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Think before you click: setting personal boundaries for the acquisition of medical information

journal contribution
posted on 2023-06-08, 12:45 authored by Bobbie FarsidesBobbie Farsides
Earlier this year I had the pleasure of joining members of the British Pain Society's Philosophy Group at their annual conference in the Lake District. My subject was the experience of suffering, approached from a philosophical as opposed to medical perspective. The setting was sublime and the company excellent, but sadly, for me, the event was marred by my own ill health. There, amidst some of the country's experts in pain management, I succumbed to what was later diagnosed as trigeminal neuralgia. However, I was unaware of the existence of such a complaint, and therefore described my extreme and obvious discomfort as toothache, and responded obediently to the forthcoming drug advice – none of which worked. In the intervening months I have reflected upon this experience and wondered at how I continued to misdiagnose myself not once but twice, despite two dentists having told me in the preceding months that there was nothing wrong with my teeth. I don't condemn myself too severely, favouring, as I do, my personal tendency to play down symptoms against the background of a familial tendency to catastrophise.

History

Publication status

  • Published

Journal

Clinical Ethics

ISSN

1477-7509

Publisher

Royal Society of Medicine Press

Issue

4

Volume

5

Page range

171-171

Department affiliated with

  • Clinical and Experimental Medicine Publications

Full text available

  • No

Peer reviewed?

  • Yes

Legacy Posted Date

2012-11-08

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