Tweet

Diana Cejas, MD, MPH

10 Aug, 3 tweets, 1 min read

https://twitter.com/mahad_minhas/status/1424540688960589826

Turns out that that lump on my neck that I spent 5 years trying to get my doctors to work up wasn't caused by a virus. It wasn't anxiety. It was cancer.

https://twitter.com/mahad_minhas/status/1424540688960589826

You don't have to read the stories in this thread & those in the quote tweets to get this lesson. Ask your patients. Particularly those who are disabled & chronically ill. Those who are people of color, LGBTQAI+, or otherwise marginalized. They'll tell you.

#TipsForNewDocs

We docs spend a lot of time learning about how to engender our patients' trust in us but what does it say when so many patients don't feel like we trust and believe them? What does it say about our healthcare system when so many patients have the same stories to tell?

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

More from @DianaCejasMD

Diana Cejas, MD, MPH

@DianaCejasMD

14 Aug 20

I worry that my doctors won't believe me.

Every time. Every appointment. Every doctor. Even the ones with whom I have a good relationship.

Why? Because once, when I was sick and needed them the most, my doctors did not believe me.

I dress nicely when I go to doctor's appointments.

I am as polite and respectable as I can be.

I use correct terminology.

I am thorough when I report my history.

Why? Because once, when I was sick and needed them the most, my doctors did not believe me.

I shouldn't have to perform my symptoms.

I shouldn't have to speak in my "customer service voice."

But I am a woman and I am Black and I am disabled and I have chronic pain.

And once, when I was sick and needed them the most, my doctors did not believe me.

Read 10 tweets

Diana Cejas, MD, MPH

@DianaCejasMD

6 Dec 19

parent: I think she fakes it to get days off

me, pediatric neurologist & migraineur extraordinaire: what does she do when she gets a headache?

p: lays down in a dark, quiet room

me: &

p: throws up

me: &

p: cries herself to sleep

me:

p:

me:

p: she gets a whole day off

Yes, children can get migraines. Yes, they really can be that bad. No, they aren't faking it. No, a migraine day does not count as a day off.

xoxo,

that brain doctor who's had migraine with aura since she was 11