My New Banner - Some Doctors are Quacks Part 1

I decided to add something very personal to my blog header. Yep. That's my MRI. I had it done a couple of years ago, well, I HAD to have it done a couple of years ago.

I work in a job that is 60 hours/week for 10 months/year. Having just finished one project, I had gone directly onto something very small, only a week of work. So I do that, then crash. Completely. I slept for 20 hours a day for 3 days straight. Sleeping all night, waking up to have breakfast, back to bed til lunch, woke up & had lunch, then went back to bed until supper. Woke up long enough to eat, then maybe a half hour longer, then sleep through the night. 3 days of this. I put it down to exhaustion. When I woke up on the 4th day, I suddenly could barely see out of my right eye, and I had developed these horrendous headaches. Part of my face would freeze, my pupil would contract to the extreme when I was around ANY light (just the right side mind you, the left would react normally), my teeth hurt, my sinuses hurt, and my skin around my eye was super sensitive.

After waiting what felt like forever to see an optomotrist, I was told that my eye was healthy, but they made an appointment with an othomologist just in case. In the meantime, I went to the dentist, thinking the toothache had something to do with a cracked tooth or something. I even had a root canel. None of this worked, my headaches, etc. were so bad that every 2nd day I ended up in the emergency room at the local hospital trying to get something for the pain.

A month later I finally got in to see the opthomologist. He tells me there is nothing wrong with my eye, and it's just optic neuritis, and it would go away in 6-8 weeks. It had already been over that and it was still going strong. So I wait the 6-8 weeks to come back for my follow-up, during this time, I continue my visits to the emergency room. I can barely work because of the pain.

Finally, another 6 weeks pass and I go back to the opthomologist. He tells me I'll be ok, there's nothing wrong, the eye will clear on it's own. Blah, Blah, Blah. I convince him I want to see a neurologist. He hums and haws, saying the neurologist probably wouldn't see me over something like this. He kept trying to convince me not to see a neurologist. By this time I'm livid and practically demand to see someone. So he calls the hospital, and very appologetically tells them he has a woman who really thinks she needs to see someone because of this 'little' problem. (I'm in the room for the phone call so I hear everything this whiney little idiot says).

At any rate, the neurologist says he'll see me right now, can I come to the hospital? I can't get out of the room fast enough, and head the few blocks to the hospital. After the neurologist checks me over and orders some tests, he tells me he thinks I have MS, and will order an MRI for me. He immediately puts me 3 days of intravenous steroids, and gives me a perscription for Gabapentin. The steroids don't help, oddly enough, neither does the Gabapentin. After a few weeks of the drug not working, I call the doctor's office to ask for something else for the pain. It takes another 5 days for them to get back to me and the Dr. issues me a perscription for.....GABAPENTIN. It's like he didn't even look at my file to find out I was already on it, and just arbitrarily issues another perscription. Finally, he gives me a perscription for Lyrica. A drug designed to control nerve pain.

By this time, my hair is falling out by handfuls, my nerves are shot and I can barely work. This Dr. was supposed to order an MRI for me (which would've been free), of course he forgot. So the only way I could get one before another 5 months had passed was to pay for it myself. Over $800.00. Thank God my parents helped me to pay for it. This doctor also forgot to fill in a form (that I sent him) to show my union that I was physically unable to work. I couldn't even ask them for financial help through our medical services provider.

I'm so stressed by this point; I can't see out of one eyes and I have trouble walking on my own because of the constant headaches.

I'm going to stop writing now, because this still upsets me, I'll continue this tomorrow.