-
Medical Gaslighting 😞
Have you experienced medical gaslighting in your MS journey? How did you deal with it?
-
4 Replies
-
Sadly!! The first time I experienced this was when I explained to my previous neurologist that my mood swings were progressively getting worse, as well as my hand tremors. They were very dismissive of what I was telling them and told me to wait it out before they thought it was necessary to address. Needless to say, they didn’t do anything about it…
-
😮🙁 Sorry that happened! I can’t believe they dismissed something like that. Do you think they start to act this way once you mention “it could be a side effect from X treatment “? Not sure if that’s the case for you but I would experience a tone shift the minute I would bring this up.
-
-
That was part of my presentation at CMSC this year. Providers are often taught to look at patient input with skepticism, especially in acute cases where no relationship is established.
I’ve even felt dismissed by a long-term provider when there was no context to add weight to my input. For example, a doctor might be inclined to shrug at my reporting that I have been nauseous and vomited. In general, that’s a fairly run of the Mill and non serious symptom unless he or she considers that I’ve only vomited twice in the last 20 years.
I think a lot of the issue could be resolved by providers treating the patient instead of the chart.
-
Wow! Treating the patient instead of the chart. What a way to put it. 📌
It’s unfortunate that you can develop a relationship with your doctor or team and they start approaching things this way. It can make the patient lose trust not only on their current doctor but the whole care team.
-
Log in to reply.