The self-gaslighting is SO frustrating. Last month I broke my ankle pretty severely from riding my bike (each new doctor I see is surprised it wasn’t from a more serious accident) but for the few hours between when it happened and when a (female) doctor finally showed me my X-RAYS, every man I interacted with made me doubt how bad it actually was. I have a pretty high pain tolerance, and when it happened I was wearing pants so I couldn’t see the extent of the injury, but I know my body so I knew something was truly wrong this time. However, once the EMTS arrived I was kind of doubting myself on how bad it might’ve been -- the EMTS never actually looked at my leg, they just placed it in a splint and asked me a few times what I wanted to do, so they were going entirely off of my reactions. Eventually they decided to take me to the hospital, but not until they realized I couldn’t even move to get my shoe off (even though the entire time I was saying “I really think it’s broken!”). The kicker was, when I was admitted the EMTS said “we have this girl who thinks she sprained her ankle” and I was too scared to correct them in case I was just another young girl overreacting. When the doctor finally showed me how bad the break actually was (and would require surgery), she couldn’t believe how much I had been UNDERreacting!
I definitely know the feeling. It can be so hard to self-advocate sometimes when we’re told we’re overreacting all the time. I’m so glad a doctor finally gave you the help and gratification you needed! I’m sorry about your injury and hope your healing process is going well. 💜
The self-gaslighting is SO frustrating. Last month I broke my ankle pretty severely from riding my bike (each new doctor I see is surprised it wasn’t from a more serious accident) but for the few hours between when it happened and when a (female) doctor finally showed me my X-RAYS, every man I interacted with made me doubt how bad it actually was. I have a pretty high pain tolerance, and when it happened I was wearing pants so I couldn’t see the extent of the injury, but I know my body so I knew something was truly wrong this time. However, once the EMTS arrived I was kind of doubting myself on how bad it might’ve been -- the EMTS never actually looked at my leg, they just placed it in a splint and asked me a few times what I wanted to do, so they were going entirely off of my reactions. Eventually they decided to take me to the hospital, but not until they realized I couldn’t even move to get my shoe off (even though the entire time I was saying “I really think it’s broken!”). The kicker was, when I was admitted the EMTS said “we have this girl who thinks she sprained her ankle” and I was too scared to correct them in case I was just another young girl overreacting. When the doctor finally showed me how bad the break actually was (and would require surgery), she couldn’t believe how much I had been UNDERreacting!
I definitely know the feeling. It can be so hard to self-advocate sometimes when we’re told we’re overreacting all the time. I’m so glad a doctor finally gave you the help and gratification you needed! I’m sorry about your injury and hope your healing process is going well. 💜