Hi everyone, just signed up and had a browse around.. figure this is the introduction area, so it's time to dump in a wall of text, so here's my story, a bit of venting and maybe a bit of a cry for help if anyone can possibly steer me in the right direction with some things..
My health has been pretty bad my whole life. When I was young (under 6) I had constant ear infections, practically one every two or three months. Then in grade school it was lactose intolerance.
In high school, I started having chest pains and coughing a lot, even coughing up blood some times, nearly passing out from coughing fits where I couldn't breathe, etc.. All the x-rays looked like pneumonia, so that's how it was treated for months without anything getting better and no one checking for anything else.
One day I started getting horrible pains in my feet and I went to the hospital, and it turned out I was having internal hemorrhaging, but they still couldn't figure out what it was. I was admitted to the hospital and after about a week test results came back and it turned out I had Wegener's Granulomatosis and was immediately rushed to the ICU. I spent two months in there, strapped in to pretty much every machine they had.. Blood tests every hour, x-rays 4 times a day, and using huge needles to drain my lungs of the blood/fluid that was building up.. The whole time I was so weak that the doctors were scared to even use a topical "numbing" gel when doing any needlework because they thought it might be enough to stop my heart.
I ended up with a pretty bad needle phobia after that.
Later, I had a reaction to the cyclophosphamide and got lesions in my bladder that had to be fixed with a... hmm, I can't remember the name of the procedure now (it was a good 17-18 years ago) but it involved a Sharpie-size tube with a camera and a lazer to cauterize the lesions.. which messed up my bladder a little and it's been getting slowly worse and worse ever since..
I was relatively fine for a while after that, but in summer 2006 I started getting really sharp pains in my abdomen that felt like someone was stabbing me with a needle and moving it around in a specific area.. Went to the ER three times because I thought I was dying, but the tests they gave me didn't come up with anything and they just figured I was constipated.
The third time I got an apointment to go see a doctor and that was the biggest waste of time of my life. I was in and out of his office in under 10 minutes; he asked me where it hurt, if I was eating properly (I wasn't, I was poor at the time) and if I was under a lot of stress (I was), and then told me it was just IBS, that it was "all in my head" and that "If I ate properly and stopped being stressed out it would just go away".
It took me two years to finally see another doctor that actually took me seriously and did actual TESTS to see what was wrong with me. The only down side is that this doctor is fairly "cold" and "uncaring" when it comes to any issues.. Having struggled my whole life with a MASSIVE needle phobia, he figures it's just a childish thing and that I should be able to "get over it" because I'm not a kid anymore.. So I ended up going through my colonoscopy stone-sober and have been dreading the possibility of another one ever since...
As it turns out, I've got Crohn's. He gave me a prescription for 5-ASA, 2x400mg 4 times a day, and sent me on my way. Nothing about what to expect, what it would do, what side effects I could have, how I have to change my diet, nothing.
From the followups, despite telling him that, yes now I'm not feeling constant pain, that I'm still not feeling anywhere near "good" or "fine", he's resorted to the same "Well, just live your life and don't worry about things, the medication is working and any issues are all just stress and in your head".
Meanwhile, it's been six years since I've worked. I've been on Last Resort Financial Assistance for the whole period of time, but I'm really struggling to make ends meet. With the LRFA and a "Solidarity Tax Credit", I get a grand total of about $650 a month to live off of.
Generally that means one or two meals a day max, and by the last week of the month I have to over-draft my account or see if my parents can help me out just to be able to eat a little. And by the looks of things, because I haven't worked in so long, I don't think I'd qualify for the Disability Pension, or really have any idea where I would begin to look/ask for any aditional help I could get.
I'm terrified of going to the welfare office, because I don't want to risk bringing my file to their attention and possibly getting that cut off.. But at the same time I really can't live off of this any more and have no idea what I could do, where to go, what to ask, who to talk to, etc.. Poverty in Quebec is considered making under $14,000/year, and as of last year's T4 slips I'm getting $6909/year..
I can barely afford to eat, and on the rare times that I feel good, I can't afford to go out anywhere, even just taking public transit to hang out at a friend's house is a decision between "having fun" or "eating for a day".. I've been practically locked inside for the past six years.. Hardly anyone ever comes over to hang out or do anything, I can barely ever go out even if I have transportation to/from wherever..
So I guess there's my story.. And if anyone from Montreal/Quebec would have any idea who/where I could go for any help, please let me know? I've sent an email to CCFC.ca and hopefully they might be able to steer me in the right direction for assistance, but more help couldn't hurt, right?
