Lively Women

Women Need to Be More Aggressive About Their Healthcare

by Kristen King on April 22nd, 2008

And by "women" I mean "me." But also you.

See, I went to my pharmacy over the weekend to get some cough medicine I could take during the day since my prescription meds make me totally dopey (ahh, codeine), on the recommendation of my personal nurse,* and she freaked out when I told her I’d been coughing like this for weeks. "You sound like you have walking pneumonia!" she said, practically shouting. "Who is your doctor???" I thought she was going to jump over the counter, she was so mad! I said his name and she was livid. "You need to go see a specialist. Wait here." She came back moments later with the name and phone number of the guy who is apparently the best allergist in my area, and made me promise to make an appointment.

I’m going to see one of his colleagues in the same office on Monday (the guy my pharmacist recommended is booked until May 6, and I can’t wait that long!), and I think its a good thing, because now I’m having stabbing chest pains every time I laugh, cough, hiccup, sneeze, breathe too hard, or roll over in bed, or when one of the animals leans or steps on me. It’s good times — I’m pretty sure I’ve cracked a rib from coughing. I knocked one out of place once before, so I’m not too concerned about it right now, but of course I’m keeping an eye on things. Because, you know, I have x-ray vision and am a brilliant radiologist.

But, anyway, I was saying, so I’ve been miserable for WEEKS, but heck, I’ve never had allergies or asthma before, so how do I know what it’s supposed to feel like? I don’t think I just took the doctor’s word for it because he’s a man, but rather because he’s a doctor — but regardless, I should have been more insistent. Back in August, when I was first diagnosed with asthma, I basically refused to leave his office until he gave me an inhaler because I just knew that was the problem. But this time, I was clueless. It took a pissed-off [female] pharmacist to clue me in.

Ladies, are we in the midst of an epidemic of inadequate healthcare that’s of our own making? Are we just taking what the doctor says at face value, resigning ourselves to "good enough" rather than insisting on a higher quality of life than slightly better than utterly intolerable? Don’t do it! Take charge of your health.

*I got flagged by my insurance company because I’m on anti-depressants and mood stabilizers, so I get calls from a personal nurse every 4-6 weeks for, shall we say, preventive maintenance. I think the short explanation is that it’s cheaper for them to check in on me periodically than risk me not taking my meds and going bonkers and I feel like I should be vaguely offended, but I totally  love it!

(photo)

Tags: womens health blog, womens health, women, woman, health, healthcare for women, health care for women, women dont get good health care, doctors dont take women seriously, asthma, allergies, cracked rib, broken rib, dislocated rib, walking pneumonia, pharmacy, pharmacist, allergist, lively women, kristen king

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POSTED IN: A Slice of Kristen's Lively Life, Allergies, Medicine