doctor communication

Gaslighting: When Your Doctor Tells You It’s All in Your Head

man with a headache

Jessie has trouble describing the pain in her stomach. It comes and goes. Sometimes it’s a stabbing pain, and sometimes its just dull. Sometimes it takes her breath away. She wants to know what causes the pain, and what can be done about it. She’s frightened; afraid it could be life threatening. She wants an accurate diagnosis. Jeremy suffers from headaches, sometimes 4 or 5 times a week. He has been unable to figure out …

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Getting Revenge in the Face of Malpractice

woman with boxing gloves

Sometimes when patients or caregivers do a search in the AdvoConnection Directory for an advocate to help them, they are unable to find someone. There are a number of reasons for that, such as believing an advocate needs to be local (she may not) or not finding someone who the searcher thinks has the skill set to help… When searchers can’t find someone, they are invited to post a request for their “unmet needs”. We, …

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Cancer and COVID-19: A Guide

camcer patient in radiation during covid-19

With thanks to advocate and guest blogger, Claire Thevenot. Find Claire’s advocacy profile here: Clarity Patient Advocates “COVID cancer sucks,” my client said.  She discovered a cancerous lump in her breast a couple of weeks ago and has had to go through the many initial appointments amid the chaos, isolation, and uncertainty of COVID-19. As if a cancer diagnosis isn’t daunting enough, dealing with cancer in a pandemic setting is especially frightening and challenging. If …

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“Invisible Patients” and the COVID Pandemic

telehealth

With thanks to advocate and guest blogger, Karen Leitson. Find Karen’s advocacy profile here: Personalized Healthcare Advocate Do you or does someone in your family have an unattended medical condition or illness that might be taking a back seat to the coronavirus public health crisis? There is never a “good time” to be sick or to have an ill family member, loved one or friend. But now, during this period of the Covid-19 pandemic, is …

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Taking Control in the Midst of a Pandemic

take control during a pandemic

With thanks to advocate and guest blogger, Barbara O’Halloran. Find Barbara’s advocacy profile here: ABC for Your Health, LLC When life is turned inside out and upside down… COVID19 has impacted every aspect of our lives! It has wreaked havoc and created a great deal of uncertainty for everyone; from kids who are out of school, to parents working from home, to adult children unable to visit with their parents, to the elderly population who …

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Prepare for the Hospital – A Checklist for Use During the COVID-19 Pandemic

woman hospitalized for COVID

With thanks to advocate and guest blogger, Kim McIlnay.  Find Kim’s advocacy profile here: Together Patient Advocates, LLC Under the best of circumstances, a hospital stay is stressful and uncomfortable. New challenges with the current COVID pandemic make this a time fraught with even more worry, uncertainty and isolation. But there are still many things you can do to prepare. I’m hopeful that these brief tips can help you prepare now for an improved hospitalization …

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Danger Lurks at Big Box and Chain Pharmacies

nails

This article popped up in a dozen places over the past week or so. The New York Times, the Chicago Tribune, Axios, even QVC! How Chaos at Chain Pharmacies Is Putting Patients at Risk Reading it will curl your toenails and raise the hair on the back of your neck! You’ll wonder how you have survived your Walgreens or CVS drug prescriptions. But while I applaud the honesty and real-life approach to the exposé, I …

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Cyberchondria – Are we Putting Too Much Faith in Dr. Google?

cyberchondria

You may be reading this post because you are curious about that term – “cyberchondria.”  It’s not hard to figure out what it means. It means hypochondriac-ism as a result of doing online searches. More precisely, the act of diagnosing ourselves by using the web, then upsetting ourselves through our findings. It’s when we decide a headache is really brain cancer, or low blood sugar is translated as Parkinsons, or forgetfulness becomes Alzheimers. The word …

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When Your Provider Says, “It’s All in Your Head”

Infusion pump feeding IV drip into patients arm focus on needle

In a recent conversation with Annette, a young woman who has MS (multiple sclerosis), she described to me the first time she went for a drug infusion which had been prescribed by her neurologist. She arrived for the session using her walker, barely able to keep her balance. Exhausted, she was finally able to get comfortable in the infusion chair. As the nurse began setting up the needle and catheter injection system into her vein, …

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Preventing a Deadly Outcome from a Visit to the Doctor

Today I’m sharing an experience with you in hopes of preventing something we do but don’t think about; something which can be dangerous. At a recent doctor appointment, I found two people in the waiting room just hacking away, coughing up a storm, and very likely infecting others. They were together, and there for only a minute before the nurse took them back to the exam room, removing them from proximity to the rest of …

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