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Tuesday, March 13, 2007 |
I wanted to list my symptoms so I don't forget.
Initially, I had dizziness, sleepiness, intestinal upset, unable to sleep at night, waking up at 4:30 am every day, and jaw clenching. None of it was too bad, except when I had a margarita last Tuesday and I got so dizzy I had to sit down.
Most of the symptoms have drastically reduced now. I have almost no dizziness, and my sleepiness is gone. I still wake up early, but now it's at 5:45 am. Hmmmm, time change? :)
As far being happier, I don't have visions of me throwing myself down the stairs every time I pass them anymore. That's a good sign. But I don't feel very different.
10:43:18 PM 
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Tuesday, March 06, 2007 |
Well, it's been 4 days. I'm still feeling a little tired all the time, and my eyes are sort of itchy/scratchy, like I haven't slept in a long time. Other than that, I'm not feeling significantly different. I got an email today with some work and was pretty happy about that. More so than usual, I think. Meanwhile, no real side effects.
4:06:41 PM
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Friday, March 02, 2007 |
End of the first day of Lexapro. Just wanting to say what's going on. I'm not quite feeling myself, in that my brain seems not to be fitting in my head quite right. It's almost a little dizzy. It's the dizzy feeling without the nausea. It's been hard to concentrate, sort of like a hangover.No pain, just a little out of it.
10:43:43 PM
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Just a tiny bit of health news. I started taking Lexapro last night. I am going to track my progress and the effects here.
8:12:45 AM
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Wednesday, December 28, 2005 |
Foodstuff Benefits. Imagine if food were a standard corporate benefit like health care. After all it is a necessity; how can any responsible employer fail to provide it?
Of
course each company won’t be able to offer its own foodstuff benefit
so, instead, there will be major third-party payers in the system. When
you go to the grocery store, instead of taking out your Visa or
American Express, you’ll whip out your United Foodstuff card instead. Then
there will be a long pause, consultation with the manager, and a few
phone calls to determine what sort of copay you are required to make on
the various items in your shopping basket. You’ll end up having to put the Twinkies back because they are excluded from your foodstuff plan.
Some food stores are off-limits to you because they do not accept your foodstuff provider. Others require that you pay in full and then request reimbursement from the provider. There is a lower copay for some generic store brands than for name brands like Coke and Pepsi.
Shopping
on vacation is a real problem since United Foodstuff doesn’t have
agreements with any grocery chains south of the Mason-Dixon Line. Out of the country, fuhgetaboutit.
Months
after each shopping trip you are still receiving bills for the
unreimbursed portion of the expense of the nutrition consultant who
vetted your shopping list after the fact to assure that you haven’t
bought ingredients either singly or in combination that you might later
sue either the grocery store or your employer over. You
also receive a letter urgently requiring that you prove that you have
not claimed reimbursement for food used to make any meals covered by
your children’s school lunch program or Meals on Wheels.
When
your employer decides to switch foodstuff carriers, you have to change
your shopping habits both to be in-network for the new carrier and to
minimize your copay since the rules have changed. However,
if you live in Vermont, you can count on the fact that the State
requires coverage for both tofu and maple syrup in all policies and, in
New Jersey, cannoli never require a copay.
You
must be very careful not to have a gap in foodstuff coverage between
employers; individual foodstuff policies are very expensive – some
say prohibitively so. And most food stores are very reluctant to deal
with people with no coverage at all. Prices are 50% higher for food not
bought under a foodstuff plan. Even when you get a new policy from a new employer, pre-existing cravings are not covered.
The
value of the foodstuff coverage you will be given is an important part
of the total compensation you receive from an employer. When
weighing job offers, you may want to use a consultant to figure out the
relative value of the foodstuff portions of these offers. But,
unless you are protected by a union or an Enron-type executive
contract, your employer is free to change the foodstuff plan at will
after you are hired.
“OK,� you say. “Enough. This is plainly absurd�
So is employer-funded healthcare, even though it does have an insurance as well as a bill-paying component.
Third party payers add enormous cost and complexity to the health care system. Health care choices are distorted by labyrinthine plans which often seem to be designed NOT to pay benefits. The health care delivery system is largely incapable of charging for care EXCEPT through these plans. When individuals pay directly, even at the point of care, they are charged more even though the cost of collecting from them is much less.
Employers are motivated to cut the cost of the benefit. Third-party payers are motivated to pay out in benefits as small a portion of the premiums they receive as possible. Participants (us and the health care providers) are motivated to game what we perceive as an unfair system.
Employers
are only in the healthcare benefit business because, during World War
II wage and price controls, these benefits were a legal alternative to
raises (see this post
on unintended consequences) and because there is currently a tax
benefit to having employers rather than employees pay for healthcare.
It is now past time for two major changes:
Employers
should pay people salaries with which people buy whatever food, toys,
and health care they want (noted that it is debatable whether people
should be allowed to go without coverage but this isn’t an employer
issue).
Paying
for routine healthcare like checkups, immunizations, drugs at
reasonable costs and reasonable quantities, belly-aches, cuts and
bruises, etc. etc. should be just like any other predictable expense
such as food or transportation (noted that it is debatable – at least
as long as there is government backup to health care – whether people
should be allowed to go without checkups and immunizations). Absolutely no reason for a third party to be involved and all the reasons in the world for them not to be. Insurance
for major unpredictable expenses is entirely different and is a
legitimate insurance function which must be separated from paying
routine bills and from paychecks.
