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Apr 2, 2022Liked by Christine Wolf

Christine, thanks so much for sharing your story. I'm so sorry this medical event happened to you, though I see you are making meaning out of your suffering by educating others and highlighting the broken parts of our Healthcare system (mental and physical). I echo your concerns, both as someone who has been severely and permanently injured by medication (fluoroquinolones, steroids, and Pfizer vaccine #1), and as a psychologist. I have significant social anxiety and a bit of PTSD from medical trauma. A recent ADHD diagnosis is now at times dismissed because I'm so "high functioning" learning to mask my symptoms and blend in. It's exhausting and dismissive in the worst ways. My overfocus on my health issues is used against me as my former doctor told me that my ongoing severe headache post-vaccine is probably psychosomatic. I knew to cut the cord at that moment and now see Dr. David Rakel who heads up UW Madison's Integrative Medicine Clinic. He even wrote a book titled "The Compassionate Connection: The Healing Power of Empathy and Mindful Listening" - geared toward medical providers. Thanks again for telling your story!!

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Christine, reading your words felt like an echo of my own thoughts. My entire body is still tense after reading, while not having gone thru your experience myself, I can imagine it all too well. Every contact I have with the medical system has sent me over the edge, into a ball, and back to bed. I relate so well to being deemed pleasant and highly functioning - nothing to look at here folks - that even when I have told medical providers the true state of my mental health, they don't believe me. It's infuriating and heartbreaking.

Our system has always failed on sending folks home without resources and without any acknowledgment of the long road ahead, the healing that continues. Hospitals are like factories, churning out "fixed" bodies, and that's it. Even more frustrating is that I truly believe most workers in healthcare begin their careers out of genuine compassion and a desire to serve people. But even the best doctors and nurses are now trapped in the corporate money-making requirements that do not allow time for real conversations or for thoroughly checking medical histories.

My heart is with you as you revisit this trauma. Honored to listen and hold space for you. Be gentle with yourself.

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