Thursday, April 28, 2011

What is Limboland?

Limboland, what is it?  Limboland is a place for the medically undiagnosed, a living hell, a nightmare, a place that no one should ever be at.  Sadly, the thousands of people suffering from any number of ailments and conditions are residents there.  It is not a place for anybody to be at and the physical and psychological aspects of it are crippling.  I, myself, fell victim to Limboland and decided at a time when I was at my lowest, to break out what was left of my mental strength to fight against the Limboland beast.   I decided from that moment on, I would take what I had learned from my experience in Limboland to help others.
You know something is wrong with your body, so what is the first thing we do?  We call our Physician and go see them.  Then we are left hoping that they will have answers and a treatment in mind.  Depending on what is ailing you, they will probably run usual labs and tell you to take it easy until the results come in.  So while you are still feeling off, you wait patiently for your doctor to call you with the results.  Then you get that call, “Your labs look good but let me put you on some medication to see if that might help your symptoms.  If you still don’t feel good in a few weeks, come back and see what else we can try.”
So days, weeks and months go by and you are still feeling horrible, so you return to your doctor.  Usually from there, you get referred to a specialist who specializes in whatever is closest to your symptoms.    You SHOULD have a lengthy first visit and they will run more tests and send you on your way maybe with a hesitant diagnosis by saying “It could be this or it could be that” and you leave feeling optimistic that yes, you might finally get an answer.  Then the nightmare begins…
The Specialist doesn’t know either, so they refer you to another and you go see them only to find out they can’t figure it out either.  All the while you are still feeling like crap and now feeling hopeless and desperate that you still do not have an answer.  So the Limboland saga continues and days turn into months and months turn into years and the vicious cycle continues. 
The average time spent in Limboland is around 5 years.  I, repeat 5 years.  The financial aspect of Limboland is devastating.  Most people lose their jobs and then their health insurance, and now they can’t afford to go to the doctors or are refused treatment because they do not have money or health insurance for the exorbitant office visit fees or for lab work. This is not acceptable by any means. 
My goal here is to help people navigate the torturous depths of Limboland hell…