I Told Three Doctors About My 'Mysterious Bruise'. They Ignored Me Until I Couldn't Move

I was told I had ‘pleurisy’ and given Oramorph – I actually had Lyme disease that was spreading to my brain.

You know your body better than anyone – but what happens when no one listens? Welcome to Ms Diagnosed: a HuffPost UK series uncovering the reality of medical gaslighting. With new stats showing that 8 in 10 of women have felt unheard by medical professionals, we’re sharing the stories of seven whose lives were nearly lost to the gap between their symptoms and a system that refused to listen. As the UK introduces Jess’s Rule – a new mandate for GPs to ‘rethink’ after a third visit – we’re exploring why the medical system is still failing women and how we can start to fix it.

“Hmmm, I think I can hear pleurisy,” said the consultant. “I can hear a little crackle on your chest.”

I couldn’t understand it.

It was November 2024. My GP had triaged me to the hospital same-day emergency department – and I was terrified. I had an agonising, fist-sized pain deep underneath my right ribs that was stopping me from moving or sleeping. I had a large area of skin, around the same place, that was completely numb; and I had an electrical tingling in my right hand.

I’d begged the consultant to do something – anything – about the pain. I told her about my other symptom, a mysterious rash I’d had a few weeks ago that I had a sneaking suspicion was important.

When she told me it was pleurisy – inflamed lining of the lungs – I didn’t know what to think. I thought that was something from the Middle Ages.

She told me there was no cure for pleurisy; that it would go ‘in time’. I was prescribed Oramorph, a strong painkiller, and sent home.

But pleurisy didn’t explain the numbness; the tingling in my fingers; the rash. I was still scared – and it turned out I had every right to be.

I didn’t have pleurisy.........

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