Trauma One
Medical Trauma is a very big box to unpack. Not only can our illnesses bring us medical trauma but our experiences we have with doctors, nurses or radiologists.
Medical Trauma doesn’t necessarily mean you had bad doctors or experience, but is the experience you had physically with a medical condition while there. However, it can be because of a bad doctor or nurse that made you feel less than human or treated you roughly during a time of need. This is a very complex trauma that causes anxiety when having to receive treatment from a medical professional.
I personally have to deal with medical trauma from bad nurses and doctors based on how they made me feel as a patient. I was called a lier and was left in a room crying in pain for 6 hours before making me sit in the waiting room to be picked up. I have been dismissed time and time again and told that my symptoms are “in my head” or just “anxiety”. Having a nurse detach my numbing medication after surgery and place my catheter in incorrectly. A hospital can be very embarrassing as they take clothes off or don’t give any privacy.
You are not alone in your journey to feeling safe when seeking medical treatment, or how to ask for what you need.
I strongly encourage anyone that is dealing with medical trauma to not ignore it. Getting help by either seeing a medical trauma therapist, counselor, priest or virtual therapy like (better help therapy). This will help give you coping skills when dealing with anxieties when dealing with future medical experiences.
Bring a safe person to your appointments. This will help ground you and make you feel protected while being in a medical facility.
Ask the doctor to explain things to you. Ask them how this procedure is done and to walk you through each step as they do it. Asking them to verbalize it is very important for your piece of mind during any exams.
Do not be afraid of asking for anxiety medication to help stop the ‘fight or flight’ response. You can also take Benadryl as it also calms the body. (Do not drive).
You are NOT alone in this journey. This community is here for you.
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