(Vent) Feel dismissed by rheumatologist
I just had a zoom appointment with my rheumatologist for the first time in a couple months and it kind of put a damper on my day.
I haven’t been feeling super well the last couple months so I was ready to tell her about all the symptoms I’ve been tracking but she kinda shut me down the second I told her I wasn’t feeling super great.
She just kinda stopped what I was saying and started talking about how I need to be getting enough sleep, exercising, controlling my stress, and start a sugar free, gluten free diet.
She straight up said “not all pain comes from autoimmune issues a lot of yours seem to be coming from lifestyle issues.”
This hurt me because I’ve been rly trying to eat healthy since my diagnosis 2 years ago (all whole grain, whole foods, mostly everything cooked from scratch, meal planning, all that) but apparently that’s not enough. I work an active job that involves a lot of walking but she dismissed that and said I should “go for 30 minute walks.” I’ve been trying to get good sleep and trying to control my stress but my stress is mostly money/finances related rn so it’s not like I can really escape it.
It’s just made me feel like I’m not trying hard enough (even though I feel like I’m trying really hard) and I’m causing my own pain. I didn’t even get to tell her the symptoms I wanted to because she just ended the appointment after her lecture and told me to schedule a follow up in-person. I feel like I wasn’t able to get a word in. I don’t know. I guess I just needed to vent.