#medicaltrauma — Public Fediverse posts

How MAHA Fucked Up My Surgery
by Matthew Cortland
at the excellent
Shouldn't Need to Be a Lawyer
(well worth the free subscription!)

#MedicalTrauma
#Maha
#CapitalismKills

https://www.patreon.com/posts/how-maha-fucked-156109934

Let the record show:

I made the dr appt
I remembered the dr appt
I went to the dr appt
I scheduled the follow-up

I was v scared but also brave

Go me 🎖️🎉

#medicaltrauma #traumahealing #trauma #traumarecovery #mentalhealth #doctor

Most disabled and chronically ill people have had at least one bad experience in a healthcare setting.

Those of us who rely on the system to survive have likely had many bad experiences.

When we share these stories with others, we’re invariably told to ‘just’ lodge a complaint.

Non disabled people don’t understand the spoons required to go through the formal complaint process, nor do they grasp the risk of retaliation.

If you’re labeled ‘difficult’ or ‘non compliant’, your healthcare will suffer.

My latest looks at the problems with the complaint process, reasons we may not file a complaint as well as ways we can help support people who’ve experienced trauma in a healthcare setting.

https://www.disabledginger.com/p/why-dont-you-just-lodge-a-complaint

#disability #ableism #discrimination #eugenics #longcovid #chronicillness #MedicalTrauma #ptsd

I recently had a physician try to ‘not all doctors!’ me in response to a post I made about masking in healthcare.

They informed me that disabled people NEED doctors to fight fascism, combat vaccine misinformation and provide healthcare, so it’s wrong to call them out or ‘attack’ them.

First things first, I don’t attack doctors. I call out systemic issues within the healthcare system.

It took me years to be brave enough to speak out about my medical trauma. I was scared of retaliation.

The main reason I began speaking out? I recognize that I have significant privilege that isn’t afforded to everyone. By virtue of being cishet and white in a country with Universal healthcare, I have less difficulties engaging with the medical system compared to others.

Yet I’ve still suffered horrendous abuse. Preventable infections. Gaslighting. Delays in diagnosis. Misdiagnosis. Trauma.

The culture doesn’t change because we are bullied into silence. We are trained to take whatever we can get with a smile, and shut up about the rest.

I’m not being silent anymore.

I find a doctor demanding my silence in exchange for help fighting fascism or providing healthcare to be morally repugnant.

You can’t ‘not all doctors’ an issue like this. Patients are being harmed. They’re being disabled. Many have been killed.

We shouldn’t be coerced into silence just because we NEED medical care. That’s simply compounding the trauma.

I will keep speaking out. For those who can’t, for those who are no longer with us, for whose who come after me.

#disability #ableism #eugenics #keepmasksinhealthcare #medicaltrauma #healthcare #chronicillness #covidisairborne

Could ER staff please stop asking patients “what do you want us to do?”

There’s no way to answer this question honestly

If a disabled person is in your ER - I promise you they agonized over whether to come in. They’re afraid you will mistreat them. They want you to do your job.

In fact, many of us have suffered from so much medical trauma that we won’t go to the ER unless literally dying:

https://www.disabledginger.com/p/i-wont-go-to-the-er-unless-im-literally

#disability #chronicillness #spoonie #medicaltrauma #ableism #discrimination #longcovid #mecfs

A doctor posted earlier that she saved a life because she believed her patient.

She described him as “strong”, a father, a firefighter. Someone who “wouldn’t complain for no reason.”

How can HCWs not realize this bias insinuates others DO complain for no reason?

I’m glad the man got the care he needed - as he had a life threatening issue that could have easily been blown off.

But what if it had been someone else? A disabled or marginalized women? Someone who’s homeless, has multiple complex illnesses or dealing with drug addiction?

Bias and misogyny are huge problems in medicine.

By this doctors own admission, they believed it to be serious because the patient was “not the type” to complain for nothing.

How can they not realize they’re insinuating there IS a type that complain for nothing?

