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Medical gaslighting
In recent weeks, I’ve been part of several conversations about medical gaslighting. Medical gaslighting happens when healthcare professionals downplay or blow off a person’s symptoms, blame their illness on psychological factors, or deny a person’s illness entirely. Gaslighting is sometimes referred to as “crazy making” as it can cause a person to doubt their experiences and themselves.
There have certainly been times when I’ve felt medically gaslighted — like the time I knew I had developed a blood clot and was told it was impossible for that to have happened so soon after a line placement, or the time I was having a severe allergic reaction to a drug and it was suggested that I was just experiencing a bit of anxiety. I could probably think of a dozen more times I’ve been told my symptoms didn’t exist or that I was just being a bit dramatic. Fortunately, these things have always been resolved as soon someone who knows me (my CF doctor, for example) has stepped in. No lasting damage was caused and I was able to get to the bottom of the issues.
But what if my doctor hadn’t stepped in? What if I had been at a medical center where nobody knew me? What if I wasn’t believed and something more serious happened as a result? I’ve been fortunate, but many others aren’t as lucky.
Have you been the victim of medical gaslighting? Have you ever known something is off, but haven’t been believed? How have you been able to resolve those things and advocate for yourself in the face of medical gaslighting?
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