Pre-cycle labs, low T issues, Thyroid.. etc

[Megatron28]

Even though your current doc is uncomfortable treating you, can you get her to run blood work for you nownif you tell her what labs you want run? At least keep the ball moving forward. This shouldn't be putting your doc out too much and gets you off to a running start when you see the endo.

 

[gruntwerk]

Even though your current doc is uncomfortable treating you, can you get her to run blood work for you nownif you tell her what labs you want run? At least keep the ball moving forward. This shouldn't be putting your doc out too much and gets you off to a running start when you see the endo.

She refused to do so... I had actually mentioned exactly what you said, I told her well hey lets do the labs this way you can fax the results to the endo so he has a heads up. Her logic is no because the endo will want to do his own labs and she's not 100% sure what he will want to see, so I asked again and explained either way and no matter what he is going to need to see LH, FSH, e2 and prolactin so lets just do it now. She didn't like that and got an attitude with me for telling her what we should be doing. I tried explaining to her that this is my health and my life and I want answers and I want to start sorting this out ASAP but she's not getting it. Unfortunately I was assigned to the part time time when mine went out... and she can be a little rough around the edges, had my normal doc been there I strongly feel all the labs would of already have been done and I would likely have an endo appt already, my normal doc is the get shit done kinda doc so I like her. She will be back in June but by then this process will have moved out of the PC office anyway.

 

[gruntwerk]

Holy shit.

So a cyst on your testes, AND long-term opiate use? I'm primary hypogonadal because I had multiple knee surgeries back to back, and was on HUGE doses of opiods for several years. They didn't know this back then, and still many don't know this, but opiates DESTROY the leydig cells in your testes.

I could take a bazillion grams of clomid and nolvadex, and with an LH of a million, my nuts would just yawn. I suspect you may be in a similar situation. I spent years telling docs that I felt horrible, and it wasn't until the Internet opened my eyes to how my symptoms were low T based that I demanded a test.

The rest is history.

See I had thought it all wrong.... I had the assumption that opiates only suppressed natural T and it would come back with stopping the meds, I did not know they actually destroyed leydig cells. It's been over a year now since I have touched an opiate, actually nearing the 2 year mark and that includes RX'd opiates like the suboxone I used to ween off. Apparently the damage has been done though, and yes I have a small cyst on my right testicle which turned out to be non cancerous thank god but could still be causing me issues I bet.

 

[halfwit]

She refused to do so... I had actually mentioned exactly what you said, I told her well hey lets do the labs this way you can fax the results to the endo so he has a heads up. Her logic is no because the endo will want to do his own labs and she's not 100% sure what he will want to see, so I asked again and explained either way and no matter what he is going to need to see LH, FSH, e2 and prolactin so lets just do it now. She didn't like that and got an attitude with me for telling her what we should be doing. I tried explaining to her that this is my health and my life and I want answers and I want to start sorting this out ASAP but she's not getting it. Unfortunately I was assigned to the part time time when mine went out... and she can be a little rough around the edges, had my normal doc been there I strongly feel all the labs would of already have been done and I would likely have an endo appt already, my normal doc is the get shit done kinda doc so I like her. She will be back in June but by then this process will have moved out of the PC office anyway.

She knows that pulling a panel makes her responsible for treatment. She's terrified of DEM ROIDZ.

Seriously. Lol.

See I had thought it all wrong.... I had the assumption that opiates only suppressed natural T and it would come back with stopping the meds, I did not know they actually destroyed leydig cells. It's been over a year now since I have touched an opiate, actually nearing the 2 year mark and that includes RX'd opiates like the suboxone I used to ween off. Apparently the damage has been done though, and yes I have a small cyst on my right testicle which turned out to be non cancerous thank god but could still be causing me issues I bet.

Yep, although it's not 100% all people, it is becoming pretty common as more and more folks are becoming addicts due to a lack of an exit strategy from the pain drugs.

You hurt, and you want the pain to go away. The problem is that being on long enough makes you forget that we're SUPPOSED to feel some pain all the time - it's how we know we're alive.

