I didn't mean to mock them. And you've hit the nail on the head, Clod. It's why I've fallen between two stools (sometimes literally) in trying to get treatment in the past.
I might only shower once a week when things are bad, but you can bet it would be on a day I was going to see Dana or going for an appointment. I'm not actually a dirty person, but I sure as hell live like one when I'm under the cosh.
I always accepted I had a warped view of the world, I'm now admitting I live in the warped world of an addict.
Part of my problem in getting the medical profession to take me seriously is because I don't have a history of being in social care, I have no police record, I have not been abused or an abuser. I rate on the same level as a yummy mummy who likes a few too many glasses of wine on a stressful evening. But I'm not. I'm someone with a serious problem who has had luck and friends/ family keeping my head above water for years. I don't mean enabling, I genuinely mean saving me until it looks like I'll get effective care.
So I'll go with my bruises, my cold sores, my eyes like pissholes in the snow, my ever present jaundice, but I'll be freshly washed and scrubbed and probably even free of cat hairs. And not *too* intoxicated to undertake an assessment
