Hello. This is a post to help y'all understand a very important lesson for both neurotypicals and ESPECIALLY neurodivergents. It's about self-advocating and health. You might want to read this even if you think you got this skill down as we could always use some help and fine tuning on this skill. First of all, I want to say I learned this life lesson really late. I've learned that neurodivergents typically learn this skill statistically later than neurotypicals. First I will state a general statement about this and then I will provide experiences I have had that prove this is a useful skill, and had I had this skill there would've been significantly better results. Self-advocating is really important. If you don't self advocate, people around you may not know what you need which can lead to frustration on both parts. When it comes to health, this is especially important as doctors don't follow you around and listen to your every complaint and watch you 24/7. Additionally, doctors may sweep certain conditions under the rug. Self-advocating for yourself may make both parties uncomfortable but it is needed for success. Now for the examples: First, I have AMPS, which is a pain condition that makes pain heightened. It is so rare that there are no statistics about how many people have this condition. The most comparable condition is fibromyalgia. Anyways, to the example: I've always had pain ever since I can remember. It's been random and I appeared to have more pain than others and more pain complaints. My mom took this seriously at first. She took me to several doctors who kept dismissing it, basically saying I was too young to have that much pain and I was faking it for attention as there were no obvious physical signs such as a broken bone, swelling, etc. We finally re-explored it later with a completely separate condition. A doctor I went to couldn't find a working treatment, and sent me to a pain doctor. I mentioned the pain I had ever since I could remember for the first time in forever. They diagnosed me with a comparable condition. I was later diagnosed with AMPS when we were looking into a separate condition I may have, at a completely separate doctor. Had we kept advocating, I would've gotten results sooner. I would've had less pain and better overall life quality. Second I bring up hEDS. I am a dancer. One time my dance teacher told me to warm up, to which I replied that warming up seemed to injure me and hurt me more. They suggested I go to a rheumatologist, to which I did. They diagnosed me with hypermobile ehlers danlos and AMPS. This is a classic condition of me KNOWING I was different (I had a cool party trick where I would essentially dislocate various things that others could often not) and not doing anything about it. Had I done this sooner, I would've gotten diagnosed with most of my conditions sooner and gotten treatment sooner. Third, we come to autism and ADHD. I always knew I was different but doctors kept constantly missing all the signs and symptoms from when I was a baby to when I was finally diagnosed. My doctors still didn't believe I was AuDHD until I tested for it and got officially diagnosed. Had we pushed farther to find the root of ALL of my symptoms, we would've found out sooner and I could've gotten treatment sooner (both socially and my physical deficits). My final example I am sharing here (not sharing all experiences here), is my GI issues. I have had GI issues for years. Doctors kept dismissing it at first saying I was lactose intolerant. Then, we got actual pathological samples and they said I was sucrose intolerant and ended their search for answers. I just got had to have my gall bladder removed. This, we have since found out, was probably brewing for years. I had all the signs and symptoms, abnormal blood work, etc. One of the classic signs is sucrose intolerance. They only found out because I had another condition that was not present on any tests and did another test, showing my gall bladder issues. Had we pushed farther to get my symptoms resolved and hadn't gave in that I would just be forever heavily restricted in my diet, I would've gotten this done sooner and had much less problems over the years. So I hope this post has shown you to keep pushing for answers if you notice something different about you, or a negative symptom in you. Whether it is autism or another diagnosis in your life, I hope and pray you get answers and you push for those answers when doctors don't.

Posted by Ann24 at 2025-02-10 04:36:13 UTC