Woman With Severe Chronic Pain Was Denied Medication for Being 'Childbearing Age'

[Jilly_in_VA]

A New York woman says she was denied highly effective medication for a chronic, painful condition that’s caused her to contemplate suicide because her neurologist told her she could become pregnant, and the medication might cause birth defects—even though she never plans on having children. In a series of TikTok videos, Tara Rule (@pogsyy) included audio, in which the doctor explains to her that despite the facts that she uses protection, her partner would be willing to get a vasectomy, and she would have to get an abortion anyway, since her hypothetical pregnancies would be high-risk—the risks to her hypothetical fetus trump her debilitating pain.

In the audio in one video, Rule asks if the issue preventing her from getting medication is solely that she’s of “childbearing age,” and “if I were like through menopause, would this be effective for cluster headaches?” When the doctor says “yes,” Rule asks, “So the only thing that’s kind of stopping this is the fact that at some point in my life, I could get pregnant?” In response, the doctor changes the subject and asks, “How’s your sleep?”

Since sharing her story along with the recorded audio on Wednesday, Rule posted a TikTok in which she alleges that Glens Falls Hospital, where the incident happened, warned all hospitals in Albany County that Rule had livestreamed her visit (which she denies), prompting doctors who confronted her at Malta Med Emergent Care to “berate” and “threaten [her] with legal action.” Rule includes audio of some of this conversation in the video. On its website, Glens Falls Hospital doesn’t appear to have any policy against recording oneself in the hospital.

The threat of legal action, of course, is on top of the fact that Rule still can’t get medication to effectively manage her debilitating chronic pain. “It was frustrating to be in so much pain and just hear ‘no,’ for that hypothetical reason,” Rule told Jezebel in a phone interview, adding that she’s “pretty sure I can’t even get pregnant” because of several “reproductive issues” she’s had. “It’s already hard enough to deal with this condition. It’s already so misunderstood, it took me 10 years to even get a diagnosis, because it’s a very rare condition and the symptoms are all over the place,” she said.

https://jezebel.com/woman-with-severe-chronic-pain-was-denied-medication-fo-1849569187

She has chronic cluster headaches and Ehlers-Danlos syndrome. The E-D alone causes all sorts of bad shit. Keep politicians off our bodies!