“I went to the ER like three times in a week with intense depression pain from my urethra area. The he/him doctor and the she/her male centered accomplice dismissed me every time with to out any tests. I hadn’t slept in three days. After hearing them make fun of me outside the room, they entered to dismiss me again. I said that, “I can’t live like this (meaning with pain and no solutions) and begged them to help.” The he/him doctor on some power trip, took those words literally (knowing damn well what I meant) and claimed I was going to hurt myself. Next thing I knew I was in handcuffs, on an involuntary legal hold, and taken away by ambulance in handcuffs to a mental hospital. Spoiler alert: the he/him doctor institutionalizing me against my will didn’t help what was going on with my urinary tract. When I was released after 3 days, I was able to get help and the pain went away.”

“I almost died of celiac disease as a child because the doctors kept saying I was just a weird kid that wanted to talk about poopoo (I called it poop soup because I knew totally liquid diarrhea everyday is not good)”

“Once had a gastroenterologist swear I didn’t have gastroparesis and was just dramatic and woudnlt test me for it, however he did perfom a traumatic gastroscopy and colonoscopy for literally no reason. Once that came back negative my mother had to argue with him for a good 15min just to at least get me tested for gastroparesis… turns out I DID HAVE GASTROPARESIS!!!the dr never called back and I learned about it during a random visit to the ER🥲”

“TWO different he/hims at the ENT heard me plead for help because my throat was swollen and touching my uvula resulting in me gagging constantly and being utterly miserable and suicidal. The first didn't even look in my mouth and the second checked and said "your uvula looks completely healthy, there's nothing I can do to help you." – which resulted in me having undiagnosed tonsillitis for TWO YEARS and now even 4 years post tonsillectomy my throat is permanently fucked up”

“i had horrible stomach and bladder pain and my he/him doctor said i probably had a UTI cause i was hot young and tight. and he assumed i was having a lot of sex. he said if it wasn’t that maybe I just had IBS because I was probably just an anxious girly. he ran the uti test and it came back negative. and he said well we might as well try all the antibiotics we have. he prescribed me three antibiotics at once. the overdose of antibiotics caused a life threatening stomach infection that causes explosive bloody diarrhea and I had to be admitted to the hospital for over a week. the infection is so contagious and dangerous the doctors had to wear hazmat suits to come in my room. I didn’t have to prep for a colonoscopy because i had already shit my brains out. they didn’t find anything so they sent me home still with stomach pain and only weighing 98 pounds at 5’7” because i had been shitting blood for a week. 8 years later!!!!!!! my lesbian gynecologist finally diagnosed me with endometriosis and I had surgery to remove the deep lesions in my abdomen and the stomach pain finally stopped. but thanks he/him doc for feeding my slutty self antibiotics like candy it was a really big help. super duper.”

“I had a he/him doctor who looked at my red, rock solid, swollen arm and said I probably had an infection when I had classic blood clot symptoms. He said “if you really want to stay in the ER longer I guess I could order the ultrasound, but only if you really want to”. I said I wanted to check and got the ultrasound done. He sent his she/her resident back to tell me I did in fact have a massive DVT and needed admission”

“Well… after over a decade of various doctors telling my to “eat more vegetables” and work on my “stress” to fix… being a crazy woman I guess?… I went to a neurologist because I’d been losing feeling in my leg, it felt like there was a tight band around my calf, it always felt like I had lumps in my sock, and I kept tripping over my foot. I couldn’t run and had fallen 2x. The neurologist put a tuning fork on my toe, which I couldn’t feel, then my ankle where I could kinda feel it. He said “Good news, you don’t have MS!” I asked what to do/ how to get better. He laughed. He LAUGHED and said, “Oh you won’t, you just have permanent nerve damage.” Two months later, while waiting for a second opinion, I stopped seeing color in one of my eyes. They finally did an MRI and were like “oooohhhh… you’ve had MS for at LEAST a decade.” Funny bc a decade before my GP sent me to an ophthalmologist bc I had double vision annd she wanted me to get an MRI…. But he said I had dry eyes and was stressed and didn’t give me an MRI. cooooooooooool.”

