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CallaFirestormBW -> RE: Kink Aware Professionals (10/5/2008 10:52:44 PM)
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The KAP list rocks -- it's a shame there aren't more professionals listed... but finding a good doc is not a lost cause. I've found that most docs are pretty open minded. I was -really- straightforward with all of my docs, particularly because of my underlying health issues and medications -- some of the things I might want to do are impacted by my overall health (like having to wait on a tattoo until an underlying autoimmune flare is resolved).
If your doctor -isn't- willing to work with you and take what you tell hir in stride, interview other docs. There are a lot of really good, really open-minded doctors who either don't know that they -can- put their name on a KAP list, or won't because they're uncomfortable about the appearance of publicly supporting something that could cause a legal issue and jeopardize their license.
My docs aren't listed -- but for me they put up with alternative medicine, body mod, my poly partners, spiritual/religious ambiguity (yes, even in the Bible Belt), cleaning up my needle nicks from mis-guided self-piercings, and making sure the sites where I test my new branding pens and scalpels don't develop secondary issues due to my (genetic) immune system mis-wiring. I've also talked to them about whether meds I'm on will have an impact on things like impact play, or cause me to bleed more freely or react with tattoo ink. I've even had my doc help out when I did a fetish scene with strategically placed lizards and one took a chunk out of my inner thigh.
Don't discount the doc you have -- and if you -are- searching, run some questions by the docs you're interviewing. Chances are, most of them will take things in stride... and if you're planning -extreme- stuff (amputation, severe battering including broken facial or body bones, etc.), be aware that -any- doctor is required to report domestic violence or communicable disease... so a doc who would feel compelled to report 'super edge' stuff isn't necessarily going to be ruled out, because even a KAP is likely to come up against legal requirements -and- most of the folks, even those who are kink-aware and even kink-active, may -still- reach a point where they may be uncomfortable with something going on -- so encourage hir to talk to -you- BEFORE xhe runs to the cops, even if xhe's freaked. I got mine to do that, and it's saved us a couple of hairy sessions of explaining stuff to the cops (at best) or DA (at worst).
Calla Firestorm
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