Ronnisha's experience with her psoriatic arthritis diagnosis
Ronnisha shares her long journey to being taken seriously in the healthcare industry and finally receiving her psoriatic arthritis diagnosis. She outlines the difficulty of being taken seriously as a woman of color.
Transcript
As a Black woman, I do not think that I was taken seriously. [MUSIC PLAYING]
I was diagnosed with psoriatic arthritis in 2019. I started noticing the joint stiffness around 2008.
I started to feel like there was like a golf ball sized, like, lump in my back. My journey to receiving diagnosis was long and was
difficult. I had to fight every single step of the way. I had to fight for a biopsy. I had to fight to be referred to a specialist.
I would go to the doctor and, you know, they would kind of be dismissive toward me. There was no testing.
It was just what they looked and thought they saw, especially because it looked different in melanated skin.
One of my dermatologists told me that this was not something that Black people even get.
As a Black woman, I do not think that I was taken seriously. At first, I thought it was because of my age.
But when the doctor made the statement that Black people don't get this, I was like, oh, wait a minute.
I definitely feel like people of color are diagnosed at a lower rate because of multiple reasons.
psoriatic arthritis
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