Good day to all my warrior friends! Everyday is an adventure into the unknown for me with my friend, my unruptured brain aneurysm. I need some guidance as far as vitamin supplements I should absolutely avoid. I am currently being treated the conservative method, that is controlling blood pressure, weight control (Mediterranean diet) and stress control. Thank you in advance!
Morning Sunshine! Iād reach out to your PCP and ask or to the Neurosurgeon. I can say for me, my Neurosurgeon did not have me taking any supplements post rupture, but when I earned a Rheumatologist she has me on a couple and so does the Podiatristā¦dang when did my body get older? Seriously, some vitamins donāt do well with some medicines, some stay in the body whilst others can be quickly flushed out. I have to be careful that I donāt exceed one of the vitamins per my Rheum. She does blood work every couple of months. It may be that since youāre using the Mediterranean Diet, you may not need any vitamin supplements. Maybe if youāre working with a RDN, they could help. Enjoy the fish tacos and watch out for those San Diego burritos, they wouldnāt be the same without crispy fries.
Thank you so very much for the reply! It just seems every doctor has a different opinion! Now of all things, during physical therapy, I crushed my T-3 vertebra! It will take at least a month to see a orthopedics so until then running blind and not wanting to up set the apple cart!
Have a Happy & Healthy 4th of July!
You as well! Didnāt someone tell you PT isnāt supposed to be painful? Yikes! And yes every doctor has their own opinion based on experience and what they read. If your insurance allows it, Iād go with a RDN. Theyāre trained in diet and nutrition where most doctors are not. I remember my Aunt used to work for a place for San Diego Co that helped folks get serviced they needed. Unfortunately she passed away some decades ago and asking her questions isnāt productive. I think sheās busy playing with her dogs and getting on to my Invke and Dadš
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Good afternoon! Thatās exactly what I tell my PT Doc! Excellent idea for the RDA! I will check into that! My company uses a medical company called Alcolade for that type of service.
My problem is I have too much assistance and everyone has a different view! Lol, itās always something! Thank you so much for your help! Tim
Anytime Tim! I learned PT wasnāt supposed to be painful by two of my PTs, Ms. Betty, after lumbar surgery she and Mr. Lou had the most experience over 30 years each, so no PhD after their names. (Iād been a frequent flier to PT for a long time and didnāt know it.). But the young whipper snappers with the PhD requirement would staff with themš. They both told me that if I felt pain, I was pushing myself too hard. Discomfort was ok, pain was a no-no as it can do a bit of damage. I think you discovered that one, unfortunately.
Take advantage of your health insurance any time you can. People often forgot that health benefits are part of their salary.
Good Morning! My PT is an MD! He had me doing āplanksā as part of my shoulder rehab from a torn labrum surgery even though I had documented back deformities! I wonder how shocked he is going to be when I see him thursday! None to worry! I have been abusing my medical benefits over the past two years! I donāt have to tell you how much an aneurysm treatment costs! I hate when medical staff refer to me as a frequent flyer as I think of the years I was in the clinic and when medical staff would refer to someone as a FF it was assumed they were drug abusers! I always say with a laugh, āI hope you clarify that statement!ā I do hope your weekend is going well!
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Hey Tim
YEP, Iām an FF and on multiple occasions Iāve been accused of being a drug seeker or I get slight comments like āI think you just like the medicationsā¦ā I HATE the damn meds, but I donāt have much choice, either hibernate in a dark, silent room or take the meds.
Luckily, here in Australia, many medications are government subsidized and for those with chronic conditions/multiple medications, thereās a yearly cost ceiling. When you reach the ceiling the medications are cost free for the rest of the year. But being accused of being a drug seeker makes my blood boil. I can get ābetterā drugs on the street, I donāt need a damn medico to get drugs.
Iām an FF due to a genuine invisible medical condition, they may not be able to see it, but they donāt have to try to manage it all either. I do. Iāve only recently had a ā¦Letās just call it a āclarificationā discussion, with a Dr around how I manage for me, not him. If he has any other way to manage, letās trial it. (I know he hasnāt Iāve trialled 90% of everything I can trial) Otherwise give me the medications I NEED!!! That drug seeker label has a stigma, and it can follow you EVERYWHERE. Iāve had that before ālabelā before. When I see them heading in that direction I STOMP on it fairly quickly
I have had one nurse make a comment and she got a none too subtle reply. She was offended but nowhere near as offended as I was. Weāre not in this position by our own choice. Iāve offered my symptoms to anybody who wants them, sadly, I havenāt found any willing takers, so I have to manage it all the best way I can for me. Not them.
Rant over, sorry. 
P.S. āā¦I have been abusing my medical benefitsā¦ā No you havenāt. You have a medical condition and thatās what medical benefits are for. Medical is NOT cheap, thatās why you have such benefits. Thatās utilising the benefits, not abusing them.
Merl from the Modsupport Team
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Good afternoon, I am right there with you! Except here in America every doctor is specialized and very exspeseive! Some doctors even demand to rerun test at their own facilities! Then their is the wait! If you canāt wait you have to go to the ER! You just have to have the loudest voice in the room! Take care yourself!
Oh my gosh, the life flight bill when I ruptured was in the $40k range for a 60 mile flight and one time when I was still on private pay insurance, we inquired to the check in lady if we could get a discount and it was sure do you have $60k, itās a 40% discount. BH said dang, I forgot the checkbookš¤£
Iāll take PT over drugs any day of the week. The first time I went was when I turned my trigger finger almost upside down and had to work to get it sorta back to the correct position. The PT was very pregnant and had a bit of difficulty getting to my hand on the table she had me at, I guessed twins and was correct, lol. Then it was my foot and then my back, my rupture, then my neck. ST was in the same building as PT. Iāve never met a PT with an MD, and I gave the initials incorrectly, they now have to have DPT to practice. Does the extended education make them better than someone with a lot of experience, I donāt know, I like the ones with a lot of experience.
