I don’t get truly angry very often, but today was one of those days. I’m not talking about getting a bit mad. This isn’t about being pissed off or annoyed. I’m talking about blood boiling, can’t stop shouting, punching things kind of angry. But without the punching, since my joints can’t take it. But if I could, I’d have punched some pillows, or maybe worse.
To be honest, I never expected it to be easy to get my long term disability (LTD) claim approved. I assumed they would make it difficult. I didn’t expect to encounter pure ineptitude, though. It is infuriating!
I won’t go into the details. They aren’t that interesting to an outsider and I’d just get mad if I typed them all out again. Basically, the LTD insurance company uses a separate company to get my medical records. I was told they use this company because they can follow up with the doctors’ offices more frequently than the LTD insurance agency can. Too bad this isn’t true. As it turns out, this company hasn’t been following up. I spoke today to a doctor’s office who contacted this company on APRIL 30!, then was never called back. When the company did receive records from another doctor, they misplaced them and only realized it when they turned up 3 weeks later! Until the records appeared, these people were saying that they hadn’t received the records at all. Like I said: inept.
In all, this company’s ineptitude has set my claim back at least 5 weeks. That’s based on the setbacks that I know of. My guess is that there are others that I haven’t discovered yet. But I will.
I don’t plan on taking this lying down. First, I contacted the LTD insurance company and made it clear that from now on, I will handle anything that horrible company would have done. They are to have nothing at all to do with my claim from now on.
Second, as soon as my claim is approved (no point in ruffling feathers before that) I am going to call the CEO of that inept company, I am going to file complaints with the LTD insurance company, and I am going to report that company to every regulatory agency that I can think of. How dare they make worse a time that is already so difficult for people? And don’t get me started on the idea of such inept people handling so much confidential information!
It took a lot of heavy pacing, a lot of nasty words, a lot of venting to a friend, and a lot of effort, but I have finally managed to reduce my anger to mere… well, at least to a lower level of anger. I am certainly not doing this for those idiots, though; I’m doing it for me. I need to relax and take care of my body. And then when the time comes, I will definitely hold them accountable.
Posted by chronicrants 
undifferentiated connective tissue disease. This doesn’t mean a whole lot, but vague as it is, it’s more than I had before. Hypothyroid came around age 26 and Hashimoto’s was around age 31. There were others in there too, but they were smaller. Then again, I thought most of these were pretty small, too. After all, hypothyroid didn’t mean anything more than taking a pill every morning. And according to my doctor, Hashimoto’s had the same treatment as hypothyroid. PCOS also didn’t mean much until I was ready to have kids, which hasn’t happened yet. And IBS is a nice name and all, but the only treatment is diet, and I was really left on my own to figure that out, aside from the somewhat-useful-in-a-very-limited-way pamphlet I got from the doctor. No, the big one was definitely the connective tissue diagnosis.
symptoms and their permanence in my life. I had a good handle on things. So why did my world turn upside down again with that diagnosis? Suddenly I was going through the 
everything.
until a few months ago.
learning never ends. I am reading constantly, following blogs and tweetchats, trying my best to figure out which is the best approach to take. I am talking to alternative practitioners to learn about their different approaches. [I’ve been amazed at how willing they are to spend 1/2 hour on the phone telling me about what they do – the traditional doctors I contact don’t do this.] I am 
still feel the social pressure for that) but I really do want to have kids. I’ve watched many close friends have children in recent years, and as fun as it is to be an auntie, it makes me ache for motherhood. [This picture is me as an auntie.]
Chronic Rants 