I see far too many chronic illness patients being dismissed from the ER for “faking”. Is there not a duty to run tests to ensure something isn’t missed before discharging someone as a fake? Given the consequences could literally be their life?
This happened to me years ago -
I had major OB GYN surgery and a week later was getting worse not better. Weak, in pain, swollen, loss of appetite etc. Went to the ER and was treated like a “nuisance” and asked what I “expected” after major surgery. I tried to explain I expected to improve a little each day - and I was clearly decompensating.
They decided I was faking and sent me home. This repeated 3 times over the course of a week - each time I was sent home without any tests.
Finally my then boyfriend took me in for a 4th time - literally carrying me to triage because I could no longer stand up. They got angry and said “we’ve already told her there’s nothing we can do.” He said he wasn’t taking me home to die. He demanded they run tests. The situation escalated but they finally acquiesced to the most basic blood work and an ultrasound. I’m incredibly fortunate they listened to him - and incredibly angry it took a man causing a scene to get me care.
Turns out I had a hugely elevated white blood count, a ferritin of zero and a hemoglobin of 63. I had a massive infected abscess in my abdomen that had been caused by an internal bleed left unchecked for weeks. I was rushed to emergency surgery and needed multiple rounds of blood transfusions and spent weeks in the hospital.
Had I gone home - I more than likely would have died. Had I been alone - I would have died. It should never be this way and from what I’m hearing from other patients it’s only gotten worse since Covid.
Please listen to your patients. We KNOW our bodies. Listen to women & marginalized individuals… don’t make us bring someone else to tell our story. Listen to people who come back over and over again - they clearly need help. Have some compassion and don’t assume someone is faking just because you don’t see an obvious issue.
At a recent outside (#CovidIsAirborne#CovidIsNotOver) family gathering, which despite pacing and restrictions regarding location and time I spent I still haven't recovered from, when my #LongCovid did come up (which doesn't happen often) the word "tired" was mostly used. "Oh, you get tired from things like this", " I hope you didn't feel too tired from it". After facing gaslighting from people close to me these last 3 years of having Long-Covid - especially when there wasn't even a term for it and how this relates to widespread, dangerous gaslighting and 'treatment' for people with ME/CFS - I felt agitated and angry, with my experiences and identity minimised/ignored. I do feel I need to do more to challenge when people close to me do this whilst not taking up too many spoons.
Relating to this, it felt cathartic and reaffirming to read this article (paywall bypassing link below) and be like, yes that's what it's like, that's how I have felt for so long now. Definitely recommend reading (as a note, the article is quite long - I needed several pacing breaks to finish it but it was worth it):