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Doctor's Visit Went Wrong... Need to Vent! (Read 1179 times)
theAnthonyCarter
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Victoria, Virginia
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Doctor's Visit Went Wrong... Need to Vent!
Oct 18th, 2013 at 6:30pm
 
I can't friggin believe this crap!

I went to the doctor today,  and I had do a walk-in as I can't exactly afford to miss work to go to the doctor as it is bad enough paying out-of-pocket, and Friday is the only day I get off early during the week. The goal here was simply to make sure I got a new prescription for trex injections to make sure I don't end up getting my ass kicked over the weekend if I go through the partial shot I have left and get hit again before Monday. There's no way to get a script filled around this place except on weekdays, so you better be set to ride out the weekend, in other words.

The problem is, I went to the doctor or, technically, the local medical center which is the only place around here that takes walk-ins. The problem is, you get a different doctor or nurse practitioner every time. Those who may be familiar know this means you get to educate this "doctor" in the ways of this terrible beast, and more importantly what does or does not work for you.

All went fairly well in this regard as this nurse practitioner was pretty open to listening to me. However, I feel I made the terrible mistake of suggesting that she prescribe the trex in vial form so that I can give myself the lower doses that I typically use with the auto-injector shots via the Imitrex tip. She agreed that it'd be better since you don't have to reuse the same needle, obviously. And, then here comes the BS part...

So, I get my script that I bought and paid for since I don't have insurance, and paid full price for that doctor's visit. I check out the pharmacies and even online. I can't find the vials ANYWHERE that is not a provider ONLY to pharmacies, doctors, etc. In other words, they don't sell directly to consumers.

So, I call the medical center back as the NP told me to do if I had trouble filling the script to have her rewrite it for the trusty auto-injectors. I get told she is with her last patient of the day, they take my number, and tell me the NP is going to call me back in 5-10 minutes. Meanwhile, the lady on the phone asks a few questions, and says she will try calling the local pharmacies to see if they can fill or at least order the trex in vials as the script was written, and that she would call me back... Neither has called me back, and it has been well over an hour. It is also passed their hours of operation. So, I take it they all said something to themselves like: "Oh well, f-em. I'm off work. I'm going home. After all, it's just headaches. He'll just have to live until Monday."

Now, it's bad enough that they'd leave my ass hanging like that. I mean, you have to just love "quality health care" like that. But, I actually paid full price... not sliding scale crap, not insurance paid-for... but full price to get... well, nothing but a piece of paper that is absolutely worthless!

I mean, guys and gals on here... I'm sorry for the vent from hell, but this is just nonsense. And, it is EXACTLY why I hate, I mean loathe going to the doctor, and having my livelihood in their clumsy, careless hands!

Needless to say, someone up there is going to have a bad day come Monday, especially if I get a few too many bad hits this weekend!  Angry

Rant over.
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maz
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Hampshire, England
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Re: Doctor's Visit Went Wrong... Need to Vent!
Reply #1 - Oct 19th, 2013 at 5:28am
 
Hi, Sorry you are having such a hard time. Don't  worry about ranting, We've all been there.
We don't have to pay for doctors appointments or prescriptions here in England, and only a minimum standard charge for the drugs, but all the other difficulties are much the same.

A few months ago I woke at 2am with a kip 10. It lasted 14 hours. It was a Saturday so no GPs available. My husband phoned the out of hours emergency service 3 separate times and spoke to duty doctors who are all over the county. They all want to try the useless pain meds that all the others have tried for 5 years. They must think that they are god, and it will work for them when it hasn't worked for countless others. Eventually he was told to take me to the hospital.

When we got there, they were even more clueless. I explained that I had taken massive overdoses of all the meds I had previously been given, but they just told me to take more and see my GP on Monday. I told them it takes 2 weeks to get an appointment and was told that a headache is not really an emergency.

I made a show of myself, and stormed out screaming that I will have killed my self by then. So now I'm down as a drama queen/trouble maker. As if by a miracle, as I walked out of the hospital door the cluster went away, so I lived to fight again the next day.

Eventually, several days later I got a prescription for 2 auto shots - one days worth.
None of the pharmacies keep it in stock so I had to wait for them to order it and get delivery. So, back to the doctor to get a second prescription before the first had even been filled. Different doctor, same old s**t.  "Have you tried paracetomol/codeine/asprin/ibuprophen" etc.

But I've learned my lesson. Now, I go through all this crap while I'm in remission, and stockpile the shots, so when the CH hits I am prepared. And my local pharmacist who I have got to know quite well has done a bit of research on CH and agreed to always keep 2 in stock.

All that aside, have you read all the posts on here about vitamin D3. It works !! Look for posts by Batch to get the info. Also have you tried the energy drink trick. I have not tried it myself yet because I only heard about it after my last bout ended but many on here swear by it. Drink a red bull, really fast at the first sign of pain. It's the combination of caffeine and taurine in a sudden hit that does the trick. It doesn't work for every one but will for many.

Read all you can on these boards and you will find lots of help, and feel free to come back and rant again if you need to. We are all with you.

Best wishes and good luck on Monday. Maz.

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theAnthonyCarter
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Posts: 65
Victoria, Virginia
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Re: Doctor's Visit Went Wrong... Need to Vent!
Reply #2 - Oct 19th, 2013 at 7:22am
 
Hey Maz,

I've been on this board for years even thought my post count doesn't look like it really. Part of that is to my relatively long remission times of 2 - 3 years. I also had a different screen name that I changed in the last year. So, I've definitely learned a lot from the great peeps here, that's for sure, and am more grateful to these guys (and gals) than all the worthless doctors I've gotten combined.

I'm actually up a bit early for me on this Saturday morning due to the beast that just finished gracing me with it's presence, unfortunately. So, now I'm down to a single short dose of 2mg of Trex for the rest of the weekend. Worse than that, I'll likely run into the same problem you were just talking about with the pharmacy having to order the stuff Monday meaning that single dose I have will have to get me through to Tuesday from today.  Undecided

I've never been to the emergency room during a hit since I learned quickly from others here on CH.com that they usually, like in your case, don't know what to do or won't do anything if they could. Unfortunately, for us all, the idea that a "headache" could be anything more than an "exaggeration" is ridiculous to them that have never experienced this affliction. I know this all too well from the unsympathetic comments I hear at times from others, outside of this board, of course.

I am on the D3 Anti-Inflammatory regimen that Batch has posted at the moment, an accelerated version, actually. So, I am truly hoping that helps me get through this "hiccup" no thanks to the Med Center, and ultimately hope it may mean that I rarely, if ever, need a Trex injection again. Of course, I try to keep at least a few injections handy even while in remission much like you were saying just in case, so I still will.

As for the energy drinks, I have tried them, and they will work for me but only for the very moderate or mild hits of, say, kip 4 or less based on looking at my HA log. If only we knew which ones were going to be "light" like that, it would be great.  Wink

Anyway, nice meeting you, and thanks for the kind words. Wish you plenty of PF time!

Anthony
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FrankF
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Simi Valley, CA, USA
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Re: Doctor's Visit Went Wrong... Need to Vent!
Reply #3 - Oct 19th, 2013 at 9:06am
 
theAnthonyCarter wrote on Oct 18th, 2013 at 6:30pm:
All went fairly well in this regard as this nurse practitioner was pretty open to listening to me.


I know you have had trouble getting O2 in the past, but maybe if she was open to listening to you about the trex, then maybe she would be open to becoming educated about O2.

Doctors love medical journal articles, so this one is pretty informative: Multimedia File Viewing and Clickable Links are available for Registered Members only!!  You need to Login or Register;
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