24 Times Patients Said “Actually, I Think I Know My Body Better” And Literally Saved Their Own Lives

When I was 11, I had excruciating abdominal pain and fainting. Because these episodes generally happened at school, because I never went anywhere else, every doctor told my parents that I was faking and just didn’t want to be at school. I got my period when I was 12, and it was extremely painful, heavy, and irregular. Some months, I would get it three times. After this, every time I went in for fainting and pain, I was told it was just my period, and it was normal. So I stopped going. I learned to deal with it & accepted that my pain was normal. At 14, I was leaving my grandparents’ house after 3 days of pain, but didn’t say anything because I was used to it. Suddenly, the pain was unbearable & I was screaming, crying, and vomiting. I went to the hospital, and they finally took my pain seriously. Turns out, I had been getting regular cysts on my ovaries and fallopian tubes for years. This particular time, one big one had grown a tail and wrapped around itself, causing this worsened pain.

—vibrantbee63