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Imagine your nightmare doctor’s appointment. You come into the office, hoping for a solution for the health concern you’ve been dealing with. Instead, you’re faced with someone who was not only unhelpful, but also made you feel much worse than when you came in after what they had said.
For these people, that catastrophic and unsettling scenario was a reality. They are now sharing their stories on Reddit after someone asked, “What's the most unhinged thing a doctor has said to you with a straight face?”
These medical professionals not only lost patients but also likely put their licenses in question. If you have similar experiences, feel free to share them in the comments below.
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#1
Asked my gp for the first time about the debilitating pain I got during periods where I could barely walk or function. He told me that I should get pregnant soon and that would fix it. I was 16, my mum was outraged. 14 years later I was diagnosed with endometriosis.
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#2
Kept crying for 6 weeks after back surgery that the pain in my head was unbearable. I was told “you have no pain.You want to pay for my kids college education ?!! Sure I ‘ll do exploratory surgery” …..2 days later he did exploratory surgery to repair a tear in my spinal cord which was caused a cerebral spinal fluid leak!
Drs should never be allowed to tell someone they are not in pain.
bazjack 7 hours ago
I am very lucky, because when I hit a certain level of pain, my blood pressure skyrockets. We discovered this when I was 11 and I broke my toe and had to wait several hours to get to the hospital. They thought the blood pressure cuff was broken and went and got another one. Every time since that I've had to go to the ER for pain, they've believed me.
#3
I told him I was struggling to run because of hayfever, in the hope he’d test me for allergy-induced asthma or give me stronger meds. He told me I should just stop running.
Another told me I had period cramps when in fact my appendix had burst. .
#4
"if you pray to Jesus and let him into your life he will help you with your diabetes"
I reported them to my local health authority and Two months later they were forceably retired by the medical clinic they practiced out of.
#5
When I had a cervical biopsy, my doctor told me that there are no nerve endings in the cervix, so I could not feel any pain.
Multa Nocte (she/her 8647) 6 hours ago
Yeah - had an IUD inserted and was told it would be a "little pinch." Reader, in fact it was NOT a "little pinch."
#6
At 30, with my MRI (that I didn't actually get to read myself for 10+years) in her hand showing all the inflammation, the remodeling, the calcified ligaments, the stenosis in my spine, the narrowing, the bulging, the **FUSION** of my joints...
"You're too young for arthritis"
She could have slowed it down and added literal YEARS to my active lifestyle, but instead she gaslit me, told me the pain is in my head, that I needed to lose weight (I was a healthy 160 at 5'8), that there was nothing medically wrong with me.
Now at 46, I'm diagnosed with a form of spinal arthritis that's already fused several joints in my spine, hands, and other extremities. I'm in *constant* pain, and I rarely leave home anymore because moving hurts and it's exhausting being in pain all the time.
Sandra Gleeson 6 hours ago
That is just awful, I am so sorry that happened to you. I also suffer constant back pain and sometimes it can be unbearable
#7
My doctor was doing a Pap smear and told me I was tight and that my boyfriend must really like that.
Edit: it was a woman.
#8
Tried to get my tubes tied at 25 AFTER already having three children.
This man/doctor really looked me in my eyes and told me “no” because “I know you’ve managed to convince yourself but you haven’t convinced me”.
#9
From wife: she got an iud and hated it. It was painful to have it inserted and it made her feel like she was going crazy. She couldn’t hold a thought and it changed her hair texture - just weird stuff. This was after about 3 months.
She went to the dr to have it removed and he told her no, because insurance had paid for it and it wasn’t a good use of their funds to take it out. She tried again a week later and he said no because “it was all in her head.”
She changed gynos to one that “by women for women” and that gyno took it out with local anesthetic on her cervix without questioning why.
#10
“If you keep trying to diagnose every little thing in your body, your health insurance will catch on. And they’ll stop paying for your tests.”
I had TOS. I was asking for a referral to deal with the unending pain of neurogenic TOS. He has just done the poor man test in his office that clearly showed my pulse stopped in certain positions. I politely insisted on my referral. I had surgery within six months. And within a year I was fully active again.
Dr Champigny, you ARE a pig.
Multa Nocte (she/her 8647) 6 hours ago
TOS = thoracic outlet syndrome. "Thoracic outlet syndrome (TOS) refers to a group of disorders in which there is compression of and/or damage to the neurovascular structures at the thoracic outlet, i.e., at the transition from chest to neck." <-- Neurogenic Thoracic Outlet Syndrome Presentation, Diagnosis, and Treatment by Nora F Dengler , Maria T Pedro, Thomas Kretschmer, Christian Heinen, Steffen K Rosahl, Gregor Antoniadis.
