Category: The Best Healthcare in the World

Best healthcare in the world

~ susie ~ 4 Comments

I called my doctor’s office for an appointment yesterday. I was feeling ambitious; I’d finally gotten a replacement inhaler out of my insurance carrier, even if it did take me an exhausting two weeks.

Even though my primary is still out on maternity leave, another doctor is supposed to cover for her (I just saw her last week.)

Well! Turns out the person I saw just quit, and they won’t have any appointments until September. “So you’re telling me to find another practice,” I said to the office manager.

“No, no,” she said. “But there won’t be any appointments until then.”

“I’m having knee replacement in three weeks, and I need someone who can follow up after the surgery,” I said. “So you’re basically telling me to find another practice.”

“I’ll try to get Dr. M. to call you,” she told me.

I called my previous internist, who used to be at this same practice but has since moved to a less convenient location. I got an appointment for Friday. The office manager told me, however, he was retiring — in December. (I would have sworn he was only in his forties.)

I told her the other practice was driving me crazy, and she starting laughing. “So I’ve heard,” she said.

And then I called the nurse navigator, who’s now in charge of the practice I’m leaving. (He was brought in to clean up the mess. Ha!) He’s out of the office until next week.

Now, here’s the thing. This is a university hospital practice, in a part of the city that’s been steadily gentrifying for 15 years. It’s been a mess. The people who work in the front office seem to be competent only when the mood hits them. They don’t follow up on things, there’s constant turnover with the physicians, and the parent hospital just can’t seem to get a grip on this place.

So when people bitch to me about how awful universal health care would be, I just roll my eyes. How much worse can it get?

 

 

High Anxiety

~ susie

Via MedPage Today:

NEW YORK CITY — A single dose of an LSD-containing investigational drug rapidly alleviated symptoms of moderate-to-severe generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), a phase IIb randomized trial showed.

Tested at four doses — 25, 50, 100, and 200 μg — the 100-μg dose of MM120 yielded the highest level of clinical activity, significantly reducing Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale (HAM-A) total score by 7.7 points compared with placebo by week 12 (-21.9 vs -14.2, P<0.003), reported Daniel Karlin, MD, chief medical officer of drugmaker MindMed, at the American Psychiatric Associationopens in a new tab or window annual meeting.

Furthermore, 65% of the patients on the 100-μg dose had a clinical response rate (a ≥50% improvement in HAM-A) and 48% were in clinical remission (HAM-A score of 7 or less).

“The idea that a single dose of drug could produce almost 50% remission rate for people suffering from moderate-to-severe anxiety 12 weeks after treatment — pretty remarkable,” Karlin told MedPage Today.

So many people have bad anxiety as part of long covid. This could be a lifesaver for many.

‘Bogus’ patents

~ susie

God, I love Lina Khan. One of Biden’s best appointments! Via MedPage, some interesting news:

Federal regulators are challenging patents on 20 brand-name drugs, including the blockbuster weight-loss injection semaglutide (Ozempic, Wegovy), in the latest effort by the Biden administration targeting pharmaceutical industry practices that drive up prices.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) on Tuesday sent warning letters to 10 drugmakersopens in a new tab or window, taking issue with patents on popular drugs for weight loss, diabetes, asthma, and other reparatory conditions. The letters allege that certain patents filed by Novo Nordisk, GlaxoSmithKline, AstraZeneca, and seven other companies are inaccurate or misleading.

Brand-name drugmakers use patents to protect their medicines and stave off cheaper, generic medicines. Most blockbuster drugs are protected by dozens of patents covering various ingredients, manufacturing processes, and intellectual property. Generic drugmakers can only launch their own cheaper versions if the patents have expired or are successfully challenged in court.

“By filing bogus patent listings, pharma companies block competition and inflate the cost of prescription drugs, forcing Americans to pay sky-high prices for medicines they rely on,” said FTC Chair Lina Khan, in a statement.

Under pressure

~ susie ~ 2 Comments

I forget whether I mentioned my blood pressure is through the roof? Anyway, turns out the diuretics that have me running to the bathroom all night have also been washing away my body’s potassium — which is how I ended up in the emergency room all day Friday.

I had no idea what was wrong; my stomach hurt, I wanted to throw up, and it felt like the room was spinning every time I stood up or sat down. So off I went.

(Humorous aside:  My doctor was defensive when I asked him why he was wearing a Yankees surgical cap. He said, “Can’t we both agree that we hate the Mets?” I had to admit, he was right.)

Turns out lack of potassium affects pretty much everything: muscles, nerves, organs — which is why I was so dizzy and fatigued all week. For the next two weeks, I have to take a potassium drink twice a day ($62 with GoodRx. I’m still not feeling normal, so forgive any typos.)

So I went and found a salon that was open on Mondays and got all my hair chopped off. It was pretty long, but summer is coming and I felt like making a clarifying statement — which is, damn, I’m tired of all this bullshit.

Now I have to get kidney function tests today. I am annoyed at all the attention this demands. And I am very, very tired. No, I don’t know what my blood pressure is, I stopped taking it. If I’m doing everything they tell me to do and I’m not getting better, fuck it.

Princess Kate has cancer

~ susie ~ 1 Comment

There, now we know. Leave her alone.

When I had cancer, I didn’t tell anyone in my family because I didn’t have a biopsy yet and I didn’t want a lot of people second-guessing. It’s exhausting.

Then people were upset when I turned down chemo and radiation. I knew enough to know breast cancer is often overtreated, and I did a LOT of research before making my decision. My tumor was fairly rare; the only two reports I could find in the medical journals were one woman who got surgery and no other treatment, and she was still alive 20 years later. The other refused any treatment at all, and she was alive, too.

So I got a second opinion from a top specialist at Penn, and I assured her I didn’t have a death wish, I just didn’t want to be overtreated. She agreed with me and told me as long as I came back for a checkup every year, she didn’t see it as a problem.

Whatever choices people make, it’s private. I have a friend right now with a rare cancer, she and her husband are going all in on alternative remedies she found on Facebook. (Don’t get me started.) She’s also bitter about Big Pharma. But I stopped arguing the finer points with her because she’s had three years of grueling treatment, and the final decision is hers.