Adventures in ECU Healthcare Systems

Anyone who knows me, knows that I have spent about 25% of my life sick and hopped up on all sorts of antibiotics. From chronic ear infections and sinus infections as a kid to bronchitis, pneumonia, two hardcore mono episodes, 4 sinus infections a year, and all sorts of fun things now that I won't mention; I am always sick.

Considering I don't smoke anything, work out 6 days a week, rarely eat fast food or drink soda, sleep 8 hours a night, take vitamins, and am not a complete and raging alcoholic (yet), I can't really explain why I'm always sick.

Since February 12th, I have been sick. Sometimes it was painfully obvious and like right now for instance, you can't really tell. However, it is there, it's been lingering and it isn't going away. Back in February, I rolled up to the ECU Student Health Center armed with lies Stock told me to tell to make my sinus infection sound worse than it was, because there was no way I was going to be sick for my birthday. After I put on the phelgmy-iest show I could, they said I hadn't been sick long enough to get medicine and told me to take Mucinex. I retorted that if they didn't take care of this now, it would be come full blown, turn into something worse, morph into bronchitis and end with me having pneumonia and wanting to die. They assured me this wasn't the case; I knew differently and off I went Mucinex in hand and slightly perturbed.

February 17th, my birthday, I was home and had the flu set in, along with having my sinus infection graciously kicking it up a notch. I went to my doctor, who gave me drugs and said ECU should have treated it last week. A week went by, the flu subsided and the sinus infection went away. Now, I was just coughing up my lungs and completely congested, so back to the ECU Student Health Center.

I went in there told them their ineptitude to treat me properly lead to this and said I wanted cough syrup with codeine and a Z-pak. They said, "No, you're fine. Take Mucinex D." Great. So I did and it didn't go away. Instead, it became bronchitis (kind of like what I told them from the start). So that next week I went back and told them they screwed up again and now I have bronchitis. This time I heard, "Well, if you have bronchitis there is really no way we can find out (wrong!) and there is nothing we can do to treat it (wrong!). So here's some cough suppressant and more MUCINEX!" I wanted to slap that bitch across the face. You can treat bronchitis with a Z-pak! I would know considering I've had bronchitis at least 4 times.

So now 45 days later and I'm still phlegm city (I know, hot!), I finally returned to my doctor. And what do I have? A sinus infection...still. I finally got prescribed a Z-Pak and she switched all my allergy medicine. You see, if ECU had merely given me a Z-Pak when I bitched the first time, I wouldn't still be sick a month and a half later. Whenever you go in there, instead of asking important questions like, "Are you wheezing (I was...)" "Is the Mucinex helping? (it wasn't)" they ask, "are you practicing safe sex?" I really appreciate the concern for my vagina, but what does that have to do with my sinus infection?

I would think that since Greenville is only really known for its great health care facilities they would do a better job. Instead, they push mucinex and ask me about my drinking and sex habits (they're fine, drug me!). They also like to tell you that you might be pregnant because you've been coughing a lot and have a stomach ache, but I'm pretty sure you have to be getting laid to get pregnant. I mean I could be wrong, I'm just going off of what my fifth grade teacher told me.

So unless you want Mucinex, Plan-B, condoms that expire in April or to be harassed about STD's, I would stay far away from the Student Health Center.