Month: June 2016

Medical Billing Confusion

Medical Billing Confusion

My husband has a lot of medical bills, not nearly as much as I do, but his are for his back. He has a herniated disc and a bulging disc as well as degenerative disc disease. He had back surgery last year, which helped a little, but not enough. I keep all of my important documents filed alphabetically. So if I can’t figure out these bills, then I don’t know any regular person that could.

I’m having problems keeping track of all the bills. He already met his deductible, but for some reason, we are getting bills and I don’t know what to do with them. I’m a very organized person, but I still struggle keeping everything in order. One of the bills we got in the mail says that we owe $400, but it doesn’t even say why. There’s no date of service on the bill or any explanation regarding the medical service provided. Obviously, I’m going to have to call the billing departments and dispute these bills. I really hate handling these types of issues.

I can’t seem to get moving today. I fell asleep on the couch this morning less than an hour after I woke up. I’m not sure why I’m so tired, I actually slept through the night last night. Normally, I wake up several times. There are so many things I need to get done today. In addition to everything on my to-do list, I also have to clean up my house. It’s technically clean, but messy. I don’t like having a messy house, so that has to be taken care of soon.

Clozapine Blood Work Change

Clozapine Blood Work Change

Since the beginning of April, I have been getting my weekly Clozapine blood work done on Fridays. A couple of weeks ago, somehow the day that I pick  up my prescription changed. Instead of picking up my filled prescription on Sundays or Mondays, I’m picking it up on Thursdays.

Since I now pick up the script on Thursdays, it seems a bit ridiculous  to get my blood work done on Friday. I’m going to start by changing my blood work days to Mondays. Depending on how things go, I will either stay with Mondays or change to Tuesdays.

All I know is that my psychiatrist and pharmacist should be getting current blood test results. Right now, by getting blood work done on Fridays and prescriptions filled on Thursdays, none of my results are technically current. I’ll see how Mondays go for a while; I have an appointment right now for Monday at 2pm.

Lessons I’ve Learned: Always Be There For Family

Lessons I’ve Learned: Always Be There For Family

Another one of the life lessons I learned many years ago was that family should always be a priority. No one can replace your family or take their place. There are people in life that we become so close to that they feel like family, which is wonderful, but still, no one can take the place of your parents, siblings, or extended family. I am becoming closer with some of my family members and I’m also struggling to get along with some others. However, I have decided that I am going to be the type of person who reaches out to her family members. Even if they don’t respond to me or respond to my inquiries, I am still going to be a person works to stay connected with her family members.

I have learned more from my family than I have learned anywhere else in life. A few of the things I have learned include how to love and support others, how not to give up on someone, and how to be a person of honor and integrity. I have learned all of these things by watching my family members live their lives. My parents, siblings, aunts, uncles, grandparents, and even my nieces and nephew have set examples for me on how to get through life. Not one family member gave up on me when I was struggling with my drug and alcohol addiction. Everyone supported me when I went through rehab, despite all of the hurtful things I had done over the years. My mom has taught me many things. The most recent thing she taught me is that there is no reason to let other people decide what decisions we will make or what type of person we will be. That is why I have chosen to continue reaching out to family members no matter what. I want my family to be a huge part of my life; that is my decision.

My brother owns his own business and he takes after my father a lot. By watching him, I have seen how to be a person of honor and integrity. In fact, all of my family members have taught me that. No matter what is going on in life, my family will always be the most important thing. I have not always been like this, but it is the person I’ve decided I want to be. After living so much of my life having my family support me, I decided that I want to always be there for my family. Even though I cannot help anyone financially, I will always be there for them emotionally and mentally. Once you lose a family member, they can never be replaced. It’s extremely important to appreciate what you have while they are still around.

 

More Problems For Cash

More Problems For Cash

My dog is 10 years old; he will be 11 in November. His name is Cash, after Johnny, and he is a Pitbull, Dalmatian, and English Pointer mix. I rescued him when he was six months old. He was extremely pathetic. He was way too skinny and the chain collar around his neck was surgically embedded. He got sick continuously over the years. It turns out that he is allergic to pretty much everything. At this point in his life, he still gets chronic ear infections, chronic skin infections, and chronic stomach problems.

Cash has to be on a very specific food because of his allergies. The last time I went to buy his food, the bag looked different. It turns out that there is chicken fat in the food. However, the company says that they will give me a full refund if I’m not fully satisfied for any reason. I’ve been keeping an eye on his skin to make sure he’s okay. Today, I noticed on two of his paws, that he has licked his skin raw between his toes. This is a sign of an infection. I sprayed some medicine on the problem areas and wrapped them up. I’m hoping he doesn’t eat the bandages off of his paws in the middle of the night.

Cash has been an extraordinarily expensive dog over the years because of his allergies, his chronic conditions, and all of his surgeries. He once ate a whole corn cob which had to be surgically removed; he also ate a coax cable, my shower curtain, and the edges of the carpet, all which had to be surgically removed. Cash is just about as health as I am; we fit each other perfectly. Hopefully, I caught the skin infection on his paws before it got too bad. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see. I don’t normally talk about the problems with my dog, but his medical issues are on my mind, so I thought I would write about it. He really is an amazing dog, he just happens to get sick all the time.

