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Two weeks ago Friday I went to visit my new doctor at Kaiser.
I switched over at the start of the year because I just couldn't justify continuing with my Blue Shield plan, which bumped up around $150/mo this year, to almost $800. I looked into some of their cheaper programs, since they now have "silver" programs that don't make you pay for doctor visits before you hit your deductible, but the closest primary care doctors were in San Francisco, which is utterly insane, and of course made that plan useless. So I went with Kaiser and dropped my monthly cost to $500.
Now Kaiser has gotten a bad name over the years, so I was somewhat concerned. But I was never sure of how much of that was due to the fact that as a non-profit healthcare provider with centralized care, they do things different. And, I'd had Kaiser when I was growing up, and don't remember any problems. And, I'd had Kaiser when I worked at Chaosium in the '90s, and they were no more helpful or useless than any other doctor I've ever had. (Mostly useless.) Still, there was was some trepidation.
So, two weeks ago Friday. Simple visit: I wanted a new prescription written for my blood pressure med.
The hospital is a little inconvenient, since it's out at MacArthur BART, but any additional work time I lose getting there is more than offset by the $300 I'm saving a month. And, it was a nice bike ride. Warm, pleasant day.
I got there about 15 minutes before my appointment, which was later than I'd intended. I checked in, and within a minute or two they took me in. Wow! I noted they were running early, and was told that the doctor had a schedule where she had to do other things shortly after my appointment (like, perhaps lunch?) so they were making sure she was running early. Double wow!
Meanwhile, I was putting in my personal information on an iPad. Super high tech.
The doctor came in to see me shortly and we talked some. She didn't seem in the least bit rushed. She seemed happy to write me a prescription for the the metoprolol that I was using, but also told me her standard methodology for dealing with blood pressure. So we agreed to try her favored drug, lisinoprol, which she said has absolutely no drowsiness side effects. I don't have a lot of problems with my metoprolol, but it's not controlling my blood pressure as much as I'd like, and sometimes in the afternoon I fade. So I said sure.
She zapped the prescription downstairs, and I followed it a few minutes later. There was the pharmacy, which was utter chaos, with people standing all around. I went over to the most appropriate looking line, and checked in, and was told my prescription would be ready shortly. Sure enough, a few minutes later I was talking to a second clerk, and then sent off to a third place where a pharmacist came and talked to me.
Like I said, utter chaos, but also less than 5 minutes total in the pharmacy. And the default distribution was a bottle of 100 pills, none of this 30 at a time BS.
Overall, Kaiser was a little faraway and a little chaotic, but it was respectful of my time, efficient, and still personable. So, thumbs up so far.
But didn't you say something about frustration, you ask.
Yeah. Pretty much every time I've ever gone to a doctor with a problem, I've visited numerous times with no results. Back in the '90s when I had digestive problems? Nothing. I was told to eat more fiber. (I finally figured out on my own: lactose intolerant.) In the '00s when I had more digestive problems, again nothing. (I finally figured out on my own: allergy to beef.) In the late '00s I started have debilitating headaches, and I saw any number of specialists, but the only help I ever got was a neuropathic pain blocker from an otherwise worthless neurologist. (I finally figured out on my own: allergies.)
So last year I went through this rigamarole again for some new chronic problems, with something like a half-dozen visits to specialists and unnecessary CAT scans and other unpleasantness. In the end I simply just gave up without a solution. And that left me reluctant to head back to the doctor again this year and start this cycle again.
But by summer those chronic problems had faded, as they have from time to time, and I really needed to get in to see a doc before my metroprolol ran out.
So the new drug? Lisinopril? SUCKED.
I was horribly, horribly fatigued. Every day I was dragging. One day I made the mistake of also taking my allergy meds, and was almost unable to move.
And I was also in a bleak, hopeless, sad mood. Every day.
And my chronic problems from the last year revved back up again. (And have stayed with me, to this moment.)
Yep, Lisiniprol can cause depression, and that's a pretty common side effect. Ditto for the other problems. The fatigue is indeed less common, but I have no doubt that was occurring.