As you can probably guess, more posts on this to come.
 [Fractals of Change]
12:51:26 PM
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Wednesday, October 12, 2005 |
So, what's it like having reflux? It's a pain. Both
literally and figuratively. I take 3 pills a day to try and control it,
and it doesn't.
My day usually goes like this. Get up, belch, and think
about how bad it's going to be today. Throat burns, chest hurts, stomach
hurts. ok, not too bad. Go to the bathroom and take a shower. In the
shower, think about what to eat for breakfast. Not something too sharp. Too
crispy. Soggy raisin bran. That sounds edible. No scratching as it goes down.
Get out of the shower and ponder taking Tums (an antacid). It will make me feel
better, but the doctor says I shouldn't mix it with medicine, that might cause
the stomach to improperly digest the food. Hmmmph.
Get dressed. I hate putting on my shoes, because it always
makes me regurgitate whatever is in my stomach. Blech. Kiss the kids, and go
downstairs. Get some raisin bran cereal. Pour on the milk and let it sit
while I take my Protonix, multivitamin, and glucosamine tablets. Take the first
bite, remembering to chew it carefully to I don't scratch my esophagus while
swallowing. Hmmm, stomach hurts when swallowing. Gonna have to remember
to tell the doctor about that. A couple more bites and it doesn't hurt so
much anymore. Finish breakfast, kiss the kids and wife, and leave for work.
At work, it's 10 am, and my stomach hurts again. I can tell
I've been slouching because my throat is sore. Hard to swallow again. Stomach
is burning again; wonder if I should eat something so it's not so sore.
Lunch time! Let's eat. Ok, can't have anything with grease,
tomatoes, or cheese. Well, that leaves peanut butter and jelly, or a ham
sandwich. 5 minutes later, I'm done eating, and all afternoon I'm burping
up lunch. How can I possibly have eaten too fast and swallowed all that air?
Chest pains are starting up again. Wish
I had some good food for lunch to justify the discomfort.
Home for dinner. Need to get a small portion, can’t eat too
much or I won’t sleep very well. Can’t
sit on the floor to play with the kids, or sit on the comfy couch, makes me
slouch, makes my stomach hurt. Lie on
the couch, continuously swallowing to try to keep the food down. Doesn’t really work.
8 pm. Time to take my evening pills. Another Protonix,
Zantac, Singulair, and glucosamine. Hope
this helps.
11 pm. Need to get some sleep tonight. Take a Tums before
lying down. Aah, blissful lack of stomach pain for 15 minutes. Horrible taste
in my mouth, but I fall asleep quickly.
You know, if I could just sleep through the night. It’s sometime in the middle of the night.
Lying on my side, trying not to let my stomach rest on the mattress to reduce
the abdominal pressure. Doesn’t really work. If I were really fat, this wouldn’t
bother me so much. Right? Think about taking another Tums to ease the
heartburn. Can’t keep taking those.
Just another day. Having the surgery on Oct 31st. I sure hope it helps.
3:58:46 PM
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Wednesday, May 04, 2005 |
More on the recent EGD. Met with my doctor about the results, and he's
changed my daily prescription from Prevacid 30 mg and Zantac 150 mg to
Protonix 40 mg twice a day.
The biposies showed no malignant growths.
So now we spend the next 8 weeks with the new medication. The
doctor still thinks that surgery is a better alternative, but I would
much rather try the medicine first, so that's what we are doing.
8:28:03 AM
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Monday, April 11, 2005 |
More health reports. Today I had my third EGD in 3 years, and this was
a little more depressing than the last two. The first one, about 3
years ago, showed some reddening from the GERD (reflux), but nothing
significant, and no ulcers or bleeding.
The second EGD showed a small hiatal hernia too
This third EGD shows much more damage from the GERD. I went into the
doctor's office last July, complaining of sore throat and some difficulty swallowing because of a reduction of my medications
(Prevacid went from 30 -> 15 mg). So I was put back on Prevacid
(30mg) and Zantac (150), but the symptoms just didn't get any better.
I put off going to the doctor about it, because I was just
sick of seeing them. But as the months progresses, I had more and
more troubling swallowing, and I have a sore throat every day, and I
was having some chest pains.
So the GI doctor says that it sounds like it's time for surgery, and
that he'll need to do another EGD to make sure I don't have any tumors
or anything.
So the results today were more disturbing, because the GERD symptoms are continuing to increase. I still have the (small) hiatal hernia, but now I also have Schatzki's ring,
which is a ring of scar tissue in the esophagus, most likely caused by
the acid reflux. The doctor dilated that area, which should break up
the ring and reduce the swallowing problems.
Also found was Erythema in the antrum,
which is the first step in esophageal damage. Basically, it's just red
spots where the acid has started removing the mucosa (lining).
And last, the doctor did biopsies of teh Erythema and some normal
mucosa from the duodenum. I'm assuming the second biopsy was for
comparison purposes.
Sounds like the medecine's not working. I'm hoping that the
doctor will prescribe more Prevacid, but he seems to think I'll need
the surgery. I'll be seeing the doctor again on May 2, for more
feedback.
10:32:53 PM
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© Copyright 2007 Steve Betts.
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