#11
So you have PTSD? Then its clear you just have anxiety. Go to a psychiatrist, not here to the emergency room, this is for sick and terminal patients.
Then I coded. I was in fact having a serious cardiac event that required emergency treatment. Not anxiety.
#12
Told my doctor I was getting frequent high heart rate notifications when I was flying. He told me maybe I’m just a nervous flyer.
I’m a pilot.
Edit: yes, doctors already knew I was a pilot.
Also they don’t just yoink your medical for having a symptom. .
otiose (foxtrot delta tango) 5 hours ago
But their heart was being monitored in order to receive those notifications? Should we be worried about a pilot with a heart monitor??
#13
That I’d somehow caused the scarring on my kidneys by worrying too much about it.
#14
During my first delivery, my epidural line broke while I was pushing. I pushed for 3 and 1/2 hours - baby was born and whisked away to the NICU because she was having trouble breathing. Then my placenta got stuck.
My OB was having trouble trying to get it to deliver because she said, it looked like it the cord was trying to tear away from the placenta. She called the OB on-call at the hospital.
I will give him a little bit of benefit of the doubt because, you know, no one knew that my epidural line had broken (it never completely took for me so I still had *some pain* during labor) but he stuck his hand Inside of me to try and scoop it out. I SCREAMED. But then he didn't believe me when I said it hurt too much and tried it AGAIN! I have never screamed so loud in my life.
Thank God for my husband who stood up and yelled at him to get off of me and that I was obviously in pain. Got wheeled back to the OR and put under for them to remove it. Lo and behold, they realized about my epidural.
The fact that he didn't believe me is just.....baffling.
bazjack 7 hours ago (edited)
I had three adult teeth pulled when I was 9, because I had a "crowded jaw." The same genetic condition that gave me that crowded jaw also means that normal levels of certain anesthesia don't work on me. The dentist didn't believe that I still had feeling when he tested me, and then kept scolding me throughout the procedure for screaming so much. I've never gone to a dentist since without panic. Women and children never get believed about their pain levels, especially with male doctors.
#15
I told my doctor that I thought I was depressed and she said, "I don't have time for this".
#16
At 12 I had gained some weight and my mom took me to the doctor to be checked. He looked at a 12 year old girl and said, "I bet your family came from Germany. You're built for starvation conditions. You just need to go with that."
Queue a lifetime of disordered eating. Bonus points when I found out his own daughter was hospitalized with anorexia at 11.
Nathaniel He/Him Cis-Het 6 hours ago
Because.... Germany has a history of starvation problems that would account for some as genetics.....
#17
That I was saying "like" a lot and I should read more... replied by throwing up on his floor.
Nathaniel He/Him Cis-Het 6 hours ago
Like, does it, like, really, like, matter as long as, like, I get the, like, information across like?
#18
I used to bleed between periods for years (I'd have like one week of no blood). So many docs couldn't figure out why so my (then) GP who was an old man said, "can't you just live with it?".
Found a new doctor who was great and tried various things until she figured out and fixed my problem.
#19
My old man gynecologist told me when I was very young that I had "feminine violin disorder". In other words, that I was curved a little less on top than on bottom. He also scrubbed me out with a bristly bottle-scrubber once when I had a discharge--oy, that was painful. And unnecessary. Come to think of it, all the gynecologist I've ever had (I'm 70 now), except for the one I have now, have been awful people.
#20
I was told "it's not your choice to make" in regards to my vasectomy and that if I did it before having children I'm a failure as a human.
Look doc I failed as a human long before I decided I don't want kids.
#21
My gynecologist. "Older women like you tend to have this problem." I was 21. But honestly, I walked home laughing because I found this situation so absurd.
#22
At 16, I had excruciating stomach pains. I was having a period at the times but it was not that sort of pain, even at 16 I knew the difference.
The GP dismissed it as period pain, and when I said it was much more severe, he suggested a miscarriage 😱 He sent me away anyway without even examining me.
I lived in a children's home at the time and that night, I screamed the house down apparently (I have no memory of it, I guess I'd passed out?)
An ambulance arrived very quickly and at the hospital, I was rushed to the operating theatre. My appendix had ruptured and I had peritonitis too. I ended up in hospital for 3 weeks.
Fun times! 🙈.
