The Survival of the Sickest

A delicate, yet resilient, blossoming flower. My rare #Chronicillness has forced me 2 be a professional, empowered patient. Creator. Artist. Writer. Advocate.

[The Survival of the Sickest @TheProPatient]

For all the #spoonies. Remember this. We are loved. We are amazing warriors.

#cyclicvomitingsyndrome #abdominalmigraines #rarediseaseawareness #invisibleillness #chronicillness #chronicpain #SickNotWeak #quotes #quotebyme #Migraines @LelenaPeacock

[The Survival of the Sickest @TheProPatient]

@_NotAmericanDad @MAGAVoice In what world

[The Survival of the Sickest @TheProPatient]

@GeoWilding93 @carolki13 @TONYxTWO Facts.

[The Survival of the Sickest @TheProPatient]

@carolki13 @TONYxTWO I agree, but I heard that there is a waiting list for everything so you might die waiting if you need care quickly.

[The Survival of the Sickest @TheProPatient]

@TONYxTWO Dealing with this myself. Two appeals denied. One last step: Formulary exception

[Diabolical Chatty ™ @Diabolical2099]

Bev, the real question isn’t how much more they have to “earn”…
It’s how long the system gets to punish people for surviving.

Pain patients are treated like suspects, not citizens.
Forced to jump through hoops while pretending it’s healthcare.
It’s not medicine �� it’s compliance theater.

And it’s eroding trust faster than they realize

[The Survival of the Sickest @TheProPatient]

@TheMaineWonk He is being haunted. It looks like a ghost at play. Lol

[Bev Schechtman🇮🇱 @ibdgirl76]

Woke up to 100 messages from pain patients. Two are from pts whose doctors abandoned their practices leaving all pts without meds, and the rest are pts whose docs said they can no longer rx opioids, so deal with it. @US_FDA have you considered actually addressing this crisis of pain pt abandonment? @MartyMakary @JillianMichaels @megynkelly anyone?

[The Survival of the Sickest @TheProPatient]

@janicebayless @Trutherrrrrr99 The placebo effect is very powerful!! If you believe the pill will help, it will help and vice versa.

[Laird Law PLLC @DanLairdMD]

Attention Chronic Pain Patients w dementia or mild cognitive impairment, please start lining up for your class action lawsuits.

Gabapentin Tied to Dementia Risk in Pain Patients | Technology Networks https://t.co/NvLS8vW839

[The Survival of the Sickest @TheProPatient]

@MAGAVoice @Darkmdd Illegal immigrants can’t get Medicaid!

[The Survival of the Sickest @TheProPatient]

@NVRaven @ibdgirl76 So unfair. I had to do the same even traveling twenty miles away to fill my script. They clearly do NOT care about doing no harm.

[enya. @influenya]

No dosing limit on the extremely addictive opioid Suboxone but hard limits on every other opioid? Well, ain’t that hypocrisy.
Why would any doctor choose to put a patient on 250mg Suboxone/day instead of 90mg oxycodone/day, that makes zero sense not to mention the significantly negative outcomes when patients are forced onto the former vs the exceptionally positive outcomes when patients continue on the latter. Why continue to torture already suffering patients?

[The Survival of the Sickest @TheProPatient]

@PeachStatePOV3 I am so sorry to hear that. I was diagnosed around the same time too! I am here if you need support! I don’t want her to go through the pain through I went through and still go through. Stay informed and advocate for her always.

[The Survival of the Sickest @TheProPatient]

Don't let this picture fool u. My pain level was a 10 & spent the whole day in agonizing #pain. I wanted to show you how #invisiblediseases work, & that is, we don't look at all sick. That works against us more than 4 us. I have #CyclicVomitingSyndrome. #MedTwitter

[Jeremiroquai @Jerematic79]

My oncologist tried to stop my chemotherapy* treatment last week because of a one-page synopsis he had read regarding my recent MRI, which mentioned that one of my brain tumors had progressed.

It turns out he had never actually looked at the MRI itself; and the specialist who wrote the synopsis had not actually compared the new images to my previous MRI from 2024.

I was skeptical, as my symptoms had not progressed; so I asked my oncologist to show me a comparison of the two most recent MRIs, to demonstrate the growth. So, he brought them up on his screen and showed me a clear difference between image on the left and one on the right.

"But the one on the left is the 2017 MRI," I said. "We both know the tumor has grown since then."

The doctor was surprised, and said, "You're right. I'm not sure why the 2024 MRI isn't showing up."

Anyway, we had to go to a different room and use a different computer to find last year's images. When my oncologist finally brought them up, he realized there was a clear REDUCTION in the size of my tumor, as well as a loss of contrast, indicating that the tumor was dying. So, the chemotherapy was working after all!

Had I taken my doctor at his word, and stopped my chemotherapy, I would have soon needed an extremely risky brain surgery that would have changed my life forever.

We are living through a crisis of competence in America — or is it in the world as a whole? It is absolutely essential that we remain vigilant and look out for our own health, because we apparently can no longer trust our doctors to do it for us. Remember to ask questions, get second opinions and, above all, don't just assume that your doctor is infallible. Now more than ever, your life is in your own hands.

[Claudia A. Merandi @CMerandi]

“Chronic pain patients have lost their quality of life and now we will make innocent kids suffer, too?”

Yes, this is why we need stronger laws protecting patients

https://t.co/6G7cNZP3eY

[The Survival of the Sickest @TheProPatient]

This comic sums up life as a Black person in chronic pain. Before they see our suffering, they see our Blackness first, assume we are addicts, and dismiss us. Health equity matters. Now, imagine you are uninsured on top of that: a social murder. #ChronicIllness #ChronicPain

[Lelena @LelenaPeacock]

To doctors, I am merely a drug seeker.

Meanwhile, my CNS is dying.

I can only hope & pray I die before it gets intolerable.

[The Survival of the Sickest @TheProPatient]

I really hope so.

[Dr. Rick Pescatore @Rick_Pescatore]

The next revolution in healthcare won’t be invented in a hospital.
It’ll be built by people who trust patterns over protocols.
Lived truth over academic inertia.

[The Survival of the Sickest @TheProPatient]

@Rick_Pescatore I am diagnosed with CVS, abdominal migraines, GP. Labels do matter for patients though. I am labeled a drug seeker, but I am truly a relief seeker. The pain is horrendous and noise, lights, smells and touch make it worse. I stopped going to the ER in 2016.