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      Welcome!   03/05/2016

      Welcome, everyone, to the new 910CMX Community Forums. I'm still working on getting them running, so things may change.  If you're a 910 Comic creator and need your forum recreated, let me know and I'll get on it right away.  I'll do my best to make this new place as fun as the last one!
ProfessorTomoe

Changing Medications (Level of Trust Required)

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2 hours ago, CritterKeeper said:

Have you tried GoodRx.com?  I've had several clients find much cheaper prices through them, and one of my own prescriptions is less than half what my insurance would charge me if I use their "coupon".

We use one such service for my Zyxal prescription. Mrs. Prof found the service—I don't know the name of it. Unfortunately, neither it nor any of the others she's looked at cover Brintellix. GoodRx.com's price is double what we're already paying. :(

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I find most doctors here tend to be absolutely fricking clueless when it comes to cost. Some of them seem like they assume since they have money everyone does.

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Well tomorrows the preop consult.Wish me luck.

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12 minutes ago, PSadlon said:

I find most doctors here tend to be absolutely fricking clueless when it comes to cost. Some of them seem like they assume since they have money everyone does.

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Well tomorrows the preop consult.Wish me luck.

Good luck, old friend. And take good care of yourself.

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2 hours ago, PSadlon said:

I find most doctors here tend to be absolutely fricking clueless when it comes to cost. Some of them seem like they assume since they have money everyone does.

---

Well tomorrows the preop consult.Wish me luck.

I so wish it, since you will need it. Good luck.

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A certain coincidence just struck me. Tomorrow is May 4th and it's a step toward part of me becoming artificial, at least it isn't a hand.

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I cannot remember an allergy season as bad as the one we're in right now. Today has been nothing but drip, sneeze, and sleep, complete with difficulty breathing at one point. I am so screwed up on allergy meds that I can barely see straight. I've had to go to Level Four just to get my nose to stop draining.

Combine this with the current score of the Stars/Blues game and you've got one unhappy camper.

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If you can afford it, you might want to look into getting a HEPA-rated air filter (they can be had for 60-100 bucks). One of those would help greatly in clearing airborne allergens in your bedroom.

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On May 3, 2016 at 11:30 AM, PSadlon said:

I find most doctors here tend to be absolutely fricking clueless when it comes to cost. Some of them seem like they assume since they have money everyone does.

Speaking from the doctor's perspective, your first statement is likely *far* more accurate than your second.  I don't have an exhaustive mental catalog of how much each medication costs, and even if I did, prices change as patents and competitors come and go.  If our animal hospital carries something, I probably have a general idea whether it's cheap or expensive, but anything I have to write a prescription for, I probably really *don't* know how much it costs.

Happened to me with my M.D. once, too.  He gave me a prescription, and when I went to get it filled, it was something like $250. At the time, I was on an insurance where I paid everything up front, and then hoped to get reimbursed later.  So, I did what I tell clients to do, I called him up and told him the problem.  He gave them a prescription for something else, a little older but just as effective for what I needed it for, for less than a tenth the cost.  I know that isn't always an option, but it is a lot more often than people realize.  And he, too, had had no idea there was that big a difference in cost.

 

(As for having money, vets have always had it a lot harder than M.D.s, but from what I've heard about student loans, malpractice insurance, and the costs of running a business, a lot of them aren't nearly as well-off as past generations of physicians were....)

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To be fair, I said some and that statement was based more on my mom's experiences than my own. Her doctor's are bloody horrible in that very way but that kinda a partially a consequence that a large number of the doctors were bought out by a local medical group, which has it's own insurance company, pharmacy, and control of 2/3 of the six local hospitals, a medical group whose insurance she has as an employee for them. Myself, I'm fortunate, I have Medicaid, because of that and usually the Managed Medical Assistance company I get a better choice of doctors than she does (though sometimes the MMA drops and replaces choices with little or no rhyme, reason, or warning).

---

Everything is go for the 18th. The dr can't promise how much vision will be restored until he's done but I know the retina is working to some degree I just can't see through the oil or lens.

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I need an outlet for venting. Sorry for what follows.

My left ankle is KILLING ME. Specifically, I've got constant, throbbing pain in the area where I suffered the bimalleolar fracture back in 2009. The place where the orthopedic surgeon inserted a plate and screws has been hurting more frequently than usual over the past week. It's been a steady pain since around 5:00 a.m. this morning, ranking around a 7 or 8 on the 1-to-10 pain scale, and it is interfering with my concentration.

I've taken an extra dose of tramadol plus some Tylenol in response, but they don't seem to be doing any good. I'm tempted to ignore doctor warnings about gastric bleeding and take an NSAID (like Aleve or ibuprofen), just out of sheer desperation.