I was also surprised how big of an effect the change in drugs had on my exercising. You see, I went from a beta blocker to a ACE inhibitor. The new drug did seem to be controlling my blood pressure better. But I also suddenly lost the heart rate control of the beta blocker.
This was probably a perfect OK thing. I suddenly found that my muscles didn't get as tired when I pushed them hard. Because they were getting more oxygen. So I could sprint on my bike further without suddenly getting worn out.
But I also found that I would be sweating, panting, and out of breath when I climbed a hill that had be no problem just weeks earlier). Because I was pushing hard up into cardio zones that I wasn't used to. Wacky.
(But probably OK.)
The other side effects were not OK. I was really torn with indecision about continuing with the lisinopril because I was supposed to get a new blood pressure test last Friday, so I wanted to stick with the new drug until then.
But then last Wednesday I biked into Endgame. And I was totally beat. And on the way there I came to a complete stop at a green light because the pedestrian signal had gone red. And I realized I was not safe on my bike. (It was the second time I'd spaced out on the trip there.)
Not safe on my bike almost two weeks after I'd started taking the med was unacceptable. So off it I am.
New doctor's appointment on Friday. Which means I'm facing the exact frustration I feared of a cycle of useless appointments.
(I'm hoping that we come to the conclusion that the metoprolol is good enough even if not perfect, but that'll probably require another blood pressure test. But I just need it to hold over until bystolic goes generic in 2021, as I found that worked better and had no drowsiness at all, which means it could also be increased as need be.)
And today I am trying not to freak out that the Republicans in the Senate literally just voted to debate taking away my health insurance. This isn't some theoretical 20 to 30 million people are screwed. I'm the only employee of Skotos, so I get my insurance on the individual market. They want to take that away. They do not want me to be able to work for a super small company. They do not want me to be able to work for myself. They do not want me to be able to retire before I turn 65.
Because they are evil monsters.
Literally.
Not freaking out.
(I was freaking out when Trump was elected in large part because I feared how they might affect me and my future by taking insurance back to the bad 'ole days where it was almost entirely tied to employment.)
I try to remember that Hawaii has a strong insurance market and did even before the ACA. And that's only a few years away.
Not freaking out.
But my blood pressure is probably up.
I switched over at the start of the year because I just couldn't justify continuing with my Blue Shield plan, which bumped up around $150/mo this year, to almost $800. I looked into some of their cheaper programs, since they now have "silver" programs that don't make you pay for doctor visits before you hit your deductible, but the closest primary care doctors were in San Francisco, which is utterly insane, and of course made that plan useless. So I went with Kaiser and dropped my monthly cost to $500.
Now Kaiser has gotten a bad name over the years, so I was somewhat concerned. But I was never sure of how much of that was due to the fact that as a non-profit healthcare provider with centralized care, they do things different. And, I'd had Kaiser when I was growing up, and don't remember any problems. And, I'd had Kaiser when I worked at Chaosium in the '90s, and they were no more helpful or useless than any other doctor I've ever had. (Mostly useless.) Still, there was was some trepidation.
So, two weeks ago Friday. Simple visit: I wanted a new prescription written for my blood pressure med.
The hospital is a little inconvenient, since it's out at MacArthur BART, but any additional work time I lose getting there is more than offset by the $300 I'm saving a month. And, it was a nice bike ride. Warm, pleasant day.
I got there about 15 minutes before my appointment, which was later than I'd intended. I checked in, and within a minute or two they took me in. Wow! I noted they were running early, and was told that the doctor had a schedule where she had to do other things shortly after my appointment (like, perhaps lunch?) so they were making sure she was running early. Double wow!
Meanwhile, I was putting in my personal information on an iPad. Super high tech.
The doctor came in to see me shortly and we talked some. She didn't seem in the least bit rushed. She seemed happy to write me a prescription for the the metoprolol that I was using, but also told me her standard methodology for dealing with blood pressure. So we agreed to try her favored drug, lisinoprol, which she said has absolutely no drowsiness side effects. I don't have a lot of problems with my metoprolol, but it's not controlling my blood pressure as much as I'd like, and sometimes in the afternoon I fade. So I said sure.
