Medical nightmare thanks to fucking 'pedes!

The BBQ Pit
1

So, a week ago last sunday my 17 year old comes to me and says he has a pimple on the bottom side of his forearm. He says it really burns. I look at it, at tell him it looks like an ingrown hair.

Over the next few days, it get’s worse, and on wednesday his arm is puffed up like Popeye. So I take him to the doc.

The doc freaks out, puts him in isolation, and calls in an army of specialist. It turns out he had a serious case of cellulitis, which can be life threatening.
A surgeon cut a huge chunk of flesh out of his arm, and they put him on super strong anti-biotics.
Then they tell me this: “It’s possible he got this from an insect bite, like a spider of centipede!” :eek:
Do any of you remember my thread when I got bit by a fucking centipede?

http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=119952

But I had an exterminator spray for the fucking bastards!
Maybe some survived, but I haven’t seen them!

So, now he’s out of the hospital after a week. The disease was stopped, but he has to be on some heavy duty meds.
So, I go to Walgreens to fill his prescription. The pharmacists tells me it’s $25. What?:confused: Like hell it is!:mad: I have excellent insurance. My prescriptions are $10 for name brand, $5 generic.
“No sir. This is special medication. Your insurance insists you pay $25”.
Like fucking hell! I have worked for the same employer for 16 years! I have had this insurance for 14 years! There have been no changes! We don’t pay $25 for any prescription!
“Well, your insurance insists on $25 co-pay for this one. Talk to your benefits person at work.”
You bet I will! I’m pissed! Why is my insurance trying to screw me out of $15?
Then the pharmacist says "Sir, the regular price of this medication, Zyvox 600mg, is $1,636.59.

:eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek: Jee-sus Fu-cking Christ! $1,636? For 28 pills?
I guess my insurance is better than I thought!
Heres the $25. I’ll stop bitching now!:smiley:

:mad:I’m called the exterminators back! Death to all centipedes!

2

At least you have decent prescription coverage. I don’t.

3

$1600 ?? Wow. And to think Walgreens had it in stock.

4

Really. That’s sweet.

I mean, I don’t have medical insurance. Period.

:frowning:

Good luck-I hope your son feels better soon. That absolutely fucking sucks.

(My cats LOVE to play with millipedes. EEEEW!)

5

FTR, the rant is (justifiably) about centipedes. Millipedes are actually rather inoffensive. A few will discharge an irritant onto one’s hands if they are handled roughly, but the irritant is not capable of creating the sort of necrotic wound that a centipede’s bite will. (And I have never heard of a biting millipede.)

6

from a clinical position, will he have full use of his arm? A “huge chunk” usually refers to muscle degradation when it comes to arms( as usually they are mainly muscle). I am sorry to be curious and I hope that his recovery is swift.

7

I am also curious, what was it that enraged you the most, that you had to pay $25, or that the prescription was <$1600? After reading this, it sounds inflammatory, but it isn’t. I am honestly curious.

8

I am also curious, what was it that enraged you the most, that you had to pay $25, or that the prescription was >$1600? After reading this, it sounds inflammatory, but it isn’t. I am honestly curious.

9

We are the Spiders of Centipede
Resistance is futile.

10

Hey, I had something like that happen to me - except it was on my face! :eek:

The meds cost a lot because they usually use new, very strong antibiotics to knock out any infection the surgeon might have missed. (I was on 1,500 mg of Augmentin a day for weeks)

My wound healed up very nicely, most folks don’t even notice the scar unless I point it out or the light hits it just right. I hope your son recovers equally well.

11

So do poor people get to just die under this system? I think I’ve got the gist, but I’m not sure.

12

It was quite a story, too. Maybe if pkbites reads the thread where you told that story, he’ll thank his lucky stars.

13

Irony. Story on front page of Akron paper this morning: guy bitten by brown recluse spider locally. Normally not around here. Spent days in intensive care. Sounds very similar.

14

I dunno. I suspose we could ask the folks in Africa who die for similar reasons.

15

Sorry, I can never tell the difference. All I know is that they’re hideous and disgusting and I hate them.

16

Probably they’d get some less effective medication or one that takes longer to work, but costs less.

17

Matt said, “So do poor people get to just die under this system? I think I’ve got the gist, but I’m not sure.”

Yes. The ER can’t refuse to admit someone but the pharmacy can. If you can’t afford your medications you live without them. This isn’t a real problem for most of the very poor as they may be elligible for medicaid or something like that. It is a problem for the working poor who make just enough to not qualify for that type of aid though.

As for the “irritant that millipedes produce” it is a form of cyanide or arsenic. It has been too long since I took that entomology class to remember for sure. It won’t hurt your skin but it will make you very sick if you ingest it if not kill you.

18

Arsenic? are you sure - that’s not an organic poison.

19

Having been poor under this so-called system, I think I can fill this in.

If you a really really horribly poor, you might either get care from a state program like Medicaid, or charity care (Catholic owned hospitals seem to be most likely in this regard), or if you have a decent, humane doctor he might take all those free samples sales representatives from the drug companies leave him/her and hand them out to you.

Or, if you are unable to search for any of the above aid, you might attempt to exist without. If this leaves you sick enough to land in the hospital you will be cared for, but only while in the hospital.

Those who fare worst under this system are the “working poor” - they make too much to qualify for state aid or charity, yet not enough to pay for their own medical care, and are not covered by employer-supplied health insurance. If they do have a catastrophic illness beyond their ability to pay, the only way to get aid is to sell off their personal possessions (including house, etc.) until they are officially poor enough to qualify. The fact that this rule is capable of transforming a middle-class family into paupers due to the misforture of just one of many relatives seems not to matter to US policy-makers.

20

Here in Maryland, and increasingly in more and more states (I know WV has it, too), we have Children’s Health Insurance Plan. This is free or affordable health insurance for children of “working poor” families. The guidelines are pretty generous. For a family of 5, if the annual income is below $35,000 the plan is free, if income is between $35,000-$45,000 you pay $34.00/mo. which covers all the kids. It’s good insurance (even got our 15-yr-old braces), covers meds with no co-pay, etc. However, the adults in the household are still screwed!