Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

I Had a Stroke at 33

buzzfeed.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

91–100 of 156 posts

Re: I Had a Stroke at 33

#91

Post by ZeroCoin »

UrMomReadsHN wrote: post #83
silencio wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> ...was scolded like I was some drug addict just looking for a fix... It's tough dealing with drugs and potential abuse. You know if you're really in need or not, but they deal with people wanting them for any reason just because, and so the skepticism starts to show. There's the default assumption at hospitals/pharmacies of just locking everything down so the healthcare providers themselves can't abuse them too. My…

I am not allowed to have a prescription that has refills (I assume due to law? Maybe office policy though). So when I need a refill I have to call and leave a voicemail message. It takes up to 72 business hours then I get a phonecall my prescription is ready. I have to physically go there and sign two forms saying I picked it up AND get my ID photocopied. Then I have to go to the pharmacy and show my ID AGAIN. I hate…

>I hate being treated like I'm a criminal!!

That's exactly how I felt when I called in for a refill of my pain medication after just having met with multiple doctors in the ER just a few weeks prior.

Do they really think I intentionally got kidney stones (which they saw themselves on xray) just to get an extra refill of pain meds a few weeks later?

No, the lady on the phone probably got intense amount of pleasure by telling me off verbally and hanging up. At least that's one of the only reasons I can think she didn't even bother to listen to me.

I was upset and confused, but too proud to call back and have myself humiliated again. So I just grinned and bore it and screamed like a baby when the stones actually passed a few days later.

A funny side note to this story... I can laugh at it all now seeing as it's ten years in the past. In my long walk to the hospital (I was a poor student at the time, unable to even afford the bus) me and my girlfriend passed a band of elderly ladies who took one look at me and within seconds said "Oh no, look at him. You must have stones, don't you laddy?".

I wasn't sure what was wrong with me at the time and I just replied something like "haha, I hope that's it!" and continued on to the hospital.

6 hours and an xray later... the doctors confirmed the very same thing.

Re: I Had a Stroke at 33

#92

Post by jlavarj »

My wife had a stroke at the age of 30, seven years ago. It happened in the hospital during an embolization procedure. She was unconscious for 5 days. This event has obviously changed her life, but I wasn't prepared for the ways it would change mine. Thank you for sharing this.

Re: I Had a Stroke at 33

#93

Post by ZeroCoin »

TAM_cmlx wrote: post #88

Two years ago this October I was homeless. I would wander around all night for fear of attacks[1] and try to sleep during the day at the university while sitting on a bench or chair. In October the winter shelters had not yet opened here, and it was so cold I feared I would freeze to death. I wandered into ER on a pretext: there was a swelling in my leg, spider bite maybe? I overheard the intake person talking with s…

>The treatment is: Take B12 every day for the rest of my life.

Every human being on earth that I know of needs this. It's not just vegetarians.

What foods were you eating while homeless?

I imagine it's fairly tough to come by nutritional yeast and other B-complex rich foods whilst living on the street.

My girlfriend is a strict vegetarian, gets her blood checked regularly, and is apparently fine. We assume because she supplements all of the necessary nutrients that she lacks in her food. Mainly iron and the b complex vitamins I believe.

Re: I Had a Stroke at 33

#94

Post by thaumasiotes »

weddpros wrote: post #57

I was 32 when I had a stroke (March 4th, 2003). It was a different kind of stroke, affecting a different part of my brain, essentially related to vision. I was half blind, but I only realized something was "strange" when I saw myself in the mirror: I had only one eye. My brain knew I should have two: I was half blind. The first diagnosis was migraine with aura (blindness in my case). But the aura should have lasted n…

> It was a different kind of stroke, affecting a different part of my brain, essentially related to vision. I was half blind, but I only realized something was "strange" when I saw myself in the mirror: I had only one eye. My brain knew I should have two: I was half blind.

There's something going on here beyond just loss of raw visual input. If you lose an eyeball, or hold your eye closed, and look in the mirror, your one good eye will still show you that you have two eyes (or, as the case may be, sockets / sets of eyelids). Perceiving yourself as having one has to involve a loss of brain function, not just a loss of eye function.