She zapped the prescription downstairs, and I followed it a few minutes later. There was the pharmacy, which was utter chaos, with people standing all around. I went over to the most appropriate looking line, and checked in, and was told my prescription would be ready shortly. Sure enough, a few minutes later I was talking to a second clerk, and then sent off to a third place where a pharmacist came and talked to me.
Like I said, utter chaos, but also less than 5 minutes total in the pharmacy. And the default distribution was a bottle of 100 pills, none of this 30 at a time BS.
Overall, Kaiser was a little faraway and a little chaotic, but it was respectful of my time, efficient, and still personable. So, thumbs up so far.
But didn't you say something about frustration, you ask.
Yeah. Pretty much every time I've ever gone to a doctor with a problem, I've visited numerous times with no results. Back in the '90s when I had digestive problems? Nothing. I was told to eat more fiber. (I finally figured out on my own: lactose intolerant.) In the '00s when I had more digestive problems, again nothing. (I finally figured out on my own: allergy to beef.) In the late '00s I started have debilitating headaches, and I saw any number of specialists, but the only help I ever got was a neuropathic pain blocker from an otherwise worthless neurologist. (I finally figured out on my own: allergies.)
So last year I went through this rigamarole again for some new chronic problems, with something like a half-dozen visits to specialists and unnecessary CAT scans and other unpleasantness. In the end I simply just gave up without a solution. And that left me reluctant to head back to the doctor again this year and start this cycle again.
But by summer those chronic problems had faded, as they have from time to time, and I really needed to get in to see a doc before my metroprolol ran out.
So the new drug? Lisinopril? SUCKED.
I was horribly, horribly fatigued. Every day I was dragging. One day I made the mistake of also taking my allergy meds, and was almost unable to move.
And I was also in a bleak, hopeless, sad mood. Every day.
And my chronic problems from the last year revved back up again. (And have stayed with me, to this moment.)
Yep, Lisiniprol can cause depression, and that's a pretty common side effect. Ditto for the other problems. The fatigue is indeed less common, but I have no doubt that was occurring.
I was also surprised how big of an effect the change in drugs had on my exercising. You see, I went from a beta blocker to a ACE inhibitor. The new drug did seem to be controlling my blood pressure better. But I also suddenly lost the heart rate control of the beta blocker.
This was probably a perfect OK thing. I suddenly found that my muscles didn't get as tired when I pushed them hard. Because they were getting more oxygen. So I could sprint on my bike further without suddenly getting worn out.
But I also found that I would be sweating, panting, and out of breath when I climbed a hill that had be no problem just weeks earlier). Because I was pushing hard up into cardio zones that I wasn't used to. Wacky.
(But probably OK.)
The other side effects were not OK. I was really torn with indecision about continuing with the lisinopril because I was supposed to get a new blood pressure test last Friday, so I wanted to stick with the new drug until then.
But then last Wednesday I biked into Endgame. And I was totally beat. And on the way there I came to a complete stop at a green light because the pedestrian signal had gone red. And I realized I was not safe on my bike. (It was the second time I'd spaced out on the trip there.)
Not safe on my bike almost two weeks after I'd started taking the med was unacceptable. So off it I am.
New doctor's appointment on Friday. Which means I'm facing the exact frustration I feared of a cycle of useless appointments.
(I'm hoping that we come to the conclusion that the metoprolol is good enough even if not perfect, but that'll probably require another blood pressure test. But I just need it to hold over until bystolic goes generic in 2021, as I found that worked better and had no drowsiness at all, which means it could also be increased as need be.)
And today I am trying not to freak out that the Republicans in the Senate literally just voted to debate taking away my health insurance. This isn't some theoretical 20 to 30 million people are screwed. I'm the only employee of Skotos, so I get my insurance on the individual market. They want to take that away. They do not want me to be able to work for a super small company. They do not want me to be able to work for myself. They do not want me to be able to retire before I turn 65.
Because they are evil monsters.
Literally.
Not freaking out.
(I was freaking out when Trump was elected in large part because I feared how they might affect me and my future by taking insurance back to the bad 'ole days where it was almost entirely tied to employment.)
I try to remember that Hawaii has a strong insurance market and did even before the ACA. And that's only a few years away.
Not freaking out.
But my blood pressure is probably up.