Mom traumatized after being told she had GONORRHOEA... but it was actually ... trends now
A mom was left traumatized after a trip to the emergency room where medics insisted the scabs on her body were marks of gonorrhea when in fact, she suffers from compulsive skin-picking.
Disabled author and mental health advocate Angela Hartlin, 36, from Nova Scotia, Canada, has endured the behavior almost all her life.
While seeking medical attention for pain in her abdomen, a doctor was convinced Ms Hartlin had gonorrhea because she had a slightly open wound beside her bikini line.
After explaining to the physician that she was happily married and gonorrhea could not have been the case, the doctor still assumed she had indulged in risky sexual behavior.
Ms Hartlin's condition worsened at age 13 because of anxiety, partly due to her father being left mentally and physically impaired due to a blood clot in his brain
Since then, mom-of-one Ms Hartlin has always suffered from excoriation disorder, also known as skin picking, which means she has the compulsive need to pick at her skin constantly, leaving her with torn skin and open wounds
The abdominal pain was later diagnosed as a twisting fibroid — when a fibroid (benign lump of muscle and fiber typically in the uterus wall) twists on its stem, cutting off its blood supply.
She said: 'Despite explaining that I’m married, he made an assessment that included the realm of possibility that I engaged in risky sex or was drug-seeking instead of simply desperate for help.'
This was unfortunately not the only time that Ms Hartlin had experienced unpleasant and even dangerous reactions from healthcare professionals because of her skin picking.
Ms Hartlin's condition worsened at age 13 because of anxiety, partly due to her father being left mentally and physically impaired due to a blood clot in his brain.
She said: 'I've always picked at scabs, scrapes, etc., but it definitely became a problem by the fifth grade.'
Since then, mom-of-one Ms Hartlin has always suffered from excoriation disorder, also known as skin picking, which means she has the compulsive need to pick at her skin constantly, leaving her with torn skin and open wounds.
Another doctor denied Ms Hartlin help for an infection on her
