When Doctors Brush You Off Because They Don't Know How to Treat You
- 5 years ago
In the TV show “Golden Girls,” a two-part episode titled “Sick and Tired” depicts the character of Dorothy, played by Bea Arthur, approaching a doctor while out at a restaurant. This doctor had earlier dismissed her symptoms as being all in her head and sent her on her way without any help or words of encouragement. She later finds another doctor who diagnoses her with chronic fatigue syndrome, showing her symptoms really did exist and were not, in fact, all in her head.
While this particular scene may not be a common reality, the story she tells is all too common. This episode was aired in 1989, and yet, not much has changed in terms of being diagnosed with a chronic illness. All too often, patients, particularly women, have their symptoms overlooked and dismissed. We are told “it’s all in our heads” and sent home still in pain and still confused about what is happening to us.
That is not OK. Doctors, we need you to do better.
There aren’t many places in our society where a person feels as incredibly vulnerable as we do at a doctor’s office. We trust doctors with our lives, in every sense of the phrase, which puts doctors in a very unique position. We have no choice but to trust you as we don’t have the extensive knowledge of the human body, understanding of medications or ability to perform complex medical procedures the way doctors can. There are many doctors who understand the true depth of that trust and respect it. However, there are many doctors who seem to have forgotten what their responsibility to the patient is, or, even, that they have a responsibility at all.
About a month ago, I ended up in the ER with a heart rate of 40 bpm. I try to stay out of the ER as best I can because they rarely are able to help me and I rarely find a doctor there who understands my conditions. When explaining to the doctor about how all this started within an hour of trying a new medicine, he laughed at me and said, “Well, just stop taking the medicine,” and shook his head as if I had just asked if buffalo have wings. There I lay in front of him: the heart monitor blaring because my heart rate was scarily low, barely able to keep my eyes open because of the overwhelming fatigue and shaking from the chills. And, yet, he felt it was appropriate to make me feel as if I had wasted his time by coming into the ER to receive care.
That evening something in me clicked and I decided I would not sit through another horrible visit where nothing is accomplished and I end up with a bill for $2,000. I tried to be patient and calm, but I didn’t have enough spoons to do so. I turned to the doctor and asserted, “Could you please just go ahead and let me know if you’re actually going to take me seriously and treat me or not today?..." Read full article: https://themighty.com/2017/06/doctors-not-treating-patients-dont-understand-chronic-illness/?utm_source=ChronicIllness_Page&utm_medium=Facebook&fbclid=IwAR0yVvsAQwAQF-FwhWPr7nk3uDY9WyxGRw1vPDjm4AvWl1vrxIXAvhfWdnQ
While this particular scene may not be a common reality, the story she tells is all too common. This episode was aired in 1989, and yet, not much has changed in terms of being diagnosed with a chronic illness. All too often, patients, particularly women, have their symptoms overlooked and dismissed. We are told “it’s all in our heads” and sent home still in pain and still confused about what is happening to us.
That is not OK. Doctors, we need you to do better.
There aren’t many places in our society where a person feels as incredibly vulnerable as we do at a doctor’s office. We trust doctors with our lives, in every sense of the phrase, which puts doctors in a very unique position. We have no choice but to trust you as we don’t have the extensive knowledge of the human body, understanding of medications or ability to perform complex medical procedures the way doctors can. There are many doctors who understand the true depth of that trust and respect it. However, there are many doctors who seem to have forgotten what their responsibility to the patient is, or, even, that they have a responsibility at all.
About a month ago, I ended up in the ER with a heart rate of 40 bpm. I try to stay out of the ER as best I can because they rarely are able to help me and I rarely find a doctor there who understands my conditions. When explaining to the doctor about how all this started within an hour of trying a new medicine, he laughed at me and said, “Well, just stop taking the medicine,” and shook his head as if I had just asked if buffalo have wings. There I lay in front of him: the heart monitor blaring because my heart rate was scarily low, barely able to keep my eyes open because of the overwhelming fatigue and shaking from the chills. And, yet, he felt it was appropriate to make me feel as if I had wasted his time by coming into the ER to receive care.
That evening something in me clicked and I decided I would not sit through another horrible visit where nothing is accomplished and I end up with a bill for $2,000. I tried to be patient and calm, but I didn’t have enough spoons to do so. I turned to the doctor and asserted, “Could you please just go ahead and let me know if you’re actually going to take me seriously and treat me or not today?..." Read full article: https://themighty.com/2017/06/doctors-not-treating-patients-dont-understand-chronic-illness/?utm_source=ChronicIllness_Page&utm_medium=Facebook&fbclid=IwAR0yVvsAQwAQF-FwhWPr7nk3uDY9WyxGRw1vPDjm4AvWl1vrxIXAvhfWdnQ