“he him doctor told me I had IBS when I was screaming in pain in the er. it was a kidney stone”

“was in immense UTI style pain for months peeing blood but tests for UTI coming back negative and antibiotics not helping. went to see a urologist- he/him- who diagnosed me with a condition that means “we don’t know what’s wrong” (interstitial cystitis). he then said “yeah when I see women with this I can never tell if they went crazy before or after this condition” and gave me a sheet on what not to eat (everything). eventually a nurse practitioner sent me to a wonderful she/her urogynocologist who diagnosed me with severe pelvic floor dysfunction as a result of my hip surgery the year prior! which should have been so obvious. I had also asked my hip surgeon ab my symptoms during my year check in and he said he didn’t know and he wasn’t responsible for anything to do with my bladder. lol. I want to k*ll a lot of doctors tbh”

“i had the textbook symptoms of colon cancer, so naturally my he/him doctor fingered my asshole and then refused to refer me for a colonoscopy because he thought i was too young and tight to have anything serious going on. he literally said watch your diet and you wont have IBS. (mind you i was shitting blood and underweight at this point) i had to go through the asshole fingering process again with a brunette she/her doctor and she finally referred me for a colonoscopy. #guesswhohadcoloncancer”

“when i was 19 told a male dr i thought i had ms bc it ran in my family and i had a running water feeling down my leg and confusion. he said it was migraines with aura and told me to leave. i had to ask him if i had ms how he would test for it and he said an mri and i had to tell him to order one. the mri showed that i did have it and he personally called me to tell me w tail between legs. always question your doctors !!!!”

“Went to a he/him rheumatologist for severe chronic pain and fatigue so debilitating that I had multiple days a month where I could not go into work, had to cancel plans, and completely stopped being able to participate in my dance classes. I explained that my PCP referred me to him bc I had a positive ANA panel. He ordered basic labs, but told me he doubted anything would come back and brushed me off by telling me that I was experiencing "regular wear & tear for a 25-year-old." The expression on his face told me that even HE(/him) knew how stupid that sounded. (It was endometriosis & an autoimmune disorder affecting my thyroid.)”

“I was in Chicago for a wedding. The night I landed I woke up in the hotel at 3am with such a horrible cough that it made me puke. Also had cold sweats and chills and tooth pain. I walked myself to the closest ER where the he/him doctor listened to my lungs, decided I had a sinus infection and gave me antibiotics and codeine. I went to the wedding on those antibiotics and codeine and had a great time, codeine rips. But it turns out I had cancer, lymphoma, a tumor the size of a grapefruit to be exact. That thing was impacting my left lung and growing around arteries to my heart, hence the cough etc. My oncologist is so confused why I didn't get x-rayed at the ER and instead had to learn about my cancer from another doctor, lady this time, for the same symptoms two weeks later back in NY. Anyway I'm at MSK for chemo now. Always demand to get imaged! Recently got the ER bull for $500 for absolutely nothing. PS Also paying out of pocket for the cancer DNA shedding blood test, which UHC denied. IG @allymcfeels in case you end up getting treatment at MSK and need sixth floor cafe recs or whatever.”

“told a new he/him psychiatrist i had recently been diagnosed with ADHD & autism and while he was flipping through my diagnostic paperwork, he said "and where did you get this? the internet? 🙄" bro had me straight tweaking on varying doses of adderall for months”

“I needed new glasses after breaking my old ones and had to go to an America’s Best for a new script because I didn’t have an eye care plan. It was 2022 and when I got in the chair to begin the exam, the optometrist (he/him) started grilling me about getting the Covid vaccine. He spent the whole exam lecturing me about how our governor was a Nazi for “pushing” the vaccine, and that I needed to go to the gynecologist immediately to make sure I can have kids— because obviously that’s my biggest and only priority. I set through his tirade quietly while he preached to me that my reproductive system was compromised, and talked at length about gynecology. He asked me if I had any questions and when I said, “Yeah, how are my eyes???” He just said, “no significant change,” and left. I can’t see well with that new prescription and it’s hard to drive at night. :)”

“I stopped being able to walk in February and was in agonizing pain. My he/him neurologist asked if I had tried cognitive behavioural therapy”

“he/him doctor told me pots is very rare and everyone thinks they have it now so the wait-list for the testing was 6-8 months. I got in 2 weeks later turns out I don't have pots so he "I told you so"d me and refuses to do any more testing so I have no clue what's wrong with me :p”

