I miss the ADA. It was incredibly insufficient but nothing close to it exists in Europe and navigating a healthcare system meant for chronically abled & healthy people as a disabled chronically ill immigrant is exhausting.
I learned the hard way last week that the way ADHD meds are handled is: you have a time-limit of 7 days to fill your script, or you have to get a new one. My new psychologist did not explain this to me before leaving for vacation for two months, but the pharmacist at the Hauptbanhof was kind enough to tell me how it worked and that it is possible (and not uncommon) to take that script to another doctor for them to re-write since my psych is unreachable.
I currently have to physically go to my GP’s office every two weeks to get my HRT refilled. The way it works is I go in, I wait in line, I boop my insurance card and hand the receptionist the box of my meds to refill (because I’m not good enough at German pronunciation to say what I need out loud), then I take a seat and wait for who knows how long until my GP comes out and signs the script and hands it to me personally. This whole process takes about two hours.
I don’t have the time or the energy to wait two hours for one prescription to be written every two weeks when everything else I have is on a 4-8wk schedule. I tried asking for a month’s worth of HRT but that did not get communicated, so I’m now rationing my HRT a little bit because I am too fatigued from the heatwave + rain and busy with time sensitive work to go through that today.
But I do have hope. I was pointed to a local queer organization that helps people-like-me navigate all this and have a meeting scheduled. Hopefully I’ll be able to learn who I need to talk to for which thing and how…..all this works.
Navigating the US healthcare system was hard enough, this is like doing it backwards, blindfolded, in high heels, with bad ankles.
Tomorrow I’ll spend 2 hours waiting to be handed a piece of paper for my hormones, and go from there.
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