Vital voices: Lucy's story living with ulcerative colitis

In this video Lucy describes her long road to diagnosis and the importance of finding the right doctor.

Transcript

00:00

The best way for me to be heard was to not let anybody not listen to me.

00:06

[MUSIC PLAYING]

00:13

When taking my diagnosis, it was really frustrating because I went to a ton of different doctors and had people tell me all sorts of different things

00:22

from being allergic to food, to it being related to my menstrual cycle.

00:29

It's almost like people questioning if I knew my own anatomy, which is so typical of a lot of male doctors that I've encountered.

00:38

Having a doctor of color always matters to me. People who have dealt with oppression, people

00:44

who have dealt with not being taken seriously are usually better listeners and a little bit more understanding.

00:50

There's just something to be said for people who can relate to you or who you feel like you can relate to or trust.

00:57

To find the right doctors and medication was life changing and my life improved.

01:04

Having someone just listen to me and take the time and not feel like I was being rushed out of an appointment

01:11

and finally get to the bottom of what was going on with me and help me figure out a way to manage it and get me

01:20

like to almost remission now, it just-- I couldn't be more grateful to have that.