Speak Your Truth: Self-Advocating with Medical Professionals
Ivy Griffin
There can be so much anxiety when interacting with medical professionals. We wait weeks, maybe even months for an appointment, and the second we get in the room it can feel like all the air has left the space, and we might feel ourselves shrinking and pulling in. The second they start to speak it can feel like all our well grounded points and concerns were a house of cards and we have trouble asserting ourselves due to nerves or anxiety. For many this ends in deferring to the authority of the professional in the room, even if we don’t agree. When we leave we might be left feeling unheard, dissatisfied and sometimes even gaslit.
Here are some things we can focus on to help us feel less overwhelmed and make interactions with medical professionals more fruitful.
Reframe: Before we interact with a healthcare professional, whether that be a doctor, dentist or even optometrist it’s important to reframe and ground ourselves in the fact that we are consulting their expertise. We are the ones living in our bodies, we are the ones who experience the level of pain or discomfort, and we are the ones who will have to live with the results of the decision. We are allowed to take time to consider their recommendation, to consult with loved ones, or even get a second opinion.
Use descriptive language: Their clinical recommendation-and it is a recommendation- is only as good as the information that they can gather with tests and observation and that they are given by you, the patient. Because of this it can be helpful to practice using descriptive language when describing symptoms. For example is the pain shooting, throbbing, sharp, achy, splitting, stabbing, dull, or burning?
Journal or Track symptoms: Another helpful way we can make appointments more fruitful is to journal or track symptoms. This can help give our healthcare provider greater insight into the frequency, duration and window of interference of the issue you are experiencing. These are key aspects when diagnosing, as it can assist in differentiating between diagnosis or level of intervention necessary. Whether you choose to journal, keep a log in the notes app of your phone or use the calendar on your phone to tally occurrences, having the information written down in some capacity can help if your mind tends to go blank during appointments due to nerves or anxiety.
Rate it: Levels of pain tolerance can vary greatly from person to person which is why many doctors use a pain rating scale of some kind. One of the most common scales used is 0-10, with 10 indicating the greatest pain you have ever experienced. It can be helpful to familiarize yourself with the pain scale your doctor uses and to practice using that scale to identify where your level of pain or discomfort is. By practicing using the rating scale we can reduce the odds of subconsciously minimizing or exaggerating our pain during the appointment which will give our healthcare provider a more accurate read on how severe the issue is.
Know when to cut your losses: Just like how every therapist or therapeutic technique is not right for every client, not every medical professional is the right fit for every patient. If you are repeatedly left feeling unheard and your concerns dismissed it may be time to consider finding a new primary care provider.
These are just a few tools to support you in reducing anxiety or nerves when it comes to speaking your truth and self-advocating with healthcare professionals.
With warm regards,
Megan Bell, LMFT # 114303
Thrive Therapy & Counseling
2131 Capitol Ave, Suite 306
Sacramento, CA, 95816