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Medical Access and #ChronicIllness
Just wondering whether my experience of the struggle to access both physical and mental health care is a glitch in the system of my hometown or a much bigger issue...
For the past 12 months I've been back and forth from my GP regarding unexplained exhausting fatigue pain migraines dizziness and a whole host of bizarre symptoms. After about six months I got 'diagnosed' with #ChronicFatigueSyndromeampME - I use the inverted commas because I never met with the specialist clinic who diagnosed me... Since then, it's been a massive battle to get any form of treatment or even medication reviews. The CFS specialist clinic discharged me without consent because my mental health was "too bad" which I feel was a secondary health problem arising from losing my job due to CFS/unexplained symptoms and feeling ill all day every day for the eight month wait to go to the clinic. I got put on some antidepressants by my GP who tried to refer me to a psychiatrist to review whether the medication was making me worse (spoiler alert: it was) but the referral was rejected because I had "too many physical health problems". The mind boggles at this catch-22 situation!
Basically, I am just looking to see whether this kind of #medicalaccess is just an incredibly infuriating practice in my area or whether this is a shocking failing of the chronically ill community at large? I am working on a story about improving #accesstohealth so would love to hear from anyone who feels unheard in their experiences of accessing the #NHS