Of course, a panel will show all this. Btw, if you're not on a preferred provider plan that requires a referral, you DON'T have to wait. You can pick a doctor of your choosing and get the ball rolling on your own.

 

[gruntwerk]

She knows that pulling a panel makes her responsible for treatment. She's terrified of DEM ROIDZ.

Seriously. Lol.



Yep, although it's not 100% all people, it is becoming pretty common as more and more folks are becoming addicts due to a lack of an exit strategy from the pain drugs.

You hurt, and you want the pain to go away. The problem is that being on long enough makes you forget that we're SUPPOSED to feel some pain all the time - it's how we know we're alive.

Of course, a panel will show all this. Btw, if you're not on a preferred provider plan that requires a referral, you DON'T have to wait. You can pick a doctor of your choosing and get the ball rolling on your own.

Ah makes sense, she doesn't want to involve herself at all then.

As for the pain meds yeah that's exactly it, I started to use them to cope with emotional pain and every little ache I got from my injuries and from there it was a wrap. I detoxed off it all almost 2 years ago with suboxone and that worked well with a slow taper.

As for doctors this is what I got - I'm a retired veteran so I get full coverage at the VA but the VA drags their feet with anything so I avoid them at all costs. Sucks because I have np copayment there for meds or visits but they're difficult. And with the VA your can bypass your PC for anything at all without the referral which is bullshit as its all the VA. Other issue with my VA is there is no endo so I would have to travel 3 hours to the buffalo VA.

Next I have SSDI because of my medical retirement from the Army so I get Medicare through NYS, issue here is I don't qualify for part D as I make too much money so any civilian scripts I have to pay in full for, which I would be willing to do with test. Sometimes the VA will honor outside scripts if they're detrimental to health so there is a chance they would pay me back for the script. Now with Medicare I do not know if they're a preferred provider system, I just started using it recently for this whole mess as the VA was dicking me around. Do you happen to know if Medicare is that way?

 

[halfwit]

Ah makes sense, she doesn't want to involve herself at all then.

As for the pain meds yeah that's exactly it, I started to use them to cope with emotional pain and every little ache I got from my injuries and from there it was a wrap. I detoxed off it all almost 2 years ago with suboxone and that worked well with a slow taper.

As for doctors this is what I got - I'm a retired veteran so I get full coverage at the VA but the VA drags their feet with anything so I avoid them at all costs. Sucks because I have np copayment there for meds or visits but they're difficult. And with the VA your can bypass your PC for anything at all without the referral which is bullshit as its all the VA. Other issue with my VA is there is no endo so I would have to travel 3 hours to the buffalo VA.

Next I have SSDI because of my medical retirement from the Army so I get Medicare through NYS, issue here is I don't qualify for part D as I make too much money so any civilian scripts I have to pay in full for, which I would be willing to do with test. Sometimes the VA will honor outside scripts if they're detrimental to health so there is a chance they would pay me back for the script. Now with Medicare I do not know if they're a preferred provider system, I just started using it recently for this whole mess as the VA was dicking me around. Do you happen to know if Medicare is that way?

Uggghhh. My stepfather is actually one of the very vocal folks regarding the issues the VA has with taking care of veterans. I do thank you for your service, and can't believe some of the hoops you guys have to jump through.

Unfortunately, I don't know how Medicare works in this case, but if I recall correctly, the VA does allow you to contact NON-VA docs if your wait is in excess of 90 days. I don't know all the logistics behind it, but it sure sounds like you qualify, ESPECIALLY given your VA doesn't have an endo.

I'd have a good talk with the patient advocate and see what they can do for you. (I think that's the title, it's been awhile since I have had the run down on how this stuff works as I'm not a vet, it's a long story, but my size in 1993-1994 was too big for the armed forces, except the Marines - which scared me off). Hopefully they can find you a time slot MUCH sooner and to your liking.

 

[gruntwerk]

Uggghhh. My stepfather is actually one of the very vocal folks regarding the issues the VA has with taking care of veterans. I do thank you for your service, and can't believe some of the hoops you guys have to jump through.

