Ass Iconic Illness Chronic

Refilled Sumatriptan which I take for migraines. For ten of them for $10.

Levothyroxine 5.94

Bought a bougie hot/ice therapy pack with several straps. It's supposed to be adjustable to wear almost anywhere on your body. Well see. 20.90

Picked up some prescriptions. After insurance I paid

Estradiol patches: 40.00

Buporion HCL XL 150 mg: 5.17

Metropol: 7.45

14.62 J&R Watkins muscle cream

16.20 Premier Protein Good Night Cocca. I'm having simultaneous low blood sugar over night AND high blood sugar when I wake up. Going to try a protein shake before bed. So far it's going well and it's tasty and fun to drink hot chocolate every night.

30.00 Cove Subscription. This is so I have access to migraine care as neurologist are few and far between where I live. Appointments are often months out, if you can even get one. They are also the source of some of my most expensive surprise bills in the past. So I just pay 30 every three months and then that's that unless something major changes.

13.00 Overheated at mall and needed drinks and snacks

20.00 Lumi Labs THC &CBD gummies. Instead of ordering the really expensive microdose gummies I order the cheaper higher dose gummies, cut and take those in quarters and halves. This bottle should last me 2-3 months vs $80 for one month of the lower dose I need. I am both upset at this math and upset it took me a few months to figure it out.

1.25 Absorbine Jr. Pain Patch

.80 metformin

3.26 Floxutine

39.00 Beam Supplement for migraines

There are very few things I consider inflexible to-dos but there are a few things daily, weekly and monthly that I must do so Future Me at least has a chance. It's also a good gauge. If I literally can't get up to brush my teeth and do five-ten minutes of prep work twice a day then it's my sign that it's hospital time or at least in-person doctor visit.

I also find deciding ahead of time what things are worth over extending myself saves me alot of thinking energy and decision fatigue in the moment. Since most of these tasks are decided on ahead of time I just have to wake up and do them. That's normal day to day.

When I do start feeling betterv for longer stretches I try to tackle something on my "when I have time, ability or help" or I organize something that hasn't been working out.

We ended up paying the bill that was in collections. We did figure out that it was for a strep test last year. They didn't ever file it with insurance and now"it's too late". I kinda wanted to keep fighting but I also understand that husband doesn't want his credit completely fucked up or payroll department potentially being involved over $61.80 even if it was bullshit.

Got a new jar of petroleum jelly. Had a halfjar left but it was crusty and looked like something that would give me additional health problems vs solving them. Petroleum jelly/vaseline is one of those things that I feel a little guilty using/buying but keep around as a last resort that works a good 50% of the time and hasn't ever made anything worse: weird rash, itch on my finger but no rash, cut etc or a cut that won't heal, dry patch that won't moisturize etc I'll put some petroleum jelly on it before I give in and call the dermatologist or doctor. 2.99.

You may be shocked to know I bought MORE pain patches $6.49. Under the guise of saving money I got a plain old classic little jar of tiger balm. $7.99. I'm still digging these pain patches and they are working well on a certain kinds of fibromyalgia flare up where everything hurts because one thing hurts or when my neck hurts, so it tenses, then it hurts more etc and that leads to migraines.

Still have not renewed my continuous gluclose monitors and using up the pile of random blood gluclose supplies and monitors I have around. I am blaming the cluster fuck that is that drawer on brain fog because wtf past me? Were you bored in Walgreens? Did you feel burdened from having too much money and decided to blow it all on lancets? Did you run out of test strips and swear "never again shall this darkness grace my door?" See, maybe if I had started this blog years ago I'd know what fresh hell or thought process brought my lancelet collection to me.

Pharmacy run for levothyroxine and Wellbutrin $11.11

Restocked my car first aid kit with Liquid I.V.powder. I don't love Liquid I.V. and don't use it at home. I think it's too expensive for an everyday hydration boost. I do keep it in the car and it's saved me and others from the Atlanta heat several times. $10.79

I ended up not ordering more cgms yet. I have an entire drawer of assorted meters, testing strips, lancets, wipes etc I am going to try to use up most of that first. Should save me a little money and hopefully clean that drawer up cause it's.... It's alot.

My Beam migraine supplement shipped for $39.00

Flouoxetine $3.28

Pregablin 22.22

Bringing my total 2024 out of pocket medical spending too 3,612.06.

Normally this week I'd also be pre-ordering six months of cgms for around $900 but I'm thinking of swapping providers for that and haven't actually sat down and figured out my next move.

