Thursday, January 17, 2013

BCBS waiting period for back surgery?

Q. i have had a bad back for 3-4 years and i know i has something to do with my siatica nerve being inflamed and pinched. i am self employed and wanting to get blue cross blue shield of illinois. if indeed i need surgery s there a waiting period for something that big? what about waiting period for an mri? thanks for any help

A. Hi Gary, I'll give you a few words of advise and save you a lot of pain and a headache or too. They are probably going to ask if you have had any preexisting medical issues. If you had and their is no record of it, then you may be good. There are many different plans. As far as a waiting period again depends on the plan. Call them up and ask them. I just had Lumbar Discectomy and just for the use of the hospital (9 hrs I was there) it cost $42,000, not including the DR's, anastasia Dr. I have BCBS of CA (Fed Empl). My share was around 500 bucks. If you do get insurance I am recommending that you go to Cleveland Clinic and find yourself a great Dr. Find a DR who is innovative. I had Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery and walked out of the hospital that day. IF and only IF you have surgery make sure you have this procedure done. (Read about it below) I had mine for 16 yrs, and in Jan I had surgery and the pain is gone, not 100% but it's around 96% 98%. I was at a pain level of 9-10. I was killing me. I went back to work the next week. This is a excellent new procedure and gone are the days when they ripped open your back. This is why everyone says dont ever have back surgery. What I just had done, if someone has a pain level of 7-10 consistant, everyday, then I would highly suggest getting this procedure done. My buddy had it done back in Oct, and he is doing great. They say it has a 90% success rate, and so far they are right. the whole procedure is about 1 1/2 hr s long. Very limited if at all any pain. Its truly amazing...(sound like an info-mercial). All I have to say is find a Dr who knows about this procedure and who is a Professor. These Dr. are the latest and greatest and are up to date on new treatments. For my Back I went to Cedars Sini in L.A. After doing some heavy research into Neurosurgeons, I found one that specializes in Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery, and is a Professor in this subject at UCLA. I knew if a Dr was going into my back, I wanted to have the best that I could find. I hope you will consider my thoughts. I spent 2 months looking, and it paid off. I know it may be a drive for you to the C.Clinic, but in my eyes and Im sure your back will thank you, it is well worth the drive to have the finest work on you. They are a TOP notch Hospital. ANyway good luck and I hope all works out well for you. If you'd like to contact me, leave your email address on this question and answer. thx


Strabismus or a Lazy eye?
Q. I want to know what condition I have.

I've had crossed eyes since birth. They cross inward. I had surgey but the last surgery caused problems so I can't have anymore. Since around age 13 my eyes have been crossing more and more as the surgery has worn off I guess?

My right eye is completely crossed in to the point that you can't see the pupil. I can't move it out at all.

Is this a lazy eye? I don't know if it has vision because it is too crossed for the pupil to get light. When I cover my left eye the right eye is just a dark red blurr.

Even worst, my left eye also has limited turn out. I can't gaze to the left at all. I can only look straight ahead or to my right. To look left I have to turn my head.

Doctors seem confused because they all say something different! I'm looking for alternative treatment since surgery is a non-option. I desperately want to fix this, I hate my appearance and my limited abilities having this condition causes.

A. If at all possible you might want to consider seeing one of the top specialists - they might be able to help or at least eliminate some of the confusion. Dr. Rosenbaum at UCLA or Dr. Buckley at Duke are two of the finest Doc's around for such situations.

Good luck


My eye hurts!!!! can anyone help?
Q. long story,
A couple years ago, I had the same problem. My right eye in the upper corner hurts and it is in the eye, not to the side. So a few years ago, I had this same problem and i went to a doctor. They saw nothing wrong so they sent me to a bigger hospital in the city where that took an MRI scan to see if there was a tomur. Nothing came up, so they sent me to an optomastrist even further away where he dialated my puples and looked at them with a light... y'know, what all eye docctors do. And HE saw nothing wrong. There was nothing more that they could do for me so they sent me home and it hurt so much. I would break out in tears everyday and scream. It eventually quit but now it is relapsing. I really don't want to have to go through this again. Please help me! please.... it hurts sooo bad....

A. I went through the EXACT same thing. I went to every kind of doctor you can imagine. An ophthalmologist even put numbing drops on my eye. The kind they give you before Lasik surgery, and it STILL hurt. It always felt like there was a hot branding iron on my eyeball.
So the numbing drops not working proved that it wasn't my cornea.
FINALLY, after over 60 doctors, traveling to Scripps Hospital in San Diego, and a cornea specialist (this was before the numbing drops experiment) at UCLA and over $100,000 (I didn't have insurance then!) and 9 years of crying myself to sleep every night, (my wonderful husband knew to just not talk to me,) I finally found a regular doctor who wasn't afraid to give me the pain medicine I needed that other doctors were afraid to give me because they might get in trouble. I've been on Fiorinal with Codeine and MS Contin (Morphine Sulfate) for 13 years. It took awhile to get the right amounts down, but we finally did, and we're assuming it's my OPTIC nerve. We call it 'optic neuralgia,' or 'optic neurosis.' Because of those pills I need Zantac, (for my stomach,) Miralax, (for constipation,) and Klonopin, Elavil, and Paxil for depression and anxiety. It's a ton of medicine, but I need it and I don't abuse it. I take as little as possible. Btw, I did have MRI's to check my optic nerve and I had shots in my face to numb the pain but nothing helped or showed up on the MRI's.
Of course this changed my life. I'm happy now. It does flare up a couple times a year for up to a week, so I take an extra codeine and that really helps. I thank the Lord for Dr. Maurice Gregory in Las Vegas, NV. He had the guts to give me what I need, and now every time I have to change primary doctors I'm scared, (I have insurance now,) but they see that I don't abuse the meds and they continue to give them to me. I cannot live without them.
A weird thing is that when the pain was sooooo bad, it would help when I would eat a meal. Then it would back about 20 minutes later. It's was hell on earth. If you need to talk or have any questions, email me.
Bless you and good luck. Hang in there. :)

EDIT: I opened up my email for you. I see that yours is closed. Just go to "Edit my Preferences" then 'Privacy and Communication.' On the next page you can open your email to other people and it will not show your real email. I'll keep it open for a couple days. If you don't want to talk about it, I understand. ;)
EDIT: Hi. I've been thinking about you. Did you have your eyes checked to see if they're very dry? You could have Dry Eye Syndrome. Then you would just need artificial tears.
Also, IF you open up your email, don't forget to click "Submit" at the bottom of the page, after you click "Let other users contact me by email."
Also, my pills don't make me high, because my body needs them for the pain. They just keep the horrible pain away. I can drive and everything.
Best of luck, Lynn


Will my baby be okay? Please help?
Q. A cyst showed up in the baby's chest in my previous routine ultrasound. Worried, I called ucla and set up an app down there.. . It turns out it is close to the heart and has made the heart shift but the baby is growing perfectly and the heart is pumping good. The doctor explained worst case scenario the cyst grows and the outcome is heart failure.. If not then best case is it regresses or goes away. I need help... This is obviously an emotional situation and I want to know if anyone has gone through anything similar and if there is anything I can do other than perhaps what the doc told me... Also I am 20 weeks plus 6 days.

A. I'm sure your baby will be fine. My nephew was born with a hole in his heart and he turned out normal. 17 now. Just keep an eye on it every week. To see its changes. You're already half way to 40 weeks so if anything worst outcome might be early delivery and surgery. I hope everything goes well. Have faith and pray. Eat super healthy it could help!! Only organic! Avoid coffee and look up foods to eat /don't eat for cysts. Good luck!





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