I’m starting to not like the medical system….
August 31: My left arm and leg went completely numb this happened for about 15 minutes or so, after and hour and a bit I started getting this horrible migraine. I didn’t think anything of it, because I thought it was a simple headache and would pass.
September 1st: The headache worse then the day before continued followed by light sensitivity, and noises didn’t help either. I took and Advil and then shrugged it off. I’m not the type of person that runs to the Emergency or the doctor every time I have a headache. Later on that night around 3am I woke up and I couldn’t see, I freaked out it was almost as if I had gone completely blind. I couldn’t stop crying and finally after my mom had given me some Advil I went back to sleep. Once I woke up in the morning 6:40am my vision was back, blurry but I could still see.
September 2nd– I went to go see my family doctor, after stating all my symptoms I was given a referral form to told to go to the Emergency, the form stated that my left side had gone numb 2 days before, that had a horrible “migraine”, that my blood pressure was high, and he believed these were signs for a stroke. He wrote the words stroke on my referral sheet. On the way to the Emergency I puked, for the first time since my symptoms had started. Once we got to the triage the nurse asked me to come to the back, she did a hand test, checked my blood pressure. Then I was told to go wait in the waiting room. Fast-forward two hours later, countless patients with sprains got in, and I still hadn’t seen a doctor we asked what my file said and the nurse had marked down “headache” completely dismissing what my family doctor had said stating that “he knew nothing”. They said they would reassess me, so after taking some blood, a urine sample, and checking my blood pressure. The doctor FINALLY came to see me he said they’d try to treat me with fluids, steroids, and an anti-nausea medication. He stated that it should get rid of the “migraine” and if not they’d look more into it with a CT scan etc. Two hours later after all the medication was in my body, I still had a headache that felt like my head was going to explode. They simply brushed it off said they’d refer me to a neurologist, gave me 2 Tylenol and discharged me. Got to love the health care system.
September 8th– I got a phone call from the neurologist asking for me to come in the next day.
September 9th– I went to the neurologist, he checked my hands, watched me walk, checked my throat, neck, feet, made me balance, made me touch my nose. Then said he believes it’s just a strong migraine. Stating simply “Because you are 24 years old, nothing serious can be wrong with you”, he also stated he wouldn’t waste time on a CT scan because people as young as me almost always have normal scans. Then he said to continue taking Advil daily and to “ride out” the migraine. He also said to come back in 4-6 months if I still have a migraine. I know that what I have isn’t remotely the same as cancer, or many other diseases but if “you are too young to have something seriously wrong” please explain to my why there are so many young people with cancer and other diseases?! This enrages me!
September 15– My migraine is still here and still causing me a great deal of pain, but I suppose I should just keep taking Advil for the rest of my life right.
*Let it be noted: I appreciate the nurses, doctors, and everyone else in the medical field that CARE, and the ones that do their best to help patients. Unfortunately they are given a bad name because of the others that do NOT care.*