Crohn's and Thickened Blood

Two years preceding my Crohn's diagnosis I had muscle spasms, numbness and tingling in my hands, feet, arms, and legs and for the first time I also developed sharp pains in my calves. Neurologist did the mega workup and nothing turned up in the blood work.

Thromboembolic disease is a significant cause of morbidity and mortality in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). A hypercoagulable state exists in IBD which may involve many components of hemostasis and is closely linked to disease pathogenesis.

It's time for me to go back and revisit all that blood work at next GI appt since the symptoms are back. Need to scrape together the deductible first. (Thanks to the dentist that did $2700 worth of unnecessary dental work not covered by my insurance and now I know about this thing called PREAPPROVAL)But I'm curious: If they could establish that I have thickened blood what could be done? Blood thinners with an ulcerated bowel?

Sacrifice, my butt.

KevenMD blogging about patient sacrifice required to reign in costs in abstract terms...

What if the pricey blue pill is actually better than the cheaper red one? What if it’s better but just a little bit? What happens when a yellow pill comes along, costing twice as much as the blue? What happens if there’s a new procedure that cures the ailment, but at an even bigger cost?

You healthy folks have the luxury of discussing this abstractly, but let's cut to the chase. Will I or won't I have to give up my no-side-effects Humira ($1600/month) and end up on Prednisone* ($16/month) instead? I've got a great GI that has kept me off that mess so far. What if in the long run prednisone and ostomies for prove to be cheaper than Humira for All? And if I make this sacrifice, what for? So someone else can get $30 off their next well baby visit?

Just sayin'

Nasty steroid side effects: high blood pressure, headache and muscle weakness. Prednisone also can cause puffiness of the face (moon face), growth of facial hair, thinning and easy bruising of the skin, impaired wound healing, glaucoma, cataracts, ulcers in the stomach and duodenum, worsening of diabetes, irregular menses, rounding of the upper back ("buffalo hump"), obesity, retardation of growth in children, convulsions, and psychiatric disturbances. The psychiatric disturbances include depression, euphoria, insomnia, mood swings, personality changes, and even psychotic behavior.

Humira ceases to work?

Daily I've been getting more fatigue and more joint pain. Yesterday I felt aches and pains as if I had been beaten up and I wonder what the game plan is if the Humira stops working altogether. My usual modus operandi is to let everything get intolerably bad then call up the nurse at the office.

Meanwhile at the national level the health care coverage debate rages on and as a patient I have no idea what fate befalls me a few years from now.