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Have you ever given up on medical care?
When was the first time you felt unheard, ignored, or brushed off in a medical setting? It’s a common issue that happens to a lot of us and, quite frankly, I don’t feel like it’s discussed enough.
It’s no secret that the healthcare in America tends to be hands off, and I don’t find it to be any stretch of my imagination to think that my being a woman is a large part of my problems in being heard. However, I don’t discredit the fact that doctors have likely ignored complaints in men and non-binary people as well.
I can recall setting up a physical with a new doctor in hopes of finding a permanent Primary Care Provider one time, and upon reviewing my paperwork, he remarked, “I see here that you marked yourself as having anxiety issues. This comes with the territory of your job, so we will not bother with this right now.”
My job was being a retail manager in a popular chain department store. How was anxiety supposed to be in the nature of my position? How was retail management any different to multiple other jobs in regards to having anxiety? All sorts of questions I was too timid to ask.
