When you are ill

Today, I would like to share some of my more recent life story. For the past two years, I have been battling an unknown illness, while struggling to be treated by knowledgeable doctors. This is something we as military dependants or active duty military personnel deal with on a constant basis.

It took four different family practice doctors to finally figure out that something was definitely occurring in my body that should not be happening. I am treated at our local Naval Hospital. Because of the amount of families serviced there, even though you may have a primary care manager, you may not be able to get a timely appointment with him or her. This is the reason that my health issues were unidentified for so long.

I was finally sent to my first specialist, a gastroenterologist, who ran very limited testing toward the ongoing problem I have. In the end, he fell back on a diagnosis I had from my teenage years without doing further testing. I was so frustrated that I stopped going to this doctor because I am not one to waste my time listening to a doctor I believed was wrong.

A year went by and still I did not get better. In fact, I became worse. I went back to the Naval Hospital and saw a random doctor on the team I belong to who finally believed he had pieced the puzzle of my health problem together. I was sent to a different specialist in a different field, an allergy specialist, who after very thorough testing came up with a possible diagnosis: chron's disease or ulceritive colitis. If any of you know about these things, they are constituted as gastro issues.

And so, back to the Naval Hospital I went to request a new referral. At this point, I told the doctor that I refused to see anyone in our local area because of the laziness of the professionals. A new referral has been put in and now the waiting game begins once again.

You are probably asking what the point to this is. I'll tell you. You have the right to request new doctors and specialists as well as second opinions no matter what your insurance may be. If I had done that a year ago, my gastro issues may have been solved and I would not now find myself where I am today; in extreme pain on a daily basis.

Just because you may be limited by Tricare by who you can go to does not mean that you cannot find a provider some distance from you to get the best care possible. You know when something is wrong with your body better than someone who only sees you sporadically. They may be professionals, but remember this, it took four different doctors before one finally realized that I had a serious problem. Don't settle because you do have a choice, and when you receive bad care make sure you report it. By doing this, you are able to stop others from having the same problems with receiving care that you may have had.

I hope that my story helps any and all of you get the medical care you may need. You are welcome to share your own stories in the comment field so that others may share in our stories.