Medical response to an autistic persons pain

I have recently been suffering dental problems. Because I have difficulty with waiting rooms and medical facilities in general, I was attempting self treatment untill the pain exceeded my pain tolerance threshold. I took every pain pill I could find to no effect. This happened in the early hours of the morning shortly before the new year. I was alternating between running up and down my flat punching walls and siting on the floor crying. I walked five miles across the city to A+E to seek help. Before I could enter the hospital, I struggled for maybe twenty minutes to achieve a calm demeanour. I waited there for three hours and all the help I recieved was a Ibuprofen which I had already taken to a near overdose and found ineffective. I believe I had a genuine clinical need for serious pain relief, but was unable to persuade the staff to take the severity of the pain seriously or to elict empathy for said pain and as a result recieved profoundly insufficient treatment.

Has anyone else had a similar experience?

Are there in existence or planning guidelines for accurately assessing an Autistic persons pain?

Parents
  • My fear of pain outstrips my fear of dentists, so I don't actually share your problem, but I think you should get regular proffessional dental treatment. You may find this daunting, but you need to look after your health properly, and with dentistry, only a qualified dentist will do.

    I was extremely nervous before my driving test, and my gp helped me by prescribing tablets to get me through it. I have a friend with aggrophobia, and she has tranquilisers to help her travel. I am sure that if you explain that you have this phobia, they will provide tablets to help you get to the dentist. Once you have restored your mouth to a healthy state, you may find that your fear subsides. You can also gradually accustom yourself to waiting rooms. Take someone with you. The issue with these drugs is addiction. If you use them only rarely, gps can be persuaded to let you have a small number of tablets.

    Most of all, don't neglect your health, then this sort of pain won't arrise.

Reply
  • My fear of pain outstrips my fear of dentists, so I don't actually share your problem, but I think you should get regular proffessional dental treatment. You may find this daunting, but you need to look after your health properly, and with dentistry, only a qualified dentist will do.

    I was extremely nervous before my driving test, and my gp helped me by prescribing tablets to get me through it. I have a friend with aggrophobia, and she has tranquilisers to help her travel. I am sure that if you explain that you have this phobia, they will provide tablets to help you get to the dentist. Once you have restored your mouth to a healthy state, you may find that your fear subsides. You can also gradually accustom yourself to waiting rooms. Take someone with you. The issue with these drugs is addiction. If you use them only rarely, gps can be persuaded to let you have a small number of tablets.

    Most of all, don't neglect your health, then this sort of pain won't arrise.

Children
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