Hey guys, this is going to be a rant because I’m in a ranty mood. !!!Content Warning for medical gaslighting!!! A few weeks ago I posted a review of a neurologist who I feel treated me very poorly (I was quite frustrated when I posted it so it was heated I admit). He tried calling me and left a voicemail on my phone to talk to me about why I had left a review so long after I’d seen him last (9 months previously) and I didn’t call him back. Instead I wrote an email and outlined exactly why I was frustrated, I gave him credit where credit’s due - he had diagnosed and got me treated quickly but all in all his bed manner was awful, he told me at one point that if he didn’t have my MRI, he would’ve thought I was normal and from that point on he treated me as though I was a normal person who has MS but that it wasn’t really affecting me. I asked for treatment for my headaches including Botox which he wouldn’t prescribe (the impression he gave me from his reaction was that I am a young woman so I’m just playing the system to get subsidised beauty treatments). He dismissed my back pain as muscular, I now understand that this is the MS hug. All around not a thorough or thoughtful healthcare professional. He’s replied to my email now and I’m honestly more annoyed than upset. He’s said that my reaction is unreasonable, I’m a bad person for posting that review and in all his 30 years of experience that I should be grateful that I’ve been diagnosed now where there are treatments that slow the progression of MS compared to previous years. Just in super poor taste. The conversation is over now, we’ve both said we don’t want to discuss further but I just can’t believe that someone could be so ignorant as a physician to tell someone with a chronic illness and daily chronic pain and fatigue that ‘if you think what you’ve got is bad, imagine being diagnosed 30 years ago’. It’s a sore spot for me because I am only newly diagnosed and learning to stand up for myself. I’m not visibly disabled but my fatigue and pain is debilitating and I am still struggling to find my identity in life and with this diagnosis. I’m not really sure what I’m hoping to get out of this but it is cathartic to write this all down so thanks for letting me scream into the void here. If anyone else needs to scream into the void, here’s the spot!!!