I was only told I had drug seeking behavior once and it set me and BH off. I was so upset my stuttering became extremely bad and the correct words werenāt coming out, so I called him a Richard Cranium and a nitwit. I was told to return to the ER (ED now so I guess my age is showing) the next day if I wasnāt better. This was from a Doctor I knew well due to my work and he was on duty the day I ruptured but not the doctor who treated me. BH came home from work the next day and I was having all my symptoms back and worse so back I went. Doc says to me youāre just drug seeking and Iām not giving you anything. I think they just usually gave me a shot to quell the nausea and a shot of Benadryl, nothing strong though it may not be Benadryl. BH suggested he look at my medical record. He refused to do any imaging and after 4-5 hours of me tossing my cookies I was sent home with no treatment. Even the RNs who I also knew was as upset as we were and I heard one of the RNs trying to explain my medical history and told him what I did for a living that there was no way I was drug seeking. She even told him if he put drug seeking down in my medical record, she would advise me to sue him. The third day we called my triage RN and to that hospital we went. They were waiting for us so I didnāt have any wait time to get back to the ED. A couple of shots and an MRI, hug from that ED Doc who was on duty when they flew me in, angiogram the next week and procedure #2 the week after.
It is imperative that we never have ādrug seekingā put down in a medical record as it will affect any future care we receive. Especially since Congress got on the opioid crisis. Did you know a PCP can only write a prescription for five tramadol at a time, now? I had given the last of my prescription to our dogs as needed and went back for more, I had that bottle for a couple of years. Yep five! But our Vet can write one for 30. I donāt take my dogsā medicine, I do my stretches, use muscle balm and ice as needed since heat makes it worse most times. Boy have I written too much, yikes!
Have a great 4th be safe today!
OMG, Iāve got 10 boxes of 20x20mg Oxycontin here. These things wipe me out and are only used in EXTREME cases. We pay per prescription, the 10 boxes were on one script. $10/script. I get it this price because I recieve a government social security payment. My āgo toā primary med is 30mg codiene, Iām getting 180tablets or 9 boxes of 20 tablets/prescription. Now, admittedly these do cost more a little more, but thatās because my insides react to the generic brand, so I pay extra to get what works for me.
I know a few years back the BIG pharmas took the Australian Govt to the International court for unfair practices in regard to our pharmaceutical scheme. In very basic terms our Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) works out the cost of production vs benefit, then sets the price. And the big pharmas HATE it. Our government at the time won the case. If the pharmas want to trade in Australia, they must go through the TGA.
Merl from the Modsupport Team
Wow! Good for TGA! A few years before I ruptured we could buy our prescription medicine cheaper from Canada and many people took advantage of this, in fact our Director suggested it at one of the big meetings. Then our federal government decided we couldnāt. Guess Big Pharma won hereā¦or maybe it was the health insurance companies, probably both. I buy my medication for a 90 day supply as itās usually less expensive. One prescription (eye drops) is outrageously high and the pharmacy always calls to make sure I want to pay it before they refill it.
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Big Pharma have big money and very deep pockets and very loud voices.
They can buy influence in politics.
The TGA is a government entity, but the board members are medical scientists/chemists, not politicians.
To be govt supplemented they must be assessed and thatās what the pharmas hate. They think we should simply trust them, without all the assessment. I think the thalidomide fiasco proved they need some sort of oversight. The TGA gives that oversight.
Merl from the Modsupport Team
Helloā¦one of the BEST things of living in San Diego is access to Tijuana and cheap medicine!
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We moved from Hawaii where I was born to Chula Vista, Dad was Navy and stationed at San Diego. We went every other weekend for the boys to get their haircuts, the barberās sister became one of my babysitters and spoke very little English. Mom would do some shopping etc., we would go very early so Mom could be the first customer. I think we were about 12 miles from the border. Chula Vista was not what it is now. In the ā60ās it was pretty rural. In the 70ās I took my Camaro to get reupholstered to Tijuana and Border Patrol was not nice about it. I was a bit apprehensive as my brotherās best friend and his girlfriend had a few too many bottles of spirits. They hid them under the spare tire and everywhere else they could fit them. I told the officer who pulled out her knife, if she ripped into my new upholstery they could just get my car reupholstered in LA County where we had moved, showed her the estimates and she let us go. Every time, I would visit my Aunt and Uncle, Iād fill up in Tijuana, gas was cheap and had higher octane which my Camaro loved. A tank of gas would last me two or three times what it would in LA and they didnāt have odd/even days! I remember back then they had an open sewage line right next to their open water line and hundreds of people living in cardboard boxes. We would watch them cross over at night through the canyons.
Funny, Not much has changed except now Chula Vista is the new mecca of believe it or not, million dollar homes! Even the waterfront is expanding with a new high rise luxury resort! Amazing to me, my partner during the Trump administration , as a government employee, had cross border healthcare! That is he had to go across the border for health care! What was great about that is that we learned very quickly that care is better in other countries and that prescription medication is much cheaper as well! Of course we had copies of prescriptions and never had a problem crossing with ālegalā prescription drugs! Now we donāt even leave the city now for legalized marajauna! Times certainly have changed!
I hear it is the 7th largest city in Cali now. And you need a passport to get into Mexico! Things sure do change with time, I remember when no one wanted to go into Tijuana for health care. The last time I was there, the 805 was basically on top of the house we lived in on Montclair, it did make it easier to get to my Auntās home on Oleanderš. It was sad to see all the canyons and farms replaced with homes. I think they had a hospital on top of some caves we used to slide into and it came down, was replaced with a parkā¦