Yesterday I counted my Estrace and realized that I would run out by end of day Monday.
Its crazy that the nurses will not prescribe adequate amounts. The nurse initially wanted to give me 30 tablet refills, which at 6 tablets a day is 5 days worth only.
FIVE days.....why on earth is she giving so little?
I told her to make it 60 minimum. She also incorrectly told me that they would be reducing my Estrace this week, so I figured that 60 would be just fine.
Later when I spoke with the main nurse, she said that based on my bloodwork on the coming Tue they will start weaning me off. Hopefully I will not need more than 60 tablets.
The way my insurance is regardless of the number of tablets, I get charged a $60 copay per prescription. So for me it makes sense to have ordered 90 or 120 rather than 60 at a time.
I was really pissed off when I saw the bill today. In total, since I have been cycling. I have paid about $2K in unnecessary medication costs that could have been avoided had they ordered the correct quantities to begin with.
Anyway, so yesterday I ordered a refill of 60 tablets AGAIN and it got delivered today. Thankfully it was easy to order a refill, so no drama like last time.
When I meet my RE on Tue I will ask him if I can do generic Estrace, but I think they like to use brand name. Well, anyway hopefully this lot will last me a while.
In other news, I am spending my time reading up about what foods I can /cannot eat.
One knows the basics like sushi, deli meats etc. But there is a lot of confusion out there on things like peanut butter, etc. Not that I am a huge fan of it, but I do eat it 1-2 times a week. Jury is still out on that one.
Also, the past year or so I have switched to eating brown rice thinking it was healthy. Well, now a recent study found out that brown rice and brown rice syrup which was touted as a healthy sweetener and is in all sorts of things has high levels of arsenic :-( And even white rice they say is has trace amounts, but is better since the husk is removed.
Of course, I read all this just when I made a huge yummy batch of chicken/white rice/veggies for dinner last night. I still ate some since I was hungry, but will freeze the rest so I can eat it spaced it out over few weeks a bit at a time, rather than all this week. Luckily, my rice happens to be from India which they say is preferred, and not as bad as rice grown in southern US which apparently is the worst :-(
Makes me wonder about people in countries (or the South) where rice is eaten daily?? Or for that matter fish. Do Japanese women really not eat sushi for 9 mos? Or French women really keep away from soft cheeses?
I sometimes think that the US is very restrictive in terms of pregnancy diet. Moderation is key in my mind and having a varied diet. But I will obviously stick to whatever diet is recommended.
If nothing else, I really know how to read food labels now :-)
Peanut butter??? Do tell! As a vegetarian / almost vegan, I use PB as a protein source.
ReplyDeleteThere is the whole peanut allergy debate. Some people think that eating PB during pregnancy triggers allergy in babies, some think it does not. Very confusing.
DeleteMy OB said that deli meats were okay (if you are worried, you an always heat them up before you eat them). He even said soft cheeses were okay as long as they weren't actually made south of the border (the only case of listeria he had seen in his career was from a pregnant woman that ate truly Mexican cheese).
ReplyDeleteThe US is very restrictive in pregnancy diets. The only things I completely avoided was raw sushi. I was careful with tuna, and lunch meats, but I didn't completely avoid them. I didn't hear about peanut butter being a no-no until halfway through my pregnancy. I was a little nervous because I eat at least one peanut butter sandwich a day (I'm not a huge meat eating so I used it for protein). I know some people who also avoided raw veggies. The only thing my doctor mentioned was tuna because of the mercury level, she felt everything else was safe. With lunch meat she said to just use judgment and not eat anything that had been sitting out for long periods of time.
ReplyDeleteI do think moderation is the key. You can make yourself crazy trying to follow every pregnancy rule.
It's interesting about brown rice and arsenic, I don't eat it but usually thought it would be much better than white. Who would have known?
ReplyDeleteThat is annoying about prescribing things in tiny increments! Oh well, the good news is... you have a tiny bean growing in you!!! That day came Sunflower!! xo
That's silly about the prescriptions. My doctor orderd 180 (with 2 refills) Estrace and I'm only currently taking 8 a day.
ReplyDeleteI think you're right about moderation. The populations in China and India are huge and growing. Whatever they're eating must be fine.
The peanut butter thing worries me though because I love it and I'd hate to have a child that is allergic. I figure I can live 9 months without it rather than the next 20 years. Almond butter makes a decent substitute.
Thank you for posting this about the rice. I have 1 1/2 bags of brown rice on hand. I'll just give away the brown and go buy the processed white rice which is so much less expensive.
ReplyDeleteI know the brown rice is on my endo diet but really I miss my white rice.
I think the US is definitely more restrictive than anywhere else in the world. My husband's employee who is Japanese says that in Japan they eat sushi throughout their pregnancies. And soft cheese is fine as long as it's pasteurized. I've never heard of the peanut butter restriction - in fact, it's been recommended to me to eat by the nutritionist as part of the GD diet because it's considered a protein. So I wouldn't worry about it. I agree with you, I think common sense and moderation is the best rule of thumb.
ReplyDeleteThe do's and don'ts are so confusing and overwhelming. I think you just need to use your best judgement - it seems like this stuff changes daily. And super annoying about the refills...why do they care how many they prescribe you at a time?
ReplyDelete