Auto-injection!

June 13th, 2008 · No Comments

Well, the Copaxone prescription is moving along. I received my auto-injector today in the mail. I am not sure I am an auto-injector kind of girl but I will try it. I have a feeling I will like the manual way but we will see. I have no idea how it works but of course Tom has it figured out. Boys.. and their toys.

I called the Aetna Pharmacy yesterday to get the prescription filled. They said they had to verify benefits and that it takes 24-48 hours. To add to my list of things I don’t understand about insurance companies…. why does it take 48 hours to verify coverage for Aetna insurance at the Aetna pharmacy. Walgreens takes less than a minute and it’s an outside company. Anyway, the list of irrational insurance things is getting long.

None the less, i am very VERY lucky and happy that I have insurance. So far, this MS thing has cost the insurance company about 2,000 USD. I haven’t gotten the MRI bill but I imagine that will be quite a lot. My thyroid and vitamin D blood tests cost 800 dollars. It’s insane.

Speaking of vitamin D, another study came out recently that showed:

A study released in May, for example, found that women with breast cancer who had low vitamin D levels at the time of their diagnosis were 73 percent more likely to die from the disease, and nearly twice as likely to have it recur.

And over the past few years, researchers have linked low vitamin D levels to prostate cancer, colon cancer, multiple sclerosis, influenza and chronic muscle pain, among other maladies.

So once again, listen to Oprah (because no one listens to me…) and get your vitamin D level checked. Don’t tell me “Well, I take 1,000 IU a day so I’m fine!” because that doesn’t mean anything if you don’t check your levels. And if your doctor doesn’t believe you need it checked, then find a new doctor. They are part of the old school and don’t keep up on the vitamin D research.

I am going to hope for some vitamin D this weekend but given that Alaska has been warmer than Seattle… ah screw it. Freakin Weather.