Lessons I’ve Learned: Honesty Is Vital

Lessons I’ve Learned: Honesty Is Vital

Over time, I have learned the true importance of honesty. Before I got sober, I was almost never honest. When I was using drugs, I was constantly lying about everything. Then, I would try to cover up one lie with another. It made life extremely complicated. Sometimes, I would lie by omission. I would purposely not tell someone something because I didn’t want anyone to know the truth. I’ve learned that being honest makes life a lot easier. I no longer have to spend time trying to figure out which lie I told to which person because I tell every person the same thing, the truth. Being honest has made my life easier. I can sleep better because I feel good about my honesty.

Honesty is a way to show people you respect them. Healthy relationships are based on honesty. It’s especially important to be honest with your significant other. My husband and I are honest with each other, which shows our trust in each other. There are times that being honest will make you emotionally vulnerable, which is good in a healthy relationship. If I want people to be honest with me, then I need to be honest with them. It’s a two-way street.

The part of honesty I struggle with the most is being honest with others about how I’m doing. I don’t like to tell people how I’m really feeling. I guess I don’t want people to feel sorry for me or think I’m pathetic because I spend so much of my life depressed. When I pretend to be okay, I’m technically lying. This is an issue that I definitely need to work on. I’m not perfect; in fact, I’m far from it. However, I think I will be okay as long as I’m always working towards being 100% honest.

Lessons I’ve Learned: Be Open-minded

Lessons I’ve Learned: Be Open-minded

I’ve learned a lot of different lessons over the years. I thought I might share what I have learned with you one lesson at a time; hopefully you don’t have to learn these things the hard way like I did. One of the more recent lessons I’ve learned is to be open-minded. I have always wanted to do things when they were my ideas. I would listen to other people and allow them to explain why they believe I should try something their way, but then I wouldn’t act upon it. A few of these examples include writing, meditation, and doing research.

My AA sponsor used to tell me all of the time that writing would help me work through some issues. I always told her that writing wasn’t for me, even though I never spent much time trying. This went on for years. Writing was also suggested to me by others, and I continued to ignore the suggestion. Finally, my aunt told me that she thought I would be good at blogging and that I could get something out of it. She suggested that I simply look over the idea and see if it’s right for me. After a few weeks, I finally took her suggestion. I now blog every day, usually multiple times a day, and I find it to be extremely helpful. I generally can write my way through issues that I’m struggling with; by the end of a post, I have come up with a solution for the problem I started writing about. Imagine how much easier my life would have been if I had simply been more open to the idea about a decade ago.

Multiple people have suggested to me that meditation could help me. My mom, aunt, sponsor, and several others would bring up the idea of meditation. For some time, they tried to talk me into doing it, but I was against the idea. I had an experience with meditation when I first got sober, and it wasn’t a good one. I had a hard time sitting still, and I was forced to work on meditating. Personally, I don’t like to do anything I’m forced to do. I’m extremely stubborn and I would prefer choose to do an activity on my own terms than have someone else strongly suggest I try it. It has been twelve years since my negative experience with meditation and I was unwilling to let go of that until just a week ago. I finally decided, based on my aunt’s suggestion, to try guided imagery meditation to hopefully help improve my painful bladder disorder. Maybe I could have saved myself a lot of trouble if I was willing to try meditation years ago.

It has also been suggested that I do research regarding any suggestion from my doctors. Research is something that I like to do, but I generally only do it when it’s about something I’m already interested in. What I should do is research every option so I know the truth about my choices instead of just researching what I think is a good idea. There’s a lot of information available to help make decisions regarding our health. I struggle when it’s time to decide how to move forward with my physical or mental health. The research that I do is a great way to help me make educated decisions.

I have come to realize that my life could have been easier if I had been more open-minded. What I have learned from all of this is to work hard at being open-minded. The willingness to consider new options and ideas is a wonderful quality that a person can have to help make their life easier to manage. I don’t have to keep looking back at my past when I wasn’t open-minded; all I need to do now is look to the future with an open mind.

My Weight Gain Is Out Of Control

My Weight Gain Is Out Of Control

I have been gaining weight over the last six months. It has become especially bad in just the last few months. I’ve gained about a total of 40 pounds. It doesn’t seem to matter what I do, I just keep gaining weight. I’m doing my best to control it, but I seem to be wildly hungry almost all of the time. There are even times that I’m full, but I still want to eat for some reason. I also tend to have difficulties sleeping. I’m hungry every time I wake up, which happens at least two times a night, sometimes as often as four times a night. I have a feeling that it is a medication issue, but I have to be very careful about my medication changes.

I’m working out with my husband at the gym. I’m also buying healthier foods to keep in the house. That way even if I do snack more often than I should, at least I’m eating healthier. Over the years, I have had several periods where I gained a large amount of weight. The weight gain is always difficult to handle, but every time I eventually lose the weight and get back to my normal size. I know that I will be able to lose the weight eventually, but it’s hard to live with the weight gain. Luckily, I’m blessed with a husband that doesn’t care about my size. He supports me no matter what; he is always willing to help me once I’m ready to get back in shape. Working out together is a fun activity for the two of us. It’s something we used to do together five days a week before we even started dating.

