Posted by mair on April 6, 2005, at 19:56:08
In reply to Pain/Anxiety/Trusting Yourself, posted by Rigby on April 6, 2005, at 16:48:25
I raised this with an internist once during the course of an annual physical. I was describing some things that i thought might be physical problems and I told her, a little defensively, that they could also just be symptoms of depression. Her response was so validating - something like we have to look at each of them carefully to make sure that we know whether they depression related or not. This was so much better that just passing off everything to your mental illness.
I think because our illnesses have trigger physical sensations, it's tough to sort through things and our tendency is probably to worry that we're just being hypochondriacal. And i'm sure that there are plenty of docs who encourage the notion that we're making too much of something.
I don't have great insight. I think you're better off checking things out and just explaining to the doctor that while you know it might just be anxiety, it is very painful and you want to make sure it's not something more organic.
Teeth are particularly tough. I spent 10 months one year going through the gamut of antibiotic treatments, CT scans (2), allergy testing and an appointment with a neurologist to treat severe facial pain that turned out to be a bad tooth. I had had some teeth xrays shortly before the pain started and the dentist never called me up to tell me the results. I assumed the xrays came out ok, and I went into every appointment with various doctors after that telling them off the bat that I knew it wasn't a tooth problem. My dentist's refusal to take any responsibility for a true traumatic ordeal still steams me.
mair
poster:mair
thread:480808
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/psycho/20050329/msgs/480879.html