The war on nausea

May 8, 2012

“Are you pregnant?”

She was trying to be helpful.  And I guess it’s an appropriate question when a 30-something woman says that she’s been having unexplained nausea for the past week.  Still, it was a reminder of how incredibly unlikely that is.  There’s a good chance I can’t get pregnant without medical help, but more than that, there the lack of sex recently.  That part really sucks.

Of course, more frustrating than the lack of sex at the  moment was the nausea.  I’m no stranger to GI discomforts.  I’ve been having various symptoms since my teen years.  After around 18 years, it’s still difficult, inconvenient, painful, and upsetting, but it’s certainly not surprising.  The only surprising part is that it’s been different lately.  Over the last few months, since I started the gluten-free diet, it’s been different.  Maybe that’s because of the diet, or maybe it’s a coincidence.  I have no idea.  But this past week has been the worst of all.

It used to be that the more severe nausea and it’s other accompanying symptoms (cramps, bloating, diarrhea) would last for hours.  Over the last few months, there have been times when it’s lasted for a day or two.  This has been especially lousy.  But now, it’s been coming in waves since Thursday.  That’s 5 full days of this bull.  I’ve taken more Pepto than I’d like, but aside from that I just don’t know what else to do.

So I’m fighting this in the only way I know how.  I’m trying to stay calm and relaxed.  I’m watching a lot of tv when I feel lousy.  I’m not pushing myself.  I’m being careful of what I eat.  I’m drinking plenty of water so I don’t dehydrate.  I’m taking Pepto.  And I’m hoping, really hoping, that it goes away soon.  I’d hate to have to fight this at the next level: seeing my PCP so I can get a referral for a gastroenterologist, then waiting for that appointment, then having tests run, then waiting for those test results, then maybe trying a treatment….  That could take months.  Instead, I’ll stick with my old method and try to wait it out.  It may not be the smartest move, but it’s certainly the fastest.

Leave a Comment » | Decisions, Expectations, Frustration, Gastrointestinal, Healthcare, Limitations, Rants, Symptoms, Unpredictable | Permalink
Posted by chronicrants

Rheumatology rock star

March 24, 2012

My rheumatologist is fantastic!  She sets the gold standard for medical care.  She went above and beyond yesterday!

I am very picky about doctors.  Actually, that’s a huge understatement.  I’ve received a lot of poor care over the years.  There was the pediatric surgeon with no compassion.  There was the internist who lied and told me a certain test didn’t exist even though it did.  There were the several who ignored my theories of what was happening with my body (and it turns out I was right.)  There were the many who simply wouldn’t admit when they didn’t have an answer.  That’s one of my biggest criteria: every doctor I see must be willing to admit ignorance when it’s warranted.  My standards are high, and I won’t accept inferior treatment any more.

At my first appointment with this rheumatologist, I told her early on that I understood that my condition didn’t have a particular name and that I was ok with that.  She looked downright relieved, then told me how it can take patients many years to accept that.  She was glad we could move on and focus on treatments.  I knew then that I liked her.  She understood.

Over the last several years she has been helpful and caring.  She only works three days a week, but if I leave a message with an urgent situation, she’ll call me back on her days off.  She’ll call me at 7pm if she’s been with patients all day.  I can always trust that she’ll call.  When I need to be seen and her schedule is booked, she always finds a way to squeeze me in.  She tells me when she doesn’t know what to do.  She’ll ask what I want to do.  She listens to my thoughts and theories and takes me seriously.  She trusts my assessment of my body, but conducts her own assessment as well.  I can actually trust her.  That’s not something I do easily.  And, of course, she’s good at what she does.  She’s knowledgeable.  She’s worked with other patients with my unique rheumatological situation.  If I ask her about something she’s not completely familiar with, she researches it and gets back to me.

But this week she really outdid herself.  I was blown away!  I’ve been on edge about signing up for disability insurance.  To make matters worse, there will be a big gap between short term and long term disability.  This is mostly because I got the paperwork for the insurance application on the first day of my rheumatologist’s 10 day vacation.  She’d told me she was going on vacation, but I didn’t realize what the timing of the paperwork would be.  Well, there was nothing I could do.  I sent her the forms, along with a note about the timing, asking that she not wait until our next appointment to fill it out.  I know how hectic things are after a vacation, but she’s been so responsive that I hoped she might do it within a week of getting back.  Boy was I wrong!

She got back from vacation on Thursday.  Early Friday morning she responded to my email and asked if she could call me later in the day to discuss the forms.  She called at the exact time she had said and then filled out the forms while we were on the phone!  She told me what she was writing and asked me questions about the various sections.  She told me she wanted to get it done right away because of my timing issue, then she apologized for not calling the day before!  She said she had to spend that first day catching up from vacation, which of course I understood!  Plus, we had a temperature and humidity spike last week, so I’m guessing that many of her patients were calling.  This paperwork is important to me, and I’m nervous about it, but I never expected her to do it on her second day back!  Her forms will get to the insurance company before mine!  (She faxed hers and I have to mail mine.)

I’m not thrilled with my endocrinologist right now, and I need a new gastroenterologist, and I might need to see a neurologist, and I’m not crazy about my PCP, but thank goodness that the one doctor I rely on the most, the one who provides so much of my care, is so fantastic!  I wish I could find more like her.  I wish we all could!

