The disabled are usually at the bottom of the poor, unable to pay for good medical care or housing. At least there are government programs in the United States to make sure that the disabled can take care of themselves and their families. Without these safety nets, the disabled have no way of working to take care of themselves or to pay for needed medical care or drugs. The government of Haiti will need to think about how they are going to care for people that cannot care for themselves. Just thowing the disabled to the wolves and forgetting about them is not the way to do this. Add the pubic stigma of being disabled and you have a recipe for disaster. With no government help and most companies refusing to hire the disabled and you have a group that is guaranteed to starve to death on an island that they have no way of getting off of. The United Nations has a significant group on the ground in Haiti that is used for peacekeeping but can and should be used to help the disabled. There should never be a group that is so shunned that they are allowed to starve to death with no medical help and no one cares. Especially where these people are disabled because they were the victim of a natural disaster, they did not create their problem, they are just trying to live through it. There must be rehab programs put in place to help the newly disabled to get the most out of their situation and to train them for jobs that they can do. Everyone wants to be useful and to work and take care of themselves and their family.

This political football has created a group of people that cannot pay for their drugs because of a crazy program that is based on Social Security that was never supposed to give people enough money to pay for their medical bills. So instead we have a drug industry that makes billions of dollars in profits on the backs of those that pay for research on the pills that we are charged $1000+ a month for. These companies due to keep generic drug makers from creating drugs that can be afforded by all. It is interesting that the costs of the same drug in the US is a fraction of that amount in Canada or even India. Each country pays a different amount but we are too stupid to make these same deals with the drug makers. To add insult to injury Medicare is not allowed by law to purchase drugs from other countries for less than what we are charged for them now. The US pays for all of the research but does not gain any of the benefits of that research. Instead the poor of the country are forced to pay outrageous amounts of money for drugs that they need to stay alive. We need to make some decisions as a country on how we deal with those that are disabled and elderly. Either we are going to pay for their medical care or not – not the bits and pieces we are now. By only allowing these people to take their drugs every 6 months, their health is deteriorating to the point that they are dying before they should because of the damage caused by not taking their medications. Lets close the doughnut hole and give people the medical care that they need to live useful lives.

Doctors cannot work like the government – run for years in deficit and then print up new  money to pay for the previous losses. They need to be able to pay for bills and salaries as they come in and if they do not get enough money from patients coming in then they have to close down. That is in essence what is happening to the Medicare recipients and local doctors. They cannot afford to take care of us at the rate the federal government pays out so they flat out refuse to see us. So much for the medical coverage handed out by the government. I paid huge sums of money to the tax structure of this country before I was injured. As a software consultant I paid all that was owed so others could be helped and that I would be if something terrible happened. Well that time was three years ago when a hit and run driver ran me down and left me for dead in the street. As a tertraplegic stuck with complex regional pain syndrome I find it all but impossible to hold down a job because I am hospitalised as least once a month for pain or things tied to the pain. The last week of the month is back to back visits to all my doctors so we can figure out how to deal with problems with my spine and infections that are in the bone. So I live off of SSDI and hope and pray that Medicare allows my doctors and hospitals to continue to see me. My pharmaceutical issues would blow most people away and to show how fun things have been I hit the doughnut hole in June, and blew past it in August and am now having Critical Care government payments covering my drugs at 95%. That is until next year when I somehow have to find $2500 to get though the doughnut hole again. I’m hoping my pain doctor can get me on cheaper drugs soon, and that is assuming he will still see me after the new medical bill becomes law.

There are many things to be fixed in our medical system, but the way we are doing it now will guarantee the death of thousands. If we cannot see our doctors and hospitals and get the drugs we need at a rate we can afford, then we might as well throw in the towel and stop pretending that Medicare pays for things. Lets start thinking about how doctors pay for their bills and how they can stay in business and allow Medicare the pay at those rates or we will soon see a time where Medicare is a terrible thing to have to deal with. Here is to our Senate and House members to talk to everyone involved and forget about the insurance companies and lawyers who are killing out medical system. With the bill going through congress we are all running out of time.