“In 2023 I was sent to a he/him doctor after I had a “stroke-like episode” at 22 and suddenly lost the ability to swallow normal style. Was choking on food and inhaling it into my lungs (confirmed by a swallow test). Lost 10 pounds in the first week after the stroke and he/him doctor told me I should just “drink milkshakes.” But that I didn’t need them because I actually “looked good.” Mind you I was also choking on liquid. I self-referred to a neurosurgeon who found my brainstem was pinched by my spine and I was having brainstem strokes. Had swallowing dysfunction until May of this year when I had major neurosurgery. (Yay! It all worked out!) I called that he/him doctors office maybe 6 months after the appointment for the records and he has left the practice entirely. Thank god.”

“I’m a contortionist and I have a pinched nerve in the middle of my back. The 80 something year old dr asked to see a pic of me in a backbend. Then pointed to the center of my back and said “see this is why you are in pain” and got up and left the room. Every dr I see that I tell I do contortion they literally just say stop doing it then you’ll be fine. Still have pinched nerve obvs. Love the assumption that I who have trained 30 years in my body can’t conceptualize Oh I bend in half therefore the apex of this hurts. Like doy but what now old dummy”

“My spine likes to push into my brain stem/spinal cord (hypermobility) so i went into the hospital when i got the warning signs it was pushing that bitch hard. Limbs going numb, eyes and face spasming, whole body hurting. Sent home, tell your primary.”

“in high school, my dad and ex-boyfriend had to carry me into the ER because i had passed out and couldn’t walk due to the amount of pain i was in. my he/him doctor ordered only a pregnancy test and when it came back negative, he made them do a second one (with a 24hr culture time) and sent me home with the advice “take 600mgs of ibuprofen in the meantime.” i had a ruptured ovarian cyst and had to be taken to a second ER later that evening.”

“OOOOOOOKAY. when it came time for my spinal tap to rule out multiple sclerosis (btw it did not. i have MS lol) SO im on the table, on my stomach, with my arms out like Superman, and they numb my back in 4 places. Then the big needle goes in. (btw it just feels fucking weird and uncomfortable) after 30 minutes, i had barely produced any spinal fluid. the doctor throws his hands up in a big fat tantrum and starts screaming “WHEN IS THIS BITCH GONNA PRODUCE ANY SPINAL FLUID???? I DONT HAVE ALL DAY I WANT TO GO HOME” (i was wide awake for this entire procedure and my jaw fucking dropped) after 45 minutes more of ridicule from the doctor, i started BAWLING. coincidentally, that was the exact moment the fluid started filling the needle. the nurses were so nice, trying to calm me down as im sobbing and screaming “FUCK THIS GET THIS NEEDLE OUT OF ME”. they convinced me to stay and when it was over every nurse came out and basically confirmed he does this a lot and that they hate him lol”

“also had a male dr i told i wanted to actually k*** myself everytime it was about to be my period to the point where i thought about how i would do it and he asked if it was in my head because i knew my period was coming and if i had tried working out to feel better (which as a side note i already do regularly). i told him no it’s not in my head. after he left and discussed with female attending doctors ho took it seriously (she came in room with him) he said “the type of depression you have related to your period” and prescribed meds and said call 911/go to hospital if emergency”

“A he/him allergy doctor told me I probably just had anxiety after I went to the emergency room for a food reaction when I actually have MCAS 👍🏻”

“i told him my foot hurts when i bend my ankle a certain way and he said well don't do that. mind you ankles have to bend to walk.”

“My he/him doctor gave me a diagnostic colonoscopy that couldn’t be completed because I had too much inflammation. My markers and biopsies didn’t match Crohn’s disease but “he knew it was.” I got treated for 1.5 years for Crohn's with steroids and medications and 2 procedures I didn’t need. Got a second opinion at John’s Hopkins and, turns out, I did not have Crohn’s. Never did. Now I only trust doctors that are willing to tell me they don’t know something if they can’t figure it out. I now see she/her doctors exclusively. They all kicked ass and got me a real diagnosis a decade later. It’s Spondyloarthropathy.”

“When my sister was 17 her he/him pediatrician flirted with her during her meningitis vaccine appointment.”

