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2:23am September 29, 2014

clatterbane:

Actually tying back in with that discussion earlier, I couldn’t help but be reminded again of how messed up it is that just about the last thing I would ever want to discuss with most medical professionals is how barely-treated chronic pain and illness can affect your mental health. Or aspects of your life that would get thrown under the mental health umbrella.

I mean, I start into weird OCD doubt loops over some of this stuff anyway, after getting to hear so much harmful bullshit. Do I get these disturbing repetitive thoughts at certain pain levels because, you know, that’s kinda what pain tends to do? Or is it because I really am “crazy”/a “drug seeker”/etc.? Just one example, but yeah.

That’s on top of fully expecting to get it treated as a psych ONLY problem if I ever said “this pain is giving me suicidal thoughts (which kinda go away when the pain is reduced)”. Or even “sometimes trying to cope with this shit gets very depressing”. Or “Sometimes I wish I just didn’t have to get up and try to deal with responsibilities. This is a problem.” Besides not expecting proper treatment for the actual symptoms, I would be afraid of getting sectioned.

And none of this seems to be an unusual problem. Which is most of what I was commenting on being seriously messed up.

Some of the bizarre assumptions around mind/body dualism they’re working from hurt people in a lot of ways. Even when this gets wrapped up in language that may sound a little more accepting on the very surface.

All of this.  I refuse to talk about “psychiatric” effects of pain, for that reason.  Plus it’s none of their business.