“Patients with dreadlocks can’t have EEG’s” said central scheduling.

WTF

Try again without seeing my head.

I just took pictures of the top of my head
and sent it via text to the poor neurology dept.
secretary who got a not too friendly transferred call
from me.

“I’m not shaving my head for an EEG.”

I was told that the neurology technician can’t attach the electrodes to dreadlocks.

I said, “That’s a bit ignorant. How about I take a picture of my head and untwist one of my locks so you can see how easily accessible my scalp is.”

“I don’t have 12 years of hair locked, so the short 2″-3″ long sections are easy to move around so you can use that godawful glue to attach to my clean hair and scalp. I have really thin hair, so if need be I can untwist it so you can get to my clean scalp. I don’t have a binder in my hair, usually beeswax, so things should stick well.”

The secretary agreed that seeing my head was probably a
good idea before they made a definitive decision about a test that will help determine whether I have epilepsy or not. Sigh…

Dreadlocks are not dirty, they are felted hair like a damn wool sweater. Is a wool sweater dirty? Am I the black representative for hair information in the medical field now? I so need to go back to the Eastern Counties where they goob the glue on your scalp not your hair. Girlie has epilepsy and had to have three EEG’s while screaming bloody murder and I watched the process each times.

WTF

This county has black people in it, just not in the medical field. Seriously, do I have to go back East to get good health care?

Update

48 thoughts on “Wait a minute”

  1. I’m sorry to hair that. (God no!). Seriously, though. That was definitely a calm response from you. They did not get a thousand page reaming and they should thank their lucky stars you were that calm. I have never heard of electrodes being stuck to hair ever. That is just wrong. We all know that lots of women with naturally straight hair have binders, wefts and what not stuck on their scalps so why are they frontin’?

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      2. Go for it. I need it.

        I was trying to stay calm so they don’t get “yet another black female” going off on them, promoting the stigma. I prefer to tell someone to go to hell after I politely tell them they are an ignoramus with a bias that is absurd and insulting, then lodge a formal grievance, then report them to whatever agency will confront them for their stupidity.

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      3. My plan is to provide a link to your post and contact the people I am aware of who are in the medical profession. I will ask them to contact you via the post on your blog. I can’t make promises but I will do my best to try and get something moving. xo

        Liked by 1 person

      5. Two nurses, an administrator and a medical doctor have been contacted so far. All of them are located in the United States. I added the link to your blog post and I hope that they will respond.

        Liked by 1 person

    2. WTF? First of all- it seems you have had EEGs done before… You know the drill. You need to call the facility where you are trying to get this done… And speak to someone besides the scheduler. They have no idea what they are talking about. (Obviously, not all schedulers- this scheduler.)
      If that does not work call your neurologist’s nurse. No, wait… Do that first. They should be able to help.
      By the way- I can imagine wondering if you don’t know about someone’s hair… Ignorance is not a crime- acting through that ignorance should be.
      I am so ashamed. Feel free to contact me if I can help. (Don’t have much except opinions and a loud mouth– but, I can usually get things done.) office managers hate dealing with complaints- they will usually try to find a solution. Ugh.

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      4. They have some computer program that tells them what acceptable hair is. That is what I was told. Sounded like BS. My daughter had the EEGs, I had to hold her still while they applied the leads to her scalp with conductive epoxy, yeah fun.

        I got transferred from the scheduler and got a reasonable person, not sure secretary with a brain who sent my photos to the neurologist technician who will be calling me back this morning, I hope.

        I wonder about hair too, no two heads are ever alike, but to rule out hair, sight unseen is ridiculous.

        Thank you for responding so quickly Accidental Boxer Sabiscuit says you’re awesome, I agree!:).

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  2. Complete ignorance. You kept your cool, but could lodge a formal complaint/grievance. Pain in the ass, but it would raise more awareness, not that you should have to! UGH!

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    1. This is the same hospital I filed a grievance with about dye allergies in medication and epilepsy ignorance in the psych ward. The interim director seemed responsive to my complaints and created some type of education for the staff’s ignorance. This is too much though.

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  3. I never ever heard such tripe! Who says that? Who believes that? Do they expect people to go bald every time they need an EEG? The most they might need is for you to avoid any gel/hair spray etc that might interfere with conduction of current through the gel. Maybe that’s what the hospital wanted to convey, but that’s not a very nice way of doing it!

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    Reply

    1. I called them ignorant again today on the phone and discriminatory. I found myself getting so angry I decided that I needed to be seen in another facility that has respect for black people and their hair. I asked them to send the EEG order to MY Neurologist in another city so I could be treated with respect.

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  4. I messaged a shrink friend of mine and read up a little too. The only issue he could think of is that they might be using an electrode cap, in which case dreadlocks might cause some signal deterioration or electrode bridging. Otherwise, it shouldn’t be too big an issue. You could ask for alternative placement of disposable cup electrodes or other options as well. Hope that helps! 🙂

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    2. Yes, it does help to have more confirmation that this hospital is full of hockey pucks! Thank you for the research as well.

      When I spoke to them today, I told them I was familiar with the procedure, since my daughter had an EEG 3 times for her epilepsy and she quizzed me on whether they used few electrodes or the 26 needed. I watched the process and had to hold her down as they applied the glue. I’m not used to being treated like an idiot.

      They are not using an electrode cap, they are placing the individual electrodes and kept saying that my dreadlocks would interfere with precise placement. I have like 1″ of scalp in between my dreadlocks because I am losing my hair, due to I don’t know what. I told them if placement was an issue the dreadlocks could be untwisted as needed. They still insisted that I untwist my entire head of hair to come in to be measured and if I passed their test, then I could be scheduled for another day. Wasting my time makes me angry.

      They are just interested in hurrying up and getting as many patients in as possible during a day and don’t mind alienating the lower class of blacks that live in that city, who may just be accustomed to that kind of treatment.

      I’m a snob. I’m from the far Eastern suburbs and I’m used to being treated with respect. I don’t know what is up with this hospital. I usually don’t like to scream discrimination and racism, but come on it is 2016 in a couple of days and the only people of color I saw at the hospital were the cleaning people. Really?

      I just can’t take one more thing today and it is only three o’clock.

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      4. They just don’t care. My daughter’s first pediatric neurologist had the bedside manner of a wall. Though he was a good diagnostician, he was not racist or insulting. He was just blunt. He did tell me to refuse to allow the paramedics to transfer me to his hospital 50 minutes away, because by the time we arrived after her seizures ended she was fine and there was nothing we could do at that point since it was established that that she had unexplained epilepsy that she might grow out of. She was more comfortable at home and she was in no danger and I wasn’t stuck in a hospital for two days in another city waiting for someone to drive me home.

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      6. He treated everyone like that. So yes, I wish he were a doctor I could see, unfortunately he is a pediatric neurologist. I want a doctor who can look at the prescription drugs in my system and tell me whether they are contributing to the seizures, or whether I have something wrong with my brain.

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Any thoughts on the above post are appreciated! Otherwise, I think I must be living under a rock.