Good luck to you all in your search for good doctors.  Let’s hope there are plenty more like this one.  We all deserve them.

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If you can relate to this, please pass it along and share the camaraderie!  Thanks!

Leave a Comment » | Expectations, Healthcare, Medication, Raves, Support, Symptoms, Thoughtfulness | Permalink
Posted by chronicrants

Disability insurance: Where’s the fairness?

March 20, 2012

In about two weeks my short term disability (STD) insurance will end.  My health will probably be no different than it is today, but my insurance will disappear.  Luckily, I paid into my company’s long term disability (LTD) insurance.  Last week I got all sorts of information about this benefit.  I learned how much it will pay, how the money will be taxed, and how my other benefits, such as health insurance and the FSA, will be affected.  Of course, this is assuming that I get LTD.

My rheumatologist has been on vacation for over a week.  When she gets back later this week, she will find some forms that are waiting for her at the office (assuming the postal service delivered them on time.)  I hope that she fills out these forms and sends them in quickly.  I must fill out my own set of forms, with crazy questions like asking me to list all of the illnesses I’ve had in the last 5 years, and send them in.  And then I wait.  I wait and I hope that my application is approved the first time around.  As I wrote a couple of weeks ago, after years of people not believing that I had a real health problem, I still get nervous about this kind of paperwork.

Still, I will probably be approved.  I now have years of medical records that document my condition, and doctors who will explain why I can’t work.  I feel so fortunate.  The payout is decent – enough to pay all of my bills if I’m frugal.  I get to keep my (very decent) health insurance.  I lose some benefits, such as the FSA, but so be it.  I can even work to a certain extent while I am on LTD (when I eventually feel up to it.)  This is all much better than what I had expected.  But there’s one thing that really bothers me: fairness.

Ok, the world isn’t fair.  We all know this.  Still, it doesn’t seem right that I get this benefit because I worked at a company that provides LTD, while so many others do not.  If I had gotten sick 10 years ago, I’d simply be unemployed now.  And if my current inability to work doesn’t improve within the 2 years that I have LTD?  Then what?  Social security is a joke – it wouldn’t even cover my rent right now.  Even if I moved out of state to an area with a lower cost of living, it wouldn’t be enough.  I would be on Medicaid and food stamps and would still have trouble paying the bills.  Is this the way we want our system to work?

I feel so grateful for the amazing benefits I have, and so horrified that they are not standard.  I can not understand why more people don’t stand up and insist on receiving these kinds of benefits.  I suppose everyone thinks it won’t happen to them.  That’s what I used to think.  But most of us know someone who has had to deal with illness, so isn’t it just possible that it could affect us too?  We need outrage right now.  I’m too tired to fight for this kind of universal benefit right now, but when I get my energy back, when I’m feeling better, it will be right near the top of my list.  When I go back to work, I want to fight for equality and fairness.  It’s an uphill battle, but one that I look forward to fighting.

 

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If you can relate to this, please pass it along!  Thanks!

5 Comments | Educating, Expectations, Frustration, Healthcare, Job, Politics, Rants, Unpredictable | Permalink
Posted by chronicrants

Enduring a kerfloofy week

March 12, 2012

This is the longest blogging gap I’ve had so far.  When I started this blog in July, I blogged every day.  If I absolutely had to skip a day, I wrote two the next day.  A few months ago my health made it hard to keep up, and sometimes I skipped two days, or even three.  Then this week happened, and it’s been 7 days since my last posting.

It started innocently enough.  I skipped a couple days because I was tired.  Then I tried to blog, but I had lost my internet connection for the night.  And then things got kerfloofy. (Hmm, I thought that I made that word up, but I just check and it exists already.  Go figure.)

There are a lot of ways that I don’t handle my health properly.  I don’t do my physical therapy consistently, I don’t get enough exercise even when I feel up to it, I don’t get enough sleep.  But I do pride myself on how I handle stress.  I handled my difficult job, my ill relative, and my hurt friend all very well.  But then I got it: the long term disability application.  And my stomach has been in knots ever since.

When I left my job, I told them I’d be back in 3 months, maybe sooner.  This week I have to call my boss, then head over to clean out my desk.  I won’t be coming back at all.  As of three weeks from now, they are no longer required to hold my job open for me (and I know they won’t) and I will be in the process of applying for long term disability payments.  The hardest part of this should be how horrible I feel physically.  Most days it is.  But right now, the hard part is all mental and emotional: accepting that it has come to this.

For years I have known that I could end up receiving disability payments, but I never really believed it would happen.  I am 32 years old, and I am wondering if I will ever work full time again.  Chances are that I will, but what if….?  I would never get married to someone just for their money, but right now I sure wish I had a spouse so I could at least get on their health insurance.

The future is scary, but I know I have to find a way to deal with it.  If I’m going to feel lousy anyway, I sure don’t want to add stress on top of it all!

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If you can relate to this, please pass it along!  Thanks!

Leave a Comment » | Decisions, Expectations, Healthcare, Isolation, Job, Limitations, Rants, Symptoms, Unpredictable | Permalink
Posted by chronicrants

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