Comments on: Doctor Addresses Prevalence of Medical Trauma

By: cathy

cathy — Wed, 22 Oct 2014 05:11:18 +0000

i soo wish more drs had your sensitivity! this is such a great article! I’ve been hugely traumatized by the medical system . . them using anethesia even though i emphasized i didn’t want it . . .etc. When Drs. violate patient consent in order to do fast food procedures it is extraordinarily damaging to patients. More Drs. are using Versed for their patients who have EGDs to make them “forget” the procedure & to make them very compliant & less bothersome. GIs use it as standard procedure now for a lot of patients & it is very traumatizing for a lot of folks out there . .i have read about lots of others who consent is violated adults as well as children. This needs to stop. THANK YOU! you sound like a wonderful Dr. & a wonderful human! <3

By: Sheila

Sheila — Thu, 25 Sep 2014 02:38:04 +0000

PRIVATE
Dear Doctor, thank you for a very interesting article. I’m going to watch your video later on. Right now, I’m most curious to find out whether there are any books or articles you might have written, or be be aware of which address the experiences of adults undergoing multiple traumas induced by medical treatments such as weekly debridement of open wounds in chronic wound patients, performing minor surgical procedures such as removal of an ingrown toenail, or suture removal from an abscessed incision – all without anesthesic or with inadequate anesthetic. I have personally experienced these painful treatments multiple times (and many other types of such treatments) and believe that I am having symptoms now that are similar to some type of post traumatic stress disorder that are the result of having been medically traumatized. I’m just a concerned patient who could use some help in understanding: 1) Why medical professionals feel it is acceptable to inflict pain on a patient when it is unnecessary; 2) What I, as a patient, can do to protect myself from such treatment; and 3) How I can reverse the damage done to my psyche with all of the medical trauma I have endured.

I appreciate any help you could provide. Thank you.

By: Michele

Michele — Sun, 03 Aug 2014 17:55:34 +0000

In reply to Geoff.

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Geoff,

I had a slightly similar situation and fully identify with ADR, robotic & impersonal medical “professionals”–ill-informed & arrogant, lack of expertise in ADR and, now, similar result condition resulting in chronic pain and pressure. This, in addition to my newfound fear and avoidance of the medical establishment, has me left in need of repair. Yet, I can’t and won’t re-enter their sphere. It made no difference that I’ve worked full-time in the local health field from 1989 to present. It made no difference that I’ve a Master’s degree or that my undergrad is in Health Science. It made no difference that I had a lot to add, potentially, because I was silenced, more or less, and not allowed to weigh in on my own care. How could I be silenced and held as having no credibility? Because they mistakenly assumed I was “presenting as a paranoid psychotic”. I had no friends or family in ER with me to collaborate my information as factual. With their assumption of me being a mental patient with psychosis, they reacted accordingly, ignored my repeated requests for an attorney, denied me my patient rights, one after another. I came in the ER with my heart in arrhythmia. Additionally, with the ADR, my body was both distressed and impaired in other ways. My body was suffering a trauma and then they further traumatized my situation with this response: putting me on a 72-hour hold in a locked wing of psychiatry. Being I called 911, and have had a previous history of maintaining wellness and routinely seeking all preventative care and corresponding follow-up, I was utterly dismayed that I was being treated like a flight risk and it was they who had fears of me being injurious, only because they hadn’t a clue of what I was going through or who I was/am. There is no medical professional in the world more vested in my spiritual/mental/social/physical/financial/professional/preventative health care and wellness than me! And, I have the pro-practice history to back it up. Clearly they current believing me, even though I asked them to collaborate my info with my medical history. This was a nightmare of a lifetime. Now, everything revolves around my avoiding the medical system. I’m both horrified and disappointed in humanity. Prior, my view of the world was that the glass or cup is half full. I live my life pararalyzed by this trauma. You may never see this, as your post is from 2012. Today is August 3, 2014. Likely, you’ve another email address by now. In the event that you receive this, I want you to know that I’m replying to the post of a total stranger (you) because yours is the closest story to mine that I’ve found online. I’m desperate to be looking for support and healing online. In reality, I recognize I need the healing that can only be found in human relationships with compassionate others, in person. However, I’ll appreciate any insightful reply you can write.

