people need to start taking teenage girls seriously (especially you, doctors!!)
i am so freaking mad at my doctor...
the other day, i payed my clinic a visit. it was regarding my many piling symptoms of adhd or some type of neurodiversity. it's pretty damn hard to take high school and college classes while also helping around the house with so, so many symptoms as a young teen with desi parents who were conditioned to think stuff like mental illness = psycho which my child is not, just lazy (they've been getting better, at least).
so the doctor comes in and asks the usual question, and i tell her all my symptoms, including, but not limited to:
having the short-term memory span of a goldfish
literally can't focus to save my life
random hyperfixations, for example, sometimes, when i read, i will finish a 500 page book in 3 hrs and if anyone calls me i will literally not read it
auditory processing issues
textual processing issues
never, ever wanting to get up in the morning
randomly feeling super depressed, then bouncing of the wall 5 minutes later
maladaptive daydreaming for a quarter of the day
freaking major procrastination
either being emotionally dead or overinvested in everything
don't remember what i had for breakfast but you wanna know about the palmaris longus, historical clothing of the 1830's, why banana flavor don't taste like banana, or alien hand syndrome?
feeling guilty for having fun, even if i completed all my responsibilities beforehand.
seriously. this is my list. and you know what the doctor said in response?
4 times (yes, i found myself counting): yeah, it's pretty common to feel that way since the pandemic began.
and every time she said that, i mentioned that these symptoms were from before the pandemic as well, to which she'd just dismiss me and continue.
7-9 times: oh, that happens to me too, that happens to everyone!!
i don't want someone to fucking relate to, i want treatment! like, i'm pretty sure you never created a whole magic system in your head but could never get it to flow on paper, but ok, if you say so, kim.
(? times) her #1 argument:
but you used to have high grades before the pandemic.
i still have relatively high grades, just the one b i was stressing about. and the issues started bEFORE THE PANDEMIC! but the doctor wouldn't stop using this argument, even after i refuted her claim. also, i've burned out, doc! can't you see!
still, some of the smartest people i know are neurodivergent. even those who aren't treated have had high grades.
y'all don't have to believe me. maybe she was right, and i am neurotypical (i don't buy it one bit), but when i came home, i mentioned what happened to my sister casually. i didn't say anything biased, just why i went to the doctor's.
and she just flat out says that she doesn't like that doctor one bit. and why? because when she was a high school sophomore, she went to her regarding her anxiety, and she just flat out dismissed her worries.
apparently, having a panic attack after school almost every day is not enough evidence for having anxiety, kim...
just because i am a young teen, a girl, does not my troubles can be dismissed like that! especially if you are a healthcare professional and someone is explaining their MEDICAL issues to you-- i don't care how old they are-- you are supposed to listen!