Stories
Women with chronic pain talk about their conditions and experiences. In their own words.
Chris Veasley
Paula Alford
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A woman with vulvodynia explained her frustration with the system, having seen eight doctors over seven months just to be diagnosed:
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"The hardest thing was to approach my condition rationally because I needed doctors to take me seriously. What I really wanted to do was scream or cry out of frustration and utter desperation.”
A woman with endometriosis describes how she became weaker and weaker while visiting various doctors for more than a year with no diagnosis:
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"My periods were getting worse but I was used to having debilitating pain so I did not think that it was necessarily unusual. Eventually out of sheer desperation, I went to a local clinic …and [the doctor there] found a pelvic mass of approximately 6-7 cm…that needed surgical removal. I was in a state of shock. How did it get that way? I had seen doctors on a regular basis for the last year.” She continues, “While I awaited surgery I had another period where I started hemorrhaging and drifted in and out of consciousness on the floor of a washroom at work. Finally the surgery took place and the doctor told me I had endometriosis."
A woman with several coexisting chronic pain conditions expresses frustration with her physicians in handling her diagnosis:
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"My doctors just threw up their hands not knowing what to do with me. I went to four doctors and each one said something different. I can’t believe I have to go through this and the expense is unbelievable. I am in so much pain and want my life back."
A patient with a TMD faced a different experience when she showed up in the emergency room in extreme pain.
- "The reason they gave me when they refused to treat me at the emergency room was, ‘we can't treat you for pain because we would be treating a symptom rather than the cause of a problem.’ My response to them was, ‘after 12 years of surgeries and treatment, and over $200,000 in medical expense, no one has fixed the problem and in fact, it has been made worse.’ The hospital then refused any treatment, even though my blood pressure/temperature was high, and then labeled me a ‘drug-seeker’ on my hospital records. Now, I am petrified every time I have to ask for pain medications."
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