Anbesol?
 

Was cleaning out my medicine cabinet yesterday and found an old bottle of Anbesol. I said hmmm....if you can put it in your mouth, it couldn't be that dangerous on your feet, right?

Surely somebody has thought of this before. It seems to help a bit on thinner skin like around my ankles, arches, and in-between and tops of toes but not so much on pads and heels.

Not a miracle, but if you happen to have some, why not try?

Well, that is 'repurposing'!

I don't feel my feet, but maybe I will try a unique way to use it, in my mouth!:p

It has 20% Benzocaine in it.

This is a topical anesthetic.

If this works for you, I'd investigate Lidoderm patches. Stronger, and longer lasting. Expensive however, if you don't have insurance.

There is also alot of camphor in Anbesol. Some rubs have camphor too.

I did get some lidocaine patches a few years ago but just didn't seem able to get the placement right. Maybe I should ask my doctor for lidocaine cream--I think maybe I would do better with that.

I do have pretty good insurance. I just wish everyone could have what I have.

I have pretty good insurance too. That is the scary part. I was still denied at one point. I also wonder how long we will be able to afford it. Or how long it will continue to pay for things.

We are in position for my husband to retire, if not for health insurance. (He has worked the same job 35 years) and it is going to be a real challenge to pay $1600 to $2000 per month for insurance. We have a substantial amount saved, but, with a 20% rise per year allowed for insurance premiums, it will be really rough. We can't buy insurance on the free market unless pre-existing clauses are removed. It is hard to imagine paying 30,000 to 48,000$ per year for health insurance until we qualify for 'entitlement' programs. How many people have that kind of money saved? We are close, but, it is still scary. What if costs of insurance continue to skyrocket, or they can deny me because I get expensive treatment. I will simply have to give up the treatment and take what comes. Like most of the under-developed world.

Social Sec. kicks in at 62, but medicare not until 65, if it lasts at all. Then there is the matter of buying a supplement or facing astronomical medical bills.

It will be rationing of health care by sheer expense. If you can't afford it, you won't get it.

At some point, we will have to pack it in, and call it a day. I am more of a quality versus quantity person anyway.

Yeah, even "good" insurance isn't that good. I had to cough up 3K out of pocket two years in a row between the cancer and the hip replacement, plus the salary I lost from not being able to work during those times. And I'm darn lucky that I could eat those costs, even if it was painful. There are a lot of families in this country that would have lost their homes over that series of hits.

You can say what you want about Canada, France, et. al. but nobody loses their home over illness in those countries.

I hear ya.

Health care is a mess.

Also, I look at my bills to see what the docs get, and they don't get anywhere what they charge from my insurance. At what point will they decide they can't bite it anymore and come after me?

To be in these big insurance groups, some docs are biting 20-30% of their costs.

Oh, it is too depressing to think about. Just too darn depressing. Gonna go stick my head in the sand and not think about it. How do Sweden, Norway, Finland, France, Germany etc. all do it?? Why will that NOT work for us?? How did we end up with one sixth of the GDP end up being health care??? Heatlh care is generally a charitable endeavor. It is not supposed to be the place to make billions.

Boy, I hear ya! I'm going to retire in Nov, I'll be 62 then. I am fortunate in that I will receive a $150 per month credit towards my insurance from the state, but the ins. will still be very expensive for one person. Before my hubby turned 65 and could officially "retire" ha ha we checked into the supplement plans. I could have kept him on my ins. from my work, but I found an Advantage plan, and it is free for him. Two weeks after his 65th b-day, he had a TIA. He had a CT scan, was $50. All else was covered, as is the meds.

I totally agree, something must be done in this country. Those of us who have cronic problems can't afford ins. on the "outside" even if they would cover us. People who are healthy, just don't understand.

Just my thoughts.

Just a FYI re: Medicare eligibility
 

If you are on social security disability you don't have to wait until you're 65. If you qualify for it (SSD) in 2 years you can join Medicare.

Medicare is the most fantastic health care coverage I've ever had. The difference between it & my former teachers' coverage is stunning: no prior approvals for any tests, scans, etc. Use any doc who accepts it (however, many are opting out because of reduced reimbursement), etc.

All Americans should be able to access it.

Hey, I was healthy (and covered) not too long ago, and I understood. The problem is that too many people think the world stops at the end of their own driveway.

(Maybe universal on-street parking could be the answer...learning to parallel that baby in with two inches to spare exercises motor skills)

I was on disability, then I got booted off due to the old doctors I saw ditzing around with my diagnosis....basically, they did nothing, and I didn't know I had PN, and autoimmune issues.

