Hey all,
I feel like I’ve had so much happen in the last few weeks. (It’s a long one, bear with me)
I’m still currently waiting on the results to see if I am on the Autism Spectrum, but I had other things weighing on me as well, the main thing being the experience I had with the digestive health doctor.
I also had my phone break last week, and then had to get my internet fixed this week… it never ends.
Here’s the story…
I’ve had stomach issues for a long time now (maybe 3 years or so), and have been trying to find the right medicine or treatment or anything to make it less awful. I ended up going to a Gastroenterologist (Digestive Doctor) and was really disappointed and anxious/stressed by it for a lot of reasons.
We first had a brief video visit, and she asked me a few questions, but then immediately prescribed me with 2 different medications, told me to get several over-the-counter things like pepcid, and also told me I needed to schedule Colonoscopy/Endoscopy surgeries. I’m 24 (F) and literally told her at the beginning of the appointment “I think I have IBS” which - for the record - you do NOT need a surgical procedure to determine if you have. It is normally diagnosed through a physical exam and extensive questioning of medical history, according to multiple sources. She NEVER saw me in person, only on the camera screen, and she asked me maybe 10 questions and kept cutting off my explanations - not enough information to really get a good idea of what’s wrong.
I was like okay sure, I’ll try the meds and I scheduled the surgery but knew in my mind that I wasn’t going to go through with the surgeries. I got the medications, and one of them was a PPI, which has pretty extreme long-term effects on a person’s body and makes me think that this GI did not have my best interest in mind. I decided not to take the PPI and try the other medication, which only made my symptoms about 20x worse, and basically made me feel like I had the flu for 3 days (I know I was not sick because I’ve been working from home and hadn’t gone anywhere that week).
Finally, I called the office and told the doctor what happened, and asked why I really needed the surgeries, etc. I explained I didn’t want to go through with the meds or the surgery anymore, and she kindly cancelled them. I also mentioned my other healthcare endeavors and explained that I felt overwhelmed with how quickly everything was happening. I asked if there was something else she could recommend, and gave her the name of a medication that previously helped me but that I had only received temporarily prior. However she then prescribed me a totally different pill after explaining that its effects were ‘similar’. Once I picked up the med and after reading the pamphlet and researching, I’ve discovered it’s used to treat stomach ulcers, which she doesn’t even know if I have or not. I haven’t started these meds yet, and I p̶r̶o̶b̶a̶b̶l̶y definitely won’t. (Do doctors just assume that nobody reads the medicine facts / info??) I won’t be calling them back.
A few weeks had gone by and I had my friend over to have a girls night and just relax, and she told me about these vitamins that she had started taking that helped her stomach as well. I took a trip to CVS the next day and bought some, and here we are 4 days later, and my stomach feels IMMENSELY better. It’s not 100% yet, but I feel hungry again and I don’t feel as scared to eat - I haven’t been able to eat Doritos or hot wings for like 2 years 
If things keep going well, I will be able to eat things like that again.
PS - if anyone has any legal advice for a situation like this, it would be appreciated. I would never intend to legally ‘attack’ anyone, but I felt my health was jeapordized rather than prioritized and if there’s something I can do about it, I would want to know.
Story 2 - Vent Sesh
In addition to all of these things regarding my physical and mental health, my job has seemed impossible lately. I feel like I have so much to do and negative 500 hours to get it done.
I work as an Architect for a small corporate company, and you might be thinking “oh that’s just computer drafting” but let me tell you now, it is NOT just drafting.
We recently started a project for TWENTY FOUR different locations at one time, and my brain is literally spinning. They keep expecting revised drawings for all 24 locations within like a one-week time period. It’s absolutely insane. On top of that, we have about 15 locations under construction which I also have to help manage with one other person. (‘Manage’ meaning go to construction meetings, provide phasing drawings, make material selections, get quotes for different things, there’s like 100 tasks I could list.) Luckily the person that helps me manage has been there for over 10 years, but 2 people is not enough to manage that many projects.
On top of that, management constantly blames our department for things that are entirely not in our control, even with proof that we have no control over the situation. The whole dynamic at this place is fucked, and my peabrain can’t keep up. Even certain people on my team don’t treat others right, and one person in particular makes sexist and patronizing comments quite often.
Some of the people are really nice and I’ve become friends with a few, but I always feel like I’m being watched. For example, whenever I’m in my office, one guy in particular always comes to question me and gives me weird looks if I’m not actively doing something that looks remotely productive to him - It’s really strange. I feel extremely under appreciated at my job, and half the time people above me think they know everything about construction and they will try to lecture me about something I know is false. The thing that bothers me the most is that they’ll have me change a drawing 500 times and then ask me why I didn’t suggest something that had already been ix-nayed on edit 284. Like I’m so sorry I didn’t suggest it twice you cucks, you told me no the first time, why would I present it to you like that again???
UGH. It just feels like a mountain of pressure. And people keep quitting.
Within the last 3 months, I know of at least 8 people that left the company, and only one of them was fired/laid off. That can’t be a good sign, right?
Either way, I’ve put my updated resume and portfolio together so if I do decide I need to leave, it’ll be easy to apply for jobs. I plan on resigning early next year anyway, because my boyfriend has actually asked me to move in with him, and where we would live is too far for me to keep working where I am. I dunno what to even think about my job anymore. I like the work, but I don’t feel appreciated, and I can’t even get my Interior Design license while working there, because they don’t have a registered designer or architect working for them… I would literally go nowhere in my career if I stayed.
Conclusion?
I feel a little better -
- I’m about to get my results for the spectrum soon
- I stopped contact with a no-good doctor
- I don’t have to get surgery anymore
- My stomach problems have calmed down
- I got my stuff together so I can look for a better job
- I think I have a much better idea of what kind of job I actually want to look for now
- I’m gonna move in with my boyfriend soon
- Now I can focus on my mental health and feeling better (hoping this will also help my stomach)
Thanks for listening…
I really needed this time to vent
Here’s a fun depiction of my thoughts on the regular (just pretend all of the lines are moving)
