Today, a patient was late for a psychiatry appointment, after having missed his previous two. I am the medical student on the team that was supposed to do his assessment. I said, "You snooze, you lose." Everyone stopped and looked at me. Apparently, he missed them because he has narcolepsy. FML
Collection
Fall
Dead leaves, the first cold of the season and an umbrella flipped inside out: fall, the season of grace.
Today, after countless nights of no sleep and only some spontaneous naps, I was finally seeing a sleeping doctor to analyze the problem. I missed the appointment because I ended up sleeping through my alarm after not being able to sleep at all last night. FML
Today, after I'd finally decided to see a doctor about my anxiety and insomnia, I was so nervous about what the doctor would think of me that I had anxiety attacks that kept me from sleeping a wink all night. I ended up oversleeping and missing the appointment I was so nervous about. FML
Today, I got my ass kicked by my boss at work. Why? Because I missed my shift on Saturday, because I slept through my alarms and the phone calls from my co-workers, and I woke up three hours later in a state of panic. This is all because of a medicine I'm on for migraines. FML
Today, I went to a job interview. The person giving me my interview was late, and while waiting for them I fell asleep. When they arrived, they didn't even bother interviewing me because they thought I was irresponsible since I fell asleep because they were late. FML
Today, I was told I have narcolepsy, and I've it for a year and a half. When asked why I didn't go to a doctor before, I answered that I'd always assumed it was a normal adult thing to fall asleep randomly because of how everyone says they're always exhausted. Apparently not. FML
Today, my boyfriend had an appointment he had to wait months for, after he finally agreed to try to figure out what's making him so tired all the time. He slept through it. FML
Today, I had the class clown of my preschoolers oversleep our daily 15-minute nap. Not wanting to spare any more class time on his disrupting jokes, I let the headache sleep. After another 10 minutes we called an ambulance. He had a stroke. FML
Today, I discovered I have narcolepsy. During a driving test. FML
Today, I'm doing the school run. I went to bed early and took a sleeping pill for my insomnia so I could be productive. Even if I could sleep past my partner snoring like a cave bear with sinus infection, it turns out that my sleeping pills make me hyper. The next person who says ADHD is fun is getting slapped. FML
Today, I set practically ten alarms because I absolutely could not oversleep for an important appointment. I woke up two hours early, panicked that I'd missed it, and couldn't fall back asleep. I spent the entire appointment looking like I hadn't slept at all. FML
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Top comments
Lia_Mackenzie 4
Yeeeeeeeeaaaaahh, you're the kind of person I fear achieving a medical degree. ...You DO know you're allowed to read (and pay attention to) the case files...right?
juche 3
Wow, next time, read the patient's chart before going to meet with him. If we nursing students can do it, surely you medical students can do it too.
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Comments (148)
crazysk8guy 0
karma is a bitch
karatekidcatblue 0
I have narcolepsy, its not that bad. He should have set an alarm.
Lillith_fml 5
YDi for not reading patients notes before actually seeing them. Good luck, 'doctor'.
Laaaaaauura 0
Medical student, about to do his ASSESSMENT. Meaning, he doesn't know about the guy yet.
a_pawson9291 0
still should've looked at the patient's chart!
DameGreyWulf 1
Some doctor.... and what if it turned out he'd killed himself or been seriously injured? But really, why didn't you know he was a narcoleptic? Shouldn't somebody have told you, or shouldn't you have looked it up, or something?
Lillith_fml 5
of course he should have known it. First of all, reading patients notes before examining them saves time during the actual examination, especially if it is a follow-up (which it is in this case). Secondly, it is totally unprofessional to joke like that.
curryndricegirll 0
he said that he'd missed the last two appointments. i really doubt he was in an accident three times. i work in a free clinic, and even there if you don't show up that many times, they stop referring you to any doctors, which was the case here. it's not his fault, it was just a bad choice of words.
kal3314 0
I agree. The poor guy says, "apparently" meaning he had no idea, and a lot of times students are thrown into these situations and given a few minutes to learn about their next patient. I totally agree, that sucks. What irony, though.
DameGreyWulf 1
Well, no, what I meant is that he shouldn't just assume the patient was missing the appointments on purpose, especially if he's becoming a doctor.
letitbe56 0
Agreed, especially since it's a psych patient. Who assumes that a psych patient missed appointments because they were lazy? He could be manic or psychotic, he could have been arrested, he could be too depressed to get out of bed...I'm sure it's very common for psych patients to miss appointments due to their disorder. The OP should be more sensitive about it.
jwsmiths 1
Ahhhh new third year medical students.
Maxine17 8
Oooooooooooh, bet he was mad.Or asleep.
hbgoddard 0
I don't get it...
sadistmonkey 19
look up narcolepsy
Lia_Mackenzie 4
Yeeeeeeeeaaaaahh, you're the kind of person I fear achieving a medical degree. ...You DO know you're allowed to read (and pay attention to) the case files...right?
princesspinky 0
HHHHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
acer1975w 11
Waste of comment space jeez.
Bullshet 0
As a future doctor you should act a little more professional.
curryndricegirll 0
I don't want to sound like a complete douche, but it kind of is the patient's fault for not showing up twice and coming late the third. I really doubt anything happened so that he couldn't come THAT many times. The doctor was just really unlucky that the guy was coming in for a narcolepsy. Technically, after a while, you can refuse them service.
rotf_coaster_9 0
you do know that narcolepsy is a syndrome which causes one to fall asleep at innapropriate times during the day and not be able to sleep through the night? it also causes the dreaming state to occur 20 minutes faster than it normally would (after ten minutes rather than a half hour)
repyourcliche 0
#27, you have actually surpassed the level of idiocy I thought possible. I mean, what are you even on about? Service refusal because he has an uncontrollable syndrome? When you talk, do German subtitles come up, or...?
FarSide 23
You are a douche and an enema for taking such a position.
curryndricegirll 0
I don't come up with the policies, but they can literally say that if you don't show up, they stop referring you. I'm not saying that I agree with it, but a lot of places have that rule. I take back that it was the patient's fault, but it certainly isn't the doctor's either.
wut_fml 0
It's true that they can refuse service, but you can't say it's the patient's fault when the very disorder he is trying to receive treatment for is what's causing him to miss appointments. The doctors then have to work with the patient to find a way to make sure he shows up. The problem with narcolepsy is that you can't help it. Even if you don't want to fall asleep, you can't stop it because you feel so exhausted. Your body exerts on you this heavy pressure to fall asleep, to the point where you are unable to resist. I'm sure most people have experienced that kind of exhaustion at least once before - imagine feeling it every day. I have narcolepsy, and it sucks ass, and my case is only mild. The patient probably never meant to miss appointments, but he just couldn't control his inability to stay awake.