Unfortunately, I don't know how Medicare works in this case, but if I recall correctly, the VA does allow you to contact NON-VA docs if your wait is in excess of 90 days. I don't know all the logistics behind it, but it sure sounds like you qualify, ESPECIALLY given your VA doesn't have an endo.

I'd have a good talk with the patient advocate and see what they can do for you. (I think that's the title, it's been awhile since I have had the run down on how this stuff works as I'm not a vet, it's a long story, but my size in 1993-1994 was too big for the armed forces, except the Marines - which scared me off). Hopefully they can find you a time slot MUCH sooner and to your liking.

Ah well thank you man, my first choice was actually the Marines but after I took the entry PT test with the recruiter he told me I would have to go to college before they could let me in. I have a GED and when I joined in 2008 the Marines, Air Force and Navy did not allow GED entries without completing 15 college credits with at least a C average. The Army on the other hand still allowed GED's... as long as you could make your ASVAB score for the MOS you wanted they didn't care, but the Army was doing more deployments in that time frame then any other branch of service. I had a great ASVAB score so my recruiter was trying to lean on me to pick intelligence as my MOS but I really just wanted to be a grunt.... good old fashioned ground pounding knuckle dragging grunt. I loved it... when most people think of combat they think of the grunts, 11b's or the 0311 Marines, 12b's, etc. So that's what I did, on the ground kicking ass and taking HVT's into custody for the intelligence unit we were attached too. Plan was to do two enlistments (8 years) then get out and pursue college for criminal justice, really wanted to work for SWAT or something like that, would of been the closest thing possible to what I did in Iraq within the states. But then I was injured at the 4 year mark, oddly enough on my second tour (Mosul) which was actually calmer then the first tour (Bahcuba)... that left me in a state where I couldn't have functioned well enough as a grunt humping 80 pounds all day. I actually took shrapnel too my left leg (shin area) but got severely lucky and it went in behind the shin bone and only nicked my femur, also missed all major arteries. Bad part was it tore apart a bunch of blood vessels and nerves, then during the debris surgery they screwed up and left some shit in there. They close me up, few weeks later in Germany I become sick as a dog and leg starts turning purple... turns out whatever they left in there was full of shit (go figure it's Iraq) and started a staff infection which was cellulitis. Nice huh? They MRI my leg then to make things better they tell me I'm going into emergency surgery because I have necrotizing fasciitis... I ask wtf is that and they tell me, great now I'm turning into a zombie. Luckily they got it under control without having to remove too much muscle tissue but it ended up causing more damage, took awhile to be able to walk again and I have to have a few more post-surgeries for them to put some type of tissue in there. All in all I got lucky, I was able to regain full movement of my leg and keep some feeling in it but not much so that took some getting used too for walking, having a numb foot is weird.

Anyway sorry to bore you with a long story but this is how they raped me in the end, they gave me a medical separation amd 30k severance pay, they said my injuries weren't significant enough to qualify for actual medical retirement. So I take my honorable discharge and money and get out, get over to the VA and file a compensation claim... this process took 4 years to get what I have now. They started me off with 20% disability which gave me no benefits, I fight for a few years then get 60%, that gives me some more benefits but not enough because now I'm suffering from PTSD and pretty freaked out. I start fighting for medical retirement, now in order to save the most money yet try to make me happy what they do is award me with a increase to 80% disabled but with IU (individual unemployable) so they pay me 100% even though I'm 80% because my conditions prevent me from working a good enough job, the catch 22 is it's not retirement even though it's 100% pay, with IU they don't have to give me separate civilian insurance. Had they giving me retirement I would have tricare insurance (and my kids) for life. So that leaves me the VA....

I'm going call the VA tomorrow though and ask about the 90 day wait, I was able to get a local neurologist because they didn't have one there (private office) so maybe I can get them to cover the endo locally. This process can be lengthy though but worth a shot this way it's all free.

Thanks again for all your help brother. Sorry for the long post.