In addition to your body becoming used to a particular medication, it may also become allergic to the medication or something in the pill causing you problems. In my case something in pain medication was taking for a while was creating pain that made my doctor write a breakthrough medication for it. By changing out the pain pill, he was able to drop the power of the medication by half and the extra pain disappeared. That meant that I also didn’t need to take that extra breakthrough drug. Any time you can remove a drug from your list it is time to celebrate. With the number of contraindications and interactions that are hard to pin down, the fewer things you are taking the better.

While you are working with your doctor to switch things out, find out if there are older drugs that can do the work of  that newer wiz-bang pill. Chances are the older drug is better understood and much cheaper because there are generics out. That can keep you out of the doughnut hole which is always a good idea. Plus, update your drug list along with any issues and problems that you are experiencing. Keep that document on you at all times in case you have to go to the hospital. You can get those doctors quickly up to speed on your problems and issues even if they can’t get hold of your regular pain doctor. That includes blood pressure, temperature issues, blood sugar, and an other items that you normally track. This can also let you see trends or changes that you didn’t notice before. That can stop problems before they become serious and keep you out of the hospital for an extended stay.

One would think that this was the script from a “B” movie in Hollywood, but states all over the country are debating the use of the New York protocols to determine what to do during an emergency and how to ration supplies that run low during a virus outbreak. However, public opinion has been strongly against any kind of rationing like this, and officials have worked hard to keep the public out of meetings that discuss these protocols. Our only safety net is that most states have not implemented this plan as law and most are worried what would happen to public opinion if they did put it into law. While officials are trying to state that this is for the national good and that work must be done to make sure medical care is available neglect to explain how this is going to occur. No one in any meetings to discuss the New York Protocols are willing to say that the will take ventilators and other lifesaving medical equipment from a person merely because they are disabled. We have not heard of something this sinister since the Nazi plan to rid the Reich of people that were “broken or not whole”. People that were forced to live in nursing homes because of disabilities were carted off to the same killing centers that the Jews were sent to. This law appears to allow the state to do the same type of thing under the veil of doctors and hospitals trying to give care to those that desperately need it.

People that live in states that frequently have disasters like Florida, Louisiana and California need to look carefully and see what their state officials are working on in this arena. If your state is looking to implement the New York Protocols you need to call everyone you know to put a stop to it. If this is allowed to become law then the governor of your state can decide at will that the disabled do not deserve to live and will be denied medical care that they may need to survive because others are felt to have a better chance to live. The control of life at this level is disgusting and it is sad that any doctors would be willing to put time and effort to make this a reality. No one should have the basic right to control who lives and who dies without having the family involved.

This is a good idea for any drug that is dispensed by a doctor or nurse. In the heat of trying to do too much, it is very easy to forget what  you are measuring and create a potential problem. Take the time to verify that you are measuring out the correct amount and the correct measurement. This is something we need to watch for during this long flu season that came up on us quickly and looks like it will be here awhile. This is a good time for patients to ask questions about the medications that they are on to make sure they understand what they are taking. There were issues last year that children’s cough medicine was measured differently then adult medicine and parents were over dosing their children by mistake. This is an easy fix that could keep the patient out of the hospital.

Americans are used to dramatically overpaying for equipment and services for some time. The all time classic was the military spending over $1000 for a hammer that anyone could purchase at the corner hardware store. It is sad that government contracts allow this type of insanity to continue, but many parts of congress do not have rules to purchase from the lowest bidder or to even try and negotiate with the supplier. It is bad enough when the military buys things that they can get cheaper, but Medicare is costing a fortune as it is so any savings would be helpful. If we are to get a handle on Medicare and Medicaid costs, then we need to start here. There is no reason to overpay on items merely because the government is used to doing business with a particular company. There is no way that we can keep overpaying on medical care and expect our tax structure to keep up with the increases.

