How do I resolve Medical PTSD? Since the medical industry ignores the fact of Medical PTSD, of course there’s no treatment protocol. Which, considering the iatrogenic effects of its other standard treatments, is probably a good thing.

So, I had to come up with my own treatment plan. Initially, it included cutting back on every medical experience except those that were crucial and net neuropositive. That meant putting off routine screenings, dental care, everything. I did this twice, for 3 months each time. This gave my nervous system a very beneficial solid break from exposure to the medical environment.

Also, I choose healthcare practitioners based on their capacity to treat me like a human being. I need them to help me feel seen, heard, felt, believed, and helped. If they can’t do that, which includes offering a drop of empathy, they cannot help, and will cause harm. NEXT!

Fortunately, my very best doctor came up with a pre-procedure protocol to help rebuild my sense of safety and agency in medicine. I got to name it so I named it after him, the Patel Pause. In short, it’s 45 seconds during which I am completely in charge. I tell the practitioner when they can touch me and when to stop. Their job is to listen and do what I say.

While they are touching me I pause, check in with my body and nervous system, notice there’s no imminent threat, and remember that I can say “stop” whenever I feel like it for any reason or no reason at all. We do this three times so my nervous system can have time to take it in. I’ve done this with nearly every practitioner since spring of 2021: doctors, nurses, physical therapists, craniosacral practitioner, and dentists. I can tell it’s still helping to build my sense of safety because my body is so excited when they stop touching me when I say “stop.”

The problem is medicine is inherently unsafe for all of us, especially if we’ve been traumatized at all, and much more so if we’ve been traumatized by the healthcare industry. Particularly if there is no justice, which seems to be almost always the case. And yet our nervous systems are desperate for a sense of safety that is a biological imperative.

So, the solution is to build circles of safety around us. We can do this if we winnow out practitioners who don’t have the capacity to be supportive of recovery from Medical PTSD, and work with those who do.

I give mine handouts I make, printouts of articles, and little bits of information that help them understand the most important thing in medicine is the safe connection with my practitioners. Also, that this is true for everyone, although most don’t know or articulate it.

One of the biggest factors in my recovery is that I got myself banned from the mega hospital that rules upper Delaware as it simultaneously gobbles up competition and reduces quality of care. Although initially it deprived me of access to my three best practitioners, two of them have since left the system and I have found others who are able to be on board with my recovery needs.

It turns out that a lot of my Medical PTSD was actually ChristianaCare PTSD. I can be in the independent surgicenter OR with much less stress than even passing by a ChristianaCare campus.

Thankfully, they haven’t bought up all the competition yet. Mainly, I take everything very slowly. For instance, I had three visits with my new primary practitioner before I agreed to the annual physical. By then she understood a lot about my condition, so she was able to make suggestions about how to proceed. Also, she’s clearly trauma-informed care trained, which helps.

There is no protocol for recovery from Medical PTSD in an industry that denies the condition exists. We are on our own. Fortunately, the field of Interpersonal Neurobiology offers a comprehensive framework for understanding our need for safety and how we can rebuild what was impeded by medical ignorance, neglect, and even malice. It takes a community of care.

#TraumaAwareAmerica #medicalPTSD #complexPTSD #medicalPTSDrecovery #PatelPause #agency #safety #interpersonalneurobiology