coppergardener said:Absolutely. These kinds of health issues are almost always trivialized when they happen to young people. You know the drill—"Oh, you're sooooo young, you're so healthy, just wait until you're my age... blah, blah, blah." Well, I find myself wondering what on earth I'll be like when I actually reach their age, considering I’m already quite dysfunctional—and I don't just mean with my college coursework, but in my private life too. For instance, I am only 23, yet I've been dealing with this since puberty hit; stress has always been my primary trigger. However, the symptoms were so varied and frankly baffling that it took me until very recently to actually seek medical help. You start to fall into this trap of thinking everything is just "all in your head," constantly questioning where you went wrong, only to discover eventually that it isn't all psychological. This happens to so many people! Professional testing is non-negotiable because, with these types of ailments, you simply cannot arrive at an answer through pure speculation. You try one thing, then another, and in the end, nothing you attempted actually works. It is also incredibly easy for a doctor to brush you off—especially if you aren't literally crawling across the floor in agony—and honestly, they might have seen so much of everything that they don't even perceive you as being "problematic." Or, heaven forbid, they simply forget what they intended to do. In my own experience, during one consultation, the doctor told me he would provide a referral for certain tests next time; I showed up for the follow-up, and he looked at me as if he were seeing me for the first time in his entire life! I actually had to be the one to remind him what I needed. As it turned out, the results were poor. If I hadn't been paying close attention, I wouldn't have even received that referral. Therefore, the most important thing is to stay focused—you must study your own condition thoroughly, even if the symptoms feel vague or ill-defined. You cannot function properly, and this is definitely not something to neglect. If you feel the need, do not hesitate to switch doctors. Make yourself a competent participant in the conversation; that way, they will take you seriously, rather than treating you like one of the dozens of patients passing through their office daily—most of whom are just elderly folks who lack any medical literacy and will swallow any pill without even glancing at the instructions. Thankfully, I have a deep interest in medicine and access to plenty of information, so I don't rely exclusively on whatever my doctor tells me. Otherwise, I would be absolutely screwed. I truly pity those who lack access to information, because they are forced to rely entirely on someone else's judgment and someone else's focus—and let's face it, that is not always reliable.
Exactly. I walked right up to my EX-gynecologist and laid it out—look, I’ve got acne along my jawline, excess hair growth, constant bladder pressure, and my period has vanished. The kicker? I asked her what it could be, knowing damn well it wasn't pregnancy—because apparently, in their world, pregnancy is the default answer for everything. The doctor goes, "Well, obviously, it's PCOS." I knew that before I even sat on the exam table. Next step: finding a different doctor—specifically, one of her colleagues from the other shift. What can you say 😠 ... I told her, "Look, you've been seeing me for two years now. Every single visit, my acne gets worse and these symptoms just keep piling up, yet you (a supposed 😈 ) still haven't figured out the root cause!!" Unbelievable.
That's why I'm posting here. There are always smarter people out there—I want to walk into a new clinic and be able to say, "These symptoms happen daily, these occur sporadically, and these come and go." Just give me a roadmap instead of treating me like an idiot. Thank God our generation is actually smart enough not to fall for the myth that doctors are all-knowing gods. I know a few of them, personally; I know how they actually performed in med school. If everyone had to deal with three exams a day starting in their junior year, nobody would ever fail a grade... but that's beside the point. Thanks for the help.