Thanks for taking the time to read!
My health has been pretty bad my whole life. When I was young (under 6) I had constant ear infections, practically one every two or three months. Then in grade school it was lactose intolerance.
In high school, I started having chest pains and coughing a lot, even coughing up blood some times, nearly passing out from coughing fits where I couldn't breathe, etc.. All the x-rays looked like pneumonia, so that's how it was treated for months without anything getting better and no one checking for anything else.
One day I started getting horrible pains in my feet and I went to the hospital, and it turned out I was having internal hemorrhaging, but they still couldn't figure out what it was. I was admitted to the hospital and after about a week test results came back and it turned out I had Wegener's Granulomatosis and was immediately rushed to the ICU. I spent two months in there, strapped in to pretty much every machine they had.. Blood tests every hour, x-rays 4 times a day, and using huge needles to drain my lungs of the blood/fluid that was building up.. The whole time I was so weak that the doctors were scared to even use a topical "numbing" gel when doing any needlework because they thought it might be enough to stop my heart.
I ended up with a pretty bad needle phobia after that.
Later, I had a reaction to the cyclophosphamide and got lesions in my bladder that had to be fixed with a... hmm, I can't remember the name of the procedure now (it was a good 17-18 years ago) but it involved a Sharpie-size tube with a camera and a lazer to cauterize the lesions.. which messed up my bladder a little and it's been getting slowly worse and worse ever since..
I was relatively fine for a while after that, but in summer 2006 I started getting really sharp pains in my abdomen that felt like someone was stabbing me with a needle and moving it around in a specific area.. Went to the ER three times because I thought I was dying, but the tests they gave me didn't come up with anything and they just figured I was constipated.
The third time I got an apointment to go see a doctor and that was the biggest waste of time of my life. I was in and out of his office in under 10 minutes; he asked me where it hurt, if I was eating properly (I wasn't, I was poor at the time) and if I was under a lot of stress (I was), and then told me it was just IBS, that it was "all in my head" and that "If I ate properly and stopped being stressed out it would just go away".
It took me two years to finally see another doctor that actually took me seriously and did actual TESTS to see what was wrong with me. The only down side is that this doctor is fairly "cold" and "uncaring" when it comes to any issues.. Having struggled my whole life with a MASSIVE needle phobia, he figures it's just a childish thing and that I should be able to "get over it" because I'm not a kid anymore.. So I ended up going through my colonoscopy stone-sober and have been dreading the possibility of another one ever since...
As it turns out, I've got Crohn's. He gave me a prescription for 5-ASA, 2x400mg 4 times a day, and sent me on my way. Nothing about what to expect, what it would do, what side effects I could have, how I have to change my diet, nothing.
From the followups, despite telling him that, yes now I'm not feeling constant pain, that I'm still not feeling anywhere near "good" or "fine", he's resorted to the same "Well, just live your life and don't worry about things, the medication is working and any issues are all just stress and in your head".
Meanwhile, it's been six years since I've worked. I've been on Last Resort Financial Assistance for the whole period of time, but I'm really struggling to make ends meet. With the LRFA and a "Solidarity Tax Credit", I get a grand total of about $650 a month to live off of.
Generally that means one or two meals a day max, and by the last week of the month I have to over-draft my account or see if my parents can help me out just to be able to eat a little. And by the looks of things, because I haven't worked in so long, I don't think I'd qualify for the Disability Pension, or really have any idea where I would begin to look/ask for any aditional help I could get.
I'm terrified of going to the welfare office, because I don't want to risk bringing my file to their attention and possibly getting that cut off.. But at the same time I really can't live off of this any more and have no idea what I could do, where to go, what to ask, who to talk to, etc.. Poverty in Quebec is considered making under $14,000/year, and as of last year's T4 slips I'm getting $6909/year..
I can barely afford to eat, and on the rare times that I feel good, I can't afford to go out anywhere, even just taking public transit to hang out at a friend's house is a decision between "having fun" or "eating for a day".. I've been practically locked inside for the past six years.. Hardly anyone ever comes over to hang out or do anything, I can barely ever go out even if I have transportation to/from wherever..
So I guess there's my story.. And if anyone from Montreal/Quebec would have any idea who/where I could go for any help, please let me know? I've sent an email to CCFC.ca and hopefully they might be able to steer me in the right direction for assistance, but more help couldn't hurt, right?
Thanks for taking the time to read!
I'm so sorry to hear of your troubles and predicament. That must be so tough 