The majority of people won’t go to the ER for funsies. They’re not complaining for attention - they’re suffering.

If they’re disabled? Odds are good they’ve been suffering for days trying like hell to avoid going to the ER.

But we don’t take them seriously. Why? Bias.

The tendency to dismiss, gaslight, downplay and ignore is always there.

The number of times I’ve gone to the ER and watched a male patient receive vastly quicker & more efficient care makes me physically ill.

It happens ALL the time.

The result? Patients like me don’t go to the hospital. We suffer in silence. We roll the dice with our health rather than be subjected to gaslighting and trauma.

It needs to stop because it costs lives - they’re just not talked about.

When someone with a complex chronic illness dies at home it’s unlikely anyone knows that they were debating medical care. That they would have gone in if not for the myriad of times they were ignored or abused.

Those stories never get told.

I have my own such story from when I had a hysterectomy at 24

I was discharged from hospital despite feeling “off”. I decompensated at home.

I went to the ER for help and was told I was “fine”. Asked “what do you want us to do?”

Told I was “overreacting”

Two weeks passed as I got sicker and sicker. Increasing pain, swelling and fatigue.

I couldn’t eat, walk or function. I was pale and listless and had stopped checking phone or email. I was not “fine”

Yet it took 4 trips and a man coming with me to be taken seriously

I had been bleeding into my abdomen & a large life threatening infection had developed.

Yet I wasn’t believed. I wasn’t listened to.

After 3rd ER trip yielded no results I was adamant I wasn’t going back. I wanted to die in my own bed

The man who took me in saved my life

I could have become a statistic. Bled to death at home because ER told me repeatedly that I was “fine”

They told me this without running single test. They wrote me off the moment I walked in

We must change the culture. Listen to patients. Treat them equally. Lives depend on it
Patients with life threatening medical emergencies should not have to be “strong & tough” young men to be taken seriously

I shouldn’t have needed to bring a man to the ER for them to finally run tests. Patients deserve to be listened to… ALL patients:

https://www.disabledginger.com/p/my-most-dangerous-er-experience-and

#chronicillness #disability #spoonie #ableism #bias #misogyny #discrimination
#medicaltrauma

I’ve been feeling a lot of grief this weekend after reading about Professor Amit Patel - a nationally recognized doctor & expert in the rare disease HLH - who died in hospital when medical staff refused to acknowledge his expertise in his own condition.

Many disabled and chronically ill individuals know how dangerous hospitals can be - but reading about a doctor (who had a spouse who was also a physician advocating for him) being unable to get the care he needed to stay alive? It’s terrifying.

I wrote about his death, my own experiences with medical trauma and the need for a safer system for all.

https://open.substack.com/pub/disabledginger/p/prof-amit-patel-death?r=19dk2e&utm_medium=ios

#Disability #ChronicIllness #RareDisease #Spoonies #Ableism #gaslighting #HLH #MedicalTrauma #MedicalGaslighting #Discrimination #DisabilityRights #CovidIsNotOver #CovidCaution

2023 was a lot

Looking back at a... ✨ challenging✨ year

(Content warnings at the start and in the youtube description)

https://youtu.be/_78N5kPvTao?si=_YweS2Dt6--X2XDG

#youtube #freelance #comiccreator #comicartist #mentalhealth #adhd #medicaltrauma

2023 was a lot

Looking back at a... ✨ challenging✨ year

(Content warnings at the start and in the youtube description)

https://youtu.be/_78N5kPvTao?si=_YweS2Dt6--X2XDG

#youtube #freelance #comiccreator #comicartist #mentalhealth #adhd #medicaltrauma

2023 was a lot

Looking back at a... ✨ challenging✨ year

(Content warnings at the start and in the youtube description)

https://youtu.be/_78N5kPvTao?si=_YweS2Dt6--X2XDG

#youtube #freelance #comiccreator #comicartist #mentalhealth #adhd #medicaltrauma

