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Medical gaslighting?

Mother.of.demons

Hi all, brand new here and I have a question.

Is chronic pain caused by autism??

Let me explain, because even writing it out, that sounds like a really stupid question 

My daughter (diagnosed this year after 8 years of fighting with the nhs) has started suffering with leg pain, numbness, tingling and most worrying of all sudden collapse in the last 3 months. The gp did routine bloods which of course showed nothing of note, but during a follow up appointment I mentioned her autism as she was tired and the mask was gone, which is rare for her, but we needed the gp to take time to understand her.

I think this was a mistake.

At the end of the consultation he said he thought the pain was sensory (isn't all pain sensory??) And a result of her autism. I was too taken aback to question or ask about management. Was this just abject gaslighting? Is it a thing? Ive been scouring the Internet and can find a lot about autism pain being dismissed but nothing about it being a cause. Im at a complete loss, dd already has zero faith in the medical profession after being gaslit for 8 years. I feel like a fraud insisting she should see a Dr only to be dismissed.

Please help.

Parents

  • Sorry to read this

    If someone says they are in pain then from a whole load of practical and pragmatic reasons one has to take their word for it.

    Not sure what the person means by the pain being "sensory" either

    It might be that they are implying that they do not consider it to be of physical origin but that's not clear from what you write.

    It might be possible after making a subjective and objective assessment that for one skilled in observation might be able to detect whether the physical demonstration of the pain comes and goes when the person is being observed or not... But then who's to say that the person notices the pain more when conscious of being observed...

    Anyway before concluding that the pain is "psychosomatic" (e.g. of no physical cause - possibly in conjunction with autism in some way) it's crucial to rule out any physical causes.

    The leg pain, numbness and tingling would be reasonably easy to map "dermatomall" and "myotomall" patterns if nerves are being squished somewhere along the way e.g. as  suggests from a back problem (for example what is commonly called "sciatica") for someone who knows what they are doing  Before the specialist starts labeling the cause as autism there's a whole load of other stuff to consider - including ruling out "red flags" e.g. any other symptoms that might go along with the presentation which would require further investigation.  I wonder if the health care professional involved did this and/or whether they talked thro' having done so before reaching the conclusion they have?

    if you don't think that a thorough assessment was made for what ever reason then asking for a second opinion (this would be your daughter doing this if she is an adult in medical terms) seems to be a sensible thing to do.

    Anyway, even if it is eventually concluded that the pain etc is of a "non physical" origin that still leaves your child reporting pain and behaving in a fashion that is less than healthy and they need help with that still... So I wonder then if that is the ultimate conclusion of clinical assessment where they recommend your daughter is supported next?

    Best Wishes to you and yours.

Reply

  • Sorry to read this

    If someone says they are in pain then from a whole load of practical and pragmatic reasons one has to take their word for it.

    Not sure what the person means by the pain being "sensory" either

    It might be that they are implying that they do not consider it to be of physical origin but that's not clear from what you write.

    It might be possible after making a subjective and objective assessment that for one skilled in observation might be able to detect whether the physical demonstration of the pain comes and goes when the person is being observed or not... But then who's to say that the person notices the pain more when conscious of being observed...

    Anyway before concluding that the pain is "psychosomatic" (e.g. of no physical cause - possibly in conjunction with autism in some way) it's crucial to rule out any physical causes.

    The leg pain, numbness and tingling would be reasonably easy to map "dermatomall" and "myotomall" patterns if nerves are being squished somewhere along the way e.g. as  suggests from a back problem (for example what is commonly called "sciatica") for someone who knows what they are doing  Before the specialist starts labeling the cause as autism there's a whole load of other stuff to consider - including ruling out "red flags" e.g. any other symptoms that might go along with the presentation which would require further investigation.  I wonder if the health care professional involved did this and/or whether they talked thro' having done so before reaching the conclusion they have?

    if you don't think that a thorough assessment was made for what ever reason then asking for a second opinion (this would be your daughter doing this if she is an adult in medical terms) seems to be a sensible thing to do.

    Anyway, even if it is eventually concluded that the pain etc is of a "non physical" origin that still leaves your child reporting pain and behaving in a fashion that is less than healthy and they need help with that still... So I wonder then if that is the ultimate conclusion of clinical assessment where they recommend your daughter is supported next?

    Best Wishes to you and yours.

Children
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