I have to be approved by the insurance company BEFORE i can get the drug. I have started the process...the forms have been signed, but it will be a few weeks before I am approved (by every Tom, Dick & Harry); who knows when i'll actually HAVE the drug in hand....again, oh well, not much i can do about this. At least the process has started. He also told me about an alternative to the Ampyra (in the event that i am NOT approved or the cost is astronomical) that will be cheaper and i won't actually have to go thru any kinda approval process. Maybe more to come on that...
I have to admit, i never went to see him regarding my walking issues. I didn't think that it was a sypmtom per se, just the disease progressing along it's awful course. Well he got to see me first hand yesterday and is concerned that i may be relapsing! Oh Lord...really? As a result, he has sent me for a brain/spine and thoracic MRI; a brain MRI is long and torturous enuf, I wonder what all of them put together must be like. Not looking forward to it really...but again, what can i really do? The other thing he informed me is that i am suffering from Spasticity. I've heard of/read up on Spasticity before, but i thought that it manifested itself as jerky movements accompanied by pain...didn't realize that the stiffness/weakness that i suffer from is also part of it. To help with that, he has given me some muscle relaxants. He also mentioned my going on steroids to help with it, but i told him that i'd rather NOT do that, so will try the drugs (i have no problem taking drugs) combined with PT and hopefully, things will get better.
- Where the hell did I pick up this disease?
- How am i the "lucky one" to "pick up" this disease?
- Why me?
And I must say your handling it well! MOVE IT!
ReplyDeleteI know EXACTLY how you feel about the disease but I too choose not to take steroids. I choose to take an all natural anti-inflammatory rather than those darn muscle relaxers. They upset my stomach sooooo badly. As for the Ampyra, even though I am in the 3rd leg of the race to get it I was wondering what the alternative treatment is that your doc suggested.
ReplyDeleteit's called "4-AP"...apparently it's the base of Ampyra...thing is that it's not been approved by the FDA. I did some reading on it, not too much, but check it out...
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