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How to explain this without them gets the wrong impression
One-in-a-million
Posts: 606 Incredible Poster
So I’ve got to go for a scan and examination on my stomach. I am fine with it but I feel like I need to make them aware of something.. sometimes if someone is touching my stomach… particularly lower down and towards the sides I get a bit jumpy due to it being a trigger area. It will be important that they know when my reaction is not due to pain because that is particularly the reason for the appointment.
But and this may seem stupid I also don’t want them to think I have been SA’d or something. What happened was sexual harassment not sexual assault and while it’s probably one of those “they don’t need to know details.” I don’t want it to leave them thinking I have been assaulted but I want to make them aware that some of my reactions may not be due to pain as it’s important they know Whats painful and whats not
But how to I bring it up?
But and this may seem stupid I also don’t want them to think I have been SA’d or something. What happened was sexual harassment not sexual assault and while it’s probably one of those “they don’t need to know details.” I don’t want it to leave them thinking I have been assaulted but I want to make them aware that some of my reactions may not be due to pain as it’s important they know Whats painful and whats not
But how to I bring it up?
3
Comments
Equally, I get what you're saying, you want to give enough info for them to understand and treat you in the way you need, but also you're not wanting to describe in detail your experiences. You want them to get the gist, I suppose?
I reckon you get in there, try to get acquainted. I've noticed recently that medical staff seem to be making more of an effort to do small talk, and sometimes doing that can make confiding in them a bit easier. When it comes to the person describing how the scan works you could go for a few options that two that seem easiest (to me, you may disagree!) are:
1) saying "great thanks for explaining, I know you'll probably have to go closer to my stomach and that's fine, I just wanted to let you know I can flinch sometimes when that happens but it's not due to pain, I'm just sensitive there and can get a bit anxious about it. I'll let you know if there's any pain, okay?"
OR you could tell a small mistruth if you don't feel up to being totally honest, which is completely fine.
2) "great thanks for explaining, I know you'll probably have to go closer to my stomach and I just want you to know that I'm ticklish there, so if I jump around a bit, that's why!".
If neither of these suit you or the vibe you're going for, let me know and we can brainstorm some more if you'd like!!
Also, aside from the anxiety about your lower stomach being touched, how do you feel about the appointment? xx
Thank you so much for replying, I think this is actually the perfect answer it doesn’t go too far into details but also explains that it is a sensitive area and can sometimes make me anxious. This allows them to meet me half way in knowing that I’m anxious but also that I’m not experiencing any pain.
In a way its a relief to finally be having this appointment because it’s taken a while to get it and it means I finally get to know what if anything is going on and causing the symptoms I’ve been having.
100% so very true, sometimes the waiting around to get booked on for a scan is worse than actually going in or finding out the results, because you're trapped in this uncomfortable limbo where you cannot know what is going on with your body
I hope the appointment will be/ was everything you need it to be and that the results are speedy, and regardless of the outcome, we are always here to talk stuff out