A few weeks later I had follow up testing for two conditions. All the testing was normal. No more medical conditions? So what does one learn from this? a diagnosis requires follow up testing to confirm the diagnosis before treatment. And then, subsequant treatment requires testing to ensure treatment is efficacious.
Archive for the ‘Drugs’ Category
even more to “just suppose”
Sunday, August 30th, 2009the victim, the guinea pig caught in a web
Sunday, May 24th, 20094 months ago i moved to a new community, and now cannot wait to leave. not my idea of where to live. nevertheless, i have had to find a new provider for health care. he is drug happy and referral happy. so now i have been seen by a hemotologist to correct a mild anemia (with diet) and a orthopedist (have a fractured femur and pelvic bone, thanks to a fall in my own house! ) to be corrected by use of the leg and prn pain pills. at any rate, be careful not to get caught in the web of health care that you may never really and truly need. for an expense…see next post.
lost your work and insurance?
Sunday, December 7th, 2008i have some ideas to share. things that i have had to figure out.
- reconstiting contact lenes. oh sure, the manufactures say throw them out every few days. guess why? i have found that when i accidently lose a lens, and find it, i put it in solution for a day and it is reconstuted. can’t afford to keep buying these…
- can’t afford your rx meds? first check around with drug and grocery stores and ask them their prices for a specific medication. also call or email or write to the manufacturer. some are willing to give you a free or reduced suppy for a few months.
- need to see a health care provider? ask your state for what options are available for reduced cost care, or supplementing your contribution.
- last but not least, if you need an expensive procedure like i just had, don’t be above asking the provider if “charity care” is available. do not be humiliated. you have paid your dues to our society.
- lastly, for now anyway, network with people, friends in the same situation for ideas.
Anemia
Tuesday, November 25th, 2008About a month ago I was diagnosed with severe anemia. I had to have a transfusion of red blood cells. I will probably have to go through this again in about six weeks. Hmm… I wonder what donors red blood cells are floating around in my veins. One of the side effects of this condition that really stresses me is hair loss and breakage. I have always had long hair. Suddenly, it comes out by the brushfull every day. I’m finding it really hard to change my self identity.
My hematologist says that he is seeing more of this condition in people my age (62). He thinks it is due to exposure over a lifetime of environmental toxins. This is not surprising since I grew up just outside of Detroit with polluted air from the auto industry. I hope the government does not bail out the American auto industry. Another possibility is a dietary cause, which is not surprising since I am returning back to a more vegetarian diet, and forgot how to do this. I was a vegetarian for years until my pregnancy and breast feeding days.
Scoliosis and what to do…
Thursday, May 29th, 2008My scoliosis was first diagnosed when I was in college, way back in the 60’s. It is lumbar, one of the worst kinds. It didn’t bother me for years; I made it through 2 pregnancies with no pain. And then lo and behold, I lifted some heavy bags 4 years ago, felt a “pop” and here we go. Found a pain specialist at a major medical center. Surgery is on his mind. Not for me. No one is touching my spine with a knife!
So my solution: an occasional 1/2 pain pill during bad days. A 1/2 muscle relaxant on bad nights so I can sleep. But the very best!! yesterday I had a private bikram yoga class taught by the teacher and founder at the local center who has scoliosis too. What a great relief from stretching out those muscles and vertebrae. I will be going back and taking classes.
The bottom line: lots of folks have scoliosis. I would recommend anything before, or instead of, surgery. I also found that over the counter Icy Hot does almost as well as medications. Heat helps too. The yoga teacher works in a highly heated and humid room. How can you help relaxing?
Why do I have scoliosis? I attribute it to the fact that the “girls” in my generation did no exercise. We read and studied while the boys all played sports. As an adult I was a runner for 30 years, but it was too late then to reverse the damage, and may even have made it worse.
The bottom line: if you have this condition, try anything but surgery. And keep the young ladies in your life physically active. My daughter in law was a basketball star and is now a runner. Lucky her!
The wheel goes round and round
Thursday, January 31st, 2008It goes round and round.
Just got a message from a dr’s office (spinal pain). Not willing to see me; “nothing more to offer me†how does he know? Hasn’t seen me for over a year! WHAT? That means he doesn’t want to do charity care. His office bills independently. Nice. I just wanted a damn consult about pain and budding incontinence. And the muscle relaxants he prescribed are outdated. He can’t even do that? Oh I get it. He came to this country to get rich. I forgot. So if I can’t pay 5k out of pocket, why should he bother seeing me? So I left another message for his scheduler. I will run her ragged. Who cares? I just want a damn consult, paid for thank you, by charity care for which I was approved till june of 08. His message was for me to see my usual provider. Well, thank you, fool, but my PA at the cheap clinic is not a spine pain specialist, and referred me to YOU. And I have no insurance. So I get no help anywhere?
Not sure what to do next. I am my own patient now…after all these years of advocating for others, no one advocates for me. screwed. I am really angry.
