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Dismissed at Urgent Care

I had one of the worst medical experiences of my life yesterday! We have all been treated like our disease is not real or not given the "respect" as an actual neurological disease; however, yesterday a doctor belittled me to tears.

I have suffered from chronic migraines for nearly 30 years. I have seen many specialists and am currently taking preventative meds, abortive meds, vitamins, hydration measures, you name it. Yesterday, after suffering from a migraine for 3 days, I decided to take action and have a friend take me to Urgent Care. I rarely do this. I hate the judgement and proving my pain to people. I handle the pain on my own. However, yesterday I decided that my medications just were not working and I needed to be able to get back to my life. I filled out my paperwork, paid my co-pay, did an initial intake (triage) with a nurse where I broke down a little in tears from the exhaustion, then they put me in a room and a male doctor and his student came in. The doctor had his mind made up about me before I spoke. He proceeded to ask about my primary doctor and my medications. The student who was a "headache specialist" who I had to explain what Aimovig was to, just looked at me doe-eyed. And the doctor continued to tell me that there is nothing that they could do for me because I already do everything and have medication. I told him that it's not working; I'm on day three. He said that I can call my primary doctor or go to an ER. I asked if he knew how much it would cost me to go to an ER and his response was, "there's nothing I can do about that". I was stunned. I said there are 35 million people in America with migraines and you do not treat them here?! I realize now that he was shaming me. He thought I was drug-seeking. I have a long history of migraines. Zero history of prescription or substance abuse of any kind. I even offered alternative treatment options (that were non-narcotic, as these two yahoos clearly were not informed of migraine treatments) and nothing. Denied. Sent out the door, after taking my money.

I came for help because that's what you should do when a migraine is persistent and I was sent on my way worse off then when I came in. I was so upset that I did not go anywhere else. I just wanted to go home. And I did. And cried in pain. And now I'm pissed. No medical staff should be treating people this way. I do not deserve migraine pain (no one does) and I did not deserve to be treated like that!

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