: [experiencing really bad abdominal pain]
Dr: "Your symptoms are only for pregnant ladies; are you sure you aren't pregnant? You shouldn't even be looking at guys but that must be all you do."
Me:................
.
[Medical Trauma] #ChronicIllness

Me: "I'm experiencing chronic pain." [many conditions run in my family]
Dr: "It's just because you're a teenager; it's probably nothing. Or you've inherited something from your family, but I'm not going to investigate that."
Me:................
.
[Medical Trauma] #ChronicPain

Dr: "MCAS is just a 'vogue' disease someone got famous from and now everyone thinks they have it. It's the same for Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and even POTS, so you fit into this category, no offense."
Me:................
.
[Medical Trauma] #ChronicIllness

Me: "I've had a never-ending headache for 4 years. I can't drive, read, or see clearly and it makes me throw up."
Dr: "That just happens sometimes and there's nothing we can do."
Me:................
.
[Medical Trauma] #ChronicPain

Me: “So how much salt would you recommend?”
Dr [one of the forefront specialists]: “Actually we just made the number up. Now we tell everyone 10.”
Me:................
.
[Medical trauma] #ChronicIllness

Me: [having really painful
penetrative s*x]
Dr: “It is normal to hurt. You need to be a good girlfriend and suck it up.”
Me:................
.
[Medical Trauma] #ChronicPain

Dr: “Do you want these pills?”
Me: “No.”
My Dad: “They helped you though.”
Me: “Okay then.”
Dr: “She’s an addict!”
Me:................
.
[Medical Trauma] #ChronicIllness

Dr: “If I can’t fix you, no one can. This is the end of the road for you.” *proceeds to wrongly diagnose me and then give me the first link Google search print out*
Me:................
.
[Medical Trauma] #ChronicIllness

[3 years old with clear autism symptoms]
Dr: “She’s a girl. It doesn’t matter how much she meets the diagnostic criteria. She isn’t autistic.”
Me:................
.
[Medical Trauma] #ActuallyAutistic

Dr: “You don’t need an ultrasound because you’re thin enough for me to feel everything.”
Me:................
.
[Medical Trauma] #ChronicIllness

Dr: “You’re not depressed, you are just in pain.”
[next week]
Dr: “You are not in pain, you are just depressed.”
Me:................
.
[Medical Trauma] #ChronicPain

Dr: “Well having an official diagnosis on your records isn’t going to cure you.”
Me:................
.
[Medical Trauma] #ChronicIllness #Disability

Me: [asked my primary care for a referral to an infertility clinic]
PCP: “I won’t submit that until you are no longer a wheelchair user because how will you care for an infant from a chair anyways.”
Me:................
.
[Medical Trauma] #Disability

Dr: “You can’t be chronically ill. You’re just fat and delusional.”
Me:................
.
[Medical Trauma] #ChronicIllness

Dr: *walks in* “Welcome to the club of women spending millions of dollars to try to figure out what’s wrong with them.” *walks out*
Me:................
[I had cancer]
.
[Medical Trauma] #Cancer

Dr: “It’s probably because you’re too skinny and have lip filler.”
Me:................
[I was in adrenal crisis]
.
[Medical Trauma] #ChronicIllness

Me: *describing my ME/CFS symptoms*
Dr: “I’m pretty sure if you just got a job or something to get you out of the house, you’d feel better.”
Me:................
.
[Medical Trauma] #ChronicIllness

Dr: “I don’t want to test for pre-diabetes or PCOS; over-diagnosis just causes anxiety.”
Me:................
.
[Medical Trauma] #ChronicIllness

Dr: [2013] “I won’t bother diagnosing your autism because it might deny you care if the NHS ever gets privatized.”
Me:................
.
[Medical Trauma] #ActuallyAutistic

Dr: “You’re not taking seriously that your biological clock is ticking?”
Me: “But I don’t want kids…”
Dr: “It’s against nature. The sacrifice of ending up in a wheelchair would be repaid by children.”
Me:................
.
[Medical Trauma] #Misogyny

Dr: “Your heart rate is 140. In my practice, I see plenty of young, pretty girls like you with the same issue. Stop worrying about the boy.
Me:................
.
[Medical Trauma] #Misogyny

Dr: “We know you have a long-term vitamin D deficiency, but we are going to take you off your vitamin D prescription.”
Me: *gets really ill and weak*
Dr: “Hmm, how strange, your vitamin D is too low.”
Me:................
.
[Medical Trauma] #ChronicIllness

Me: *needing help with chronic pain*
Dr: *turns to my mother* “Has she always been this over-sensitive?…She was a difficult child, yes?”
.
[Medical Trauma] #ChronicPain

Me: *pregnant* “I have extreme ‘ang zai uh tee’.”
Dr: “Deal with it. It’s only nine months and you’re living in a man’s world.”
Me: “I’m really not coping.”
Dr: “Stop asking for help or we’ll lock you up somewhere.”
Me:................
.
[Medical Trauma] #MentalHealth

POTS specialist: “So, what do *you* think you have?”
Me: “Well my other doctor thinks I have POTS.”
POTS specialist: *sighs and folds his hands* “Well, you see, I don’t think POTS is really a *real* diagnosis. It’s not *really* an actual condition.”
Me:................
.
[Medical Trauma] #POTS

Dr: “You don’t qualify for a personal health assistant. It’s only for very handicapped and people in wheelchairs.”
Me:................
[Me: *sitting there in a wheelchair; haven’t been able to cook or shower in weeks…*]
.
#Disability

Dr: [start of appt] “It’s unusual you have these issues so young.”
[end of appt] “It’s normal aging.”
Me:................
.
[Medical Trauma] #ChronicIllness #Disability