Managing Fibro with out insurance

If you’re in a situation like I am, where you no longer have health insurance for whatever reason, you’re in a quandary. Do you spend the money to get the pills, money that should be going towards the Mortgage/Rend and Food on the table; or, do you cull your pills and/or reducing the frequency for taking them?

I’m still deciding what I’m going to do. I’m trying to remove some pills from my menagerie of pills, and I’m going to do with out those that I can. So far I’ve removed the Savella. I haven’t noticed a change in how my muscles feel, so I’ll likely discontinue this particular tablets.

I have tried to reduce the Lyrica in the past, the problem is that anything less than 450mg, my muscles go hay wire and I end up ingesting way more hydrocodone. So, the Lyrica just has to stay.

I’m going to also try reducing the Ultram. If I can get rid of that, then I may be able to get rid of it, or only take it every other day or so.

All the rest, well, I’ll work on those individually by trial and error based on how my body reacts. Then, I’ll employ the triaging of money to mortgage ration. I’ll tell you how it goes.

Tell me, what do you employ and how do you employ it?

Fizz

© ‘Fizz’ 2011

Struggling with your Health Care Provider

 

If you have Fibromyalgia then you know, dealing with a health care provider can be the absolute pits.

Since the onset of Fibromyalgia, which has been about 10 years, I have been with Humana, Blue Cross Blue Shield & United Health Care.

Out of all of them, United has been a real thorn in my side. Every pill that I’m on that is the least bit expensive, they require that I go thru their mail in service. To give you an idea of how much I pay a month, taking all into account, it’s nearly $300 with all the Co-Pay’s put together. The mail in service requires that I pay for 2 months at a time. I don’t know about many of you, but I know that I cannot afford $600 at a whack, even if I’m getting one month ‘Free’.

In addition, and particularly with Lyrica, United Health Care consistently incorrectly reads the prescription dosage. I require 3 of the 150mg pills a day to keep the aches and pains down. If I have any less than that, then I ramp up on the Hydrocodone because the muscle pain becomes more apparent and noticeable to me. If I’m on a consistent 450 mg of Lyrica, I don’t have near as much trouble. However, since requiring me to go through mail order, they have regularly filled my prescriptions for 150 mg a day. It’s appalling and irritating and I have a sneaking suspicion that it’s completely and utterly intentional. After all, Humana & BCBS NEVER had these types of problems. Ever.

Particularly when “Health Care Reform” is on everyone’s minds, I can say that I’m at a loss as to how to make it better for me. Clearly, my Dr. and I have been working together for years now and know what dosages work for me. To have me change health care providers and then suddenly have all these problems, is not just irritating, it also effects my health. United Health Care has no better knowledge of my health and what works for me than my Electricity provider. My employer and I pay good money to have this  health insurance. I should not have to fight it every step of the way to get my basic needs met, especially needs that other providers have met with out question.

So, when I hear about “reform” or the repealing of “reform” I can say that so far, until I can get my monthly prescriptions with out a fight, I will have to be on the fence. I’m weary of fighting on this one. I’m weary all the time, so when I have to fight for this… well it just makes me exhausted & bitter. Yet there is hope that it will all come together in the knick of time. I’m just not going to hold my breath! 

Fizz

© ‘Fizz’ 2011

Traveling with Fibromyalgia

If you have Fibromyalgia, you know about the worry that comes with a trip either by flying or by driving. The worry is very real, will I be able  to handle the pain that will surely come with the trip? Will I be able to get enough rest when I’m visiting others? Will they understand if I have a bad pain day?

This year, I did something I haven’t done since my Fibromyalgia got very bad, I flew to Florida. I was worried. I made sure to warn my family in advance. I may be ok. I may not. We’re going to have to pace ourselves. I will take pills to help my pain. It may seem like a lot of pills. It’s not, it’ll keep me moving.

When it was all said and done, I did much better than I thought I would. On the trip over, all the walking & the pre-arrival excitement ramped me up so that I was in good shape through the flight and then the hour drive to the house.

The next day, we drove back to Tampa, had lunch with the cousins & then drove around looking at the neat and rich houses of South Tampa. A tour which was guided by my Uncle. The hour drive back to the house wasn’t bad at all and, while feeling a little tired, I was in no way feeling bad.

The next day, we hit the Ft. Meade Historical Museum, which is a nice Victorian House and train with older rail cars. Then a drive back to Tampa was in order so that we could see the museum attached to the old Tampa Bay Hotel. Lovely, the self guided audio tour took the better part of 2 hours and was really a lovely time. By the time it was over, I was feeling pretty wiped out & still had that hour drive back to the house.

