Thoughts on medicines

I woke up this morning dead tired, like most mornings lately...

So, I have been doing some online/in-person research tonight on the hypothyroid/low testosterone/low adreno-something-or-the-other. (I can't remember if it was DHEA or ACTH...)

When I talked to the nurse, she told me that one of the things were a 'natural' medication, and there were only 4 places in Utah that made it, the closest being SLC. She told me she would fax the stuff up to them, they would contact me, get it paid for, and send the medicine. I asked about my insurance, and she indicated that insurance usually doesn't cover that sort of thing, but the total for all 3 medicines for a 100 day supply would end up being something like $30. I asked about coming back, and she said I could come back in like 3 months, and get the blood levels checked again, or if I was still feeling bad in a few weeks, come in for an appointment then. When she told me about the low testosterone, I told her that it was because I have 4 daughters and a wife at home, and it was just me. She said they would prescribe a baby boy...

A couple of things didn't really sound right about that conversation. First, my insurance is pretty good, they cover a lot of stuff... It sounded strange to think that I would have something wrong with me that they would not cover.

I talked to a guy from work who has been working through thyroid problems for a couple of years, and the insurance definitely covers that medicine. This guy has been getting his LEVOTHYROXINE level adjusted all the time for the past 2 years trying to get it adjusted correctly. He pays $10 for 100 pills. I looked on-line (Webmd.com - there's always a lot of information there, I sort of trust what they say, but never completely...) about the different things, low thyroid levels need to be tuned and said the following: "Natural forms of thyroid hormone - quality and effeciveness unregulated, and while the active ingredient may help, the product could be dangerous to the patient."

The information on the adrenal problem was harder to look up because I really forgot what she said. (It was either DHEA or ACTH, I think, but I really don't remember.) For ACTH, they say that the cortisol levels should be checked also, if cortisol is low too, it's a hypopituitary problem. (As far as I remember from high school biology, the pituitary gland regulates all the others. I don't care, no one at this point is saying anything about pituitary at this point, I'll look it up another day...) The DHEA hormone medicine normally raises testosterone levels on it's own, but not a lot. (She said I was at 7.5, and normal is 30-40)

I have a new joke now. I grew my mustache to compinsate for my low testosterone levels...

My blood glucose and chloresterol levels were normal. That's a good thing.

I went to the store tonight. I was at the store last night, but we were not out of diapers and paper plates then. (We weren't out of ice cream tonight, but that didn't stop me while I was there.) I talked to the pharmasist, he was suprised to hear that some sort of "natural" remedy was being prescribed. He showed me how they used to use cow liver or something, but the dosage wasn't easily regulated. He had 15 different doses of the synthetic stuff, and everyone is different and had to be regulated. I suggested that I was going back to the doctors office tomorrow, he concurred it was a good idea. I drove to RiteAid after that and talked to their pharmasist. I told him how the 3 levels were found, and a "natural" remedy was being recommended with 3 months between the checks. A look of suprised shock came on his face. (That was my interpretation, anyway.) I told him what my insurance was and he agreed that they covered those types of medicine. I told him I thought that for thyroid, it had to be fine-tuned until you had the right dose, and he said definitely, you have to keep checking and changing until you are regulated. Both pharmasists said the "natural/herbal" treatments were not regulated by the FDA (something Tara has been saying all night) and may not be the best to take. The RiteAid guy said I should definitely be going back to the doctor tomorrow to ask him my questions, and if I didn't get answers that made me feel better about it, I should go and talk to someone else, like an internal medicine guy.

Current plan - I am calling the insurance company in the morning to ask them a few coverage questions, then I will be at the doctors office by 9am at the latest to talk to them. I don't think I want to go the "All Natural Route", where real drugs would only cost a little more. (I can always ask them about the real drugs, call DMBA and verify specifics...) Plus I don't really want to wait for a week for something I can get tomorrow if I start to feel better by the weekend... If I pay up to $10 more each time, it's only 10 cents more a day.'

More updates in this saga to come...