Quote:
Originally Posted by BrazenApogee
I've started to think that medical professionals hate trauma survivors. As soon as they find out, they change the way they behave and act all afraid of me. I've asked for help with this from everyone I can think of, but that just makes things worse, because it ends up turning out very bad. I've heard so many horrible statements right before communication with me is terminated: "it's not my job to help you," "I can't help you, deal with the anxiety yourself," "we don't help people like you."
Maybe they just hate me. I can't even get a flu shot.
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I've had some very caring physicians and some not so caring. Because I need on going care for injuries related to my trauma history, most physicians have been pretty kind. The first question I get is "how did this happen"? When I answer them they respond either with, "oh, my I'm so sorry." Which makes me uncomfortable. Or they simply deal with the medical problem I've come in with without commentary. I prefer the latter. I don't want them knowing the details of my trauma unless it's a medically necessary for ongoing care.
What is a problem is when the physical injuries from the trauma interfere with being able to have appropriate treatment in the present. When I was being treated for breast cancer my oncologist wanted me to take a chemotherapy agent that would have necessitated reinjuring me for follow-up care. My psychiatrist and oncologist decided that the benefits of the medication were outweighed by the severity of the reinjury and the trauma it would inflict on me. So, I didn't get that particular chemo drug.
Another time I've had trouble was when a former therapist I had diagnosed me as having schizophrenia and the diagnosis got into my electronic medical record. First, I don't have schizophrenia. I am the child of schizophrenics but I don't have the illness. Because this therapist knew I had a lot of psychotic symptoms she just diagnosed me as having schizophrenia because of family history. My psychiatrist was quite unhappy when she misdiagnosed me and spent time trying to clean up my electronic medical record. It still shows up as my diagnosis sometimes though. When it does, the physician I'm being treated by assumes I'm not competent to make medical decisions and insists I have someone with me who can "understand and explain his instructions to me". That makes me totally nuts. I have two graduate degrees in the sciences and have been a biomedical researcher for most of my career. I know almost as much medicine as the physician does. I hate being treated like I'm stupid because of diagnosis prejudice of a diagnosis I don't even have.