Dismissed and Dismissed Again: The Dangerous Reality of Medical Gaslighting

I have talked about medical gaslighting before, having experienced it on more than one occasion. It can be highly frustrating as a patient, and I know for myself I got to where I had convinced myself there was nothing wrong with me and my symptoms were all in my heart because that is how I was treated when seeking care.

The short version of my experience is that, for years, on and off, I had a horrible pain in my chest. Sometimes, it would linger; sometimes, it would go away independently. Several times, the pain was severe enough to go to an emergency room, but it seemed like the ER could never find the source. Then, one night, while in active addiction, that pain hit me again, and so I went to the ER again. Once they had completed my labs and realized I had meth in my system, they talked about it in the hallway (ER staff), and then I was discharged with no further evaluations completed.

Several months later, when I was sober, this happened again while I was working. I lived closer to a different hospital, and they discovered I had a lot of large gallstones. I had to go into emergency surgery for my gall bladder to be removed.

I was thankful to have a resolution finally. Still, I often wouldn't even see a doctor between the bad experience and the excellent experience because I was convinced it must be in my head. All the emergency staff at that one hospital made me feel that way. The amount of time I laid around miserable because…