Health Scare of mine.

[KE4AVB]

Recently went in for my annual check up. Last year my doctor changed my BP med and refused to put me back on what was working. Needless to say that I spent a year on a med that simply didn't work as it should. My bp stay around 175/105 avg.

I even lost weight to help to control it which only did slightly. So this time the doctor puts me back on the old med which is supposedly the same med but HCTZ added. Well my BP hit rock bottom 80/40 then my BP monitor started constantly erroring out. I cut the med all the way to a 1/4 pill daily with no improvements. I finally check my BP on the neighbors BP unit which erred out too. Finally tried a cheap Walmart unit. That when I was getting reading all over the place.

When I went back to the doctor , the EKG showed a type of afib problem and I was sent to the ER. Now of course the ER was not of much help as they didn't have a heart doctor on staff nor any beds for me. The bed they found was a 100 miles away and they only had one ambulance. So I pull the plugs and went home. Someone in worst condition probably needed the ambulance.

I done had a friend that was sent out to another horsepital by this this horsepital. After he was discharged they just threw him out on a street corner with hospital grown and only socks on his feet in 30 degree weather with no way getting home.

Well it been over week and I finally recovered somewhat from the med incompatibility. At the BP has stabilized at around 110/80 and I no having a racing heart rate. going from 60 to 200 and back really causes problems. Still higher than what it is normally at but but a lot better.

[bgsengine]

Ouch. Hope you get better sooner rather than later! Horsepital is good word for it, we have similar situation here in Rural P.A. Often heart problem you get ilfeflighted ($40,000 helicopter ride) to a bigger hospital a couple or three hours drive away. Couldn't afford to get sick around here.

[KE4AVB]

No one can afford to get anymore any where.

Horsepitals are like vultures in the way they charge for services. It is like the last time I was in the ICU. They basically had me on an IV drip and just monitored my vitals. They charged over 20K for the three days. There would be more healthy people if they charged reasonable rates.

And if you don't have insurance they treat you like crap.

Right now my current doctor is rationing my BP meds by only prescribing it on an one month refill at a time. I can save a third of the cost if I was able to get a three month refill at a time. $26.50 for three months vs $13.25 per month. I know that not a lot when compared to the $535 per month for Eliquis but it still adds up when taking multiple meds.

[bgsengine]

Or the $3500.00 a month for insulin pens. It'd be cheaper to just drop dead (cremation $600 vs life-saving medicine at $3500)

[KE4AVB]

Yes it is just cheaper to die. All I ask is for a hole to dug and my body pushed off in it just to keep the stink down.

And the current expense was caused by the doctor in the first place. If he had only left my meds alone last year I would had been fine.

The last few days my BP has came back inline and the last two readings I had no indications of irregular heart beats. Even the chest tightness is going away. I think 126/76 with pulse at 60 is okay. A lot better than the 180/110 that I had to endure the last year.

Now if I can get the dictator to prescribe more than one month of BP med at a time would help my budget a little.

[KE4AVB]

Trying switch doctors. Now I finally gotten a copy of my current doctor's patient history. Boy there are some out right lies in it. Thing supposedly he told me that he never did and meds that were never prescribed. Even emergency report had at least one lie in it too. Doctors just covering their behinds for not telling the patient things.

This just makes me not to use him ever again once I find another doctor.

Things like I was supposed to report if my BP stayed above 140 systolic. Then there is a complaint about me dropping off BP chart. Heck I bitched like crazy last Jan-Feb about the BP being over 200/110. All I got was I had to wait for a month for the BP meds to start to work. I finally gave up. Then the doctor changes me back to the med that was working after a year on the non working med and nearly killed me, dropping my BP to 80/40 and giving me afib symptoms. Not fun when your heart at one time be at 50 bpm and a minute later be at 150 bpm of higher. Now that is been 4 weeks and the other med is out of my system I am back to where I should be at 131/80, 68 bpm. Boy that first two weeks was rough.

And there was a comment in the ER file that if I couldn't afford the afib meds I was told to contact the doctor. Never happen. Just another of covering their backsides at the expense of the patient's health.

Maybe the new doctor will work with me and get things right. Who knows....

[hanz63]

It's crazy. I hear about ER wait times and the lack of beds. Makes me want to cringe. Best of luck navigating all this my friend.

[KE4AVB]

BP finally stabilized in the 130/90 range pulse around 60. Darn doctor was just experimenting on me. Now he is rationing my BP med to 30 days per refill. And the previous med didn't agree with the current med. Finally after 5 weeks things are back to normal; until, he tries changing the meds again or I find a new doctor that willing to work with me. He damn near cause me to have a heart attack.

[Gerry]

KE4AVB little late getting here but I hope everything is under control and your doing well. Got to watch that BP a friend of mine 62 just went blind in his right eye his BP shot up to over 200 and it busted a vessel behind the eyeball. Doc sez no repair.

[KE4AVB]

KE4AVB little late getting here but I hope everything is under control and your doing well. Got to watch that BP a friend of mine 62 just went blind in his right eye his BP shot up to over 200 and it busted a vessel behind the eyeball. Doc sez no repair.

Oh about 3 yrs is when my BP about got the best of me. I had couple spells a week earlier that I thought were sleeping wrong way and left limbs would go to sleep. A very weird feeling.

One day I had five spells during the morning hours that when I called an ambulance out that was after I collapse on my front deck at noon. Whole left side was paralyzed and by the time the ambulance got here I was up and walking again but my bp was still 250/120 on the ride in. In the ICU I had several more spells until they got my bp down. 3 days ICU = over $20,000. This is why I keep track of my bp everyday. I didn't like it at all that the doctor refused to put me back on the med that was keeping it down. I spent the last year with bp in the 170/100 range. This December he finally decided to put me back on the med that worked. The problem was during the changeover the two meds disagreed with each other.

I finally doing a lot better and I am seeing a new doctor Monday. I fired the other doctor. Can't have a doctor that refuses to listen to the patient complaints. Just because I am self pay is no excuse. Maybe she can do something about the irregular heart beat created by the other doctor.

Now I got $2500 bill for three hours ER visit.