Long COVID Patients Feel Gaslighted, Ignored, And Dismissed By Medical Professionals

[Nevilledog]

Link to tweet

https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/katiecamero/long-covid


Heidi Ferrer hadn’t slept more than two hours a night for at least a month before her neurology appointment last May. She had uncontrollable Parkinson’s-like tremors in her arms and chest vibrations that made it impossible to sleep — just some of the many symptoms Ferrer, age 48, developed after a mostly asymptomatic coronavirus infection in April 2020.

When Ferrer and her husband, Nick Güthe, showed the neurologist a video of the tremors, the doctor subtly brought up his own struggles with depression, assuming that’s what was at least partly the reason for her symptoms.

“He’s gaslighting me,’” Güthe recalled his tearful wife telling him when the doctor left the room. He tried to comfort Ferrer, who told him she felt she wasn’t going to improve and that she had no path forward.

The next day, Ferrer killed herself, ending a 13-month struggle with long COVID.

“Was that the final straw? It might have been, I don't know,” Güthe told BuzzFeed News. “But I know that he was not believing her.”

*snip*

[mopinko]

1. welcome to my world.

20 yrs of looking for answers after catching west nile.
doc got no excuse for being ignorant here. we've been out here, getting called crazy, for lonnngg fucking time.

i hope this leads to some real research and at least understanding.

[Takket]

2. my spouse is bipolar

and pretty much any time she has a medical problem, the doctor's immediately try to say it is all in her head, because of the bipolar. it is almost uncanny. sometimes you just have to shop around until you find a doctor that will actually listen and examine you to look for evidence of your claims. we've had some real good ones, and some real bad ones that literally almost got her killed due to inaction.

if you find yourself not being taken seriously by a doctor, don't give up, get a second opinion.

[shrike3]

3. My husband's had many health challenges.

No way around it, you have to find the right doctor. That makes all the difference. But finding one can be an arduous task.

[gldstwmn]

5. I have come to believe in the last few years the I am the best advocate

for my own health. I know my own body. If something isn't right then I have to persevere in finding the answer. It's not easy. I'm not sure why there is such a disconnect with physicians sometimes. Maybe they are just overwhelmed.

[gldstwmn]

4. I don't want hepatitis.

Link to tweet

?s=20&t=DRTl9kvLsEEJyjFfvvapTg

[Duppers]

6. K & R

Reminds me of my myalgic encephalomyelitis.

[yardwork]

7. I don't mean to sound unsympathetic....

But this is a brand new disease in humans. Millions of Americans have engaged in a stupid game of chicken with this virus, claiming it's fake, claiming the medical profession made it up or created it, claiming all kinds of anti-scientific lies. So the actual truth is that it's real, it's bad, we don't know much about it, and the medical profession is overwhelmed by it (and the millions of people who steadfastly refuse to do anything to help prevent its spread.)

So yeah, doctors aren't able to magically cure it. That's very sad but it's not the doctors' fault.