themighty.com
28.02.2022 / 23:33
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I Wasn't Believed When I Became Sick. Now Doctors Think I Look Too 'Well.'
Like many fellow “Zebras” or Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (EDS) patients, my diagnostic odyssey took around 15 years — from initial physical symptom onset to a formal diagnosis at age 35 last February. In those 15 years, I was repeatedly disbelieved, discredited, belittled, patronized, and gaslighted by the medical professionals who were supposed to be caring for me and helping me. Instead of helping me, they subjected me to unforgivable levels of iatrogenic harm — harm caused by the medical profession. Their lack of clinical knowledge, inability to manage complex patients, and downright ignorance delayed my diagnosis for years on end. By blaming my “mental health” for everything I experienced, they absolved themselves of any responsibility for finding out what was happening with my body. For years, doctors didn’t believe that anything was actually physically “wrong” with me, and they repeatedly told me, “It’s all in your head.” My doctors told me that what I perceived were “physical” problems were categorically attributed to “psychological causes” as aftereffects of severe childhood abuse and trauma.