Triggered!!!!!

[Smile]

I was in the hospital ER and needed a transvaginal ultrasound. I was more upset than usual bc I’d just gotten over a baaaad flashback.

So I had to tell the tech bc tears were already streaming. Told her I have ptsd from childhood stuff related to this.

She was VERY SWEET. But she made a mistake. As she was putting the wand in she said, “you’re being such a good girl.” AHHHHHHH! On the positive side, that flipped me straight into dissociation for the rest of it.

But…. That’s just ew in general, right? Bc I’m trying to figure out if it’s triggering me for a personal reason…

 

[Charbella]

Are you a child? Why would she say that?!?

 

[Weemie]

Woof. That's an extreme red flag. Even if she'd lightly patted you on the shoulder and said "good girl," or something. (I know older folks around here do things like that, so it's a cultural thing.) That would have had a different tone to it. But the statement "you're being such a good girl" (to a grown adult woman who is in distress) is very deliberate. I'd honestly make a complaint about it. This tech deals with women's genitalia all the time, and many women are sexual assault survivors. Saying things like that is completely tactless and unprofessional. Hard no.

 

[Movingforward10]

It's hard to understand why so many medical professionals who do invasive treatment in the gentila area are so shockingly insensitive or totally unaware of these things.

I understand how this feels, having had my own triggers with these invasive treatments and nurses being oblivious.

I believe most women find these examinations hard, at least thatrwhat my T tells me.
But those of us with sexual violence in our history: it's a major thing for me that I need to prepare for. And very triggering. Last time I went to a specialist clinic that only worked with survivors and I met a psychologist and nurse and together we came up with a plan about how I wanted the examination to go. and they asked about what distress and disassociation looked like for me so they can ensure I remained emotionally ok. That helped so so so much.

So, being triggered is understandable.
Disassociation is understandable.

How are you now?
As it was a medical procedure. It wasn't the past happening again.
Whilst she said that, her meaning was not the meaning from the past.