<p>I just wanted to thank you all for your replies! You’ve all been very helpful and nonjudgemental, and it’s great to hear reasonable advice.</p>
<p>I think using my college heath care facilities is a good idea, and I’ll look into using them for my checkups. And I’ll ask my mom to give me my insurance card.</p>
<p>I just got out of college, and while I never exactly faced this big of a dilemma, I did face the whole “wow you’re growing up” in the medical aspect of my life. So, here’s a few suggestions:</p>
<p>1) My school required proof of insurance. I think they did this because they were linked to the UVa hospital and it made going from Student Health to hospital painless. Either way, if your mom asks why you need a card, tell her it’s required for freshman and that you just need to make a copy and fax it in. Even if they don’t require it, they’ll get a copy. </p>
<p>2) In addition to above, I suggest you call your SHealth and ask to talk to a nurse. Nurses are excellent, excellent people and they, by law, have to keep your conversation private. Ask her for a suggestion on what to do. SH nurses are by far some of the nicest people ever because it pains them to see kids like us sick and broken down! If your school doesn’t require insurance cards, ask her if there’s somewhere you can send the copy so you can access it.</p>
<p>3) There has to be a social services dept in your health center. Maybe give them a call too and see what they suggest</p>
<p>4) Put your foot down. You’re 18, your mother has no business being THIS involved. I would crriinnggeee if my mother demanded to be in the room during a gyno appt, much less a physical. I have concerns about my growing/maturing body and now that I’m getting older, I have other issues I’m conscious about. It’s not fair to be pressured by your mother to either disclose somethings, or feel intimidated and not disclose things.
I think, like others have said, you need to have a talk with your mom about this. Tell her that while nothing is wrong now and you feel that you’re healthy, in a few years, you may not be and she may not be around. Point out that (don’t take this the wrong way!) she could be hit by a freak rollaway truck tomorrow and you need to be able to be dependent on yourself for health treatment and you HAVE TO be able to have a doctor that you trust and will open up to. Also point out that having doctors that you see everyday examine you is highly uncomfortable. I know talks like this suck, but they get easier 
The more times you engrain something into your parents’ heads, the better. Remember that when you were 10, it took them eight tries for you to set the table for dinner…the roles are reversed now ;)</p>
<p>Good luck to you, it’s very, very good that you’re trying to be an adult about your health. I see SO many college kids falter and either get really sick or just trashing their health in college. Young women need to be especially vigilant. I hope you find a doctor that you like and can open up to easily. College doctors are really, really nice and many would understand what you’re going through (just DO NOT sign any medical access forms to authorize your parents if you’re this worried. Instead, find another family member/relative/adult friend and talk to them about this and ask them to be your emerg. contact).<br>
And, lastly, I suggest getting full-scope blood-work done yearly and STD checks if you’re active. The blood-work can catch things like high-cholesterol, blood sugar problems, etc. Caught now, you can work to fix them in college and you’ll likely have minimal problems later in life. STD thing is just smart. Good luck and congrats on college!! :)</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Unfortunately this is a poor example 
I know there are plenty who will rush off to the ER with this type of injury and really it’s about pointless. But the ER sees plenty of cases like this all the time.</p>
<p>At my daughter’s school, there is a health center fee and she can get all preventive/sick care there with just her ID. Check what your school offers.</p>
<p>I do feel for the OP. I always ask the doctor and my daughter if I should go or stay. Last year, one doc said for me to come back to the office for a few minutes and then he would ask me to leave for the rest of the visit (not gyn check). I know it’s been covered, but HIPPA laws realy should protect you and your doctor parents should be well aware of their rights (they don’t have any). </p>
<p>I want my kids to ask questions of professionals. I can tell them all kinds of things, but hearing it from another source may make a bigger impression. Good luck OP.</p>
<p>“I want my kids to ask questions of professionals.”</p>
<p>I think it is important, and have told my kids, to write down all questions, concerns etc. prior to the checkup appointment. I have reminded them of issues or suggested questions, but what they choose to ask is up to them (I have been vetoed on certain things.) One shares a lot of information with me, the other none at all. As in other areas, it is important for the kids to learn to be their own advocates.</p>
<p>teenage_cliche - I totally agree with the people saying to wait and see your campus health people once you get to college. Two of my friends didn’t go to the gyno until they got to college and could go see the nurse practitioner in the women’s health part of our campus health building. Just get your insurance card from your mom. You probably need to have some kind of honest discussion with her too - there seems to be some underlying issue here. Your mom should not be controlling your birth control pills!</p>
<p>I completely understand not wanting to go see one of your parents’ doctor friends… A friend of mine’s parents made her go see their NEIGHBOR who was a gyno. Totally mortifying!</p>
<p>Good luck girl!</p>
<p>t-c, if your mom won’t give you a duplicate insurance card, call the insurance company yourself and ask for one, have it mailed to your college address. As an insured person over the age of 18 you’re entitled to one. I’m sure the college health service will have a copy of the card on file, but I like my kids to have their own copy in their own hands, in case they’re in an accident off-campus or something.</p>
<p>And as others on here have said, under HIPPA laws your mother has no right to any information about your health whatsoever. </p>
<p>As for the BCPs, were they Yaz/Yazmin? D takes those, and our mail-order pharmacy substituted them with generic Ocella. Within 2 weeks, D went from a sunny, happy teenager to sullen, moody, irritable, etc. We called and got them to send us Yaz, and within a few weeks D was back to normal. About 6 months later, they sent the generic AGAIN (they said Yaz was backordered and the doctor had ok’d it). I told D to try it, thinking maybe her problems before were because of issues in school and not really related to the pills. Within two weeks she was crying in school, stopped eating, couldn’t sleep or concentrate, and generally looked like a zombie. Her friends came to see me at work (I work in the hs) because they were so worried about her. She was in a deep depression that seemed to come out of nowhere. We threw the generics away, and called the doctor’s office again. She went back onto Yaz, and it took about a month but she was fine again.</p>
<p>Normally, I’m all about generics - I buy generic ibuprofen, my blood-pressure meds are generic - but in this case, it was a disaster. Your mom may be aware of a similar situation, I’ve read that girls who go from Yaz to Ocella are prone to depression and moodiness. I think she should have told you her concerns and let you decide what to do, though, instead of taking over the issue herself.</p>
<p>My S is a rising college freshman. I called to set up and appointment with his new internal medicine doctor (just to make sure he’s all set immunization wise & everything). They told he he’d have to call and make the appointment since he’s 18 now.</p>
<p>Lafalum, I’ve also heard that the generic of Yaz/Yazmin is bad news… You wouldn’t think the generic of something would be too terrible, but in birth control’s case it definitely is! One instance where you need the real thing for sure.</p>
<p>Again, thank you everyone for your advice! I’m copying a lot of it down.</p>
<p>Laf - it actually is Yaz! The generic looks like it has a different name, though, but in any case I’m going to try it starting next week (since we already have a three month supply we can’t get rid of) so that I can tell before I leave for college whether or not it works for me. I do understand my mother’s concern about this particular thing, and my issue with the way she handled it was that she handled it instead of allowing me to do so.</p>
<p>My understanding is that people who start on Ocella do ok, it’s the ones that switch from Yaz to Ocella that have a problem. (I googled it and found some chat threads on women’s health sites about it).</p>