Read Coaltrain's thread "Insurance Appeal Time" or a few of the others- everyone has a story or six about these prescriptions. Now you know the secret handshake, and your commerative t-shirt will be mailed out shortly! Do you prefer "Send Lawyers, Guns, and Enbrel" or "I Fought the Pharm and the Pharm Won"?

These rheumatology offices submit these prescriptions many times a week, and the pharmacies fill them many times an hour. Why they can't do it right is beyond comprehension. Part of the problem is that all these offices endeavor to hire the person willing to work for the least pay, not the one with the most competence. Guess what, guys, IT SHOWS!!

Feel better tomorrow.

Thanks alto! It looks like I'm getting the medication but your theory as to what these doctor offices can't get it right is right on! I'll take the shirt "Sen lawyers, guns and Enbrel"! Lol

Still flaring today but gonna give work a go of it. This is why I want my own business in a year or so. On days like these I can work from home and lay down if my joints hit a 8 on the pain scale!

Have a good day!

i'm going through this again for a non-RA medication.

the idea that someone at a rheumy's office that submits scripts like this all the time cannot do it is flabbergasting. but we've all experienced it. and alto's right - offices often want to keep the bottom line down and hire least pay - which means least experience - which means unhappy patients dealing with this crap.

i chose the 'i fought the pharm and the pharm won' because i'm a hippy pacifist and don't like guns.

Been there and got the T-shirt Greg - a couple times.

There is definitely a relationship between stress and my RA flares. All my life I have practiced a drama free life (ask my wife and daughter....) and have to really concentrate on that even more now.

About 18 months ago I went through a horrendous experience while trying to keep my Humira flowing - there is a ~10 page thread here somewhere. This went on for over 2 months and my RA was killer during that time period. I thought it was because I had stopped taking the Humira but I now know that it was the stress involve dealing with the doctor office and insurance company.

I'm going through the same thing again now - this time because of an insurance change (altocief mentioned my thread on that). I'm addressing the situation differently this time and refuse to get myself worked up about it even if it means loosing my Humira.

I am a firm believer that stress really aggravates the RA. So over the years when something comes up that isn't going my way I take a couple deep breaths, assess the situation, and proceed as calmly as I can even if it means getting frustrated by the lack of care from my doctor's office.

And it can be even minute things that can be stress induced. For example I had my truck in for state inspection yesterday. I know everything should be OK as I am OCD with the maintenance on it but you never know what they might find. Even the smallest of things can quickly add up to a couple hundred dollars which would be very tough right now in my financial situation. When the truck came out with a shiny new sticker on it I considered it a victory in the stress department and treated myself to a cup of coffee down the road for the trip home.

So yeah - no drama to create the best stress free environment I can and also celebrate those little victories.

i do not have a relationship between stress and admin crap or I would be hospitalized for chronic stress :) I spend my entire life troubleshooting denials, appeals, paperwork mountain :)

and not just about my stuff: my daughter's medical, my son's medical, my daughter's scholarships and grants, my son's, financial aid packages of about 100 pages outstrip the RA stuff sometimes, sometime my medical and prescription and diagnostics do.

with this disease and with kids you know you put one thing to rest and another thing rears its head. there is no peace. this is peace within the storm :). calm in the center of the vortex. sleep. sleep. sleep. because the only thing that is a given is denials and appeals. you can work on it in your wake hours. sleep :)

who is better at administrative stuff in a family is the person that should take all of this

don't let it get you down. you are now officially the administrator of your RA treatment corporation until you pass into the mysteries of death. Take the title and see if you can pass it to someone else in your family. I can't but maybe you can. If you can't I bet you have great hidden skills that can rise to this challenge :)

hang in there!

depot

Thanks guys! Even though the matter was resolved on Wednesday I'm still flaring. The only thing that got me through work yesterday was pain killers. Last night was an Enbrel injection night and I woke up still in pain. I bit the bullet and took a prednisone to do a short taper. Like magic I feel better after one pill. I was doing well on Enbrel and this nasty flare has me doubting its effectiveness. On the other hand I know it works because I felt real good last week on vacation.

I know the solution in my heart to feeling better is to work less so I'm doing all I can to pay off debt so hopefully I can apply for a disability retirement with my retirement board. It's really unfair to my students and colleagues to be out all the time. It also makes me so much worse and have serious trouble driving an hour to work each way without feeling drowsy. I'm a bit scared as I'm an accident waiting to happen:(
Of course any day I feel unable to drive in the morning I use a sick day so I'm hoping God watches over me as I attempt to teach a little longer. I sure work with some nice kids and I'm really going to miss that but I also need to think about my own health and safety.

Thanks for listening!

It was a safety issue for me to stop working when I did. I actually pushed it a little too long. For the last 6 months that was all that was on my mind thinking of how I was going to make everything work without my working. Then the last 2 months were horrible.

Driving for a living made the safety issue a huge one - one second of being off my game could easily cost my own life plus the lives of others around me - and also a million pieces of mail strewn all over the road.

I hear you coaltrain. If it wasn't for the commute I would feel less sense of urgency. Driving while impaired from being exhausted or medicated is no joke. I usually drive to work in pain then take something for the pain when I arrive. I did do some investigating today about disability retirement for teachers in my state. Unlike social security disability any future claim I may have goes to a medical review board which reviews the evidence and statement of disability sent by your doctor. They review between 1-10 cases a month and it appears that those who have their doctor on board and paperwork submitted are approved. In the past 3 years there were several RA, OA and degenerative disc disease applicants (I have that as well) and not one was declined. That makes me rest easier. Heck they even approved a couple alcoholics which I doubt SSDI does. Of course I still have to make it to work Monday which doesn't look very promising at this point!

Good luck Greg - at least you are being honest with yourself about the possibility of not being able to continue working. That was a very hard part for me being I've always loved to work and felt kind of invisible after never being sick all my life.

Yes, the doctor's statement is key with SSDI which I am sure your teacher's board would probably follow a similar approval process.

Sounds like you have done your homework and are getting your ducks in a row. This is a very hard decision to make but with severe RA like we have that decision becomes one that is made for us.

When you talk about your commute I can't help to remember our member Depot when she was still working. Having to stop on the way home for a nap. Getting home and not being able to get out of her car for hours. She also had the same concerns we are speaking of here.

I think the last couple months I was driving on adrenalin. I would get the truck parked after my 400 mile trip then my drive home from there was 50 minutes through the mountains. I always felt much more relaxed once I put the big truck away. But by the time I got home my wife would have to come out to the barn (where I park my pick-up) and have to help me to the house. Once there I would basically pass out only to wake for supper. Then get up the following day and do it all over again. This along with the safety issues were my sign.