“My he/him rheumatologist, when confronted with all the symptoms of a typical auto-immune disease, said, TO MY FACE: "Well doesn't that just make you feel puny." Sent me home and told me "Everything seems fine," since my symptoms (mostly my hands) did not match up visually with a powerpoint slideshow he forced me to look through while sitting next to me. I had waited 6 months for this appointment, was charged $350, and told to come back if things progressed in any meaningful way. (I was already debilitatingly sick and could barely work / get out of bed) Next rheumatologist I saw (also he/him) was wiling to put me on immune modulators (very high impact medication) immediately because he felt I would likely test positive for Lupus within the next 5 years. Okay swinging from one extreme to the other! Years down the line, I have no auto-immune disease diagnosis, and was able to work with a she/her doctor to do mostly gut biome work to resolve 90% of symptoms. Sigh.”

“my old he/him doctor told me my shoulder subluxations were caused by ‘a hook in my bone’ (?????????? no treatment options given) and i should just bring Gatorade & take deep breaths when my period pain kept making me literally pass out in the halls at school :-) it was a connective tissue disorder and stage III endometriosis, diagnosed by my new she/they GP”

“he/him rheumatologist saw me getting diagnosed with a bunch of new stuff (I had already been through chemo as a kid for real diseases, plus now I was full-body convulsing) & said “idk have you tried mindfulness?”. Neurology referred me to Mayo Clinic & now I take 8 pills a day for a list of “real diagnoses” so that I don’t have to have seizures & tremors everyday anymore. My (she/her) therapist was like “I don’t think you’re crazy - I think not medicating your disability is crazy??” lol find you a she/they therapist to help fight the men at battle, we must unite💅”

“Told an endometriosis specialist I’ve been having pain on the outside of my colon, but not the inside, for years. Surgery with another Dr had confirmed scarring all over the outside of my colon. This he/him Dr told me I “wouldn’t be able to feel the difference between the inside and outside of my colon.” But my exact quote to my husband for years prior was “the outside of the inside of my butthole hurts so badly” 🫠🫠🫠 Dr conceded I “maybe” could have “deep endometriosis”""

“i've had widespread pain since i was a kid and finally got referred to a rheumatologist when i aged out of my children's hospital pain clinic. i tell this guy i'm nervous i have arthritis because my symptoms align and for three years he tells me there's no way i have arthritis because my blood tests for "rheumatoid factor" came back negative. refused to do an x-ray or mri because he didn't find it "medically necessary" because the blood tests "basically ruled it out". just saw a new pain clinic doctor who ordered x-rays after my FIRST appointment to confirm that i do indeed have arthritis”

“You don’t have 2 things, sweetheart” - my surgeon to 23 year old me when I asked that my GYN be present for my bowel resection due to suspected endo. GUESS WHO HAD SO MUCH ENDO THEY COULDNT DO THE RESECTION, SWEETHEART”

“oh this is response two because i have multiple diagnoses and some truly awful doctor horror stories. when i was 13 and first started getting my period i would bleed for weeks and pass out frequently and have pain so bad i was vomiting and couldn't walk. and every time i went to the ER the ultrasound techs (always a man btw ??) would do an ultrasound and ask me if i was pregnant. they ALWAYS would ask if i was pregnant. only took 4 years for a female ER doc to finally refer me to a children's hospital OB specialist and less than a year after that i got my first endometriosis surgery. turns out all my pain and bleeding was not because i was pregnant at 13 (surprise !) it was because i had stage three endometriosis lesions fusing my organs together within my abdomen”

“My he/him doctor told me my anxiety was probably causing my increased heart rate when I stood up (I am now under cardiology and have 4 tests to investigate my heart problems, so far from one of those tests I have mitral valve prolapse and regurgitation!)”

