To say I’m perturbed is a gross understatement. I’m enraged. It takes a lot to anger me but I’m furious and want someone, somewhere, to hear my gripes.
I don’t complain. I seldom have a reason.
There are exceptions.
Some of you may know about cluster headaches. They’re painful and when they strike, nothing can make a person wish for death any faster, and yes, there are times these suckers are excruciating enough that I do in fact, wish for a life-break. I love my life so I’d want to return at some point, of course. However, when these headaches hit, I have to admit, I’d like to vanish, just whoosh! Disappear for a bit until the pain goes away.
Since I usually see my doctor for check-ups and that’s about it, one would think I could earn a called-in prescription especially after I calmly explained, “Hey, I’m dying here. Watch the obituaries, in a few days, you’ll see my name and my cause of death will be listed as cluster headaches, left untreated.” Hysterics may have worked better.
I’m not kidding.
Now, you may wonder, why doesn’t she go to the doctor? Well, my friends, the answer is quite simple.
My doctor, who is excellent by the way, is booked up.
If I decide to head over to the so-called professional night clinic, I won’t be able to get a prescription for my headache there because I’ll be at the after-hours facility, not visiting my family physician. It’s rare when they dispense pain medication.
Keep in mind here. I’m not asking for narcotics. I want something for a cluster headache proven to give relief. At this point, if there isn’t anything, a sledge hammer might work.
My rant today is directed at our overall health care system. Quality health care in the U.S. is hard to come by, especially in rural areas. Patients are avoided like the plague. Hmm, I wonder what would happen if I called and described symptoms from Black Death? Maybe I could explain I have reason to believe it’s no longer lying dormant. Perhaps then, they’ll work me in.
After considering the hell I’ve gone through over the last few weeks—and yes, cluster headaches can last several weeks—I’ve thought about why our health care declined and seemingly continues its freefall.
If anyone drops by this blog and cares to comment, I’d love to hear your take on the subject. Don’t get me wrong. There are fabulous doctors and nurses in this world but perhaps there’s a shortage, or large family practice operations limit their doctors on how many patients they can see per day. What’s your opinion?
We could blame our government or insurance companies but I'm not sure if state officials and CEOs should carry all the responsibility, especially where medication needs are concerned. The reason I can’t obtain one simple prescription is because guidelines are in place at various medical facilities to prevent, or limit, called-in medications. Those who have abused prescription drugs have made it difficult on the rest of us who in fact, need them from time to time.
That’s my opinion. I’m sticking to it. Why else is it impossible to have Zomig called in without first seeing a physician who already knows everything there is to know about your medical history?
Can you think of a solution? I actually have one at the moment. Yank those pain pills off the market altogether.
If someone suffering cluster headaches or any other legitimate pain can’t find pain relief when they need it most, then there’s little reason to manufacture pain medications.
Adding insult to injury, my physician is booked solid. Maybe I should do what those who put us in this mess in the first place would do. I’ll drive through the hood with a sign on my windshield: Looking for Immitrex or Zomig…Anything to Help a Cluster Headache. The other option is to run down to the hardware store and check out those sledgehammers.
Destiny
P.S. I promised an author friend I’d blog about small press and the money they pay/don’t pay but I’ll wait and put some thought into the subject before I go on another rant. Right now, I’m fortunate. Most of my publishers pay and pay on time, but not all of my publishers are small press so maybe I’m not seeing the bigger—or smaller—picture.
Anyway, I’ll report on this soon. If you have information you’d like to contribute, please send it to destinyblaine@yahoo.com. Anything you supply on the subject will be posted as confidential information. Stay tuned.
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