Re: I Had a Stroke at 33

#96

Post by silencio »

UrMomReadsHN wrote: post #83
silencio wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> ...was scolded like I was some drug addict just looking for a fix... It's tough dealing with drugs and potential abuse. You know if you're really in need or not, but they deal with people wanting them for any reason just because, and so the skepticism starts to show. There's the default assumption at hospitals/pharmacies of just locking everything down so the healthcare providers themselves can't abuse them too. My…

I am not allowed to have a prescription that has refills (I assume due to law? Maybe office policy though). So when I need a refill I have to call and leave a voicemail message. It takes up to 72 business hours then I get a phonecall my prescription is ready. I have to physically go there and sign two forms saying I picked it up AND get my ID photocopied. Then I have to go to the pharmacy and show my ID AGAIN. I hate…

I was debating if I should mention it in my original comment but...

I have ADHD and I've been on almost all stimulant options available, most often Adderall and lately Vyvanse. Those are Schedule II drugs in the US, where you can't get refills on a prescription and there's a whole huge thing about auditing and verifying that you can't abuse it.

I feel like your doctor's office is a little ridiculously strict if that's the case for you too as none of my psychiatrists have ever required that kind of sign-off on picking up prescriptions, but in my experience, yeah... it sucks. I've been treated like a criminal at the pharmacy, many times. Also ask me how many times I've had insurance/pharmacy deny a prescription because I am picking it up literally a day too early. Requiring ID is ridiculous too. I just recently changed my name, but the name change for my insurance hasn't been going anywhere, so I'm surprised I haven't triggered any kind of problem when signing off on picking up these drugs. I don't know what I'd do if I lost a prescription (doctors can write up to 3 separate ones dated appropriately) or if I lost a bottle. :(

Re: I Had a Stroke at 33

#97

Post by silencio »

omegaworks wrote: post #78
ohquu wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, we are in the US. Her situation was unique in many respects. She was on her father's health insurance plan (Blue Cross and Blue Shield) and also had secondary health insurance from being a student athlete at our university. (The first of the three strokes occurred during a meet! The other two occurred within a day after being transported to the hospital.) Everything would have cost well over $100,000 had she not…

>Had he not paid attention to the way things were being billed (i.e., between primary and secondary insurance), some costs may have been pushed onto her family. How does one pay attention to this in a time of crisis? Is there a good guide to navigating it somewhere? Last summer I woke up with a monster headache and suddenly stopped being able to put words to thoughts. Tried calling a taxi, couldn't say where I wanted…

Did you get a bill after the fact? You could call them up and negotiate. If you have two insurance plans, then it's mostly talking with a particular office/section that deals with coordination of benefits.

Until my family members and I individually ended up switching to insurance with nice low flat rates for services, I used to negotiate everything from office visits to ER bills. Before service if you can (especially for elective/outpatient type things), otherwise they really like cash in full. They tend to prefer working outside of insurance too, since it means more money for them even if they're halving your bill.

I'm sure there are services, and occasionally you'll find more tips on places like reddit (/r/frugal comes to mind). I have no immediate suggestions for how to do this in a time of crisis - it mostly depends on someone that knows you well giving enough of a shit, and when they'll try to bill you for services. :(

Why this is a thing is beyond me, but while it's the case...

Re: I Had a Stroke at 33

#98

Post by atmosx »

weddpros wrote: post #57

I was 32 when I had a stroke (March 4th, 2003). It was a different kind of stroke, affecting a different part of my brain, essentially related to vision. I was half blind, but I only realized something was "strange" when I saw myself in the mirror: I had only one eye. My brain knew I should have two: I was half blind. The first diagnosis was migraine with aura (blindness in my case). But the aura should have lasted n…

Thanks for sharing, awesome write-up (your doctor sucks).

Re: I Had a Stroke at 33

#99

Post by kvee »

jagger27 wrote: post #11
bshimmin wrote: post #7

I wish Buzzfeed only had articles like this.

Good thing we have HN to filter the trash out for us.

It seems like http://www.buzzfeed.com/ideas does a pretty good job of it too (I'm new to the site but was inspired by the "easy tip" above to search out some good content)

Re: I Had a Stroke at 33

#100

Post by delackner »

Profound. Thank you for sharing this. It pains me to read though that you had years of abnormal symptoms (severe shortness of breath, migraines, etc) and the medical system was unable to detect the issue early. This seems like the sort of issue that early detection could provide tremendous quality of life / survivability improvements at little risk. If the existing tests are too difficult, then we need more tests.
Post reply on HN