#23
Spouse is hemiplegic/uses a wheelchair 99% of the time. ER doc told spouse “to get more exercise, like jogging”.
#24
“Oh you have abdominal pain? I should probably give you a breast exam. “
This was late 90’s when I was about 18. Just went with it coz what would I know??
A few years previous, age 14 with unbearable period pain “oh it’s a good sign, it means you’re fertile”.
Seems outrageous to just accept that these days. I’m glad the world is changing.
#25
Oncologist talking to newly diagnosed stage 4 cancer pt (not me) about prognosis:
“Let me put it this way. Don’t buy any green bananas”.
Kristiina Männiste 2 hours ago
I would actually be ok with it anounced like that. If I have to go out, better go out with a bad joke. Sums up life pretty well.
#26
Mine missed a big diagnosis that is fatal if not treated. He was angry other doctors found out. He told me he wished I’d passed away and not to come back. Cool. I hate this timeline.
#27
I asked my doctor what a good birth control solution might be, and she told me that she wasn’t worried about me getting pregnant because I was married.
#28
I know you have adhd, ocd but I think we should start you on bipolar meds, just to rule it out.
6 months later I see the same psychiatrist firm looking for participants in a trial for this medication.
*im not bipolar.
#29
That my shoulder pain was empty nest syndrome .. that I had manifest sadness, loneliness women carry emotions in their shoulder and I might need a therapist to speak about my emotions I started crying because the pain was very real he said see your weak right now
.. 1 week later I had developed sepsis ... I actually had a very infected swollen gallbladder, pancreatitis...
Nathaniel He/Him Cis-Het 5 hours ago
If you are a woman all your ailments revolve around having or not having children. That is interesting.
#30
Went to a follow-up with my psychiatrist a decade ago to discuss the meds he’d prescribed me. I said they weren’t working because my PTSD-induced nightmares were still happening.
This guy said, with his whole chest, “Have you considered just getting over it?”
Sir, if I could’ve just gotten over it, I wouldn’t be here for PTSD and medications for it or the other stuff I was dealing with at the time.
I filed a complaint and never went back. .
#31
Does getting laughed at count? Asked for sterilization in my late 30s with no kids. He then proceeded to insist my boyfriend at the time be consulted
Go figure many of these responses are from women regarding women's issues.
#32
Doc: “You’re too young- there’s no way you could have that condition.”
Me (F19 at the time): “Request my chart from the hospital then.”
Doc: “You’re too young- it’s just not possible.”
Me: “Please just request my chart.”
Doc: Grumbles. Comes back a couple hours later…
“So we received your chart- it appears you do have x condition, but it doesn’t make sense.”
Me: 🙄.
Lyone Fein 6 hours ago
What a narcissist: if they haven’t seen it before then it can’t be real.
#33
“We turned you into a 60 year old woman overnight” (I had surgery and went into surgically induced menopause at 33). Most heartless way to describe it.
#34
I told them I recently got allergy symptoms and wanted to get it checked in an allergy test or whatever.
They say: "no need to waste time on that, you got a weather app?"
Me: "yeah"
Them: "what is the highest pollenvalue for anything?"
Me: "birch..."
Them: "you seem to be allergic to birch pollen!"
I changed my doctor.
It is dust allergy btw.
#35
Trying out a new doctor a few months ago and he says "you need to be careful with therapy....you need to leave room for the holy Spirit to work in your life"......
#36
Told the VA disability doc I had anxiety and she said I should just drink less coffee. I drink one to two cups a day. Also, I was only 6 weeks back from deployment but obviously that has nothing to do with anxiety. /s.
#37
"it's all in your head."
First, it ended up being a pretty severe allergic reaction, with a hidden allergen and literal textbook symptoms.
Second, if you are gonna tell someone their problem is all in their head, you better have a goddamned reference for a mental health professional in their hand by the end of the appointment. "All in your head" is not unfixable.
Cat Palmer 33 minutes ago
I guess technically all pain is "all in your head" because it's your brain that processes signals from the nerves. Somehow that's never what doctors mean when they say that, though.
#38
I went for a possible stress fracture in my foot and the nurse said nothing was wrong but that the pain was just an act of God.
#39
“Wow, look at those eyes! Pretty bulgy, eh? Oh they’ve always been this big? We’ll order up a thyroid panel juuuust to be sure.”
(thyroid tests came back normal)
“And that hair, wow! Is this your natural color? It is!? Amazing, I guess we’ll confirm that soon enough.”
(Proceeds to position me for the pap smear I was there for ☹️).
