Poll How much does your doc know of your trauma history?

[Justmehere]

I am curious. My primary care doc knows only what type of trauma, and even that is very vague. Something came up where knowing a few details of one event may be helpful. I am wondering how common it is for a primary care doctor or general practitioner to know any details.

 

[Sideways]

For me, they know I have a history of CSA. It explains a lot, further details outside a therapy setting are not particularly helpful.

But when people close to me ask me to a church-based occasion (its come up with weddings and a couple of christenings), I have been known to share that I have religious trauma. Where context is going to be helpful to me that they know.

So, if I had sexual trauma, but it was in, say, a medical setting, that context would probably be helpful to my GP. In that case, instead of telling my GP I have CSA-related ptsd, I'd probably specify that I have sexual trauma from a medical setting, because both those specifiers would probably be helpful to the way my GP dealt with me (as opposed to just saying "sexual trauma", which 9 times out of 10 is a family, friend or ex/relationship, or "medical trauma" which is typically associated with medical procedures gone bad).

 

[Friday]

Other.

I’ve had 3 doctors in the past 15 years. The first for over 10 years. The second for a year, and the third for a year... They’ve all known different things about me, and virtually nothing.

No doctor I have can miss my scars. Some surgical, some not. I’ve had quite a few of them removed/reduced over the years, but I’ve still got a few. I usually keep it to the basics. The surgical procedure, if surgical, the cause if not. Dog bite, electrical burn, bankart repair, etc. I only go into “story time” with ER docs, because if you can make an ER doc laugh? You’ve got one helluvan ally. For as long as you’re in their kingdom, anyway. But GPs are a different breed. ER docs make snap judgements, GPs are long haul & reserve judgement. So I don’t illuminate anything, for them. As they’re going to come to their own conclusions, anyway. It’s faaaaaar more about personalities aligning. Which means my family doc GP twigged to the domestic violence, the Navy doc zoomed in on the combat vet, and the sports med bloke sees the beat up athlete in me. All are correct. Each allows them to handle what they’re familiar with, and understand, and treat me accordingly.

 

[Freida]

After about 8 years I finally fessed up to my doc that I had been diagnosed with ptsd after a "series of unfortunate events". Not much in details but she thanked me anyway because it helped her design a treatment program once she understood how it all tied in.

 

[Survivor3]

My gp docters hardly know anything about me. They never ask and I always feel guilty as if I'm taking up their precious time to talk about my trauma history. The closest I've got is saying that 'I've been involved in some really stressful situations'.

 

[NoWhereKnowWhere]

They know as little as possible. I’m sure she can see I have ptsd from my file. I always just say trauma stuff. 10 min interactions are not the place for me to get into all of that mess. Haha

 

[spinningmytires]

No. Other. My PCP doesn't understand my trauma experiences, even though, I've very briefly mentioned some of them to her (3 times?) over the past 20 years. During my last visit with her, a few months ago, she stated that she thinks I'm schizophrenic and living in denial of my schizophrenia. So she must be assuming that my trauma experiences were imaginary and/or due to delusional thinking.

I never have had any physical evidence of sexual abuse as my CSA was solely non contact sexual abuse and purely psychologically. My parents both knew yet they're now deceased. My therapists have only had my observable anxieties, avoidance of intimacy plus my own reports of past abuse as their evidence. Yet, my PCP only has my word which apparently isn't relevant.

At this point, is there any valid reason to discuss anything beyond my blood-work, measurable vitals, prescriptions and other physical symptoms with my PCP …I'd doubt it.

This makes me want to scream and pound my fists on top of my desk in anger! She has been my PCP for the past 20 years and this is what she thinking …that I'm schizophrenic!

 

[Survivor3]

No. Other. My PCP doesn't understand my trauma experiences, even though, I've very briefly mentioned some of them to her (3 times?) over the past 20 years. During my last visit with her, a few months ago, she stated that she thinks I'm schizophrenic and living in denial of my schizophrenia. So she must be assuming that my trauma experiences were imaginary and/or due to delusional thinking.

I never have had any physical evidence of sexual abuse as my CSA was solely non contact sexual abuse and purely psychologically. My parents both knew yet they're now deceased. My therapists have only had my observable anxieties, avoidance of intimacy plus my own reports of past abuse as their evidence. Yet, my PCP only has my word which apparently isn't relevant.

At this point, is there any valid reason to discuss anything beyond my blood-work, measurable vitals, prescriptions and other physical symptoms with my PCP …I'd doubt it.

This makes me want to scream and pound my fists on top of my desk in anger! She has been my PCP for the past 20 years and this is what she thinking …that I'm schizophrenic!

My psychiatrists are the same. In over 12 years they've never diagnosed me with PTSD but instead made out I suffered from Persistent delusional disorder. Some people are just idiots. They are infuriating.

 

[Chris-duck]

My GP knows "CSA and a kinda weird SA thing in late teens/early 20s". They have access to way more cos my T is NHS so his notes are accessible but I imagine they don't really read them but they know my assessment info.

 

[spinningmytires]

I've likely received a few assessments from age 20 to early 2019. Now my new T is apparently required to make another assessment. More recently, I've been giving several printed pages of my own written life history to my T. Yet one T told me that she wouldn't read my own written history because that wasn't how she was trained.

In away it's like I'm always starting over from square one with each new T. Though for me it's not exactly like starting over but rather more like, starting from where I left off. My anxieties are far fewer now than they were when I was age 20. Even at age 24, my T thought I was fine and in no need of anymore therapy other than support. My second T also thought I was fine and only in need of stress management -- Or at least not until my 10th year with him. He only then told me that he thought I'd experienced CSA and had suggested that I see another T. I didn't seek another T and so this issue was dropped.

Not until 2001, at age 55, had I been told I was delusional and then prescribed anti-psychotics. I refused to take the drugs and never did go back for a second session with that T. I saw two other T briefly thru 2002, then quit. I think they were confused because nothing was triggering me. I can only recall being triggered once while under hypnosis. But then, hypnosis isn't a very reliable source for proving CSA.

 

[flowerapple]

I had mentioned it to my first GP after freaking out and having a panic attack during a routine Pap smear test. I had never done one before, so the whole procedure was scary and upsetting. Although I still don't get why I was so scared to do it because during that time I was also going around and having sex with random men, and I never reacted like that in those situations. Anyway, I had mentioned it to my GP after the procedure just to explain why I was acting like that.

But, my current GP doesn't know about it. I haven't seen the need to mention it because I haven't done any medical exams like that since I've stated seeing my new GP. Sometimes I think I should mention it because I see my psychiatrist and a psychologist about it, but I don't really know how I would even go about bringing it up, especially when I don't even have a reason to mention it.

Also, I don't know if I should mention it because might be in my file, so my new GP may already know about it. I know that it is in my file that I had 1 abortion, although it was actually 3 (I never saw the point in saying that it was 3 because I don't think it makes a big difference), but I don't think that it says that it was because of CSA because I never mentioned it. I don't want to bring it up because I don't know if it's important, and I don't want to mention it and waste anyone's time, and I don't want to look like I'm lying about anything because I didn't tell the whole truth from the start.

 

[notsurewheretoturn]

My GP knows some of it, but not all. It is on my records. At my last visit she read my medical notes and commented 'there's a lot of abuse there.' My first reaction? 'I'm not abusive!' Then I realised she was talking about the abuse I had suffered.

So damaged, so very, very damaged - and so defensive too.