I Think I am Addicted!

It was not a particularly bad day, but just a little frustrating.  The biggest frustration is that I am in pain.  I was not in pain until last Wednesday. Until then, I was taking Celebrex and doing the exercise regimen that I learned in physical therapy, including going to the Lifestyle Center http://www.covenanthealth.org/Our-Services/LifeStyle-Centre.aspx 2-3 times a week to do the pool exercise regimen that I started at physical therapy.

In August, my insurance company, United Health Care http://www.uhc.com notified me I was in the "step therapy" program, and I had to try medications other than Celebrex, as they would not cover the cost of Celebrex.  I went to my doctor, got a prescription for meloxicam, which I started last week. The first day I took it, I could tell I was not getting the pain relief I was getting with Celebrex.

I waited a few days, and matters only got worse.  I am very frustrated.  I had worked hard to do physical therapy and follow up on my own to not lose the strides I had made at pain management.  It was thrown into the trash by my insurance company.

I was also frustrated trying to communicate with my doctor's office.  Rather than call me back as I requested, so we could discuss this, they just ordered a new prescription. The insurance tells me they did not request a pre-authorization. If I do not follow instructions from my doctor, they get upset, but they do not follow instructions from me. So, I got upset.

This is the kind of stuff, when I am in pain, that can set me to tears. It is manageable. It is fixable, it is not life-threatening. But it takes more time and energy than I think it should.  If people did their jobs the way they are supposed to, this would not happen. 

I understand the insurance dance.  I do not always agree.  In fact, I think managed care creates more costs to consumers than it manages costs.

I am a firm believer in "if it is not broke, so don't fix it."  But it seems corporate America does not believe in that (Coca Cola http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Coke.) And, as we have learned, my insurance company is included in this.

Yesterday, a coworker reminded me that my muscle spasms may be due to low potassium.  I think she was right: I had been eating bananas, but had not done so for about 10 days, until yesterday.  Today, I woke up without the muscle spasms I had been having, but still had some of the other pain.

So, anyway, I went to the Lifestyle Center tonight after work.  It was like magic. I got in the water, and it felt like my stressors and pain melted away.  And they did.  I did my regular routine (actually I have several variations of a regular routine) which takes a little more than an hour. 

Although I still have some discomfort, it is greatly diminished tonight.

A colleague who has been going to water groups at the Lifestyle Center for some time told me she felt it was very relaxing and helpful as a de-stressor.  I got it tonight. I was really looking forward to my time in the pool, and it was just so soothing and calming.  I am hooked!