#40
My attending trying to convince me during residency that my patient must have been an alcoholic, which is why her liver enzymes were so high.
I order a hepatitis panel and turns out she has hepatitis B and was in an active flare. Which he would have suspected if he listened to me explain that I had talked to the lady and she told me she grew up in Vietnam, never had vaccines, and was told she had a liver problem diagnosed as a teenager but couldn't remember the name.
Not the only time that attending would accuse patients of random things.
#41
Following 12-months of near constant colds and tonsillitis with my 2-year-old, got a referral to a consultant who told me my daughter was fine, it was normal childhood stuff I was “just being an overly emotional and anxious mother”. I made a complaint and it was dropped because he claimed he never said that and I misinterpreted him (those were his exact words). Sought a second opinion and my daughter had surgery shortly afterwards, with the surgeon commenting that “these were the largest tonsils I’ve ever removed in my career”.
#42
“You really should get used to getting your blood drawn, you’ll need to do that a lot when you’re pregnant.”
I was eleven. I fainted during a blood draw involuntarily.
Nathaniel He/Him Cis-Het 6 hours ago
Because all women are breeding material! And you should certainly know your place by 11! FFS.
#43
This is ridiculous, there is nothing wrong with you and the blood tests he ordered that day (along with 6 months weight loss, extreme lethargy, bruising, joint pain, itching skin) had such whacked results he panicked and rhought i had lymphoma and was sent to haematology. He thought I was shopping for pain pills, I was very unwell. Luckily not cancer but an auto immune issue. I refuse appts with him now.
#44
At 12 weeks pregnant, the doctor told me my baby had a 90% chance of severe handicap, I shouldn't bother scheduling my 20 week anatomy scan, and I can terminate before 24 weeks.
The genetic counselor called me the next day to say the test in question has a 75% false positive rate.
We asked the doctor where his "90% chance of handicap" stat came from, and does he have study or paper to reference. He said no he was just conveying a feeling based on his experience.
Baby was born perfectly healthy.
Nathaniel He/Him Cis-Het 6 hours ago
Why even fück about like that when it comes to pregnancy?
#45
When I was 15 I basically listed off the symptoms I suffered from with my periods and monthly cycle to my GP, she told me “don’t be silly, that’s just not how periods and hormones work”
25 years later I was diagnosed with autism and learned about PMDD, a common comorbid condition in autistic women, the symptoms of which align exactly with every single thing I listed off to my GP all those years ago 🙄.
#46
When I'd be trying for another baby.
He'd performed my hysterectomy.................
#47
Doc: You should try a mud bath
Me: Why, does it help with my illness?
Doc: No, but it'll help you get used to the soil
True story, he said it jokingly to my dad who had cancer.
#49
A doctor in the ER told me I couldn't have water bc I wasn't thirsty bc he saw my blood work so he knows I'm not thirsty.
#50
When I was like 15 or 16 an older woman doctor asked me why I had gotten breast implants so young. I did not have breast implants. She had literally just examined my breasts. That was weird and made me question how she was even a doctor.
#51
Lecturing me for over 20 minutes about not exercising enough while I was in dangerous, hospitalizable withdrawal from my SSRI (which he had failed to refill). I was 16.
#52
Went for an eye appointment in 2011 because I was experiencing some double vision. I always had near perfect vision before this.
The optometrist does the standard eye exam and determines my vision is fine, and says, “If you want like, cool accessory glasses, you could pick some up at Claire’s.” She said this before looking at my optic nerves and once she did, ordered me to go to the ER immediately for a suspected brain tumor.
#53
I went to urgent care and was asked about my mental health. i brought up how i have debilitating anxiety, and the doctor says "it's 2024. you should not have anxiety.".
astheshadowsfall 7 hours ago
Oh, we've moved beyond anxiety then? (Looks at medications) Doc's must be loading me up with sugar pills.
#54
That my bad period was a miscarriage (I was a virgin and yes I had told her that).
#55
After months of telling her something is wrong ,she turned to me and said " There is nothing else I can do from this end. Your bloodwork is impeccable as always, I suggest you see a psychiatrist ." If she would have ever read my chart she would have seen I have been seeing a head doctor for decades. I am a cancer patient , she put me on the wrong meds.
#56
My husband's sleep specialist asked in a knowing voice how many drinks he has a night.
He replied, truthfully, that he basically never drinks.
The mfer then replied 'people like *husband's name* tend to self medicate'.
Basically called him a liar. In the third person. To his face.
