It's Not All In Your Head
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Are your doctors constantly telling you all your problems are in your head?
Mine, too. I have news for you. They're full of shit.
Even with incredibly well-documented proof of multiple ailments and injuries over the past 35 years I've been on this planet, I still get dismissed by doctors - sometimes even the ones who made those diagnoses. It's a level of frustration I am so tired of carrying, and I see so many other patients getting the same treatment. It makes me angry seeing that it's such a universal problem. Even hundreds of men on Threads were telling me that they are often ignored and dismissed when they come in with issues as well.
Why are doctors so cold and uncaring? I wish I knew.
What I do know is that there is a shortage of doctors in the United States, particularly primary care doctors, and that's absolutely affecting wait times and availability. However, it doesn't account for the callousness that so many doctors exude today. When I was younger, sure, I was brushed off and told I couldn't possibly have the illnesses I did, in fact, end up being diagnosed with. However, my pain was controlled. I wasn't having to stick to 1 pill at a time just twice a day, expecting that to be sufficient relief for pain that I would describe as 8 out of 10 on a good day.
Don't get me started on bad days.
I know that the "war on drugs" has changed a lot for the medical field and placed a ton of restrictions on doctors instead of addressing any of the actual issues at hand, which can explain the lack of doctors willing to prescribe anything stronger than Tylenol 3, but again, cannot explain the uncaring demeanor.
My question is, at what point do doctors decide how much pain is "enough" pain for it to be bad enough to require stronger relief than anything found OTC? Why is that for them to decide? How do they know how badly I'm hurting at any given time simply by looking at me? Patients who suffer from daily pain build a tolerance to it, much like you would to a medication. Over time, we adjust to the new levels of pain we rise to, and you begin to see it less and less on our faces or when we move. We mask well enough to make people think we are fine, because that's what's expected of us. We are told to simply get over it and deal with the pain like a big girl.
What if I don't want to be a fucking big girl anymore? I want to whine and cry and bitch and moan because is fucking HURTS. So why is that not allowed?
If I were to go into a hospital hysterical like that, you know what they'd do?
They would ship me off to a psych ward.
I wish that were a joke. It's not.
My point is, doctors are not exactly at their peak right now, and many of us are getting the result: shitty ones.
So, if you're being told that it's all in your head, but you have been researching for months, trying to find an explanation that would explain away all those random symptoms that have been culminating into a diagnosis, formulating slowly, but surely, just out of a doctor's detection, but well within yours...
It's not all in your head.
Say it with me. It's not all in your head.
If you aren't being heard, seek help elsewhere. There are good doctors out there who will do whatever it takes to find the root cause of your issues, and they are worth finding, worth holding out hope for, worth the world in gold to you when you get that big, beautiful D - for diagnosis, of course. 🤪
Keep searching for answers. Google can absolutely be your worst enemy - but it can also become your best friend. I know it's come in clutch for me multiple times when I didn't know where to turn. It was able to piece together symptoms I hadn't even thought about because they may have been minor or less common, and therefore not at the top of my mind.
I haven't been wrong about a diagnosis yet. Not one.
I don't think you're wrong right now, either. So keep searching until you find what you think could be the answer, then look for a specialist who works in diagnosing it to find out for sure. Don't stop until you get your diagnosis, whatever it may be.
I believe you.
