Re: Some thoughts: To Sharon

[Guest guest]

I don't have insurance. I work for a small privately owned nursing home. Even

in the bigger nursing homes and hospitals, most of them have insurance to offer

for a really large amount of premium for the employees. I worked for one

company that wanted to charge me 400 dollars a month for the insurance. That

was not counting that they wanted co pays for dr visits and prescriptions. I

figure I do better financially without it. For $400 a month, I can go to the

dr. and get my meds for much cheaper than that.

No I don't agree with people buying anything from the street. I just would

never do that and would NEVER sell my pain meds. It is against my ethics and

every grain I have. I am lucky to have a doctor who knows fibro is real and

will rx my meds for me. If not, I would be SOL. I would just have to suffer.

It seems that the middle class of America suffers in a crunch because alot of us

make just enough money that we don't qualify for any government funding, and not

enough to pay the high price of health insurance.

hugs,

Debra V.

sharon studley wrote:

Debra- Just thought I would inquire, you don't get benefits where you work?

Isn't that unusual in the nursing feild, or do you have one of those optional

jobs like I did when I last worked a facility where I went in Leu of benefits as

it brought me $2.00 more an hr. which meant 16.00 which was better than the

health insurance they offered. It sure is hard to have no insurance though

isn't it? The Rx are tougher to get because the exact reason you pointed out,

to many people selling them, instead of using them for what they went to Dr. c/o

of.! Ut cost apprx,, $1.00 a vicodin RX wise, and sells on the St.'s for up to

10.00 a pill,depending on strentgh, and where you live!, No wonder people like

us with unseeable disease end up suffering, I have very believing,

understanding, Dr's who have seen me have to be wheeled in so I am lucky, but

those who can't get help I feel so sorry for. My mom has a

neighbor who has this disease and she said before they treated her, she a

couple times felt like commiting suicide because of the pain, and she is in

her 70's!!! Oh I hope things get better for us before that, I don't want this

pain that much longer! And please no one take ALERT to the fact that I

mentioned the cost of narcotic's being sold on the St's as I grew up in a

overpopulated town of drug abusers, plus again us that work in the healthfield

are well wise to what is happening out there.that is all I am not into buying

and selling! Sharon

debra van ness wrote: I can look back years

ago and recall that I had fibro though it was not diagnosed. The symptoms were

mild then and I could brush them off for the most part. Up until 5 years ago

when it hit me really hard, I never had a pain that Tylenol would not take care

of. Had a doctor have told me I had fibro back then, I would have thought, well

I can take this without medication. It was not bad then. Matter of fact, pain

was not even an issue at the time... it was just some numbness and tingling in

my fingers, some fibro fog (which I did not know it was then), and being overly

tired. The pain did not hit me bad until that flare from hell about 5 years ago.

Then I found that no amount of over the counter meds would take care of it or

touch it. I remember being at work one day several weeks before the

diagnosis.... I thought I was getting a " virus " . I was aching all over. I

remember taking Tylenol.... no relief. Added some Advil

to it.... no relief.... took some

naproxen.... no relief. I thought to myself... " that is strange.... wonder why

these medicines don't work... must be a really bad virus coming on " .

I would not have imagined that within a week I would be in such pain that I

would think I was dying and had some terminal illness. Thus, I went to doctor

after doctor and finally got the diagnosis of fibromyalgia.

So, let me just say that this disease certainly has its stages and its

difference in severity from one person to the next. And when the pain gets so

bad, and over the counter meds no longer work, I promise that any human being

will take a RX medication to try to help it or they will become non functional

and lay in misery.

Hopefully, some people will never progress to this stage and will continue to

have mild symptoms because I don't wish this on anyone. BUT, from my own

experience... I know that without RX pain killers I would not be able to get up

and go to work or do anything.

COST issues-- I do not have insurance, but the cheapest and oldest drugs for

narcotic pain relief are cheap. Hydrocodone compared to some other drugs is

definately not expensive. (unless you get them off the street.. then the price

will be very high).

Also, lets just look at the facts. Rx drugs work on the pain before they get

you " high " or " zombied " . If you take a RX that is really too strong for the

amount of pain, yes you will probably get wasted on it. But if the pain is bad

enough, the medication will work on the pain and will not put you out of it and

into neverland.

Just some thoughts.

love and hugs,

Debra V.

---------------------------------

Looking for last minute shopping deals? Find them fast with Yahoo! Search.