Seeker

I've read and heard so many people in the medical field refer to those who are in pain as "seekers". There's a profile that goes along with the title: someone who visits emergency rooms for minor injuries, including toothaches...or those who visit the emergency room often. Of course, the latter has a different title: Frequent Flyer. Medical staff look down upon these people, the seekers and frequent flyers, with disdain; cursing them for taking the doctors away from "real" illnesses.

Yeah...if that doesn't speak to the failure of the American medical "system" I don't know what does.

Where to begin? I suppose the beginning will do, eh?

I was 14, when I first noticed the ineptitude of the medical professionals in my area. I had never been to a doctor before, save for getting vaccines. This time, my mother decided that what ailed me was out of her territory, and took me in to see the professionals. I was having severe abdominal cramping. The nurse looked at me, looked at the word "endometriosis" that I had written on my hand, in health class, decided that I was faking it, and sent me home.

My mother was furious. The pain kept up for another week, getting so bad that I collapsed in the living room, and my mother took me back to the ER. They poked and prodded, and asked questions, but they never took blood tests...they never gave me an ultrasound, or did any real diagnostics. They treated me with a prescription for Tylenol and cold/warm compresses.

I wasn't insured. So, instead of taking every possible precaution, the doctors did the bare minimum to keep costs down. I didn't understand it, then, but I do now.

The pain was caused by ovarian cysts. Cysts that, had they been diagnosed 14 years ago, would have been taken care of with little-to-no side effects. Now, I am all but infertile. It took nearly 10 years before I had decent medical coverage of my own, so I avoided hospitals and doctors like the plague. I collapsed, again, at my boyfriend's house, and he took me in, despite my protests. They did an ultrasound, immediately, and gave me excellent pain killers...and I got a diagnosis: Ovarian Cysts. And a treatment. I'm cyst-free, as of 4 years later...I'm also uninsured, again.

I can't go to a regular doctor's office, because nobody takes uninsured patients. I am forced, when I need even minor care, to seek Emergency medical attention. I've been to the ER a dozen times in the last 2 years, and I'm starting to notice the looks I get when I walk in. Disdain. Irritation. Annoyance.

Most recently, I broke a tooth. It's been about 6 months of managing the pain, with over-the-counter meds, and trying to keep the hole clear of debris to minimize the risk of infection. I'm at a breaking point, however, in that I can no longer manage the pain. I reach my daily limit of pain meds, everyday, before bedtime, and have to suffer as I'm trying to fall asleep. I can't eat. I can barely speak, but there's nothing I can do, because I'm unemployed, and uninsured, and with the way the medical system in this country is set up, I would have to fork out nearly $1,000 to get the tooth pulled. I can go to the ER and maybe get narcotic pain killers, but they can't pull the tooth. Dentists won't take payments so, short of pulling the thing myself, there's really nothing I can do.

America cares more about money than it does the health of its citizens.

Maybe I'm just biased, but that doesn't seem right.

So, despite being in pain, and despite having a legitimate medical complaint, I am looked down upon when I enter the Emergency Department, looking for pain management. I'm thought of as a Seeker, a drug addict, a pill-popper, because I have done all that I can, and have gotten nowhere...because I need help. I avoid going to the ER, more than once every 3 months, because I don't want to be labeled as a Frequent Flyer...I avoid medical care, because I don't want to be looked down upon, or thought less of....

Due to the unprofessional acts of nurses and techs, I'd rather suffer than be labeled.

All because I don't have insurance.

All because I'm unemployed.

It's bullshit.