At the risk of stating the obvious, Mama June Shannon has regrets.
She really wishes that she hadn’t blown $1 million on various forms of cocaine, turning her life upside down.
However, she has taken great strides in her recovery. June is sober, and undergoes regular testing. She is in recovery.
June has also experienced numerous medical issues … and says that medical stigma about her history with substance abuse is making diagnosis and treatment much more difficult.
Medical stigma is a longstanding problem for a lot of people. Doctors are people, with their own prejudices and preconceptions. And the medical field reinforces certain biases. One of them is addiction.
In recent interviews, June Shannon spoke to The US Sun about how this medical stigma is impacting her attempts to regain her health.
“I’m getting tired of having severe headaches and not being able to think,” June complained.
“I’m not getting tired of forgetting things,” she clarified. “I’m getting tired of being dizzy and not being able to see straight.”
Meanwhile, like so many people who suffer from unknown ailments, she is struggling to find a doctor who will even take her seriously.
June shared that “all the tests are coming back kind of normal.” That is, unfortunately, “normal” for a lot of people who are grappling with complex conditions and illnesses.
Unfortunately, things become even more challenging than the usual “medical mystery” case … because of June’s well-publicized history with addiction.
“‘Hey, I’m recovering. I’ve been in recovery and been sober for three years,’” June described telling them.
“And that for them,” she went on, “throws up that judgmental card and they seem to be like: ‘Oh well you have to be honest about your symptoms.’”
“I’m getting tired of all of this like ‘the tests are coming back normal,’ let’s just figure it out!” June expressed.
“Let’s run more tests, or run more blood work. Let’s figure out really down deep what’s going on,” she emphasized.
June wants a diagnosis. But before she gets that, she will have to find medical experts who will actually listen to her without medical bias getting in the way.
“We’re in the process of trying to find new doctors,” June then shared.
“And we’ve got good doctors that we can go to,” she shared, “but you can’t get into for six or seven months.”
If you know anyone with chronic illness or, especially, a medical mystery, then this all sounds very familiar to you. If it doesn’t, basically just picture someone who shows up on House, but for the years of questions without a real diagnosis that come before they speak to the grumpy medical genius. We hope that June finds the right medical team.
June Shannon Health Mystery: Doctors Don’t Take Me Seriously Because I Used to Do … was originally published on The Hollywood Gossip.