Ok, so when I found out I was expecting last fall, medicaid was more than happy to cover me (they cover childbearing, but not long-term disease). Unforunately the Internal Med doc that I saw couldn't see me while I was on Medicaid, and the pain management doc said he couldn't do anything for me while I was pregnant, so come back after the baby was born.
So whilst I was carrying the Tootlebug, my OB prescribed my Enbrel and hydrocodone, since he was the only doc I could see, or that would see me.
Flash forward to two months post-stork, and I'm in one of the most terrible flares I've had in a long, long time. Taking the occasional hydrocodone just isn't doing it anymore, so I went in to see the pain doc.
Now, my OB had given me an Rx for Norco 1-2 tabs every 4 hours as needed, and just said that he wasn't comfortable treating my pain, as that's not his position, and I totally respect that. But when I went into the PM doc, I figured he'd understand that the Norco wasn't "doing it", since I was on so many meds before I had Zach, all of which he had prescribed. Well I guess not, because he wrote an Rx for the Norco @
1 tablet twice a day (!!!) and told me that he wasn't comfortable prescribing more than that, and that unless I see both a general practitioner and a rheumatologist in the next month, he couldn't treat me again.
So now I have less pain medicine than I did a week ago, and have to find two doctors that can see me (that I can afford to see) in the next month, and have no insurance to help in this adventure. I have one more month of Enbrel, and then I'll be out of luck there, too, if I don't have somebody who's willing to prescribe it.
I was having so much pain (even with all of my meds) last year that I had to quit working. So you can imagine how good I'm feeling now, mid-flare with hardly any meds and a twelve 1/2 pound baby to care for... Ugh.
Oh, how I missed this neverending quest to be treated like a human...