#57
“Alright, let’s get you FERTILE!”
- a female endocrinologist upon meeting me after I was referred to them to treat my hypothyroidism. She said this AFTER going through my chart and very obviously seeing why I was there. I very gently laughed and corrected her and she was pissed off the whole rest of the visit. Kept trying to redirect the conversation towards fertility treatments. I did not go back.
#58
I was leaking brain fluid. She asks over the phone after discharging me…if you lean forward does anything drip out of your nose? No? Okay good, you don’t have to come back in.
#59
I had fainting spells in middle school because of my thyroid and instead of doing tests, my doctor told me to eat more sodium. my mom got me to see another doctor for a second opinion. a few blood tests later and i'm put on thyroid medication.
#60
You're not having a heart attack, it's just your anxiety. You're too young. Why don't you go get your hair done, maybe a massage?
It was a widowmaker. I now have multiple stents.
#61
My daughter was going in for a checkup and the doctor told me that I needed to lose weight. I asked him if he's looked in the mirror 🪞 lately?
I was heavy because I had a kid. He was just plain fat (way fatter than me).
#62
Nothing as horrible as some of the stories I'm reading here, but during my first pap smear the practitioner was between my legs and stooping down to get a good view around the speculum.
She readjusted the overhead lamp and absent mindedly said "it's dark in here"
God I was nearly crying laughing with how seriously she said it.
#63
Took our son in for a checkup when he was 6ish months old, first time seeing this dr since our original *amazing* pediatrician moved. We were walking out after the appointment and joked about him being a stinker and sometimes throwing food. This woman says, "you know you can just pop him a little, he will learn eventually." We found a new practice for the next appointment.
#64
Had a doctor tell me i may have contracted HIV because I had inguinal lymph node swelling and was falling asleep outside of my control. i had mono...
Ronja Oksanen 10 minutes ago
I had abnormally sore throat and I knew it was something else than flu. Called my doc, first he says it's heartburn, I explain tthat I'm in constant medication for that because reflux and this doesn't feel like it. Then he just says there is lots of pollen now from this and that tree so it must be it. I have never been allergic to that and I have taken allergy meds for few days for bug bites and it didn't help my throat. At this point he sound frustrated and says then it's certainly chlamydia or herpes?! I tell him I have been married for 10 years and it's highly unlikely and why he doesn't suspect any normal throat diseases?! He reluctantly ordered labs and go figure it's not chlamydia! Strep A that goes away with antibiotic. Should not have been such a guessing game 🙄
#65
Reporting some dizziness (new) when I do certain things. Doc suggested I not do those things. All those years of medical school for that?
#66
"Autistics don't like to be touched because their skin releases certain chemicals that makes them feel itchy" - my supposed autism assessor.
Nathaniel He/Him Cis-Het 5 hours ago (edited)
Let me guess, vaccines caused your autism also? Fantastic assessor.....
#67
You know eating big Mac’s at every meal is not healthy?
I was 17. That comment, combined with a type 1 diabetes diagnosis a year later, led me down the path to years of eating disorders. I only started getting treatment in my 30s, and I’ve cycled through anorexia, binge eating, and now working through bulimia.
#69
That everyone is always worried that they have cancer and how do you think I feel?
Yes he actually says that.
Anyway…. Years later it turned out I have a tumour in my brain lining.
#70
After feeling sick and energyless for months: You have to be more active to energise you and got to go more outside - minewhile I as a hunter being outside every two evenings and nearly collapsing after lifting an 12 kg deer. I'm no doctor but that didn't seem neither the problem nor the solution...
#72
'Having an IUD inserted is no more painful than a smear test, just take a couple paracetamol before you come in'.
Multa Nocte (she/her 8647) 6 hours ago
Er, I have a word or two to say about that, but BP won't let me say the words I want to use.
What do you think ?
Lyone Fein 6 hours ago
The truth is that medical doctors really don’t know that much. A lot of what they do is trial and error, because many symptoms can be signs of a variety of conditions. But why can’t they just admit this?
Nathaniel He/Him Cis-Het 5 hours ago
I am kind of curious, if we took a poll on the above, what side of the political spectrum these Doctors would be?
Lyone Fein 6 hours ago
The truth is that medical doctors really don’t know that much. A lot of what they do is trial and error, because many symptoms can be signs of a variety of conditions. But why can’t they just admit this?
Nathaniel He/Him Cis-Het 5 hours ago
I am kind of curious, if we took a poll on the above, what side of the political spectrum these Doctors would be?
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