Sorry about the pun – I’ve been elbow-deep in SDK documentation for weeks, and it’s starting to infiltrate my subconscious. Also, I am pretty super duper. You know, in case you missed that part.
.. actually, I’m not super at all. My health is probably the worst it’s ever been, and I can’t get help. I’ve been to walk-in clinics, used Medeo multiple times, called 811 to talk to a nurse, tried to get sleep tests done .. and it’s all failed. I’m no closer to finding out what’s wrong with me than I was two months ago, and in the meantime, things have gotten so much worse. If I stop to think about my symptoms, I legit start to cry because I’m so fucking scared and feeling helpless and like I’m going to keel over and die any minute, and I can’t get any fucking help.
I still can’t catch a full breath, and the fatigue is worse than ever. I’ve basically given up on leaving the house: I work from home 3-4 days a week because I just don’t have the energy necessary to get to the office. Every fucking thing I do winds me like I ran three miles – I can’t even get dressed without having to stop to catch my fucking breath. It’s scary and humiliating and I don’t know what to do.
My lungs rattle at night, making me cough, which makes me throw up. Rinse and repeat, every night. I’m lucky if I get 3-5 hours of fitful, rattly sleep. Every doctor I manage to see listens to my lungs, and doesn’t hear a thing – because the rattling only happens after midnight. I’ve recorded it, I’ve sent it to doctors, I’ve played it in people’s faces, and they ignore it. Want to hear? Click away. It’s awesome. That’s what I sound like every night after midnight, but no one will help me because it doesn’t happen in front of their eyes.
I look and feel like utter shit. I’m pale and blotchy and there are bags under my eyes big enough to smuggle dogs in. I feel fragile and broken and I don’t know how to fix it. I’ve been trying, with no luck – each doctor I talk to tells me to talk to someone else. Online they tell me to see a live doctor. Live doctors refer me to hospitals, but the referrals don’t come through. The sleep test equipment I got was broken, and it took another 4 weeks to get another loaner appointment. Assuming that equipment works, it’ll be 2-4 weeks before they can analyze the results. I don’t think I can do this for another 6 weeks.
Ed tries to anticipate what the doctors will tell me – that it’s my diet causing all this. That doesn’t help. I can’t eat because I’m so tired, and when I do, I struggle to keep food down. Also, most of the reason I’m afraid to see a live doctor is because I’m convinced they’re going to dismiss every symptom I have, because I’m fat. You can’t breathe? You’re fat. You can’t sleep? Fat. Tired all the time, throwing up every night, pink jellyfish in your lungs? So fat. I’m desperate to have some kind of medical professional take me seriously and look for symptoms beyond my size, but I’m terrified of being ignored – and Ed’s comments aren’t helping. He means well, but .. no. Stop. Please.
If this keeps up, I’m going to have to take some medical leave from work. I can’t cope anymore, I don’t have a family doctor I can see, and everything left of me is in the hands of people who have a website proudly stating:
The Clinic takes walk-in patients from 8am-9pm Monday- Friday and from 9am-9pm Saturday’s and Sunday’s.
I’m as good as dead. Who wants my stuff?
Might be time for a 2 am visit to Emergency, so they can hear your breathing in person. That’s what I’d do. Good luck!
Have you tried the non-walk-in-clinic options listed here? http://vancouvermedicalassociation.ca/for-patients/#finding Also, have you considered going to a naturopath? They now have quite a few rights in BC and could be a good way to determine what might be going on and advocate for you?
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