Dedicated Dad Needs Help

[SeekHer]

I gave him a tip regarding long-term pain medication users and what it can do to your blood chemistry. He said it could explain a lot, so he's going to talk to his doctor about having his blood checked, hopefully today. It's a easy fix but it's easily overlooked by MANY doctors.

Would you explain it to the group please! I'm taking Hyromorphone Contin and other then constipation--which these new bio culture yoghurts have been helping out immensely, I've not really got any noticeable side effects and this third arm is getting stronger every day!

[308Mike]

I gave him a tip regarding long-term pain medication users and what it can do to your blood chemistry. He said it could explain a lot, so he's going to talk to his doctor about having his blood checked, hopefully today. It's a easy fix but it's easily overlooked by MANY doctors.

Would you explain it to the group please! I'm taking Hyromorphone Contin and other then constipation--which these new bio culture yoghurts have been helping out immensely, I've not really got any noticeable side effects and this third arm is getting stronger every day!

Okay, besides what Chris said, here's some more info I recently discovered:

Long-term use of certain narcotics lead to a drop (sometimes severely) in male testosterone levels. One of my doctors said they're not sure if it's the medication or if it's caused by the chronic pain. I mentioned my concern to my doctor only based upon what I'd read (everything was fine at home, and I wasn't feeling bad, but I just wasn't feeling GOOD either). My sexual interest and drive were fine, but I was starting to feel a little 'off' - not moody, but didn't have a lot of interest in my normal activities except my wife (who's the love of my life) and was attributing it to age, injuries, and multiple medications. My Primary Care Physician did some checking and confirmed what I'd read and ordered a blood test for my testosterone level.

I have never seen my doctor react so quickly to my test results before and he wanted to make some changes, so I did some digging and we discussed it some more and figured out a plan of attack. The "normal" bottom level testosterone count is 280, mine was 62 - so both of my doctors are saying: "NO WONDER YOU'RE NOT FEELING NORMAL!!" Like a: NO DUH!! I was told there aren't any SERIOUS side-effects associated with low testosterone, if it's not affecting your manhood. Coincidentally, one of the things I was also researching was how perception of pain is affected by low testosterone. I found a John Hopkins study regarding pain perception and low testosterone levels.

The options I was given were: come in every 2-3 weeks for an injection (covered by insurance), use a testosterone gel, (too messy, too many problems metabolizing it), pills (get broken down by the liver and they don't work and cause possible liver damage - NO THANKS), home self-administered injections (NOT covered by insurance bastards), or transdermal patches. I'm now a daily patch user.

The first few nights of using the patches, I had some weird dreams, but now about three weeks into using them I'm getting some of my physical self-motivation back for working out again and I'm feeling better. I'll get another blood test in a couple more weeks to see how I'm doing.

[blackeagle603]

DD,
Sitrep?

[308Mike]

DD,
Sitrep?

He called me a few days ago and told me he just hasn't felt like getting online. Everything is about the same which is depressing him and although the new knee is a little tighter than the old one, he and his doc still aren't happy with it.

If he hasn't posted an update by the time I get back from Rumpshot's Revenge, I'll post more details - but he at least has some disability money coming in (which isn't as much as working, but it certainly helps).

[Dedicated_Dad]

I am sorry I have not been more forthcoming - you guys deserve a lot better than this from me.

I have been struggling with depression, fatigue, etc. - I haven't done much of anything besides PT ...

Mike's info on metabolic problems deserves its own thread, and I'm going to start it - but I should say here that I will always be grateful to him for sharing this info. It led me to find something that otherwise would have been missed.

Please look for my thread entitled "Men - please read this..."

The knee is still crap. It's as loose and sloppy as it's ever been, clunks as badly as it ever did - from what I can see the thicker spacer caused my flexion to drop from 120-degrees to 100 without improving the stability or the clunking at all. I've lied my way into the "medical providers" area on the implant manufacturer's site, and read up on the surgical techniques and etc - it seems the femoral component may be wrong and thus the source of all of my problems. I have an appt. with my surgeon on Thurs. and we're going to be having a pretty in-depth conversation - I NEED THIS TO BE FIXED.

On another note, I managed to get the attention of the manufacturer - I actually got a call-back from them!! Apparently my messages have made their way up the food-chain and they may be able to help me find a surgeon capable of sorting this out - IOW someone who handles their problem-cases. They agree this is not right (based on my description of symptoms) and say they want to help - we'll see...

On the financial front, Mike wasn't exactly right... Previously my disability insurer had refused to pay me beyond May 15. I was in the middle of the complicated appeals process when they suddenly decided to re-open my case. They sent me a check for 2-weeks - IOW they paid me through June 1 - which was the balance of my "short-term" policy. This wasn't a lot, enough to cover my medical insurance for a month or two... They then said they'd have to make a decision on the long-term disability claim...

First they tried to say I wasn't eligible for LTD because of a pre-existing condition. I had to get my (former) employer to produce proof I'd been covered for at least 12 months. First, the policy was effective 3/1/07, my surgery/claim was 3/4/08. According to my neighbor's 5-year-old, this is in fact 12 months, but MoH required proof. Somehow they apparently had no record of the fact that I'd been their client for 5+ YEARS.... The employer sent the docs, problem solved.

Well, NO. Problem NOT solved. Now they want me to detail every illness, every med I have taken, every doctor I have seen since 1/1/07. I can't really see how this is relevant to a problem that began with a botched surgery ~15 months later, but I digress. They want to know my wife's name, employer, etc - my kids' names and ages... All sorts of stuff I think is irrelevant. They also want me to sign a blanket release allowing them access to all of my medical records - including my insurer, pharmacy, etc - for 5 years.

When I pushed back, they basically said I didn't **HAVE** to provide this, but if I refused they may deny my claim for refusal to provide requested info. Of course if I DO provide all this, they may find some technicality they can leverage to deny me anyway. Bottom line is if I give them what they want I am supporting their fishing expedition, if I refuse I'll be denied for refusing. Damned if I don't, possibly damned if I do. I'm so f***ing tired of this I'm just going to sign and let them go.

Basically at this point I still haven't had any real income since June 1 though I may get lucky before Christmas.

Thanks again for everything - I still need all the prayers I can get...

DD