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jackba57
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Posts posted by jackba57
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Problem with medicare, for me, is that i just cant afford the copays and the 20% thats lleft over for me to pay. So for me its the VA or nuthin.
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Have you applied for SSD and tried to get medicare? You need options besides the VA. Are you 100% disabled vet? The VA's pain management formulary is bare bones. If you can't take morphine or methadone you are just about out of luck. Having an allergy to opiates makes it hard because the VA is a rigid organization where the cost factor is king.
I have SSDI and medicare....I am 100% service connected...I find I can get what I want but that I usually have to have a doc with the ballz to say I need it and then the help of my senators VA rep. That usually gets action. I like going to the AFB hosp here, which is shared with the VA, the AFB docs are way good. If I can get one of them to prescribe something diffy then the pain doc at the VA will have to tell me why i cant have it, then i complain to my senator and !VOILA! in about three weeks i get a letter that complies.
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The tramadol can make me VERY depressed. I do and can get the oxycontin from SSDI like you said, I may try that. I agree this stuff is all poison. MY brother has a bad back and got something called a nerve albation???? worked for him for four years. Got it at a Pain Doctors clinic. So im going to the VA pain doc a week from now...codiene tends to make me itch like no tomorrow, i think im right on the border of allergic to it. The other opiates actually make me stop breathing and code. Happened twice after surgery in the hospital. Scares the crap outa me.
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it is obvious that there are some very wonderful people on this website! Glad i found you all!
jack
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Hey thanks for all the HI's!
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Tramadol is maxed out at 100mg every 6 hours. I take Valium with it for the muscle thing. Maybe a better muscle relaxer? The valium knocks me right on my butt. I have a tens unit...the pain is more where the fusions were done and feels more like something slipping and i get a sharp pain, very bad. muscles arent too bad at times but im sure a better muscle relaxer would help a lot.
TY!
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The first thing I do when i get a new VA doc is determine a couple of things:
1. Does he/she look at me and actually talk TOO me?
(if the answer is no i go to patient advocate and fire he/she)
2. If the computer is more important than the patient (i fire them).
3. If they never bother to actually examine me (i fire them)
4. If it bothers them that I know more about my cancer and the problems it causes......I FIRE THEM!
Went through 2 docs in Spokane and then got the best doc I have ever had.
I am about to fire my first doc in Vegas....he talks to his computer, never looks away from the screen and is afraid to shake my hand.......patient advocate is on my mind for the next visit. This cat fits 1.2 and 3 above.
Remember these are our benefits, we are required by law to recieve decent treatment. Sometimes we have to stick up for ourselves. I am never angry about it, i never raise my voice, i assume i am in charge and discuss with the advocate why i need a new doc. Pretty soon the advocate thinks of you as a pretty knowledgable person and listens to you a lot...prolly the no loud voice thing that helps..LOL
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That wont work as I have carcinoid cancer also, once you get cancer of any kind, you will find that you are un-insurable....so once i stopped working because of the back pain and the side affects of the cancer, i lost my insurance. They dont care how much money you have, they will NOT insure you. So luckily I have the VA, just means I have to get ALL meds from the VA.
Thanks tho im going to ask my pain doc about it! :P
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Wow, i would be finding a doc somewhere that would be concerned over the wieght gain, what about hi BP, and diabetes that can come with a major wieght gain? I would be more afraid of the impending stroke than i would about being happy.
jack
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Ah thank you, i too am a DAV life member.
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Wow, I take 600 mg twice a day at first and now 4 times a day. I can't even tell i have taken anything....I mean like ZERO affect at all. NOTHING, NADA, ZIP. Not relief, nothing bad, i mean no affect. stopped taking it after the first script ran out. Told the doc it did nothing.
jack
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I am allergic to morphine, demerol, dilaudid, oxycodone, methadone etc...I find i can take Tramadol a synthetic, but its barely strong enough to take the edge off. I have to have surgery on my prosthetic jaw soon and am wondering what else there is for pain relief after surg.
I have spinal fusion L3-S1 and have severe back pain all the time, any ideas about pain relief for that as well?
I also have carcinoid cancer which makes things even more difficult in pain management.
Looking forward to ideas!
Jack
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i was wondering why i pay taxes out of my SS but my buddy in pennsylvania with SSDI and 100% just like me does not??
Whats the ruling here and how is it decided? Did i miss something?
jack
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Hi i am a 100% service connected vet from the usn. I am connected for back and both knees, multiple surgeries and back is fused l3-s1. I also have carcinoid cancer. I go to the las vegas NV VA, which is getting better, but has its challenges.
I hope to talk to some vets about pain medication, i am allergic to a lot of the opiates and am taking Tramadol right now, but its getting to the point where it is not doing much for me.
Thanks ahead of time and look forward to corresponding with you all!
Sleep Apnea
in VA Disability Claims Research
Posted
While I am not sc for sleep apnea or any COPD, when the VA gave me morphine after my last surgery I fully coded, had a heart attack and failed liver function. Needless to say i was pretty messed up for awhile. Now I have sleep apnea and I never had it before. It does seem any restriction of oxygen for whatever reason deepens the threat of sleep apnea and can be a cause...google that! The previous poster was right on get your doc to write it up in your chart then go for it!