Gaslighting Diagnosis and Naturopathic Lifeline¶
Day 3 · 3:52:37 · Dean Allison · Stéphanie Giguère
- 🩺 ER told her to wait three weeks for GP; GP never saw her in person for 2.5 years, advised water and sleep, and diagnosed adjustment disorder with mixed anxiety and depressed mood.
- 😤 She lost all trust in the medical system after being told it was 'all in her head' while still trying to work and dress herself through multi-system pain.
- 🌿 Husband secured an emergency naturopath who started a protocol and put her back on her feet when conventional care offered no hope.
Medical dismissal and turn to alternative care.
← Stéphanie Giguère: One Moderna Shot, Immediate Collapse | Unvaccinated Label, Online Hate and Detention Nightmares →
Transcript¶
Dean Allison · 3:52:37
You had, um, said to me in an interview when you're, you're describing this as you're starting to run into walls, you've developed a lump in your throat, your speech is becoming difficult, you you can no longer think straight. And then you said to me, my fear and pain had reached a level that I could no longer rationalize or push through. And can you just— can you explain what you meant by that?
Stéphanie Giguère · 3:53:05
Well, I kept trying to go to work that first week. I mean, I slept 16-hour nights, 20-hour nights, the full— the first week or so, maybe 10 days. And then on the Monday, I'm like, ah, I got to go to work. I couldn't dress myself because I had too much pain in my arms. So my husband dresses me and then he drives me to work because my clients are more important than my health at this point. Or, you know, they're telling us, don't come to the hospital. All this is normal. I'm like, I'm pooping my pants.
Speaker L · 3:53:36
Is this normal?
Stéphanie Giguère · 3:53:37
Doctor, by the way, said, you're 40, Stéphanie Giguère, you know. So for all of you who are turning 40 this year, sorry, doctor said you might start pooping your pants. Just so we're clear.
Dean Allison · 3:53:49
Well, let's just stop there for a minute because that's shocking. So what's the exact context? Because obviously, it's a case of gaslighting.
Stéphanie Giguère · 3:54:00
Oh, I thought you were asking about the context. I was gonna say if you missed the door, you know, entry too long and you run into the doorjamb too long, you may poop your pants if you have to go. If you need 7 tries to get in there. But, um—.
Dean Allison · 3:54:13
No.
Dean Allison · 3:54:13
No.
Dean Allison · 3:54:13
I just mean the doctor saying this to you. So what— Do you recall the context of that?
Speaker M · 3:54:18
Well, and I love her.
Stéphanie Giguère · 3:54:20
She's been my doctor for a long time. She no longer has a medical clinic in my town. The context of this was that she, she actually did not see me for 2.5 years in person. So we had phone calls. She recommended that I drink a lot of water and sleep a lot. And I said, is 20 hours a night enough? You know, and she said, you know, you've worked hard during the pandemic. And she diagnosed me with a mental disorder. She diagnosed me with adjustment disorder, with a mixed anxiety and depressed mood. Because my Mr. Buckley, it was all in my head.
Dean Allison · 3:55:15
You know, we've heard that a lot, and I, I, not having experienced it, you don't know, like, you can't have a feeling. But as best you can, like, how do you react to that emotionally and mentally when you're suffering terribly and you know the doctor's just gaslighting you by saying that?
Stéphanie Giguère · 3:55:41
You stop having any kind of trust in the medical system and you turn to alternative systems, which you did do. I did do.
Dean Allison · 3:55:53
Can you share about that?
Stéphanie Giguère · 3:55:55
Well, um, so the ER doctor, the medical doctor, um told me to wait until I had an appointment with my GP, which was 3 weeks later. If I had a client who presented the way I presented, I would have waited until they were airlifted to St. Paul or VGH or maybe Foothills. Uh, he told me to go home, wait for 3 weeks. Um, in the meantime, my husband was able to secure an emergency appointment with a naturopathic doctor of great repute in the next town, and he saw me almost immediately, um, and he initiated a protocol. At the time, there was no available protocols that we know of, so he did his best and he put me back on my feet.
Dean Allison · 3:56:48
I, I just want to— I think, I think it's important to stay here for a minute. So the medical system was offering you no hope at all, and you turned to a naturopathic doctor and you found that that journey was helpful for you.
Speaker M · 3:57:04
Absolutely.
Dean Allison · 3:57:05
And you understand now that, you know, there are protocols, there are— there has been research into vaccine injury.
Stéphanie Giguère · 3:57:12
Yeah.
Dean Allison · 3:57:13
And there's things to do. I, I had asked you during an interview what, what was the most difficult part of this and It was in one of the earlier interviews. I hadn't learned that I should expect this answer because I'm expecting it to be the suffering and all of that. That's not how you answered it. Can you share with us what the most difficult parts for you were?