If you are part of any marginalized group, be it POC, LGBTQAI+, disabled, or AFAB (Assigned female at birth), you know how hard it is to get doctors to listen to you. For us, it is everyday life to deal with prejudice specific to what we are, and who we are, and that fight is brought to our medical appointments in a way that is almost...crushing.

It is exhausting to need to fight every time. It is life-sucking to need to be ready because you never know where the blows come from. When will I get hit next with neglect, ignorance, maybe even a slur? When will I be called crazy, or said that I need mental health help for a physical thing - them saying I am imagining this? Is it today, is it tomorrow, or is it even almost every time face to face with a "medical professional" with the emotional range of a rotten shoelace and issues they have never had to face so they will spew anything with their ingrained narratives?

And after you sit there stunned. Unheard. And it really sinks in.

Last time I met a doctor, she had came to decision without including me, all of my test results (which had failed, and actigraphy alone IS NOT enough to determine IH), and none of my real lived experiences. She took time to demonize my medication, which I take for ADHD. She denied me hormone testing based on my gender identity and sex. She pushed psychological help tied to my gender identity despite me having several proofs of not needing it.

In essence, as I sat there, I knew she thought I was mentally ill drug seeker, and hormone seeker because I am trans non-binary human. AFAB, trapped in this nightmare of a system that refused to listen but promised not to give up on my case just to do that the next time around.

To feel so low and not worthy in eyes of a "specialist" not even versed in IH's types...is a special kind of pain.

And I have no answers how to fix this.
I can only complain, rise again, and keep trying.
I WILL survive, because I AM WORTH IT. Just like you are.