Unfortunately, at that point, I’d pushed my luck too far. When I feel good, I try really hard to take advantage of that time and will frequently over do it and/or press myself to the point of dropping. This was no different. I over did it by running around 3 full days in a row. So by doing that, I was on “rest” duty for the last two days of my visit. I didn’t go anywhere… just stayed at the house.

Surprisingly, once I got motivated and moving on the day to leave, I felt very good and loosened up quickly for all of the walking in both the Tampa airport and Houston Intercontinental Airport.

By and large, while I did push myself too hard, I bounced back quicker than I thought I would. Furthermore, I went back to work feeling much more rested than I thought I would, given that I spent about 1/2 my off time flying between cities, sleeping in strange beds and running around.

So what I’m taking away from the whole experience is that my fear of the trip and the possibilities was a great deal larger than the actual event. I need to be more confident about traveling and going places.

June 11, 2010

This has been a very good week. I even wore a belt for 2 days this week, and while my pain was increased slightly, I was not in such pain as to make me nauseated and pitiful. :-)

Of course, my usual triggers are stress and all of my stress is related to work. So, I' still get the pain at the base of my neck that starts to gradually increase until Noon. But I’ve had several days were I’ve not needed to take a second pain pill when I get home. That’s great. No one likes to take pain pills when they don’t have to.

Further, some of the other symptoms like IBS and sleeplessness have not been a problem this week, either. And, once I get out of bed, I can generally get my self awake with out the need to take a pill to help me wake up.

So… I intend on using this weekend to bounce my health to the next level. A good plan. I want to keep improving and get on a roll with this.

Fizz

© ‘Fizz’ 2010

May 15, 2010 - Feeling Better, Feeling Up…

This week has been about feeling good. I haven’t been feeling nearly as bad as I have in the most recent weeks. In fact, it wasn’t much different than last week, tho less of it.

I’ve also had some pretty exiting and really positive stuff…. all of which I can’t talk about right now. I need to use my discretion. However, I can say, that it has had a noticeable effect and I’m glad.

Here’s the list of AM ailments:

• General body stiffness
• Stiffness and pain in toes and fingers
• Shooting pains in right leg above knee cap but below mid-thigh

Here’s the list of PM ailments:

• Ache in neck and at the base of the skull
• Ache between shoulder blades
• Soreness in toes, especially the left outer toes
• Headache

I’m sure you noticed, things haven’t changed much… same old aches and pains, just much less.

Fizz

© ‘Fizz’ 2010

May 10th, 2010

Today can be classified as a good day. It was only a 1 pain pill day & that pain pill was not taken until after I got home from work.

Here’s the list of AM ailments:

• General body stiffness
• Stiffness and pain in toes and fingers
• Shooting pains in right leg above knee cap but below mid-thigh

Here’s the list of PM ailments:

• Ache in neck and at the base of the skull
• Ache between shoulder blades
• Soreness in toes, especially the left outer toes
• Headache

Something different this week is that I’ve been hungry. This is quite unusual for me. Typically, especially recently, I’ve been not hungry at all and been perfectly happy to skip meals.

Yesterday I felt well enough to take a stab at cleaning my bathroom by vacuuming my floor of the hair and dust.

Fizz

© ‘Fizz’ 2010

May 5, 2010 – Cinco de Mayo

Today wasn’t a good day. My alarm went off at it’s normal 5:40 and my first thought was… “Ow…. no really Ow!”

Here are the list of ailments from the AM:

• Extremely stiff fingers
• Extremely stiff toes
• Upper back/Neck pain
• Unable to walk with out a limp

Here’s the list of ailments from the PM:

• Upper Back/Neck pain
• Calf pain
• Discomfort when sitting for long periods
• Inflexibility – couldn’t walk with out a limp
• Foot and Toe pain

I have a rule about not taking a pain pill before lunch. It’s one of those quirky things that I do to control my intake so that I don’t become addicted to the meds. Today I had to take a pill by 9:30 am. It just wasn’t possible for me to be able to function at work with out that pill. And, it didn’t really take it all away… It certainly took away the edge, but there was still significant pain.

Weather said that there was a dry front over Houston right now. It could be that the weather is triggering this flare.

Today was a 3 pain pill day, there for it’s rated a “Bad” day.

Fizz

© ‘Fizz’ 2010