Why didn't you say so?

[u/TheNectarineDiaries]

Best medical advice I ever got was to bring a man to your appointments

[u/the-effects-of-Dust]

I went to the emergency room after experiencing abdominal pain in my lower right quadrant for a full 24 hours. I remember thinking “I without a shadow of a doubt know this is appendicitis.” (Surprisingly it didn’t hurt as much as I thought but I also have endometriosis so like — pain tolerance is weird for me) ANYWAY
Triage nurse told me it couldn’t be appendicitis because I didn’t have a fever. I had to demand a ct scan or whatever they used to diagnose that and had to cry and talk to a doctor before they would.

Anyway my appendix had not exploded yet but had split open and was leaking pus into my abdominal cavity and if they sent me home I would have likely died 😇 (so said my surgeon after I came to the next morning).

Edit: I forgot to add my favorite part! I had pretty good health insurance at the time (like, US standards…so…) but I went to a hospital out of network so I was initially billed $28,000 for my surgery! My surgeon had to argue the insurance company down because “it was literally a life or death emergency” so they brought it down to $3,000. Which I still haven’t paid. Because poverty. 😇

[u/QueenMackeral → u/the-effects-of-Dust]

Having health anxiety is the worst because if that was me I'd be like you know what the doctor is probably right you're just being anxious, just go home and rest and it'll go away.

[u/the-effects-of-Dust → u/QueenMackeral]

Oh I DO have health anxiety and I almost didn’t go into the hospital at all because I had been twice recently and been diagnosed with panic attacks 😂

[u/QueenMackeral → u/the-effects-of-Dust]

I'm gonna die mysteriously in my room one day aren't I 😔

[u/hydrastxrk → u/QueenMackeral]

Me right now. I’ve had stomach and back pain for a month atp. But after a year of going to the emergency room for every little thing because of health anxiety. I’ve finally just started to push away my pain, get used to it, and assume I’m OK.

Which probably isn’t the right call.

But I can’t afford constantly going to the ER. And nothing is ever wrong according to them.

But I’m in pain always everywhere and every new little thing is just an addition and something I’m actively trying to not worry about.

I’m mentally exhausted atp.

[u/Weird-Girl-675 → u/QueenMackeral]

I think we all are…

[u/QueenMackeral → u/Weird-Girl-675]

they wouldn't even need to do an autopsy they'd just have to look through my 3am search history

[u/emilypeach666 → u/QueenMackeral]

Bro same 😂😭

[u/WeRip → u/QueenMackeral]

We all want to believe that the healthcare professionals have a special insight into our health and wellbeing. The truth is, they are just other people doing the best they can and relying on their perceptions to make decisions. You have to advocate for yourself and your loved ones during a medical issue. Do not accept an answer that doesn't make sense. Make them understand. Be your own advocate or advocate for your family member. Don't be a passive observer, this is your life. This could be your family member's life.