Reading these stories here make me glad I'm the kind of person that goes to the doctor the moment I notice something's off.
But the one exception for that was when, for "some reason", for an entire month, I always started feeling fatigued after only being awake for a couple hours. It felt like there was a pressure in my head, and it felt like there was a rubber band around the top of my head (above my forehead). (Some of you probably know where I'm going with this now.) Thinking it was just seasonal allergies or poor sleep (I had a bad habit of "late to bed, early to rise"), I just toughed it out.
It took until my ears started feeling clogged that I realized what was going on. I'd apparently been dealing with a sinus infection for an entire month, and my ears were starting to get infected from it now. I'd never had a sinus infection without having been sick prior to it before. (I tend to get ear and sinus infections after every cold.) So it kinda surprised me, and it's why it didn't even cross my mind until I started feeling the effects of the ear infection. I think I took 2-3 rounds of antibiotics to clear it up, and I also took a round of steroids to immediately open me up and help me drain.
This is sort of similar to how I got diagnosed with IBD. I'd had bleeding for a month in the rear end, nothing big just small bits of blood. Which is a symptom of a flare up. Ibd is basically inflammation of the bowel btw.
Eventually the inflammation got so bad that I ended up with swollen feet and I couldn't walk. The inflammation in the bowel led to an infection in my feet and the first day I had the swelling (I went to bed the night before and woke up with it) I went to A and E (I'm in NI which is part of the UK and so it was the NHS) They sent me home with ibuprofen and told me that my feet were swollen because of something muscular, also told me to use epsom salts in a bath so I bought two big fuck off bags on amazon. The next day my feet got worse so I phoned my GP practice and met with a Dr later in the day and he suspected an illness which largely affects kids, so he sent me to A and E that day to get tests done. Anyway about 6 days later after multiple blood tests, a biopsy and an iron infusion and a transfusion (I had bad anaemia) I was diagnosed with IBD.
Years ago I had a rash under my arm that wouldn't go away, at first I thought it was just because I had swapped deodorant or I switched back, then I assumed it was now just aggravated because I was spraying stuff on a rash so stopped and was putting cream on it, after about 3-4 weeks it had spread around to my back and the wife saw it when I hopped out of the shower one night and told me to go to the doctor's. I was like yeah guess I should, another week passed and she asked me to meet her at the shops after work, I arrive and she had booked me a doctor's appointment... As soon as I took my shirt off the doctor gasped and said I had to go to ER immediately, I stupidly went home and had a shower first then went to ER, handed them the letter from the Dr and skipped the whole queue, triage nurse is slipping a cannula in and putting me on penicillin while I'm still being checked in.. ended up in hospital for 5 weeks with a severe case of cellulitis so bad they brought the medical students passed me every morning...
Thing is I felt fine the whole time, no pain at all, didn't feel sick and the whole time they're telling me it's life threatening..
Unless you are either female, a minority, young, or have chronic pain in which case any mention of pain you have, no matter how extreme, is considered a drug seeking attempt.
The ER will diagnose people based on their race, sex, gender, and age before they'll diagnose you based on your symptoms. It doesn't matter how much you are suffering, how much pain you are in, or how close you are to killing yourself because you can't take it anymore. ER doctors have no empathy unless you fit a certain demographic.
Ah yes. Many years ago before I was born, the guy who my was married to came home and complained about a bit of a painfull back. My mom made him drive to the hospital where he told them what hat happend.
They told him to stand completely still and put a neck brace on him and made him sit in a wheelchair where he passed out.
When he woke up half his body (left side I think) wa paralyzed.
It turns out he had fall off the roof of a barn and landed flat on his back on the fully extended ladder, breaking his back, and passed out and had lost his memory until he saw his work wan, with his name on it. He had then driven himself back home, before my mom insisted that he needed to go to the hospital, "just to have him checked out".
He still suffers daily from it, but he somehow managed to get full functionally of his body back, but never was able to work full time in trade work.
Your last line there. I get it and I agree, but for a lot of people without insurance it's like having to choose between bodily destruction and financial destruction
Hospitals also offer financial assistance and payment plans if you ask. Believe it or not, hospitals want you to be able to pay. If you can't pay, that means they don't get paid. Though, sometimes (this is NOT a guarantee), they may waive the bill altogether if you apply for financial assistance.
