A few bad apples: Don't let a rotten provider stress you out (& find a better one!)

A few bad apples: Don't let a rotten provider stress you out (& find a better one!)

Sometimes, I leave a doctor’s appointment and think “gawd, that was an awful experience.”  And for most patients, bad experiences equal bad doctors.  The doctor may be brilliant, published, and well-respected, but if she’s rude, condescending, or freaks me out, she gets a failing grade from me. 

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I dropped an f-bomb at the gynecologist yesterday. Here's why.

I dropped an f-bomb at the gynecologist yesterday. Here's why.

I think we as patients would often be better off with no medical intervention. Because not all "intervention" counts as healthcare. And yesterday, while I saw a doctor and received an exam and had some tests run, I wasn't cared for. And it felt like shit.

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Encounters with the Disability Police: my illness, emotional support animal, and "be nice" mandate

Encounters with the Disability Police: my illness, emotional support animal, and "be nice" mandate

Others’ judgment and treatment of me transformed my own beliefs about the legitimacy of my illness. I unintentionally invalidated my own body’s experience of pain, and I’d allowed those who chastised me for “taking advantage” to usurp my right to be treated decently outside the confines of my own home.  In letting people like this dictate how I would care for myself while enduring unspeakable pain, I somehow lost ownership of my experience.

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