My GI doctor called me this evening to let me know that I will be put on some synthetic steroids for now. She said that they have the same benefits as the Prednisone but without all of the side effects. It’s going to cost me $90 a month right now unless I can get my insurance to pay for part of it hopefully. Unless the insurance is accepted at the pharmacy that the meds are being made at(it’s $900 to get it at my regular pharmacy) but they’re not listed on the insurance website.
I’m not sure about the name of the new medicine that I will be put on. I will know more next week once the pharmacy calls me to let me know I can pick up my prescription. They’re making the pills themselves which is why the cost is so much lower there than at my other pharmacy. I hope this new med works just as well as the Prednisone. I’m not sure how long I will be on the new medicine. I’ll find out more at my next doctors appointment that is in February I’m sure. Hopefully everything is going well by then seeing how I have to travel to Ohio for a friends wedding. My doctor also decided to speed up how fast I am coming off of the Prednisone so I will be stepping down 10mg every 5 days instead of every 10.
My doctor also talked about taking me completely off the steroids if I continue to do well. Although this could cause another flair up and then we will have to go with their backup plan which is to start me on Biologic Therapies. So to prepare for this I now have to get a bunch of tests done for pulmonary tuberculosis(TB), Hepatitis B and C and a couple of other things. They want all of this done just in case I do have to start the biologic therapies to treat my Ulcerative Colitis(UC). My doctor is hoping that it doesn’t come down to it because these therapies are used to treat moderate to severe UC and I have a mild to moderate severity. So at this point only time will tell.
Apparently though, these therapies are pretty expensive. So I’m hoping that we don’t have to go there quite yet. My health costs have really been weighing down on me so far this year. I have new insurance so I’m still getting used to that. My deductible before my insurance starts to help pay for things is $500 so I already know I have to spend that much in health care costs so far. After that I have to pay 20% until I reach my maximum out of pocket which is $2,500 for the year and then they’ll cover everything. That and now my new meds are $90 a month and I don’t know how long I’ll be on those or how much I’ll get reimbursed for it. If at all. So all of this is getting me pretty stressed out and I HATE IT 🙁
I’ve been trying to think of ways to save money because of this. I’m also working on getting my budget together for the year but that could take a couple of months to get together how I want it to be. And need it to be. I have started packing my lunch for work, and packing snacks so I’m not tempted to eat out as much and stop at the gas station for food. I’m also probably going to get a Costco membership this weekend so I can start buying different things in bulk so I can save that way. I can get a lot of meat there cheaper and freeze what we don’t need than I can where I normally shop at. I should also look into coupons again. I could definitely save a lot of money that way. Thankfully I can get a free trail of the local news paper for two weeks so I can see how their coupons are.
If anyone has any other suggestions on saving money food wise I’m open to suggestions!