So, I have not worked for 10 quarters...you lose your elligibility. My docs tell me NOW, I am fully disabled, but now, I would have to go back to work to qualify.

Best I can do now, after 25 years of work, is to live to 62.

So, in short, no, I can't qualify for Medicare until 65. So if hubby retires and the money runs out, I won't get treatment.

If Medicare is going to cover every one, for whatever care they want paid for, I think we had better get used to a substantial raise in medicare taxes, which is fine with me. I do think that some one needs to look at what expenditures are reasonable with medicare. How many opinions should it pay for? What is reasonable care at end of life? How far do we do with heroic efforts that we know will do no good in the long run? How long do we prolong life? These are really heady issues...huge issues. I know of a pacemaker put into an 85+ year old man, with severe dementia...is this reasonable? Would he have wanted that??

I was stuck in a private HMO, while my neuropathy raged, and all they did was tell me EMG normal...for years, I was told I had no autoimmune issues, and I was eating myself up. I was told, Fibro....

When I got to a PPO, I got good care, and they found my neuropathy, and my autoimmune issues. So, care depends a great deal on the resources of the system you are in.

If your system doesn't have the advanced care and won't refer you out, you are screwed.

As a culture, we have a lot to think about. These are very complex issues.

Yes, if the stupid social security examiner had not kicked me off, I would be on disability today. I don't care about the money, but the insurance would be very helpful. Now I don't think I have options.

Insurance
 

Going through these threads opens up a BIG can of worms. INSURANCE. I am lucky in that I qualify for Medicare, (what's left of it since the government raids the leftovers every year), and I retired from the state, which gives me a great supplemental insurance to boot. And, the state pays for 80% of the supplemental, and all but a co-pay for drugs. The drug co-pay is 50% of retail up to $50 per script, per month. It is a good thing too, cause the co-pays alone for my wife and I ran almost $5,000 last year. We both have heart trouble. She has diabetes, and reduced kidney function, and I have PN and Waldenstroms. So, I, like so many on this site, would, without insurance, just curl up, and wait for the end.
I too, go through the bills that the providers send Medicare every month, and the difference between what is charged, and what is paid, makes you think you're looking at two different things. Although, you could make a case for either the insurance companies, or the providers, depending on who you are lobbying for. But, what is charged for what is done, in come cases, is idiotic. I developed eruptions (looked like BIG blisters) on my heals, and it has taken 5 months to heal them. White skin developed around the sites as healing began to take place. The podiatrist shaved this off several times as it developed, a process that involved a razor, and about 10 minutes. Charge? $720.00. Now, I will be the first to give credit to the medical professionals for all the work they went through to get their degrees. But, come on now.
The tug of war between the medical profession, and the insurance companies, with us patients in the middle, has got to come to some understanding as to costs, and payments. And, as long as the White House is in the middle of trying to take over our lives with their stupid control of the entire nation, there will never be any decent progress made.
I better get off my soapbox, and go soak my "eruptions" before I get into trouble.
I keep all of my fellow PNers in my prayers. May you too find positive answers for all of your conditions.

Insurance... now you have it, now you don't
 

I am one of the young(ish) PNers, (50) who is single. I have no spouse to depend on. Due to my PN I lost my job and my insurance, I lost my home, lost my car, and couldn't afford my medication. (Over $800.00 mo.)

I was living on unemployment and ordering my meds through a Canadian pharmacy ($300.00 mo) on line until I could get back to work. After a year and a half, I finally got a temp job, rented a room, and slowly have worked my way back to health.

Now, THREE YEARS later, I finally have a permanent job with a company where I have insurance. I don't know what I would have done if I had not gotten stronger! If I had not have been able to return to work. My unemployment was running out. My parents have both passed, my children are both in their early 20's and not able to support themselves, much less me!

I was spiraling down into a deep depression and it was getting really scary. If I had not gotten better, I guess the next step would have been disability, and some day, that may be my alternative. But for now, I'm strong enough to work every day and carry my own insurance. It is a very scary place to be, right at the edge of that cliff, not sure if you want to depend on the "government" for the rest of your life, or take control of the situation yourself.

The pain is sometimes so intense, and you feel so helpless, unable to walk, to go to the store for yourself, to sometimes even dress yourself. When you have days like that, the idea of having to depend on others to survive is really a lesson in humility! Then to think that you can't afford the medication to stop the pain is just too much to handle.

I have to stay strong enough to work... I have no one to do it for me! ! ! !