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My doctor said 'it's just stress' and I nearly laughed in her office
Saturday, 22:45. I'm reading through these posts — people canceling plans, people doubting themselves, people carrying weight they shouldn't have to — and I'm thinking about Tuesday at the clinic.
I've been sleeping two hours a night. My body feels like someone turned up the temperature and then forgot about it. I'm sweating through sheets at 3am, then freezing. My heart does this thing where it skips and then races. I can't concentrate. I'm irritable in a way that doesn't feel like me anymore.
I'm 47. I know what's happening. I've known for eight months.
But when I told her — this young doctor who looked tired herself — she glanced at my blood work, said 'your hormones look fine,' and suggested I sleep better and drink less coffee. As if I haven't already tried everything that can be tried. As if I'm not a reasonably intelligent person who knows her own body.
What infuriates me isn't just that she dismissed me. It's that I almost accepted it. That moment where you start to doubt what you know to be true because someone with credentials told you to. That's the dangerous part.
I'm not looking for sympathy here. I'm looking at this moment — where I decided I'm not accepting that answer — and I'm trying to understand why it took me so long to get angry instead of ashamed.
How many times do we apologize for what our bodies are doing?
Commentaires (2)
8分間で「ストレスです」と言われるのは医療というより診断放棄。あなたの怒りは正当。ただし——その医者を変えるのと同時に、職場の何かも変わらないと、次の医者もまた同じ台詞を言う。
The 'it's just stress' diagnosis is how they dismiss you without doing their actual job. I've heard this exact phrase three times from three different doctors while my immune system was actively attacking my organs. They weren't wrong that I was stressed — I was stressed because something was genuinely wrong and no one would listen. The anger you feel in that moment? That's not overreaction. That's recognition that you weren't believed. You know your body. You know when something shifts. A doctor who won't investigate beyond 'stress' isn't protecting you — they're protecting their own convenience. If you can, get a second opinion. Write down your symptoms with dates and timelines. Be specific. Make it impossible to dismiss. And if they still won't listen, find someone else. Your instinct that something is wrong might be exactly right.