Give them heck, the greasy wheel gets the oil as my mother said. I will hope and pray they can get you in soon. ginnie

I'm in the middle of the appeals process as my ins. company decided that the Flector patch will no longer be covered. My cost to buy it myself is $500 per month

I'm starting to get desperate as samples running very low and beginning to think of looking into where seniors go in Canada to get their meds. cheaper.

It's bloody ridiculous that we're at the mercy of incompetent doctors, insurance companies who deny medicine or treatments, and the ramifications we have to live with because of it!! I know I, too, have permanent nerve damage from mismanaged care. I especially feel bad for those who have to struggle with the ineptitude of Worker's Comp.

Gonna get off my soapbox...after fighting with ins. company about my patches and hearing how others have been mismanaged and have to suffer the horrible consequences, I'm just a wee bit ticked off

Well Rachel..... I just HAD to fight through the withdrawal because I was through with drugs ruling my life. Even with my compassionate competent pain management doc on top of my withdrawal, I know I descended into H e l l [I wrote about that October-December 2010]. The depression nearly took me permanently away. I am blessed God, my wife, my doc, and my precious work comp lawyer were on top of that situation.

You be extra careful in withdrawal and you HAVE TO HAVE A GATEKEEPER who monitors your result every day even after weaned off, oh, for say about two months to be on the safe side depression does not capture you.

As to the system, and I surely hope we as a country will rise up and throw off the yoke hung around our necks by incompetent politicians and president..... [if I offended you, please remember I am not being politically correct here], for this evening, my son and I sampled health care at its absolute finest just the way my pain management doc promises it will be under the new system. We show for a 4pm appt with his doc regarding a broken elbow suffered working at the Rescue Mission. This Work Comp at its lowest common denominator. We sit for two hours. All comers are called back even those who show after the appt time. Our son goes to the counter, told he will see the PA, because the Doc cannot be bothered [although he is in the office and not working an emergency case or anything] name of Bloch.... appropriate...... and by 7pm we are ushered out, son discharged from care although he still has pain.[I'll probably be suing someone, oh how I hate this].

My pain management doc assures me under the new system the politicians insist the American people clamored to receive, this is the wave of the future. Doctors no where to be found, PAs or Nurse Practitioners becoming the only line of care unless surgery required, then doc might see you just before you are put under. Our nation's medical community [and I know many personally] are afraid of the coming disaster the politicians have sold to the people who are the governed. Forget government of the people, by the people, and for the people [Abraham Lincoln] unless you wage your fight with your votes this fall. Forget Flector patches, forget seeing a doctor, forget care...... I intend to vote no incumbent back, no not one. Start fresh with a mandate that junks the yoke put on the shoulders of the coming generations and junk the retirement of Congress after serving a single term, let them have Social Security and Medicare, oh, and junk the government medical care plan for serving politicians... let them have insurance, appointments, Medicaid and the lot.

Sorry Fiona, I used your soapbox. Mea Culpa.

Eva, I reckon I have caught fire from your artful words,

We need to assert the American People lest politicians sitting comfortably moaning about how hard they work bleed us to death [that was George Washington's fate].

I digress......
and I am sick of government standing on the people, forgetting the people, making the people into the proleteriat to further enable an aristocracy of monied retired politicians..... Where did we lose ourselves?
Where?

Disillusioned.
I think I will borrow some other guy's mantra, the people need REAL Change, not spare change.
Mark me revolutionary and patriotic I guess..... vote, vote, vote, vote.:Poke :

You have every right to squack. My doctor wrote a letter to appeal,and I wrote a letter. I was denied a medication called Dexilant. It is for my Gerds and Barretts esophagus to try to prevent me from more damage that will lead to cancer. I am a bit ticked too. I wrote a heck of a letter today in protest. My last endoscopy wasn't such a good result, and they denied me anyway. It is always about the almighty dollar. I guess they don't want to pay for it and I cannot. As patients many of us are getting this treatment. I don't exactly know what to do now. Would they rather treat me for cancer? go figure. Wish as a group there was something we could do. ginnie

YA! What ^^^ HE said!!

The post stuck a chord! Everything you said is true. I worked 30 years to be reduced to poverty. Let the politicians have the medicare/medicaid/foodstamp program and maybe they will see what we do. the system stinks all together. I could say worse. I have cried long hard angry tears over this whole thing, and I rage as you do. Not one of my doctors accepts medicaid. I will vote, but I don't know if there is anyone out there who could enact the changes that need to be made. I lost my food stamps because my son paid for my dental care. I went "over" what I was allowed to have through our joint acccount. Why are they forcing poverty? Would they rather have me in the emergency room with an abcess? I had to fight to get them to begin with. I now pay rent on my paid for home, so my son is allowed to pay the taxes. He is the last person alive who would want to hurt me more than I already am financially. This is a horrible system. ginnie

Thanks guys! Got a text from the hospital today and I have an appointment on Wednesday to be re-programmed! Yeay!

May all go well. May you be allowed to "drive" the session. May all good things come of this. Way cool.:co ol:
Mark56

Good luck Rachel. I hope you have control and relief.

Sandy k

Been re-programmed! Yeay!
I now have 2 programmes to choose from, the one I was on before and a different one for lying down as I wasn't getting any stimulation most of the time in my foot and when I was it was actually making it worse

However, this new "lying down programme" is so much better and hooefully in a few weeks we can tweak it to be even better.

So pleased that I'm getting somewhere with this, the doctor said it is still early days and that it should improve with more tweaking and further still in time as the rest of the swelling goes down. So excited that there's possibly a future in less pain! I was beginning to think it wasn't possible!