If You Were Uninsured Is It Worth the Cost?

[MommaWuzzi]

When I went to the new urologist he suggested burning off Hunner's ulcers and nerve ablation as an alternative treatment. I had a lot of trouble with itching/burning with elmiron instills, and suspect that I might have an issue with it, but we're going to give the old college try and do it orally and see if I also have issues that way.

He changed my pain meds to something ineffective and lack of sleep and inability to get any real relief following his protocol has made me a LOT more open to having it done if it buys me time while we see if it was an actual allergy to elmiron or just a cranky bladder kind of issue. If I have to continue to exist like this for a year while we wait to see if elmiron will fix things, I honestly can't figure out how to cope. If I take the Urelle as instructed it does nothing for the discomfort (except for about two or three voids a day which don't burn, but then they go back to burning, no change in pelvic pain level) and adequate, normal hydration (60 to 80 ounces/day) puts me in the bathroom about 40 times per day. He also had me try Levsin (didn't notice any real help) and said I can take Ultram, three a day, for up to three days, but then I have to quit them.

I will have to pay cash for this procedure... will it be worth the money, or should I save myself the trouble and just endure and hope that elmiron works and that I'm not sensitive to it? I can't picture going many more days without sleep...

[Judith56]

I would do the trail to see if it is an allergy first. Did he tell how much it will cost? Is this amount something that you can do? You may also want to wait a few months and see if the Elmiron begins to take effect before jumping into having more procedures since you do not have insurance.

[MommaWuzzi]

No, he didn't, he just suggested it, and I immediately replied, "I'm uninsured and I don't think that's going to be an easy option." It is a university hospital, and if it came down to it, I would end up applying for their sliding scale and seeing where I "came up" before I'd make a final decision.

I really wasn't sure if anyone had good experiences with it, though (how effective is it?) or if it was fairly long-lasting, or a stop-gap that would have to be repeated. I've read that Hunner's ulcers frequently grow back, so I was really putting off having it done, since the diagnosing gynecologist did nothing with them.

Just went through some really bad pain b/c the new doctor put me on less effective pain medication - was surprised at how much more willing I was to consider surgery when I couldn't get below the "writhing" level. I called and asked if I could switch back to what my family physician had prescribed me - at least I could knock the pain back far enough to sleep and get off my couch on it. :-)

Thank you for your answer! :-)