I’ll leave this thread alone, but just a heads-up: you might get faster replies if you start a separate topic. Some people here only stick to their specific subscription threads and ignore everything else. Honestly, we already have a massive discussion going about Barack Obama—go check that out. You might find exactly what you're looking for there.
I think you’ll get way more traction if you actually post your questions in the right subforums. 🙂 When you just dump everything into one giant thread like this, people tend to stay quiet. Even if someone actually knows the answer, they usually won't bother typing it out because they're busy dealing with a hundred other things they don't understand and they don't want to get sucked into a mess.
Heh, I didn't even check if you were a guy or a girl; I was just following Nicholas King's lead. 😁
If you have a rough idea of what the username is or how many posts they’ve made, you might be able to track that woman down here: http://www.usforums.com/memberlist.php. That's how I hunt down certain handles when I need something—I just grab the approximate name and the post count and start digging. Honestly, nobody else is going to be able to help you more than that. 🙂
swiftbear86 said:They found a few bacteria on the microscopic exam. Only a urine culture actually identifies the specific strain, but you just had a "standard urinalysis"! That test isn't going to tell you which bacterium is actually there.
There's no need for antibiotics for "rare bacteria."
Honestly, this drives me crazy. If she really thought she needed antibiotics, she should have gone for a targeted treatment instead of just having them scribble something down to get her off their back.
It bugs me how they prescribe antibiotics for nothing, especially when they're just guessing. And then everyone acts surprised when we see more and more MRSA, Staph, and other monsters becoming resistant to everything we throw at them.
redcrane22 said:My bloodwork looks fine, but my urinalysis just mentions those bacteria exactly like I said. My primary care doctor thinks maybe that’s why I felt so crappy. And by "crappy," I mean I was dizzy and actually feeling sick...
So she put me on antibiotics for these "rare" bacteria. What does "rare" even mean? Which ones are we talking about?
I'll just stick with 🙄the doctor.
If they isolated a low count of bacteria, they should have sent you for a formal culture. You need to know exactly what strain you're dealing with, the concentration, and which specific antibiotic actually hits it—not just guessing with a prescription.
There's no point in re-testing right now. Finish the full course of antibiotics first. Then, two weeks after you've finished the meds, go back and get a urine test. If it isn't sterile, that's when you insist on a full analysis.
What symptoms were you actually having that triggered the tests in the first place? And what other labs did you get done?
When people post stuff this brief, doctors can't give you any useful feedback on your results because they have zero context. They don't know what symptoms you're dealing with, if you have any underlying health issues, or what other testing was performed... Look, you have to look at the whole picture, not just one line item. If someone just writes, "hey, my white blood cell count is high," nobody can tell you anything meaningful without seeing the rest of the lab work and knowing why the tests were ordered in the first place.
That’s exactly what I was thinking—that both the pharmacies and my doctor would be notified that they can't issue a prescription because I don't have Medicare coverage. But honestly, this whole system is such a mess that it's better to double-check now than to deal with some nasty surprise down the road.
Thanks, guys. Their site wouldn't load for me at all yesterday, and I wasn't sure if those other lists I found were actually complete.
swiftbear86 I have a question for you. I realized yesterday that my health insurance expired back in September last year. I’ve been calling my doctor regularly, and she’s been writing my prescriptions—I think I’ve picked up three boxes of Euthyrox and one measure since then. How on earth was my doctor able to issue a prescription (I didn't go in, just called), and better yet, how could the pharmacy even give me meds when they take my card every single time and clearly type in that it's expired? I'm low-key panicking because I don't know if my coverage is actually valid right now or if it's totally dead (there was some talk about old cards staying valid until the chip ones arrive, but apparently there's no funding for them yet). I'm not crazy, and I wouldn't let my coverage lapse like this—I need it because I'm sick, and I actually threw up yesterday when I realized this. I don't know how closely pharmacies watch these things; the nurse used to warn me it was expiring soon, but now nobody's said anything about it being invalid.
edit: Okay, I found the answer to why it worked: http://www.medicare-gov-link.us/info_on_insurance_validity.pdf, so if anyone else needs this info, don't freak out like I did or lose your mind thinking your insurance is gone. 😁 God, I'm going to kill myself with this kind of stupidity. I seriously thought I had completely lost it, thinking I could just ignore something as vital as an insurance expiration for nine months while still picking up my regular meds.
Here are some links for you: http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/raynaud-phenomenon/symptoms-causes, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raynaud%27s_phenomenon
I explained it to you in plain English before (and I probably didn't get every medical detail perfect), but basically, it causes spasms in your blood vessels. That cuts off the blood flow, so your fingers turn blue from the lack of oxygen and then go white.
It might not have anything to do with those bruises you're seeing, but since you're already dealing with Raynaud, you shouldn't just ignore this stuff.
So you’ve got Raynaud’s too? (Unfortunately, I’m dealing with it myself.) Did you ever follow up with an immunologist? Usually, that stuff doesn't just show up out of nowhere; they should check if it's just a symptom or the actual underlying issue.
I don't know, honestly. I think your GP is being a bit dismissive. If you already have Raynaud’s and this is happening on top of it, they really ought to be sending you to a specialist. Someone needs to dig a little deeper and figure out the next steps.
Mark Cruz15 said:Moderators seriously need their own moderators. 🙂
And what, you think the super mods (the red ones) and admins (those scary guys in purple) are untouchable? 😁
If you think moderators don't get sanctioned or that they're immune to warnings, you're dead wrong. It's just that nobody ever complains because most of the warnings we get are actually deserved—so you wouldn't even know if we were getting them. Take me, for example. I got my first and only warning for an off-topic post, and that was while I was acting as a mod right here on this board. 😬
Honestly, you’re better off just getting a referral to a hematologist. Take those lab results with you and see what they say. They’ll probably order more tests anyway—doctors don't usually just brush off random bruising and hemorrhages like it's nothing. You need to find out what's actually going on.