Nurse Practitioner completely ignores desperate pleas for help
💬 comments
NP thinks sleep is the treatment for depression
After months of trying, I finally got diagnosed by someone at the health clinic through my school. I spent months with the same nurse practitioner, telling her I didn't want to live anymore and breaking down crying just for her to say "Hm... it sounds like you're not getting enough sleep?" It's not like she was super rude, but she just wasn't getting it at all and barely listening to my concerns.
Finally, after 3 weeks of being unable to do anything at school, I felt good enough to schedule an appointment and I asked if i could speak to an MD instead of a nurse practitioner, thinking that they would be more comfortable with things. I needed some sort of diagnosis because the student disability services is requesting one for me to get accommodations.
When I went in I told the nurse who came in before the doctor, "Please write all of this down in my file. my fatigue is worsening and I haven't been able to do simple tasks, like bathing, brushing my teeth, or eating. I have to save up all my energy in the day for a bathroom trip, etc, etc..." When the doctor came in, she spent 2 hours with me and was so understanding. She talked to me about her friends experiences with disabling symptoms. It was like a breath of fresh air to finally not feel crazy and have someone listen to me after all this time being ignored by a nurse practitioner. I just wanted to share the relief I feel today. I'm going to try to push further for accommodations at school. I don't realistically think I'll be making A's, or even B's, but maybe I can crawl through.
This patient presented with very concerning symptoms and the nurse practitioner really said "Are you sleeping enough??". Are you kidding me? Is that what you say to someone who is breaking down crying and saying that they don't want to live anymore?
I don't even want to imagine what could have happened if the patient didn't make an appointment with a doctor. The one thing I know is that I will tell everyone I know that psych NPs are not safe.