Management do not believe I had been unwell physically.
Recently ended up in A&E with suspected appendicitis. They planned on admitting me but after several hours in a&e having IV fluids, antibiotics, blood tests, CT scan, they were happy to send me home with two courses of very strong antibiotics. I had what they called a grumbling appendix that was grumbling but not severe enough to need surgery or further IV antibiotics.
They discharged me with a weeks course of cephalexin and metrodizanole antibiotics and advised me to come straight back for admission if I felt no better or became worse.
I stayed off work for a couple of weeks as I felt really rubbish with it and the antibiotics caused pretty bad diarrhoea too. I went back to work not feeling 100% but better than I was.
Fast forward a couple of weeks after returning and I found out my managers didn’t believe I’d been in a&e with suspected appendicitis. They believed I was off due to mental health.
I have a history of mental health problems (depression, complex ptsd) which resulted in significant time off but despite all that, I got better, I’m still here. The last time I was off, it was a stomach bug which I realise now was related to grumbling appendix. The first question my head boss asked was “were you off with your mental health issues?”.
I’m getting fed up with them assuming any absence is mental health related and now finding out about they don’t believe me has really upset me.