“I actively try to avoid he/him drs of any kind, so found myself at a she/her neurologist but then she self admitted to hating kids and being very autistic, so I think that counts here? She then proceeded to ask me (3 weeks post MS diagnosis) why I couldn’t stop crying / feeling anxious? And wouldn’t move on until I told her what I’ve “been doing for fun” this week… meanwhile I had double vision in one eye, half a paralyzed face, and was so dizzy I threw up if I tried looking at my phone :D”

“I had Pseudobulbar affect like the literal fucking joker after a major MS flare had paralyzed my left side. When I got home from the hospital, I still couldn’t walk, and I would have seeming random spells of hysterical crying or laughter. A neuro PT would eventually point out that it seemed like pseudobulbar affect caused by the significant injury to my brain from a giant lesion (duh). But my he / him MS specialist neurologist just said I seemed really anxious when I would sob through every telehealth appointment. Ahhh I hate him so much lol - Luckily, the pseudo bulbar affect went away! Lmk if you ever google that - wild fucking ride. Also I used to do stand up but I never found a cool and good way to bring MS into it. Very proud to see your work! I’ve had MS since I was 17 and I’m 42 now, it suuuucks. But also like it’s fine? I would love to connect and talk MS I’ve had it longer so I could probably old-slowing stuff. Stay well! MS WARRIOR - I hope you do a bit about that because I hate that term so much. What the fuck is an MS warrior? If MS is a war, I certainly am not a fucking warrior. I am a conscientious objector, And MS is a big tank About to roll over me. Oh I’m @erinryanhey on everything byye ✌️”

“I went to see a dermatologist for profuse sweating. I’m talking underwear soaking, shirt drenching sweaty. I am off work for about 3 years now with chronic migraine, ptsd, anxiety and fibromyalgia. The doctor starts his assessment with saying well you’re healthy so we don’t need to do an investigation. Sorry sir what about being off work at 24 years old with nausea and vomitting almost daily and sweating through my underwear is healthy. (I’d like to see him get this wet) Nonetheless, I got ahold of his documentation on the encounter where he claims to have examined and palpated my body. He didn’t. His only solution was $1200 in Botox that may not work because my sweating is so widespread. Still don’t know what’s wrong with me. Still soaking my pants (with sweat of course). I guess that makes me the tightest and wettest at the pain clinic.”

“When I, a fat women was being diagnosed with Mega Slut disease. I had gone blind in my left eye due to optic nerve swelling. Despite the multiple scans, tests and lengthy reports from my neurologist (an MS specialist) confirming I had Multiple Sclerosis. The ophthalmologist I was seeing at every single interaction tried to convince me I had lost my sight due to being diabetic and at one appointment he said could’ve sworn when he saw my labs and that my glucose was elevated. And when I requested he look again because if that was true I would need to seek care asap. He ‘doubled checked’ and said “oh must’ve been someone else’s labs I saw” and recommended I ‘watch my weight’ because being diabetic and having multiple sclerosis would be difficult. This is where I mention that this man was fatter than I am! :)”

“I pulled my hamstring completely off of my pelvic bone, a full thickness ;) separation of all three of my hamstring tendons. Had a surgery to repair it, kept complaining that some of the PT exercises made it feel like the hamstring was pulling back off of the bone. I kept hearing “building muscle hurts”, “you haven’t don’t anything severe enough to reinjure it”. It took 8 months to convince them to send me for another MRI. It turned out most of it had pulled back off my bone. No fucking way! It’s almost like the exercises where I could feel it pulling off were painful for a reason.”

“Girl i have a ton. i had to have emergency surgery to remove my appendix. After surgery had trouble walking up and down the stairs without being incredibly out of breath. I go to the post op appointment and tell my doctor. My heart rate at this visit was high as hell and he looks at me and goes nah you look good you’re fine. I had 3 blood clots in my lung <3”

“I had nightly heart palpitations for months! My family has a history of heart disease! Very scary. When I went to a male cardiologist he said this was normal for women of my age (25 at the time) and that I should drink a glass of water.”

“Was dizzy alllll the time and had random racing heartbeats. He/him Dr Jacques Merab refused to give me a tilt table test and instead told me to stop taking my beta blocker which I take for heart palpitations. Surprise surprise when I stopped the beta blocker I was still dizzy weeks later. Never got the chance that day to find out if I had POTS or not. Kind of crazy to be refused testing to help a patient rule out possible causes. F that guy.”

“A he/him doctor in the ER told me my eye pain and small rash near my eyeball was just eczema and refused to look at my actual eyeball because he didn't think young women get shingles (not true at all). Then he told me I probably had HIV (i was a virgin and never used a needle) and when I tested negative he said tests can be wrong. Turns out I had shingles inside both my eyeballs and without special medication it would have made me go blind and spread to my brain and killed me! I was the youngest person in all of California to have it in both eyes (hottest and tightest in optimology unit).”