Hi everyone, I'm Daranie, and I've been diagnosed with IBS-d for 4 years. I'm currently a graduate student at Harvard Medical School's Media, Medicine, and Health program, working on my capstone project which aims to utilize an art exhibition to address medical gaslighting among female patients with gastrointestinal symptoms. This frequently includes, but is not limited to IBS, PCOS, and endometriosis patients. For those who do not know, medical gaslighting is a phenomenon in which a medical professional invalidates, dismisses or ignores a patient concern. In addressing this issue, I plan on sharing my own story, as well as other patient stories. If you are interested in sharing your story, or if you have any questions, please message me!

If it makes you more comfortable, I'll share my story about the first time I visited a specialist. When I went to my first appointment, before any of us spoke a single word, my doctor looked me up and down and said, “it’s always girls like you that starve themselves trying to look like Victoria Secret models who come to me, when you’re just doing it to yourselves.” For reference, I ate 3+ meals a day, but he did not care what I had to say. He later on accused me of lying when asked about my diet and prescribed me laxatives, despite my symptoms that lined up with IBS-d. I already had to wait months to attend this appointment, and now I had to wait another half of a year before my next appointment with a different doctor.

Hello, I am from Ukraine and just found this forum. I am writing through a translator, so I apologize in advance if something is not right. The topic of medical gaslighting is one of my most painful ones. No one told me about weight loss and laxatives, but my problems were also devalued. They only said that “it's all because of being underweight,” but I am of normal weight. I am neither thin nor overweight, and I have never suffered from anorexia. Every doctor dismissed my complaints simply because, in their opinion, IBS is not a serious illness. It's just awful. It makes you dislike yourself even more and feel endless despair. If even doctors can't help me, am I capable of solving this problem myself? At this point, I don't know what to do. I've been to all the gastroenterologists in my city, but no one has been able to help. I'm trying to find a solution on my own, but so far without much success. I found this forum in the hope of reading some advice and learning from other people's experiences. We don't really have forums like this here; or rather, they are abandoned. People don't find help or support there. It's very sad. I am grateful to people like you who are trying to fight this system. Gastrointestinal and women's health issues should not be devalued. People suffer greatly from this and deserve proper attention and treatment.