How to get doctors to listen...

I was asked a very important question, over on my tumblr page: How did you ever get someone to take your pain seriously? Pain is one of the most soul-stealing symptoms of a disease. Pain changes how we behave, it changes how we think, it changes how we live our lives, it changes who we are, and who we're allowed to be. However, there are people out there who would use pain pills for things other than pain. And even though addicts are outnumbered by real pain patients at a rate of 9 to 1, even I worry about giving out advice that could be used to abuse the system. But I think I've found a way around that problem, while still helping pain patients get what they need. The key is: Tell your story.

One big way we can set ourselves apart from drug seekers is by telling the story of our symptoms. This is completely backward from everything a doctor will want you to do. Just as they don’t want to feel rushed, they’ll take out being rushed on us, and try to speed up the doctor-patient communication time. DO NOT LET THEM. They will want to make you rush and list off your symptoms like you’re reading out of a manual. But all that does it make it look like we’ve memorized the list from some web site, which is fine if you want antibiotics for strep, but is awful when you need pain medication. Instead, tell your symptoms in the form of a story: “When I wake up in the morning, it feels like this. I’m not able to do this or that, because blah, blah, blah. It’s really embarrassing our in public, because yadda, yadda, yadda. When this happens, it’s like that.” In the story, there are small little details that only doctors and patients know about. Doctors, because they went to school for it, and patients because they’ve actually experienced it. You will know things that no web site can teach you, and in this way, you can show your doctor that you’re pain-avoiding, not drug-seeking.

Try it out, and let me know your results!

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