Published on 12, July, 2020
How do you do it?
By the time I get to any appointment I'm beyond the point of being reasonable. I can't think, can't remember what I needed to say, become situationally mute, and fail to explain what's going on so 9/10 times I leave without being understood and have a meltdown at home after. That's assuming I managed to leave the house in the first place
I forget that I've experienced things before and classically don't recall how long I've had the problem. I looked up my medical record the other day and found I've actually been complaining about menstruation problems for my whole adult life, not just the last few years.
Now I have to go have a scan. I get a letter, have to open a website and log in, choose from 6 places 2 have a different booking process, all are miles away and just that makes me meltdown. The last medical apt I made myself go to ended with me headbanging against the hospital wall and the medic wrote a stinking letter to my GP telling her off for not mentioning autism in the referral.
What suggestions do you have for getting to, staying at and communicating at medical appointments?
I have no family/friends to take me
I got discharged from community support because I couldn't drive to meet him (eye roll)
I stopped taking notes into apts because a GP was nasty about it and claimed I was making things up to get attention. (he also said 'people who work don't have mental health issues')
Bottom line, I don't trust doctors or professionals after a life time of being ignored because of how I communicate.
I also have trust issues due to my mums lack of care historically. I have a few tips - write everything down
not all GPs are the same
leave yourself voice notes
email yourself notes
My memory is poor and I zone out when someone is talking to me. As an example I met with my psychiatrist today and forget to take shades with me as the room is so bright. I walked in and the pharmacist was also sat there (unexpected). Then my anxiety peeked and dropped after talking about my medication. I managed to stay focused on what I wanted from the appointment and asked if it will all be sent in a letter, I am just very honest with difficulties.