dogeeseseegod
New Member
The day 4 question to ponder asks you to think about a disheartening thing that a doctor has said to you.
In my case, towards the end of an appointment with a neurosurgeon (which lasted for no longer than 10 minutes and half of which was him dictating a letter for his secretary) I was told that he sees people in far worse pain than me and I should just go and do exercise.
At the time I was really taken aback at his offhand attitude and struggled to understand it. I was there to seek his help and wasn't looking for pity or anything that would require comparison with other patients. I simply rated my pain honestly as 4/10, which I understand is not a high level but I explained it was the constant nature of my pain that made it so difficult to contend with.
I suppose I still carry that encounter with me today in terms of being angry towards the way I was spoken to (I'm glad that I am able to say that now and recognise it. My normal approach would have been to swallow that anger but recognising it through this journalling activity feels somewhat cathartic).
To similar effect, a different comment was made to me by another doctor. He began a sentence with "I'm going to assume, given your occupation, you're not a malingerer or crazy". (To give some extra information I work as a teacher). This too bothered me quite a bit as, to me, it implied that many people who present with invisible symptoms are not genuine. This has affected me in that I don't tell people about my pain, even my closest friends are largely unaware as are most of my colleagues, as in the back of my mind I am afraid of being viewed as "imagining it" or being crazy. To look on the positive side though, thankfully neither of these two doctors are my regular doctor who is a family friend and has more compassion and understanding towards my case.
In my case, towards the end of an appointment with a neurosurgeon (which lasted for no longer than 10 minutes and half of which was him dictating a letter for his secretary) I was told that he sees people in far worse pain than me and I should just go and do exercise.
At the time I was really taken aback at his offhand attitude and struggled to understand it. I was there to seek his help and wasn't looking for pity or anything that would require comparison with other patients. I simply rated my pain honestly as 4/10, which I understand is not a high level but I explained it was the constant nature of my pain that made it so difficult to contend with.
I suppose I still carry that encounter with me today in terms of being angry towards the way I was spoken to (I'm glad that I am able to say that now and recognise it. My normal approach would have been to swallow that anger but recognising it through this journalling activity feels somewhat cathartic).
To similar effect, a different comment was made to me by another doctor. He began a sentence with "I'm going to assume, given your occupation, you're not a malingerer or crazy". (To give some extra information I work as a teacher). This too bothered me quite a bit as, to me, it implied that many people who present with invisible symptoms are not genuine. This has affected me in that I don't tell people about my pain, even my closest friends are largely unaware as are most of my colleagues, as in the back of my mind I am afraid of being viewed as "imagining it" or being crazy. To look on the positive side though, thankfully neither of these two doctors are my regular doctor who is a family friend and has more compassion and understanding towards my case.
