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Doctor refused to use the word pain
I've had bladder issues for awhile and they found endometriosis on it during lap surgery, so I've recently been seeing a urologist.
Today was my follow up and the goal was to have my medication split into two doses and to get a referral for pelvic floor therapy.
As the nurse and the doctor repeatedly asked how my symptoms are or have changed, every time I mentioned something about pain in any context they would repeat back what I said but change "pain" to "pressure."
No, this is not just "pressure." This is pain that often prevents me from standing up straight. I'm not here asking for pain medication or anything so why are you steering me away from the word. I know what the difference between pain and discomfort is.
I did get approved for pelvic floor therapy thankfully, which I'm terrified about, but that is what I want: something that might actually help my problem at the source rather than rely on suppressing the symptoms with medication that also comes with side effects.
I feel ridiculous being honest with doctors.
I’m a med student, and we’re taught to ask patients to “describe the pain.” Imo the doctor should not have treated you like that. But I think if something like that happens again, explicitly describing the pain will help you advocate for yourself. Like burning, stabbing, throbbing, sharp, dull, or gnawing, etc. And if it radiates anywhere
I stutter a bit so that might have something to do with the communication issue, but they didn't specifically ask for a description of the pain either. They seemed understandably pressed for time. The main question was "How has your urgency been affected?"
I did describe it as a very tender burning pain in a specifc area when my bladder is full, but they thought I meant "burns to pee." When I clarified that urination itself didn't hurt, I think that's what made it sound like I was referring to pressure as pain. Thank you very much for the information.
Isn’t it a bit subjective? I mean, the same kind of pain can be described as throbbing by person A and gnawing by person B. It depends on your vocabulary too. I’m ESL, I might use different terminology than expected.
I think it’s just as problematic as the now-deprecated system in which people were asked to rate their pain on a scale of 1-10.
(I’m not a healthcare professional so I don’t really know anything$.
as an adolescent with intermittent chest pain i remember being confused by the phrases my doctor offered up like "burning" and "stabbing". how was i supposed to know what those would feel like? i just knew sometimes i would get sudden pain near my heart and it was scary!
he ended up convinced it was heartburn and told my dad to give me zantac everyday.. until forever i guess?🙄 now i realize it was intercostal pain, probably PCS.
The bar for medicine gets lower every day. I’m surprised people still go to the doctor. This is classic gaslighting
I have pain
So you’re saying you have pressure?
No I said pain
Ok pressure it is
Call them out the next time you notice it with polite confusion. “I’m sorry, I’ve noticed what I keep describing as pain you will only refer to as a pressure. It goes beyond pressure, it is painful at this point. May I ask why you keep doing that?” Then tilt your head and blink twice.
Polite confusion is the fastest and most effective way to deal with rude men, in my experience. You’re giving them the benefit of the doubt (not that they deserve it) so they feel like they have the ability to gracefully correct, but making in known you see what they’re doing and won’t stand for it.
That's just straight up gaslighting. That's a manipulation tactic. Almost a brainwashing tactic.
I had a ton of pelvic PT. My lady was fantastic and helped me so much. I still do the exercises and they still work for me. It's been 7 years roughly. So don't get to worried in advance. It did hurt a little when she did massage and releases on the pelvic muscles but not much.
If you have any questions you want to ask me about the pelvic PT, you can.
Agreed, straight up gaslighting. It is the current moral panic around the opiate crisis. The people that the pendulum swing is affecting most are sick people who can’t get proper care. I’m a cancer patient and I get what I need but I get a heaping helping of bad treatment too.