MetaChat REGISTER   ||   LOGIN   ||   IMAGES ARE OFF   ||   RECENT COMMENTS




artphoto by splunge
artphoto by TheophileEscargot
artphoto by Kronos_to_Earth
artphoto by ethylene

Home

About

Search

Archives

Mecha Wiki

Metachat Eye

Emcee

IRC Channels

IRC FAQ


 RSS


Comment Feed:

RSS

26 October 2012

So let me tell you how my day went yesterday. Finally, a diagnosis.[More:]So exactly a year ago, my 8-year-old nephew visited. He had lice. I hugged him twice (he only came up to my chest), and I don't remember our heads touching.

But I started to feel itchy afterwards. So I high-tail it to the GP. She looks. Nope, I don't see any lice. She gives me some stuff for the itch. It doesn't work.

Then I started to feel more itchy, and more itchy. I keep looking in my head for bugs, can't find any. I go to a dermatologist (about 8 months ago).

Nope, I don't see any lice, she says. I don't even seen any dermatitis or dandruff. All I see is a few red spots where you scratched. You must have an allergy. She gives me some different stuff. It doesn't work.

She then tests me for 29 allergens (an annoying process that requires not showering and going in there 3 days in a week). No reactions are found. She gives me some different different stuff. It doesn't work.

She sends me to an allergy specialist, who briefly looks at my head and tests me for 100 allergens (same annoying process). They find a mild reaction to a metal commonly found in makeup, which I never wear. They lecture me for an hour about the metal, going on and on about all the companies that make non-allergenic makeup. They pat my head and send me on my way, satisfied that their cure will work.

Itching continues, plateaus where I'm scratching several times a day. Once in a while I look for bugs but not very often, because three doctors said it wasn't bugs, right?

I desperately start looking for other cures. My mom gives me some old stuff that worked for her skin rash. It doesn't work. Since I have other symptoms, I'm convinced it is caused by perimenopause.

I post an askme about it, get advice to try B vitamins and iron pills. I try them. They don't work. Get advice to see a neurologist; that's my next step.

Yesterday, as I'm getting ready to bite the bullet and make another appointment with the GP (who has also been fairly useless about other things in the past), a bug falls from my head. And then another.

I high-tail it to the lice clinic (bypassing the three doctors and their prescribed chemicals that don't always work). Holy shit, the woman says, you have a massive infestation that's been going on for months.

(And this, boys and girls, is why your health care system doesn't work. I pay a shitload for health insurance, which consists of three doctors who can't solve the problem. But I pay $200 out of pocket to a clinic which is much more current on research, and does solve the problem.)

There are some days when I feel like God/Whomever is gaslighting me.

Wow, what a lot of hassle, expense and stress to go through only to find out you had cooties all along.
posted by Senyar 26 October | 11:47
Btw, here's an article that's about the clinic I went to, it has some very good information about modern lice treatment.
posted by Melismata 26 October | 12:03
The good news is you now have an answer. For that: YAY!!!
posted by Ardiril 26 October | 12:10
Ick! But a good illustration that even MDs who are sharp but inexperienced with the issue will miss what less highly educated but more experienced clinicians will see.

Hope your nephew's apparent issue was spotted and treated by his folks as well.

posted by bearwife 26 October | 14:00
I would have used RID anyway. Hindsight, etc.
posted by cjorgensen 26 October | 14:27
GAH, how frustrating! But I'm glad you've finally got the right diagnosis* and things will clear up rapidly!

*Though "a bug falls from my head. And then another" is a de facto diagnosis of its own, I suppose.
posted by Elsa 26 October | 14:27
Well, that is horrifying, and, as someone whose been getting inevitably wrong and contrary information about serious stuff from experts for months now, I think I understand the WTF feeling of not knowing if you should have known better or someone specific was to blame, if there's a point to blame, etc.

At least it's over, but, boy, does it suck. And at least you have a remedy. So yay for that.
posted by ethylene 26 October | 15:06
Hey, maybe you gave all those doctors lice, though.
posted by ethylene 26 October | 15:08
This overloads my Ick Meter. Glad you got it fixed.
posted by Splunge 26 October | 16:30
Oh fer GOD'S SAKE!

I'm with eth, let's hope you gave the doctors cooties.
posted by Specklet 26 October | 17:36
Ugh. What a pain in the ass. And yes to the doctors getting cooties!

I've heard of lice clinics once before. Mike Rowe did a Dirty Jobs episode that featured him working at one. In my time (you whippersnappers!) it was done at home with Rid and a special comb.
posted by deborah 27 October | 01:26
3 doctors can't see bugs living on your scalp. And it was a "massive infestation?" Time for new doctors.

I'm so glad this is ending for you, Mel. And I'll take the same order of cooties for those doctors, too.
posted by MonkeyButter 27 October | 12:18
AUGH!

So glad that you've finally gotten to the bottom of this though!
posted by halonine 28 October | 02:46
I spent 10 weeks trying to even get tested for mono in college. ENT did nothing; same-day doctor actually berated me as I sat there crying (frightened I'd get kicked out of the music program I'd just transferred into because I couldn't sing properly). "You college students think you know everything," she spat. "You have a COLD. People DIE from colds."

Finally I went to the university health service because I STILL had a sore throat, and she said, "Why haven't you been tested for mono?" and I said, "I TRIED..." And there you have it. I'd been playing hockey, extremely poorly and with zero energy, through the whole thing.
posted by Madamina 28 October | 20:14
I was throwing up in a hospital and they said I must be doing it on purpose because there couldn't be anything wrong with me as I was leaving, then they called me a few days later with an "oops, we checked your bloodwork and you have mono." Caught mono from a hospital.
Epilogue: guy I was seeing didn't care if he caught mono from making out. Lots of making out and he never got mono. Besides being a bit tired, it really wasn't that big of a deal and no one around me caught it either.
posted by ethylene 28 October | 22:19
Photo Friday: Neighbor(hood) || Babby Echidna! OMG!

HOME  ||   REGISTER  ||   LOGIN