I read somewhere that the average time before diagnosis of POTS is 5 years, and people need to see 7 different medical professionals. I’m sure CFS and Fibro and other chronic illness are similar, or even worse.

Every person I’ve met with chronic illness has been mistrustful of the medical system, and for good reason. They’ve been told their symptoms are “psychosomatic”, depression, anxiety, laziness, deconditioning, etc… Gaslighting and poor treatment seems to be the norm. I wouldn’t be surprised if most people in our situation have medical trauma; being defined as: “psychological or emotional symptoms associated with negative medical experiences.”

I know that, personally, I hate going to doctors, especially new ones.

• I expect it to go poorly.
• I don’t feel like they will believe me about my symptoms, or they will ignore what I say.
• I don’t trust that they even know anything about my conditions or their treatments.
• Often the treatments given to me are actively harmful.
• If I disagree with them on anything, it turns into an argument.

The worst part is, I’m usually correct. I’m not sure you can even classify it as trauma, because that implies it’s not continuing to happen. If anything, it’s a wise adaptation to be wary.

You might argue that everyday family doctors aren’t equipped to treat us. Often I’m treated like a hot potato, tossed between specialists because I’m nobody’s problem. There is a huge gap in the medical field for knowledge about chronic health conditions. The analogy that stuck with me was: “they can set a broken bone, but they can’t help my arthritis.”

What do you guys think?