Medical gaslighting is when doctors make patients believe that their symptoms are all in their heads. It can lead to late diagnosis and inappropriate treatment, but there are strategies to deal with it. Doctors told Insider that preparation, communication, and a little understanding can go a long way. Loading Something is loading.
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At age 43, Paula Chambers Raney began experiencing diarrhea, painful gas, and stomach gurgling after meals. But the doctors told her that she was probably a stomach virus, acid reflux, or irritable bowel syndrome.
Even when Raney had extremely low iron and was too tired to make it through the workday, she said doctors told her it was probably her diet or her menstrual cycle. And when she reported blood in her stool, she was told that she probably just ate something red.
After about a year with no answers, Raney had lost 40 pounds and was in the worst pain of her life. “For now, most people aren’t listening to me. Most people think I’m crazy. Most people think I’m a hypochondriac,” Raney, a poll worker in Texas, told Insider.
“That’s probably how a lot of people get misdiagnosed or just don’t want to say anything about what’s wrong with them, because after a while, you start to think you’re crazy,” he said.
Raney was ultimately diagnosed with stage 3 colon cancer, which could have been caught at a more treatable stage if his concerns had been taken seriously. But she is among patients who have faced medical manipulation, or when medical professionals dismiss a person’s symptoms, making them believe it’s all in their head.
It can lead to misdiagnosis and late or inappropriate treatment. The experience, according to reports and research, is more common in black people, women, and patients with obesity.
Insider talked to doctors about what to do if you think you’re being medically misled.
Set expectations with your provider prior to the visit
Dr. Christina Johnson, a family medicine physician in New Jersey, encourages patients to set expectations before they arrive. “We want to know: What are you hoping to achieve? What are you worried about? What did you Google?” she told Insider.
Let the doctor know what your first priority is and what you would like to cover if there is still time. And if you’ve felt cheated in the past, say so. “That helps us better understand the urgency that he feels,” Johnson said. “It helps us understand how you prefer to communicate.”
Understand that doctors cannot perform all tests right away
Johnson said patients sometimes expect doctors to run advanced tests early and often. “If that was the case, we’d just do full-body MRIs for everyone” who comes in the door, he said. “But we don’t do that.”
Dr. Christina Johnson is a physician who has also been treated as a patient.
Richard Titus for the Atlantic Health System
Rather, doctors are trained to think “if-then”: “If you’re experiencing this and this, then it could be this. If you’re experiencing all three of these things, then it could be this or this or this.” she said.
“It’s up to the doctor to communicate to the patient, ‘We’re going down this path. If that path isn’t the case, then we’ll go down this path. And if that path isn’t the case, we’re going to have to bring in specialized care,'” Johnson added.
ask these questions
Johnson recommended asking the following questions if you’re at an impasse with your doctor:
What is our next step? If not this condition, what else are you thinking about? And then what evaluations would you need? Do you think I need to see a specialist? Have you treated people with this condition before and if so, what was helpful for them?
She said it’s also helpful to tell your doctor how your symptoms are affecting you, by saying things like:
The pain is affecting my ability to get to work. I am very stiff when I wake up in the morning.
Ask to work with a patient advocate
Many hospitals have patient advocates or patient navigators whose job it is to guide you through the system, communicate with your providers, and sometimes even help you resolve insurance issues.
“It’s like having an employee play for you, and only you,” Dr. Mikhail Varshavski, a family medicine physician known as “Dr. Mike,” told Insider. “That’s not used as often as I think it should be.”
Dr. Mikhail Varshavski recommends that doctors and patients practice “charitable thinking.”
Felix Kunze
He said to ask a nurse for one, or dial zero from a hospital phone and say, “I’d like the patient advocacy office.”
“Having that patient advocate with you will decrease the likelihood of communication errors and medication errors,” Varshavski said.
Try to understand where the doctor comes from
What patients perceive as gaslighting could actually be a communication breakdown or a systemic problem, Varshavski said.
“The most misunderstood point of the whole gaslighting conversation is that good providers can fall victim to this,” he said.
He said that instead of assuming a provider is cheating, say to yourself something like, “Okay, I don’t think I’m getting adequate care, so I’ll just assume the reason this is happening is out of the provider’s control.” “. But I’m still going to try to make the most of my visit.”
If your follow-up questions keep failing, seek a second opinion. “But if charitable thinking is exhibited by both parties, that’s where you get the best results,” Varshavski said.
Get a second or third opinion
Johnson said most doctors really want to help, and if you can’t find one that gives you that sense, look elsewhere.
“There are thousands and thousands of doctors who love what they do, who love to help patients, who love to answer their questions and get those diagnoses, who love to help prevent disease, who love to help people people overcome their illnesses and overcome their illnesses every day,” Johnson said.
Source: news.google.com