I have been a health professional, an advocate, for nearly 40 years. And now I find myself living like a health care indigent. NO INSURANCE AND NO WORK after being laid off twice in the last 7 years. So the clinic admin person just called. She will talk to the doc again. yah sure. We shall see.
Veterinary Medicine?
Friday, January 4th, 2008I have often talked about the misuse of drugs in health care. That is, prescribing drugs we don’t need, thanks to the pharmaceutical industry “training” our health care providers. But only recently have I observed this to also be inherent in veterinary medicine. Maybe I need to find a new veterinarian?!
 I took my dog, a 10yo Tibetan Terrier, to the vet on Tuesday because she was having some diarrhea. So what did I come home with?
- cephalexin capsules for her itchy belly
- bordatella vaccine (for potential kennel cough, which she has never had)
- a fecal test for ova and parasites (just in case that was the cause of the loose poop) just got a call; test normal!
- panacur (to add to her food to kill parasites that she MAY have had; and MAY NOT have had) obviously she didn’t.
- 8 cans of low fat food
- a creamy conditioner to rub on her belly to take away the itching. I believe that meditation and talking to her would have worked just as well.
- a topical spray when the itching gets crazy. She hates it. Smells and tastes like ethanol.
- a special order for the new drug that is being pushed for allergies: atopica. I have decided that I would rather deal with the allergies in a naturopathic way.
- biohazard fee. For what? recycling the  syringe used for the nasal inhalant bordatella vaccine?
The bill: $258.91. And I have decided not to give Sara most of this stuff. I am very sorry that I was in a naive mood and bought this junk. I was being stupid and forgetting my same anger toward the human medical industry. I need to find a naturopathic veterinarian.
Do We Really Need These Drugs?
Wednesday, November 28th, 2007Until I was hospitalized 1 1/2 years ago for a perforated ulcer, I was only on one daily Rx medication: the  one pill for keeping my hereditary “borderline” blood pressure under control. However, my “provider” felt she needed to add a calcium supplement to prevent osteoporosis and aspirin to prevent a heart attack and a decongestant, in lieu of just standing upright and blowing my nose. And then, during the hospitalization, Protonix was added (I can live with that). As was Norvasc which resulted in severe hair breakage and loss. I just dumped that one. And a bunch of drugs that caused fluid retention and more drugs to cope with constipation (which I never experienced). Lots of drugs prescribed; few that I took.
Now why did I need all these drugs, and even more that I just didn’t take? Well you know my bandwagon about the pill pushers in this country. And why did I even have a perforated ulcer? Too many inappropriate drugs prescribed for back pain., osteoporosis, nasal congestion!  (I have idiopathic scoliosis and a spinal fracture which didn’t bother me at all for many years when I lifted heavy bags of books).
So now, without health insurance (yes; one of the 47 million Americans), I am trying more and more to reduce any of this junk, these chemicals, that I put into my body. Why? The side effects. And the cost!  Maybe it is my BP med that is making me a little tired , not the aging process? By the way, the insurance company DID NOT PAY FOR ALL OF MY HOSPITALIZATION AND MEDICAL CONSULTANT EXPENSES. Surprised? I had to. After a “lay off” due to downsizing at work, with no income, and no insurance. (even though I had worked as a manager for a HEALTH insurance company!). Who pays for all these medications? I go to a local neighborhood clinic that is low cost, for the blood pressure med. But anything else? Well check into Partnership for Prescription Assistance (PPA). They have been most helpful with the drug that will prevent another ulcer.
 As a health professional, I have encountered patients/clients/members who are on as many as 21 medications each day. This is incredible. Who is monitoring this regimen? How can people keep this straight? How do you do this? And what is really necessary? And what interacts with what other medications?  Contraindications? And what are the side effects? And who is helping to monitor this? No one. Does your doctor/provider/”prescriber” have time to do this? Of course not. And what if all these medications have the resultant side effect of confusion?
 Oh! The answer! Health insurance companies are now providing programs like healthy living support programs that have nurse case managers who give advice to “members”. The nurse case managers are the gate keepers who help the “members” manage their medications (often from many states away) and keep costs down for the insurance companies (don’t go back to your doctor’s office! that will be a bill that the insurance company will be expected to pay). Just call me, your case manager. the nurse case manager  can talk with you after he/she enters your data into 47 computer screens.
 So what to do? Think about who you vote for in the next election, and why. No; we don’t need another layer of bureaucracy. We need a WELL THOUGHT OUT PROGRAM FOR NATIONAL HEALTH INSURANCE. So that we can be as progressive as other developed countries. This is just one little step. Think about this. Don’t just go along with a candidate who says she/he supports health care. You need to look way beyond that kind of statement. What is really in mind? What kind of program? Managed by whom? Who will be in charge? Who will do the oversight? THINK!
More About Diagnoses And Pharmaceuticals
Friday, November 16th, 2007To those of you who have read my blog, I apologize for repetition. But some issues just don’t go away.