All of us have a stake in making medicare care in this country affordable and safe. Doctors need to be able to order procedures and drugs without having to worry about what will be paid and what will not be. No one’s health ca be tied to a price tag and no one should have to worry that someone else will decide whether they will be healed or nor. As is stands now under Medicare Part D, insurance companies can decide what drugs to cover and which they don’t. If you pick a company that covers what you are taking now but get sick, you may not be able to get the drugs you need. This is especially true of expensive drugs that do not have a generic to purchase. Powerful pain drugs like Actiq are not covered so if you have chronic pain there may be no drugs you can take that are covered. So you get to suffer because of bureaucratic red tape. This needs to stop. There is no reason why a drug a doctor prescribes is not made available and covered by insurance. Unless this is fixed we will have a group of have and have nots. WHile that is bad enough in schools, it ks inexcusable for medical care.

Everyone deserves the best that we can properly afford. Please contact your congressman and senators to let them know what you think about this. The new bill going through congress will never be the best it can be unless we all participate and let everyone know what we need. Democracies are not spectator sports. If we don’t participate, don’t complain about what happens with the new Medicare changes.

This is something that we all should discuss with our doctors. Depending on the type of injury you have, it may be worthwhile to check and see if your immune system is causing additional damage to the spine. Up to this point, it as a mystery why things seemed to degrade over time. No one knew if this was a brain issue, spinal problems or muscle atrophy. Now we know that our own immune system is making mistakes and is damaging rather than helping to repair areas in the spine. It will be interesting if ties can be made to auto-immune diseases and whether this has some kind of relationship with them. No one wants to lose any functionality and if we have a way to keep this damage from happening, we can help to increase quality of life. A study should be done where drugs that are used for auto-immune diseases are given to spinal cord injury patients over time and see if they have more functionality than those who were not given those drugs.

Respond to the FDA NOW:

• Click here to read APF’s position statement on the FDA recommendations for acetaminophen combined medications and over-the-counter acetaminophen medications.
• Click here to read the task force’s concerns about the FDA’s recommendations regarding prescription acetaminophen combined medications.
• Click here to read the task force’s concerns about the FDA’s recommendations regarding over-the-counter acetaminophen medications.
• Click here to read APF’s Question & Answer sheet on acetaminophen and opioids.

Don’t wait until it is too late and the FDA makes it decision and we are all left with few possible pain killers that work well, are inexpensive and easy to find.

Partners Against Pain release articles about all aspects of pain that are very useful. The two newest guides are now available for download:

1. Free resource guide

2. Print copy order form

There are very few places on the Internet that are good references for pain because so little medical work goes into it. None of the major medical research companies have released a major pain killer in some time. We are left with older medication that is based on opioid which are both addictive and require increasing dosages to keep up with the same level of pain. Fentanyl is quite powerful but it does not have a good safety margin for the amount of time it has been on the market. Many patients have over dosed on the drug because they did not understand how important it was to keep within the dosage given by their doctor. SCRN hopes that this resource guide gives you some help in the search for help on pain issues. Many doctors do not treat chronic pain because they either do not believe that this kind of pain exists or this is an excuse for a drug seeker to gain access to their drug of choice.

Before going to a doctor or the hospital for pain treatment you should bring a print out of your complete history including drugs and previous doctors. Get the phone numbers, fax numbers, and addresses for all your doctors so a hospital can quickly get hold of someone when you are in too much pain to remember. This document will also show the hospital that you are serious about getting help by showing everything that is happening with you. With this document you will no longer have to fill out their super long document that asks for every little thing including dates and customer numbers. Dealing with hospitals when you are in excruciating pain is bad enough without having to deal with their mountain of paperwork before they will even look at you. Anything that speeds up this process and gets your doctors up to speed is well worth the effort. Also, don’t forget to bring a dozen copies of your document to hand out to doctors and nurses as you work your way from triage to hospital bed.