By: Kathryn Lamoureaux

Kathryn Lamoureaux — Tue, 24 Jun 2014 22:50:56 +0000

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I was so hopeful, happy to see this video. Just plain common sense but who knew yrs ago. I myself had many hospital procedures as a child. In addition, I was sexually abused by my GF and a Catholic priest from 5-11 yrs old. Will SE be helpful for me? I have suffered from depression and other issues my whole life. As an adult I have also survived 4 cancers, and all the related helplessness. Thanks, Kathryn Lamoureaux

By: Broken Heart

Broken Heart — Thu, 17 Apr 2014 23:34:39 +0000

PRIVATE Qukis, wow. I was already thinking of animals when I started to read this article. How I used to be filled with empathic pain going to a veterinary’s office as I felt the terror in animals. And you are right… it was like being an animal. I was left in a gurney freezing in the hallway, tricked to blow up the balloon but was an ether mask and had a horrible smell, I was left alone when my mother left and I knew I was going to die so I just used pure defiance to survive. The smells and the terror… unimaginable. I am almost 50 and spent a life in PTSD since 3 when, I , too, lost an eye in an accident. Then years and years of doctors and prodded and …

By: Qukis

Qukis — Thu, 20 Feb 2014 22:36:24 +0000

Why isn’t the internet full of articles like this???

I have a severe PTSD which I received during childhood years in a hospital due to medical procedures.
I’ve been carrying out with trauma and various disorders for 30 years already…
No one can understand this horror unless one experiences it in a helpless state. I always cry when I see an animal in a lab, because I know exactly what this creature feels.
We have to draw public attention to the horrifying intrusive medical machine. It’s not a joke. It doesn’t matter, whether it’s people or other animals.

By: phil engen

phil engen — Sun, 09 Feb 2014 22:32:53 +0000

PRIVATE

Do you still see patients?

By: Kaye Ford

Kaye Ford — Wed, 25 Dec 2013 04:37:37 +0000

PRIVATE – I have had my tonsils out under ether (in the early 1960’s) and lazy eye surgery at age eight in the mid-sixty’s. I was told that I came out of the anaesthetic climbing the walls, so obviously some kind of adverse reaction to the ether. As a 10-11 year old girl, there was some non-touching sexual abuse and my father abandoned my mother and four young children when I was age 11. I became promiscuous in my teens, including getting pregnant; miscarrying, getting pregnant again and this time having an abortion. I married at age 20 to a man that I was his only sexual partner. He has quizzed (grilled) me over the years as to what happened before we married and I told him some things but not the worst (sex with a cousin 10 years older than me when I was 16 or 17 and another encounter with a older man that I approached for help being pregnant). After being married 25 years which had many good parts and some tough spots, I committed adultery over a period of approx three years with someone I worked with. I withdrew from this situation somewhat slowly (sort of backed away) and have not discussed with my husband until Sept 1 of 2013. He wrote out a document of what he knew and confronted me. This adultery occurred from late 2002 until into 2005. Most of the details that he is looking for, I can’t remember. As I travelled with this person for work, there are locations that I know we travelled to but cannot remember being there or having sexual relations with this person. Needless to say, my husband does not believe I can’t remember most of it, but I truly can’t remember and says I am not trying. Could all of this lack of memory, or even having an affair relate to the early trauma of surgery, father abandonment, etc? Prior to the start of the adultery, my husband I delivered our two youngest daughters to university and had an empty nest. Did this trigger the abandonment issue to reoccur? Too much going on in my head! Any direction you can provide would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

By: Barbara

Barbara — Fri, 06 Dec 2013 12:21:23 +0000

Robert, I can see it would be healing for the people making comments here to read your response and feel their trauma acknowledged. I’m in process right now looking for a SE practitioner after living with trauma for 30 plus years after experiencing two Caesarian sections under a general anaesthetic – where the drugs didnt work – and I was left awake, paralysed, unable to speak or move – but could feel everything. I feel sad that a big part of my life has been robbed from me, but anticipate the possibility of freedom from the hypevigelence, anxiety & dissasociation that has ‘helped’ me survive so far.

By: Robert Scaer

Robert Scaer — Mon, 04 Nov 2013 00:31:29 +0000

In reply to Ann Rose. I acknowledge your experience, and the painful residues you're experiencing. I believe that SE is uniquely effective in extinguishing the recurrent physical and emotional distress of medical procedures. When these have occurred in childhood, they are especially devastating because they rob you of resilience, and make you more vulnerable to similar medical traumas.