Had a rheumatologist appointment and that was a $100 co-pay. Thankfully was able to grab my labs from last week's physical so I didn't need to have more pulled.

After that it was to the pharmacy to grab some different lidocaine products and a Diclofenac Sodium Gel to try. That was 33.92 total with tax.

Finally we paid a mystery bill that was about to go to collections. It was for $14.32. We already have a $40ish bill in collections that we are fighting. These bills are showing up from the hospital network I use as immediately overdue,we don't hear anything about them until they are days from collections. They can't tell me which doctor they go too, what date they are from, etc. I can't confirm if I actually owe them. We are currently working with insurance commissioner office and a lawyer because it's sketchy as hell. I hate to give in but family had enough stress from being in collection from the 40ish bill so we just paid the $14.32

* that's a very short version of the story. It's much more detailed and involves hours and hours of phone calls. If we honestly owe it I am happy to pay.

Husband was paid on 1st

My share of health insurance is 245.07

Ordered new cpap supplies for $129.99. I got a tube, a water take and a cushion.

As mentioned with my son needing a Lyft a few posts back I can't always drive safely. I especially can't drive safely when woken up suddenly in the night. It takes me awhile each morning to figure out what's normal sleepy waking up grogginess vs. brain fog, will nausea go away after I wake up, eat and medicate or if it is just going to be one of those days where I'm sick all day etc. I also have a few pills I need to take in a certain order, some with food, some without and one can't be taken within an hour of coffee or I yak. One of the fastest ways to invoke a migraine, pain, nausea etc is to get off schedule so even when I can help during an emergency I can't always commit to the whole thing.

As such we racked up 120.87 in Lyft fees this week. I am adding that to my medical cost as before I got this sick of course I drove my husband to the E.R when needed. I used to be able to wake up at three am and if it was an emergency the natural adrenaline of "oh shit emergency" would get me wherever I needed to go, whenever I needed to get there.

There are more cost but they are hard to calculate. We spent more in food and household supplies this month. Some of this was to accommodate me. My food is pricey to begin with and when I get any kind of pre-made or convenience food it's just so much money. I'll leave those cost off for now but at some point I'll try to figure out how much extra we spend on food because of me.

Total out of pocket medical spend for 2024 $2,779.19

Metropol 7.45

Estradiol 40.00

Pregablin 22.22

69.67

This week we have plenty of things I did NOT buy. Kroger is running their huge allergy med sale and it's my chance to get the cheapest cetrizine (Zyrtec) of the year. Alas, I have put in three different orders and two were cancelled and one they subbed something with food dye last minute and I couldn't approve the change. Luckily I was able to ask for a refund and got one! Even got to keep the pills.

Many of my friends are also chronically ill or disabled. So extra meds and supplies can almost always be put to use and I appreciate that. Because as hopefully this blog is showing "being chronically ill/disabled is expensive af

Had neighborhood kids over to help me get the yard ready for Spring, plant a few things and just tidy up. We have a yard service for the general upkeep and would likely have one even if I wasn't disabled. However I've always done the fine tuning, pruning, planting etc myself. This Spring I just pooped out and couldn't. That was $120 well spent dollars.

I do very much enjoy the neighborhood kids and am glad they can make a little pocket money and I can get easy help.

Getting help with disabilities is a challenge, even when it doesn't need to be. Simple things like "text me, don't call" or only use my cleaners and products in the house or you can make me very sick etc is a challenge to some (most) adults. The idea that I am disabled but don't "look" disabled and my abilities vary wildly from day to day also makes adults uncomfortable like somehow I am scamming them out of their god-given rights to..... I don't know... something.... all the money, clout and privileges that they think comes with my Official Disabled Status Hall Pass and Welcome Package?

Rides were 17.04 and 24.59 with tip. We had an offer on our account for the first ride so that saved us a little.

Several of my diagnoses can make it physically impossible or unsafe to drive. I don't drive with migraines. I can't drive when my joints are being a beast. I can't drive after taking several of my meds.

My hypoglycemia is under great control with a continuous glucose monitor but back when it was running rampant I wasn't driving at all for almost a year there because I was passing out and we didn't know why.

I have a flexible schedule and a kind family who don't mind carting me around. If they didn't or just couldn't I'd need to live somewhere else or we would have substantial lyft costs. On days I can't drive I also can't walk a mile to the closest bus stop nor be on a bus for several hours at a time each way.