As women with ‘invisible illnesses’ struggle to be believed, a report on chronic pain could help

My mom was disgnosed with fibromyalgia at a time when most doctors either hadn't heard of it, or dismissed it as not being a real thing still. She's had a pretty long road of it. Luckily she had a good doctor at the time, I couldn't imagine how much worse it would be if any of those other doctors had been hers at the time.

It already sucked enough when she was referred to specialists or had to go in for other tangentially related stuff where it was important for them to know she had fibro. Her doctor would catch flak from them for writing it down as her official diagnosis. So glad her doctor was able to handle that and persevere. As great as it probably feels to eventually be proven right, it certainly couldn't have felt great getting there.

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Often when going into the doctor's office I have to go with my wife because if I don't they often dismiss her, I will just succinctly restate what she's been saying and then and only then will she get help It's incredibly frustrating.
My mom was disgnosed with fibromyalgia at a time when most doctors either hadn't heard of it, or dismissed it as not being a real thing still. She's had a pretty long road of it. Luckily she had a good doctor at the time, I couldn't imagine how much worse it would be if any of those other doctors had been hers at the time.
It already sucked enough when she was referred to specialists or had to go in for other tangentially related stuff where it was important for them to know she had fibro. Her doctor would catch flak from them for writing it down as her official diagnosis. So glad her doctor was able to handle that and persevere. As great as it probably feels to eventually be proven right, it certainly couldn't have felt great getting there.