They say, “Practice makes perfect.”

Doctors are always ‘practicing medicine’. Will they ever get it right?

The author recounts experiences of being dismissed by doctors while seeking medical attention. Despite providing accurate medical history, they were not believed, leading to misdiagnoses and lack of appropriate care. Specifically, an ER visit at age 62 revealed severe allergic reactions and undiagnosed medical conditions, highlighting the ongoing struggle for credibility in healthcare.

I have been condescended to and treated like a hysterical, attention seeking person with hypochondria, I suspect simply for being a woman, since I was 18 years old and all the way up to today’s ER visit. Here’s a comparison:

Age 18 at prenatal visit:

Dr: Have you ever had Rubella?

Me: Yes.

Dr: When?

Me: Handing him my military dependent’s shot record. A month after receiving the Rubella vaccine when I was 9 years old.

Dr: Looking at shot record. If you had the vaccine, you didn’t have Rubella.

Me: Yes. I did.

Dr, then, has his technician draw blood. This was likely because he wanted to prove me wrong. There would be no reason to draw blood to check for Rubella since he had documentation that I had already been vaccinated. People who got the antibodies through natural rubella infection have a specific antibody not found in vaccinated people.

Next appointment:

Dr: I received your blood test results…You’ve had Rubella.

Me: I know that. I already told you that; but, you didn’t believe me.

Today’s ER visit at age 62:

Me: After the EMT administered an EKG for chest pain and saw the results indicating a probable lung infection; they administered nebulized Albuterol to open up my airways for likely COPD flare caused by said infection. 10 minutes after they left, my entire body broke out in the worst case of hives I’ve ever had in my life!

Dr: Have you taken alburterol in the past?

Me: Yes. I’ve had albuterol inhalers in the past; but, have not used one for 4 years. The only time I had administration of medically nebulized abulterol was when I was in my late 20s. And, no, I’ve never had an adverse reaction in the past.

Dr: If you’ve never had an adverse reaction to albuterol in the past, it was not the albuterol that caused the allergic reaction.

Really? It is general knowledge that people, as they get older, sometimes become allergic to things they had never been allergic to before. What is not generally known is that there is also an effect of mold poisoning that causes people to become allergic to things they had never been allergic to before. I told the Dr I have Fusarium (mold) in my lungs that appears to have progressed to skin, eye, and sinus involvement and I asked for a Fungemia test to rule it out. He refused.

The CT scan I received today shows what the Dr called enlarged heart and liver of unknown cause. I know the cause…Disseminated Fusariosis!!!