So I’m switching insurance at the end of the year, because I’m tired of having to make multiple appointments with Kaiser doctors to try and figure out what the hell is going on with my body. I keep getting “ah we don’t know, but here’s another test. And once we’ve run the test and don’t get any answers, we’ll never follow up unless YOU follow up”.
This is a long rant because I hurt and I’m in a mood to complain.
I’ve had lower right abdominal pain since October of last year, and a period that’s decided it’s never going to stop. And what I thought were recurring UTIs but apparently aren’t because there’s no bacteria. Good times.
I thought the lower right burning might be appendicitis because it got real bad in January, but nope. Nothing to indicate a problem in the lower right abdominal region. Appendix is normal, but hey there’s a fibroid on your left side growing! The larger it grew, the more impossible it was to SIT DOWN. We’ll put you on Lupron to shrink the fibroid (this did jack-all for my left-side impossible to sit pain that came about due to this tumor). Fun part was for the pain? “Oh, advil and Tylenol. Just take Advil and Tylenol.” Except they did nothing and I couldn’t sit up straight for more than 15 minutes without pain. “Sorry, we cannot give you anything other than ibuprofen. Take 800mg/600mg of Advil/tylenol”.
Worst heartburn and nausea of my life. Thank you. Anything else? “No.”
When alcohol and weed are the only things that get rid of the pain, I can strongly empathize with alcoholics…I got a CBD vape instead and that helped immensely.
I got the fibroid removed in May, and the lower right burning went away for a time (I suspect more due to the Lupron than anything else).
Once the Lupron wore off, my non-stop bleeding came back.
In September, they put me on Depo-Provera, because I refused to have an IUD. I’ve read too many horror stories about insertion and I’m sensitive to internal pain so No Thank You. This stopped the never-ending flood, but I never stopped actually Bleeding. Everytime I use the restroom, there’s blood. Or a blood clot. I don’t know, I’m not an expert. Mentioned it to the Gyno, who took a look, found no source, ordered an ultrasound, which found no source. “It’ll go away the longer you’re on the Depo Shot”.
Except on the depo shot, I’ve had non-stop everyday abdominal cramping. Low key, not disruptive, but definitely distracting. I rarely get period cramps, so I’m not used to the random “oh shit pain in my stomach” stabbing. So I’m definitely not going to be continuing that because I’d rather bleed than hurt.
But I still have the lower right abdominal pain.
I was referred to Urology to figure out why I kept getting UTI’s. Except they’re bacteria-free. So doc suspects Interstitial Cystitis or Overactive Bladder. Urologist orders catheterized urine test.
At the same time, I get random neuropathy in my right foot (toes are numb). My PCP orders bloodwork for a bunch of stuff.
When I go to the lab, lab says I have both bloodwork and urine test, so go in cup and donate blood.
So when I go to my catheterized urine sample appt, they say I’ve already submitted the sample via non-catheter test so they’re just doing bladder scan.
Why the fuck would the lab give me the standard test then? Shouldn’t there have been notes indicating that HEY there’s an appointment for a catheterized test? And not only does the urologist not follow up with me on what happened, the nurse mentions that they’re interested in a Cytoscopy, but I have yet to hear ANYTHING about that from the actual doctor. And not only that but when I emailed them, they mentioned doing another catheterized test, but I’ve not heard back from anybody about scheduling that.
And I still have the lower right abdominal burning.
Another fun thing, Thyroid issues run in my family. My maternal side is all on thyroid medication (my grandmas thyroid straight up failed when she was my age). I’ve asked my PCP repeatedly for a full Thyroid work up, because I’m cold all the time, and tired a lot. And yeah it might be because I’m overweight and not very active, but I’d rather be paranoid and proven incorrect.
PCP refuses full thyroid panel. “We’ll just do TSH and if that returns abnormal, we’ll do a full panel. I don’t want to expose you to any unnecessary radiation and the thyroid test is irradiative”.
…I live on a planet with a sun. And I am not. A. Radiologist. I am not concerned about radiation. I just want to know if my T3 and T4 and uptake and whatever else is in that damn test are normal, because at this point with the whacked out period that’s been going on for OVER A DAMN YEAR NOW, I strongly suspect that hey, I have a thyroid issue because my estrogen and progesterone levels are normal!!!
The only doctor at Kaiser I actually like is my psychiatrist ironically enough, because they actually fucking follow up with me after tests are run, and address my concerns. I have ADHD, so I know my chronic fatigue could also be due to that (because it’s a thing… v_v).
So yeah. I’ve had multiple people tell me that the squeaky wheel gets the grease at Kaiser, but come on. I shouldn’t have to pitch a fit just to get decent medical care. In my personal experience, if you have a medical emergency or a quick-solve condition, Kaiser is fine. For anything chronic or medical mystery though? HAAAAAAA. Good fucking luck.
Now I get to figure out how to navigate finding a new doctor. Because I’ve been on Kaiser literally since birth, and have never had to find my own PCP before. I’m just hoping I’ll find one that will actually listen to me. Or at the very least, will humor me and actually schedule follow ups and whatnot. Because my abdomen fucking hurts and the scans come back clear.
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Does anyone else ever worry about if their parents die and then you have to take care of your siblings and like obviously you would because you love them and couldn't bear to see them separated by the foster system or anything but you can barely even drive much less raise children and you'd have to find a place to live and enroll them in school because you sure as hell couldn't home school them and would they even do well in school they're always refusing to read anything and would you have to get a different job because who knows if you can support yourself and two kids on $14.25 an hour and would you even do a good job of raising them because you love them but they're a lot and you're certainly not cut out to be a parent and now you're terrified to mess up your little brother and sister even though your parents are in perfect health and the odds of them dying any time soon (much less at the same time) are ridiculously low?
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