Show Notes
When we picture healthcare experts we might think of people like doctors, nurses, surgeons and neurologists. But what about the patients? Patients are able to give us so much insight into what our healthcare systems are really like; where they thrive and where they fail.
Tilly Rose describes herself as an ‘expert’ patient. She spent the best part of two decades trying to receive diagnoses for a whole range of debilitating symptoms. After the frustration of being told that her physical symptoms were ‘all in her head’ and being left on ‘comfort care’, Tilly and her mother took matters into their own hands, researched what they thought could be wrong and found the doctors who could diagnose her. The journey has taken them through hospitals in the UK all the way to Germany, and they are an incredible example of what can happen when you choose not to accept that you are simply a medical mystery.
Tilly’s example is an extreme one, but we should all be able to advocate for ourselves when we feel we aren’t getting the medical attention we need - no matter how small the symptom. In this episode she tells Stephanie about her journey, the issues with the UK healthcare system that prevented her from receiving a diagnosis, the gender health gap and being believed as a female patient, and what she thinks needs to change to make things better.
Resources & Links
Buy Tilly’s book ‘Be Patient’ here
Host: Stephanie von Bismarck
Guest: Tilly Rose, author of ‘Be Patient’
Producer: Holly Fisher
Production Manager: Angela Crago
Executive Producer: Ellie Di Martino
The series was recorded and edited at Pod Shop studios.
Follow @HowDoWeManage
More from How Do We Manage?
Teaching your kids about sex can be a daunting task, but it doesn’t need to be. And in today’s world, where young children are increasingly at risk of being exposed to explicit images online, it’s never been more important.
These days parents are presented with a minefield of conflicting information about fad diets, portion control, fussy eaters and weaning woes. So how do we feed our children in a way that feels manageable and healthy, even when they’re either refusing dinner or are seemingly never full?
Have you ever been described as ‘too much’? Ever felt like your reaction was bigger than it should have been? Many of us feel emotions more deeply than others - but what if this isn’t something to suppress, but something to understand?
Parenting has never come with more advice than it does today. Social media is full of people claiming that their style of raising a child is the right one, commenting on everything from discipline to nutrition to education. So how do you work out what to listen to?
Navigating the online world for ourselves is hard enough, but trying to keep it safe for our children feels near impossible. We’ve talked a lot on the show lately about the dangers of posting pictures of our families, how children as young as three are using social media, and the sort of content that is being fed to our kids online. One thing that keeps coming up over and over is: how do we keep it under control?