August 9, 2024

smoke gets in your eyes

Thanks for all of your advice and concern from my post last week. Healthcare is complicated and frustrating at times. I learned some tips from you all to find cheaper meds. They are wonderful resources.

Many meds we can get generic, which decreases cost. But newer and specialized meds can be astonishingly expensive.

People with asthma use inhalers to help open up the airways in the lung to help breathing. In the past, the inhalers used a propellant that was harmful to the atmosphere, so a new inhaler was designed that uses a propellant that’s not harmful. That new one is called “HFA” and this new formulation increased the cost dramatically because they were no longer generic.

Some different inhalers use a powder to inhale but often not covered by insurance companies. Making it necessary to buy the other, more expensive one. Crazy.

But it is possible to find cheaper inhalers, but it takes planning and patience. (This works for other meds as well.) Share the websites with friends.

Here are some tips I learned:

Mark Cuban’s CostPlus online pharmacy. https://costplusdrugs.com You can order on line and have your provider send prescriptions.

Another option is buying from a Canadian pharmacy, https://www.onlinepharmaciescanada.com It reduces costs to about a third of what you’d pay at a US pharmacy. You need a hard copy of your subscription and it can take a few weeks to arrive. But you can order a several month supply. It was even cheaper than the Cost Plus Pharmacy.

These days, getting hard copies of prescriptions is not so straightforward, usually requiring an office visit. The best and easiest way is to request hard copies when you are in for your annual wellness visit.

It is also worth checking and adjusting your Medicare drug plan yearly, if you have one. You can change every November. You can plug your meds into the Medicare website and compare different plans, AND different pharmacies. Was surprised to see the difference between plans and pharmacies.

But boy, it is not straightforward! Takes work to understand and get the approval. Still trying to sort out my inhaler needs, so I know that if it’s hard for me, it’s impossible for others. I am hopeful that my symptoms will improve and this is not a harbinger of Long Covid.

Long Covid continues to stymy patients, clinicians, and researchers. 200 symptoms, have been described and there is not one standardized way to diagnose it. There are no definitive treatments or cure. It is real, not imagined. The biological cause is not known. It could be inflammation, disregulation of the immune system, or leftover fragments of virus.

A report from the National Academies just published addresses this disease with a new definition of the diagnosis: "Long COVID is an infection-associated chronic condition that occurs after SARS-CoV-2 infection and is present for at least 3 months as a continuous, relapsing and remitting, or progressive disease state that affects one or more organ systems." 

Long Covid makes it hard for some people to work, the most troublesome symptoms are brain fog and fatigue. Shortness of breath, rapid heartbeat, extreme fatigue, post-exertional malaise, or sleep disturbance are common. There’s a higher risk of developing atrial fibrillation in the year following infection.

An estimated 18 million adults and one million kids have had Long Covid, current estimates are that 8-9 million adults and 362,000 children are affected. Prevelence went down in 2023 but is rising again, for reasons not understood. Some data show 7% of people in the US are affected. It will have huge economic impacts for millions of people, who may never be able to return to work.

People more ill with COVID are more likely to get it, but even people with mild cases can develop it. The unvaccinated have a higher risk, those with underlying conditions and women. Children have a lower risk and recover from Long Covid faster. Some adults improve but many have symptoms lasting more than a year.

Interestingly, similar long term symptoms affect people after Influenza and other viruses. This is being looked at in other areas for clues on how to help or prevent it.

Right now, the virus is surging world wide, including the Olympics. California, Boston, even Boise are busy with cases. In Idaho the hot weather and the wildfire smoke are bring people in doors. People going to music events and camps commonly return with a new infection. Look at the CDC wastewater map to see how widespread it is in the US. Most people do Ok- they’ve been vaccinated and/or had it. But some are at risk for serious illness and death. Usually in older or immunocompromised people.

But deaths in the US from Covid have fallen. New provisional data shows that Covid as “Cause of death” has dropped to 10th place in 2023. It peaked at 3rd highest in 2020 and 2022, with heart disease and cancer deaths being higher. It was 4th place in 2022. Now only, 1.6% of deaths, were from Covid, down from 5.7% in 2022. Most were older than 85. It still deadly but not as common.

Be careful out there. Good ventilation is key. Masking works. I’ll be wearing my mask more, not just for Covid but also to protect my lungs from the wildfire smoke in the west. Sigh.

And finally, my caveat is that this is my experience and my opinions, which are subject to change as more information is available. Thanks for reading.

Share this post if you know of others who may be interested. All links are listed at the bottom of this post. The New York Times articles have links that are gift links, allowing you to read the article for free.

https://costplusdrugs.com/medications/

https://www.onlinepharmaciescanada.com

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/05/health/long-covid-symptoms-recovery.html?unlocked_article_code=1.Bk4.iqo3.lk44yYcuQawx&smid=url-share

https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/27756/long-term-health-effects-of-covid-19-disability-and-function

https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/national-academies-issue-new-broad-definition-long-covid-2024a1000ayc?form=fpf

https://www.healthday.com/health-news/cardiovascular-diseases/covid-can-raise-long-term-odds-for-irregular-heartbeat

https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/health/long-colds-may-exist-scientists-studying-covids-effects-find/

https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/summer-covid-surge-hits-at-least-84-countries-and-continues-to-climb/

https://www.cdc.gov/nwss/rv/COVID19-currentlevels.html

https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2024/08/07/covid-surge-summer-paris-olympics/

https://www.yahoo.com/news/latest-wastewater-data-shows-covid-171009366.html

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2024-08-05/californias-covid-surge-is-robust-and-long-lasting-surpassing-peak-from-summer-of-2022

https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/idaho-has-very-high-levels-of-covid-in-wastewater-the-weather-may-be-making-it-worse/

https://www.medpagetoday.com/infectiousdisease/covid19/111439