I just heard an ad on tv for health insurance plans to supplement what medicare offers. First of all, just what does medicare offer? And what about the 47 million of us who have no health insurance and are not yet ready for medicare? The ad was about a certain supplemental insurance company, and it was recommended that you discuss this plan with your “doctor” who will help you decide if this plan it right for you. Yah sure! Since when do “doctors” recommend health insurance plans? Well, someone is getting a kick back here from an insurance company. You need to count on your friends and colleagues for this kind of advice: not your “doctor” and not the insurance companies!
All research must be taken with a grain of salt. I was recruited, years ago, for the Nurses’ Health Study. After filling out their questionnaire, I received a letter informing me that I was ineligible as a participant since I had taken steroids. I had never taken steroids in my life! I didn’t write back because I didn’t have the time (full time working mom, grad student, with two little boys). So now I look at all health care research with more acute skepticism.
As for HRT (Hormone Replacement Therapy), I did that for about 5 years, then quit cold turkey because my gynecologist told me she could not in good faith prescribe it anymore. I have a friend who has been “tapering off†HRT for the 3 years I have known her. Tapering off HRT? No need to. Doing this will not affect your blood pressure and heart rate, and will probably do nothing except have you discontinuing HRT. I can only suspect that her gynecologist is her age as well, and the looks of skin and hair are more important than the total health picture? Or maybe not? Maybe it doesn’t matter if we do HRT or not? Once again, conflicting conclusions from research.
There is a lot of spurious, and confounding, information in these studies…I am a medical professional, but also a skeptic. I have attended prestigious universities, have worked at prestigious universities. But that doesn’t mean anything. What is important is the integrity of their representatives, their scientists, of their reporting of results of their studies. They need to be honest, not just writing what the public wants to hear.
So now we need drugs to fall asleep, drugs to stop restless leg, drugs to make us “regular”? Soon we will need drugs to wake up, get our legs going, and be able to use the bathroom normally?
Have we forgotten to eat a normal, well balanced diet, with fiber, that would prevent some of these “problems” in the first place? Have we forgotten to just go to sleep to some nice music at 10pm after walking the dog in fresh air? And though I am lax myself about taking vitamins, popping a pill or two each day, if it doesn’t burn up your stomach (drink plenty of water), you won’t have legs that fly around or get stiff and achy, most likely.
Be Your Own Advocate
Saturday, November 10th, 2007As you have probably noticed, due to the constraints of health care costs due to the insurance industry wanting to make profits, health care providers have less and less time to spend with you: their patients, clients, members. The average time is 10 minutes or less. Can you have your questions answered? Your needs met? Maybe. Maybe not. And thanks to the pharmaceutical companies and their agenda, it is easier for a provider to say “take this” and “take that” rather than LISTEN to you and discuss alternatives.
 I had the recent experience of going to a clinic. I left with 2 prescriptions. I ran out the door, prescriptions in hand, to avoid a parking ticket. When I got home, I noticed the prescriptions were for someone else…not for me. This means that someone else very likely received my prescriptions.
 What are the issues here? Safety and Privacy. Just suppose I wasn’t a health care professional myself and didn’t recognize the error. Just suppose I had taken medications not meant for me. Not to mention HIPAA VIOLATIONS. Please see http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/hipaa/
And this all extends to our pet companions as well. I took my dog to the veterinarian this week. Her allergies were acting up. I was given the usual antibiotic and steroid to get this under control. I knew what the medications were. This was discussed with the veterinarian and stated in my bill. However, I noticed that the bottle of medications DID NOT give the name of the medication or the dosage. Danger! Just suppose my dog had a middle of the night emergency. Just suppose I grabbed her medications and ran out the door. Just suppose the emergency veterinarian asked what meds she was on. Just suppose I couldn’t remember at the time. I called my veterinarian, not to complain, but to express my concern. I believe this is a legal violation. You don’t dispense drugs without labeling the name of the medication and dosage. Sure, you could say, it’s just a dog. Oh well. Suppose my 2 year old grandson had gotten a hold of these?
The bottom line, the important lines:
- Please be aware of what medications you are getting; check for your name and the name of the medications, and the dosage. While you are doing that, check the expiration date too. Medications, which are chemicals, can change their composition over time. And some expire; check the date.
- Please make sure the medical record that is being reviewed, and recorded into, on a paper medical record, or on a computerized record, is indeed yours.
- Please make sure that your privacy is not being violated. When you are called from the waiting room, your first name is all that needs to be used.
- Please keep records, at home, of all of your transactions with health care providers and pharmacies.
- Please extend these reminders to your family, friends, neighbors, colleagues. and to anyone else that you know is encountering the health care system. Which is everyone. And don’t forget your pets’ veterinary records. (not long ago I had to have a very old dog euthanized. Never easy. The medical record showed that my younger healthy dog had been euthanized).
-  BE CAREFUL. YOU ARE YOUR BEST ADVOCATE! AND YOU MAY BE YOUR ONLY ADVOCATE!