Posted by Mo (158.152.240.111) on September 12, 2000 at 03:01:14:
In Reply to: ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh posted by Melyssa on September 11, 2000 at 12:58:44:
years ago, here in the UK. The Orthodontic surgeon who removed my wisdom teeth and four other teeth (unnecessarily!) told me about a Pain Clinic at my local hospital which was run by various specialists - neuro, opthalmic, himself, a psychiatrist, an E.N.T. guy etc. He invited me to attend. I went as I was keen to find ANYTHING that would help with these ha's (at that time I foolishly thought they might be able to find the cause and a cure for them!)
After two visits sitting in this room with them all & answering tons of questions,it became clear that all they were doing was using me as a guinea pig to try different drugs. (At this point in time, CH had not been diagnosed - even though there was a neuro present). I decided to give it one more visit.
This time it was the turn of the Psychiatrist to have his say. He informed me that he'd read my notes carefully (!) and that in his opinion the condition was all down to me: he thought it could be psychosomatic. You see, I was a young woman striving to succeed in a man's world: I was in a job that was second only to the armed forces in its stress factor (ie Advertising!): if I stayed at home and became a housewife, I'd find that these nasty headaches would go away ( I kid you not, he actually said that)!!!!
For a couple of seconds I was stunned into silence as he pontificated on. But only for a couple of seconds! I told the assembled group of docs round the table (most of whom had the decency to look a bit uncomfortable) that I had never heard such a load of twaddle in my life! That if they didn't know what it was I was suffering from, why didn't they just admit it and we could start from there and try and investigate the cause, rather than just trying different drugs to treat the symptoms - but that throwing my pain back at me and basically saying I was imagining it was just a cop out by them and an insult to me. I finished by saying that I wouldn't be back as they were wasting my time and theirs.
With as much dignity as I could muster I left the room, on the way out hearing the psychiatrist say
something like "that little tirade shows just how emotional she is". Honest to God, I swear if I'd have been a man I would have turned round, gone back and punched him on the nose (but guess that would just have proved to them all I WAS unstable!!)
Morale of the story Melysa? You just can't win with guys like that. Find yourself another Neuro, someone who does understand, who does know about CH!
Sorry about the long post - but reading what you said brought back all my anger and frustration with that stupid psychiatrist.
Thinking of you in your pain and sending warm hugs
Mo :-)