How I explained interoception to my GP

My experience is that the medical part has been simple and the logistics have been the entire challenge.

I would gently say that if you need things explained differently, ask. Mine were, once I asked, and the appointments improved immediately.

The hardest part was that advice kept coming in the form of listening to my body, and my body does not speak clearly enough for that.

No advice, just company. Here if it helps.

What worked was external signals. Timers, notes, a visible chart, my partner asking a specific question at a specific time.

What I got wrong was assuming I would remember. I do not remember. Everything that works for me is written down or automated.

Somebody in this circle described a body that does not send clear signals, and it was the first time I had seen that written down anywhere.

The masking cost at appointments is real and I now bring somebody with me, which halves the exhaustion afterwards.

My notes are the only reason I can answer questions about myself. Without them I would have nothing to bring to a review at all.

I found the unpredictability harder than any individual difficulty. Knowing what to expect is worth more to me than the thing being easy.

Adding a name to the list of people this helped.

Somebody here suggested writing my own protocol as a document, and I did, and it is now four pages and it runs my whole week.

My eating became much more repetitive and my dietitian was entirely relaxed about that, which I had braced to be told off for.

Nothing here is medical advice, and interactions with other medication are a real question worth taking to a pharmacist specifically.