Unfiltered Story #239438

I was diagnosed with epilepsy at 13, and have been treated for complex-partial seizures ever since. I’m now 20, have moved away to attend university, and have gone to see a new neurologist at the local hospital.

Me: I requested my medical records be sent here. I have complex-partial seizures, mainly, and I’ve been taking [medication] for three years–

Doctor: What happened to your arm?

Me: I hurt it during a seizure last week. I still have them if I get very stressed and don’t sleep enough, but the medication–

Doctor: (sarcastically) You ‘hurt it during a seizure’?

Me: Well… Yes. I scraped it when my arm was spasming. It happens sometimes.

Doctor: Sure it does. I’m going to refer you to the psychiatric clinic. There are better ways to look for attention, honey.

Me: I was diagnosed by EEG, my last neurologist already ruled out PNES–

Doctor: Look, honey, you can either do as I say or I’ll have to give you a Munchausen’s diagnosis and nobody will be able to treat you. Now, it’s time for you to go.

I leave, immensely frustrated, and end up making a plan to travel back home to see my old neurologist every six months. Things go fine at first, until I have a seizure at work one day and a coworker calls an ambulance. I can’t respond to their questions, so they take me to the hospital where [Doctor] works. After consulting his file, they give me an anxiety medication which I am mildly allergic to (he apparently believed I was faking the allergy as well) and left me alone in a darkened room for several hours. Confused, I eventually wandered out of the hospital and was found by my roommate, who’d been searching for me. She called my family to tell them I was safe. Over an hour later, my mother got this call:

Caller: Hi, this is [Name] at [Hospital]. Your daughter was here earlier having a panic attack. We’re not sure where she is now. Would you like us to start looking for her?

Mother: What the f*** is wrong with you people?!