This is one of those times where I wish I were in a pain management program so that I could get something stronger than tramadol—perhaps fentanyl patches or a stronger pill. At the same time, I absolutely don't want to have to go through the paperwork and office visit hell required to get pain management treatment. It's hard enough for me to get out of the house for *any* reason, much less for weekly check-ups with a doctor who treats you like a potential drug addict.

Almost seven years after the incident and I'm still screwed up. At least the Social Security Disability determination is still in place after a few conversations with the SSA. It's turning into a quality-of-life issue, damn it. I don't know what to do anymore.

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1 hour ago, ProfessorTomoe said:

I need an outlet for venting. Sorry for what follows.

Please don't apologise. We all need to vent sometime. Even though it is always possible to find someone worse off than yourself, personal troubles have the added pressure of being... well, personal. You need to carry them all the time and occasionally it just gets to be too much. In fact, it is wiser to vent in this way than to keep that frustration bottled up; you risk the pressure escaping at inopportune moments and in the wrong kind of context.

If it is any help, I am sorry you are going through this and hope that you will find a way through it. You have my support and my best wishes in this.

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Is this pain something new, or suddenly greater than before?  If so, it could be a sign of a problem with the equipment in there.  I've seen plenty of cases where a pin migrates, or a screw loosens, or an infection develops around an implant from years before. It might be that there's something they could take out now, that would allow further healing and eventual reduction in pain.  Not saying it *is* but it's definitely worth looking into....

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57 minutes ago, CritterKeeper said:

Is this pain something new, or suddenly greater than before?  If so, it could be a sign of a problem with the equipment in there.

It's greater than before, but not because of hardware — I had all of it removed on the leg that's hurting, several years ago. The left leg/ankle has always hurt more than the right for some reason, even when I was in the hospital wearing the "moon boots" (as we came to call them). Don't know if it was broken worse than the right one or just not surgically fixed as well. Go figure, eh? :(

1 hour ago, PSadlon said:

If you ignore the warnings eat first. It'll give your stomach a fight chance sort of speak.

Have done. Thanks.

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The ankle pain finally calmed down, only to be replaced by pain in the knee that I screwed up in a bicycle wreck in 1984 plus a *massive* sinus headache. All in all, I've been laid out whenever I've been offline this week (mainly due to the sinus headaches).

I'm tempted to go on Rhinocort, despite the problems I've had with nasal corticosteroids making my nose bleed in the past. I'm guessing that I might be able to reduce this risk by using a nasal saline spray with the Rhinocort (not at the same time - spread-out doses). (BTW, I can't take Flonase—long story.)

Anyone here know how to reduce nosebleeds from steroid nasal sprays? Please, please advise.

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Afraid not, but I have had to take an elderly neighbor to the hospital for a nosebleed that wouldn't stop, and years ago my dad had to be treated with a tiny litle bit of cocaine to constrict a blood vessel that other strategies couldn't stop, so all I can advise is to not take nosebleeds too lightly.  I know it doesn't help with the current problem, but I figure a reminder that epistaxis can be a real problem too doesn't hurt and might help.

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Ah, cocaine. The one and only time I have had cocaine in my body was while I was under anesthesia for correction of a deviated septum and resection of my turbinates, back in the early '90s. The only time I get it, and I'm not awake to experience it. :tongue:

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Eh, they wouldn't use enough to have any sort of systemic effect.  Still, a good demonstration of why it's a Schedule II drug, acknowledged to have medical use but dangerous and tightly controlled, rather than a Schedue I, considered to be extrremely dangerous and with no legitimate use, not allowed to be used for any reason, like heroin and...um...marijuana....

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3 hours ago, CritterKeeper said:

like heroin and...um...marijuana....

Both of which have legitimate medical uses, and one of which is significantly less dangerous than a certain other recreational drug which has been legal in the US for decades and in Europe for much longer.

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On 16 May 2016 at 0:28 PM, Don Edwards said:

Both of which have legitimate medical uses, and one of which is significantly less dangerous than a certain other recreational drug which has been legal in the US for decades and in Europe for much longer.

Like dihydrogen oxide? That crap is addictive as all out. I've been dependent on it my whole life. Visit any bar and they will serve it, usually unregulated and with no questions asked. They won't even card you.

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1 hour ago, The Old Hack said:

Like dihydrogen oxide? That crap is addictive as all out. I've been dependent on it my whole life. Visit any bar and they will serve it, usually unregulated and with no questions asked. They won't even card you.

It has many benefits. In fact, there are many sources saying that this is a substance that you should not deprive yourself of. It can also be combined with other materials to form a higher quality end product.

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I'm back and rested. That was a long time just laying there while they work on you, It'll take a bit for me get used to the new parts and things to fully heal. Apparently the was a bit of scarring he had to remove as well

I'd apparently have to drop my butt on my leg to break it. The closest I've come is my foot & ankle.

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And my eye itches like crazy.

Edited by PSadlon

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