Start. It’s perhaps stating the bleedin’ obvious, but upon receipt of diagnosis everything pretty much changes. The wheel, as they say, takes a fresh spin, but also tilts on its axis just a little … or a lot, depending on what it means to you personally. What is certain is that in certain, and quite important, circumstances, you are no longer a person but a patient. You are your condition. This can be problematic, in a number of ways, not least for you (that’s the patient, btw). In terms of the system you are now a set of symptoms, a set of boxes to tick (and, mark you, a pricey set of boxes). This much is reasonably obvious. You may not expect it, but you realise pretty quickly that most of the time professionals address the symptoms not the person – that is left up to support groups and so on. Unfortunately, this disjunct can lead to a lack of meaningful communication between system and patient … and it’s even happening here. In attempting to deal in the abstract, I am repeating the same error. Continue reading →