Are you sure that it has to be this expensive pain medication? I would try calling the doc and seeing if they can change the pain med prescription to something more reasonably priced.
I’ll second this. There are lots of options for pain killers. If your doctor isn’t aware of what your insurance will cover, there may be another choice that is much cheaper for you.
Hope it all clears up quickly!
Happy to report that I feel better today than I have in three weeks. The pain is nearly gone as long as I am not on my feet for quite a while. I’m guessing the antibiotic is kicking the infection which was causing most of the inflammation.
Still will be scheduled for all the tests to find out what is going on, as I’m pretty sure it’s not just an infection. But at least I’m feeling more like myself. 
I’m so glad to hear that. Keep us updated. I know what the UTI/kidney wars are like.
Aaaand…Broomstick nailed it.
Let’s see. Saw the urologist for the 1st time; he said I had an infection and gave me a different antibiotic. Then he went on vacation. So I got sicker and sicker for 8 days and finally went to the ER. That doctor said I had an infection, and put me on Bactrim. (He also gave me dilaudid for pain, which resulted in about 30 goofball texts to my best friends: “OHi can hav sisster come get memaybe or something? Neeed to get trucj home. Too. I letyou think for me ok?” The last text (before my bff politely told me to get some sleep) read simply “And get duckstoo!!”. )
Today I went back to the urologist for the cysto and follow up after the ER visit. He called for culture results from the ER and said “Hey! You have a fungal infection! No wonder you aren’t feeling better. And you bladder looks like someone set off fireworks in there!”
So…now I’m on Diflucan (?) and Uribel for pain. I go back in 5 weeks for another cysto so that he can make sure the inflammation is gone; if not I may need biopsies.
So, I still feel like hell but at least I’m hopeful the next few days will see me back on my feet.
Thanks for the update. Glad you’ve gotten something approaching an initial diagnosis – not knowing is always scary.
I’m sorry you feel like you don’t have anyone (much?) to lean on IRL, but we’re here for you electronically, at least. Keep up posted, and I hope you continue to feel more like yourself again.
Yes, we are here, and easy to contact!
I could never be a pharmacist, like my sister, all those different drugs to remember.
To hell with remembering all the drugs–it’s decoding the MD’s handscrawing on the scripts that would get me. Why they are dragging their collective heels on electronic scripts is beyond me…
I used to wonder if the stories about the doctor’s handwriting were really true. My sister says they are, and she’s oftened called their offices to confirm what was written. Sometimes she says doctors get pissed off at being “bothered” but Sis says she’s not going to be the goat that passes out the wrong medication.
Well, gosh, I thought it was a bit of a long shot but hey, I’m glad they figured it out.
You’ve been sick for awhile and fungal infections can be quite nasty - it’s no wonder you felt like crap. Take care of yourself, you WILL feel better!
My doc just recently went to electronic. It’s nice to be able to read what he writes for a change. His writing was so bad I often wondered if it was in Sanskrit or something (he’s from India) rather than English…
One of the doctors I worked for had extremely neat handwriting. The problem was - the letters didn’t necessarily resemble the standard (‘Roman’) letters we use. :smack: An easier-to-describe example that I remember is that he wrote the letter A like a little equilateral triangle - whether it was capital or lower-case. Once you got used to how he wrote, it was fairly easy to decode his writings.
I’m feeling SO much better. I’ve started delivering papers by myself again (the kids are very happy to not have to get up at 3am!), and the pain level is almost non-existent. What a nice change. I’ve had a lot of infections over the years, but I don’t think I ever had one that was that painful.
I got back in 4 weeks for another cysto…the urologist wants to see what things look like when it’s not all inflamed, presumably to make sure no tumors or suspicious areas. I kind of dread it…the last one left me feeling miserable for a couple of days, but then again I was so inflamed at the time that I’m sure that made it worse. Hopefully this one won’t be so bad, and I’ll be ready to dose up on pain meds if necessary.
Anyway, I want to thank everyone for the support, ideas, pms, and space to whine a bit. In fact, all I did irl for the last several weeks was lay around and whine. It’s nice to be able to get on my feet and do things again.
I’ll update as things progress.
Glad to hear you’re feeling better.
Thanks for the update. Continued well wishes.
My spouse has also had a lot of urinary tract infections and after his fungal one was found to have strictures/narrowing of the various tube parts of the plumbing. This was taken care of by what they call a “procedure”. Not fun, of course, very similar to a cysto regarding discomfort/pain and recovery but it made things better. Not saying YOU have this issue, but if you do, something can be done about it. These things are never fun, but it’s not something to fear if it does comes up. You do, however, have my permission to be mightily annoyed at the whole affair (like my permission matters!)
I’m so glad to hear you are getting out and about again.
You can still whine you know, we are still here!
Okay, maybe one small complaint. I went to the emergency room a week before the last urology appointment. ER doc thought I had an infection, and put me on Bactrim. Then the lab did a culture and had the results for at least several days before my urologist called for them…so I would’ve expected that someone–the ER doc or the lab?–would have contacted me and said, “Say, you have a fungus and you’d better call your urologist because you aren’t being treated for it.”
The other local ER would have followed up that way, in my experience. Had I not gone ahead to the urologist, I wouldn’t have known I was misdiagnosed and in need of a new medicine. Maybe my expectations aren’t on target, though; my ER experiences are limited and I’d never been to this particular hospital before.
Anyway…next time I’ll know!
ER is responsible for contacting you. The doc that orders the test, or someone covering for them. Contact the ER manager and let them know. Somebody dropped the ball.
That seems pretty bad to me - surely they should be responsible for informing you.
Very glad to hear that you’re feeling better and even back on the job.
Good idea…I’ll contact the ER folks and follow up there.
I’m glad to be back doing papers at least…still off for 2 more weeks on the second job, and I think I’ll probably just extend it until after my follow up with the urologist. I’d hate to go back and then have to take leave again if I need treatment for another issue.
What the hell, maybe I’ll go ahead and have my gall bladder removed while I have the time.