I wish I didn’t have to go up and down with my weight to such extremes. I know that it is part of the bipolar disorder and the medications that go along with it, but it’s very difficult to deal with. Depression can increase the weight gain, and the weight gain can worsen the depression. It’s a vicious cycle. I’m looking forward to the end of this brutal period. I know I can lose the weight and feel better about myself again, I just don’t know how long it will be until that happens.

Therapist Waiting Room

Therapist Waiting Room

Yesterday, I walked into my therapist’s office and anxiety hit me immediately. There are a total of seven chairs in his office, and every single one of them was occupied. I walked up to the receptionist’s desk and decided to wait for the receptionist to appear. I stood there for a few minutes, but she never came forward. A chair opened up, so I decided to sit down. I get very nervous around strangers. I’m not comfortable being close to just about anyone, especially strangers. I don’t like to be touched by strangers. It’s a PTSD trigger for me. I even carry a spring-loaded knife with me everywhere I go, which probably is not a smart idea, but it’s what I do. My PTSD has improved, but there was a time that I couldn’t be touched by anyone, not even my loved ones.

My appointment was at 4pm; I arrived five minutes early. I sat in the open chair and moved as far away from the other people as I possibly could. I looked down at my phone and saw that the time was 4:22pm. Even more people had arrived in his office. I’ve never seen it this crowded before. Normally, there are only one or two other people in the waiting room when I’m there. I was caught off guard by the amount of people there. I decided that if my therapist didn’t call me back by 4:30pm, then I would leave. I knew that my therapist would understand if I left, he knows how difficult crowds are for me. Two minutes later, my therapist called me back into his office. I was shaking, fidgety, and rocking back and forth. He could see that I was having an anxiety attack, and he knew why. He told me that a family of six people all came to an appointment for a family member who was seeing someone else in the office. I understand someone’s parents going to an appointment, but I don’t know why all of their siblings would go as well. They didn’t even go into the appointment; they all just sat there in the waiting room. Oh well, everyone does things differently.

I had a good appointment with my therapist. He’s easy to talk to and offers helpful insights. I’ve been seeing him for several years; I think it’s been since sometime around 2011. Talking to him feels more or less like I’m talking to a friend.

Why Is Meditating So Difficult?

Why Is Meditating So Difficult?

I’ve been meditating every day for the past week using the guided imagery for women with interstitial cystitis CD. I’ve really been trying to meditate, but it’s really difficult for me. I have made sure to at least try to meditate using the CDs each day. Some days are harder than others, but pretty much every day is difficult. The second I’m supposed to sit down and relax my mind starts to run even faster than normal (which I didn’t know was possible). I start to fidget and get itchy. I try to ignore these things, but the more I ignore them the more obvious they become. I don’t know why meditating is so much work for me. I’m told that it will get easier with practice.

Meditation is supposed to be relaxing, so why do I get anxious when attempting to meditate? The difficulties that I’m having with it are the reasons why I never liked meditating. Despite the difficulties I’m having with meditation, I keep trying because of the benefits that it has. The guided meditation I’m using is supposed to help with my bladder disorder. I’ve been having so many problems with my bladder that I’m willing to try anything in order to see some improvement. There was one time that I was meditating using the CD and I ended up falling asleep. I don’t know if that counts as meditating since I fell asleep in the middle of it, but it does show that I’m getting better because I had to be relaxed in order fall asleep. I can say for certain that I have been giving 100% effort into meditation every day and I will continue to do so for at least one month.

Another Week Of Clozapine

Another Week Of Clozapine

It’s time to refill my Clozapine again. I really hate having to do this every week. I spend so much time making sure the pharmacy can find my blood work results (they usually can figure out where they put the paperwork) and making sure my prescription is refilled or called in as necessary. After I’ve been on this medication for six months, I will be able to do this entire process every other week. Then, once I’ve been on it for a year, I get to do this once a month. So there is something to look forward to, it’s just going to take some time to get there. I started taking Clozapine in the beginning of April, so I still have to do this weekly ordeal until the beginning of October. That time can’t come quick enough.

Even though dealing with this charade is very stressful and difficult, the medication has been helpful. I do believe that Clozapine has helped to improve my depression when nothing else was helping. The reason the blood work and weekly scripts have to be completed is to protect me, and anyone taking the medication, from serious side effects that could occur. So far, I’m doing okay, and I hope that the Clozapine will eventually help me, and maybe even help me become stable. Anything is possible.

UPDATE: I received an email from Walgreens letting me know that my Clozapine prescription has been filled and is ready to be picked up. I’m going to go get it tomorrow afternoon. I’m so surprised. I didn’t even have to make sure they found my blood work or explain that I get the prescription every week. This is the first time that they did it all on their own, and I’ve been doing this every week for over two months. This is wonderful news; maybe it will be this easy to get my weekly Clozapine prescription.