I have a marvelous PCP without whom I would never have received a diagnosis and treatment. She stuck with me through many years sending me to different doctors and simply believing me.
Today she told me that she has an AI. She started talking about people not believing her, being made fun of for being in pain, docs insisting that certain treatments for symptoms should be working, dealing with the depression of realizing she has a chronic illness, etc. I shook my head and say, yes, yes, yes.
I am very sorry for her because she is young and am sorry that she now has to travel this path. It was good to know though that she can now understand on a new level what I went through all those years. She teaches interns so here's hoping she'll talk with them about AIs and listening to patients when they tell them there is something wrong.
Sad to hear, but I sure hope she educates more of the doctors. Irish
That is great! Not for her, of course, but for her patients. My neurologist has RA and is a fabulous doctor.
My rheumatologist has Raynaud's.
I've come across a lot of medical professionals lately that have auto immune disease. A lot of them are going into Functional Medicine and becoming practitioners in that field b/c they felt it helped their AI disease. There are some amazing stores. People like Dr. Izabella Wenz, who was a pharmacist with hashimoto's, Dr. Mark Hyman who had mercury poisoning.
I find that when a provider has experienced health problems or someone in their personal life has, they seem more understanding.