@yucca10 & @HImom - our experiences with food allergy skepticism is common. Some of the comments on this article - ugh!
Yes, it is very tough to handle skeptical loved ones. I’m sad but very aware. I have to be careful but at least I know that I’m unlikely to die quickly from a food allergy, so while I am careful and keep my inhaler and antihistimines and epi-pen handy, I carry on and don’t live in fear. Yes, having more support sure would be nice, but when it’s there, it’s a nice surprise these days.
Strange experience tonight. So, I’ve traveled north for my 50th HS reunion. Someone said that she remembered me most for standing up to our awful algebra teacher. I insisted I had to go to the bathroom, and he never let anyone leave the room, and I stood up to him. To my classmate, I was a hero. All I can think that I must have been desperate, but in no way would I have challenged this teacher.
@bookworm: You were a force to be reckoned with even then! Congratulations. Sometimes our old friends remember things better than we do ourselves.
I know SIX stories from different women who were not believed by their male doctors. “You can’t possibly be feeling that,” or “I can’t help you if you don’t stop lying to me,” or “You’re lying to get excused from school,” were said to each of them. In five of the cases, it was another male doctor who stepped into the situation and helped the women. The sixth was solved by a female doctor.
A longtime friend suggested to three different male ob/gyns, beginning in her first trimester, that she might be having twins. All told her the symptoms she described were just in her head, her baby was just really big, and that she was obviously mistaken in her due date. The due date debate finally led to an ultrasound in her eighth month. Guess what?
The orthodontist accused one of my kids of not wearing her retainer at night.
D was furious and said no, she had been wearing it. I asked D a bunch of questions about it in the car, she got really defensive & short with me, and in return, I got angry about it. I ended up sounding like a skeptical prosecutor, and she said I was taking the orthodontist’s side.
Woo-boy, D did not forget that. About a year later, the orthodontist concluded that “further growth in her jaw” could explain the misalignment over the past year. It wasn’t really an apology from the orthodontist, but D felt vindicated. SEE?!?!
Like a lot of busy parents (?), I just sort of missed what an important event that was to her, and like a lot of kids (?), she was not able to verbalize & really make a case for how much I hurt her by not believing her 100%.
I’m sure nobody remembers my bathroom experience in Kindergarten. The teacher didn’t take me seriously when I said I needed to go, and told me to go sit down. Not too long later, a large puddle of pee somehow appeared beneath my desk. Hmm, wonder how that happened? 
I never did admit it was me, however, I don’t recall her disallowing me again. Though I’m sure I’m nobody’s hero like @bookworm is!
I’m always hearing stories about how feisty I was in high school. I only have vague memories of the stories they tell, but it’s true, that I don’t put up with much nonsense, even though I bend over backwards to be nice.
I was not coming up with anything for this thread, but do remember going into the doctor a year or two ago feeling miserable. It’s a husband and wife practice - but I was seeing him and I got the distinct feeling I was getting poo-poohed. I came back three days later - at which point I had pink-eye and a fever and I got taken a little more seriously.
I don’t know if I was or wasn’t believed but I was molested by my step father over many years. I told my mom she told me not to bring shame on our family, I then told our pastor and he told me to pray harder. The abuse didn’t stop so I lost faith in authority, humanity and God.
Sly, I’m so sorry to read your history. Unfortunately, I hear from many how the abuse affected them and they were shamed not to tell a family member, like their father.
I’d just like to clarify for @sly123 that when we click “Helpful” in a thread like this, we mean {{{{{HUGS}}}}}.
When I told my mom about being raped several years later, she believed, thank God. But I didn’t tell authorities for a variety of reasons.
I’m not sure I told anyone about the lesser sexual assaults - men who rubbed themselves on me on the subway, the guy who ran up to me on the street and did the thing Trump bragged abut in that video, or the occasional flash or butt grab out in the city, truly disgusting verbal propositions from strangers on the street, etc. I just accepted all that as what happens in the city, basically, and got good at dodging those (or occasionally fighting back).
I feel very fortunate not to have been abused in any way by anyone in or friends of my family, or a coach or teacher or anything like that. Basically all strangers.
I have had some experiences starting at age 9. I did not tell my parents because I did not trust in their love for me.
When I tried to tell my mom later (adult) she couldn’t hear it.
Someone at work said I said something. I did not say it. It would have also been a stupid thing to say. I was not believed and I have never forgiven them