I'm Tired of ER Doctors Dismissing My Pain Because I'm 'Young' and 'Overweight'

Chronic pain: being in constant pain and sometimes having a flare-up so bad I have to go to the emergency room to make sure I am not dying. 

“Please do not come into my emergency department and fake cry to get your pain medication. That isn’t going to work. You need to breathe and lose weight.” – many doctors from regular visits to the ER

 

I have possible endometriosis, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), fibromyalgia and neuropathy. My periods are very irregular and extremely painful, where I curl up and vomit for 10 minutes straight. One night my mother brought me in because I was rocking back and forth, crying. My blood pressure was pretty high and my pain level was between a seven and a nine when I went through triage.

It seems like when I go to the emergency department they mock me! Mocking me as in: “Hi Carol, so you’re back with the same ole pain again?” These doctors would make me feel so bad and I never asked for pain meds unless I was screaming in agony from feeling like my whole uterus was on fire! They would come back in and say, “Well, I see you are allergic to NSAIDS, so we will give you extra strength Tylenol.”

I went into the ultrasound room, crying and wincing in pain from the second part of the test, and it was painful! The nurse radiologist called the doctor up and mocked me, saying, “You are overweight and being way to emotional at this moment. We will give you one time only a pain shot.” It makes me feel like I am a criminal. I haven’t done anything to deserve pain physically, especially, but also emotionally/verbally.

After many visits to my old PCP, specialists and some ER doctors, I have officially lost trust. I am so sick of hearing, “You are too young to be in pain.” When does pain have an I.D.? I hope our medical field will be more compassionate down the road.

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