2023 was a lot

Looking back at a... ✨ challenging✨ year

(Content warnings at the start and in the youtube description)

https://youtu.be/_78N5kPvTao?si=_YweS2Dt6--X2XDG

#youtube #freelance #comiccreator #comicartist #mentalhealth #adhd #medicaltrauma

2023 was a lot

Looking back at a... ✨ challenging✨ year

(Content warnings at the start and in the youtube description)

https://youtu.be/_78N5kPvTao?si=_YweS2Dt6--X2XDG

#youtube #freelance #comiccreator #comicartist #mentalhealth #adhd #medicaltrauma

Rant:

My long term disability rep contacts me every 3 weeks. It’s been 3.5 years, bud, I’m *still* not magically cured. Back off. Let me breathe.

It’s so annoying, and frankly distressing, how disabled people are given payments to live on (well below the poverty line) and then followed like a hawk. Imho, it’s unethical. If the federal government has deemed me fully disabled - pay me and leave me the heck alone.

These people cause me immense stress.

/rant
#Disability #Disabled #MedicalTrauma

Ok so I’m completely in awe of how good healthcare is here compared to Island Health.

I need some medical imaging… got a requisition this morning.

In BC: I’d wait 6-9 months in silence for them to book an appointment for me on some random day in the future.

Here? I can call booking myself, pick the location, day and time… and they had availability TODAY.

I’m floored. People need to know how bad Island Health is in BC.

#Heath #CanPoli #Healthcare #Medical #MedicalTrauma

I made a doctor appointment and got an extension on my disability review. Clap for me!?

#disability #hardthings #medicaltrauma

When I first started studying #medicalPTSD in ~2018 inflammatory bowel disease (#IBD #CrohnsDisease #UlcerativeColitis) I was shocked more hadn't been done. PTSD from medical experiences is a critical aspect of patient care.

So what did we find?

~25% of pts w IBD report medical PTSD from illness/treatment

Hospitalizations are a big source of #IBDPTSD

Logically IBDPTSD is associated w poorer outcomes

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8344426/

If you do similar #MedicalTrauma work would love to connect!

Nice to see the #psychology #mentalheath growing on 🐘 Looking to connect with #healthpsychologiy folks specifically if you’re here 👋

My specialty is a new-ish field called paychogastroenterology or #gastropsych on the bird app. We focus on the intersection of mental health and digestive illness like #IBD #IBS #GERD #gastroparesis #achalasia #EoE

I research #medicaltrauma #PTSD and also the role of #HRV and hypervigilance in diseases affecting the esophagus. If you’re out there say hi 😊

Nice to see the #psychology #mentalheath growing on 🐘 Looking to connect with #healthpsychologiy folks specifically if you’re here 👋

My specialty is a new-ish field called paychogastroenterology or #gastropsych on the bird app. We focus on the intersection of mental health and digestive illness like #IBD #IBS #GERD #gastroparesis #achalasia #EoE

I research #medicaltrauma #PTSD and also the role of #HRV and hypervigilance in diseases affecting the esophagus. If you’re out there say hi 😊

Nice to see the #psychology #mentalheath growing on 🐘 Looking to connect with #healthpsychologiy folks specifically if you’re here 👋

My specialty is a new-ish field called paychogastroenterology or #gastropsych on the bird app. We focus on the intersection of mental health and digestive illness like #IBD #IBS #GERD #gastroparesis #achalasia #EoE

I research #medicaltrauma #PTSD and also the role of #HRV and hypervigilance in diseases affecting the esophagus. If you’re out there say hi 😊

Nice to see the #psychology #mentalheath growing on 🐘 Looking to connect with #healthpsychologiy folks specifically if you’re here 👋

My specialty is a new-ish field called paychogastroenterology or #gastropsych on the bird app. We focus on the intersection of mental health and digestive illness like #IBD #IBS #GERD #gastroparesis #achalasia #EoE

I research #medicaltrauma #PTSD and also the role of #HRV and hypervigilance in diseases affecting the esophagus. If you’re out there say hi 😊