Spirituality & Adversity with a Healthcare Emphasis: III

I expect to catch up on comments to the previous thread by Tuesday...

Our health insurance corporations don’t have to deal with the aftermath of denying health care to people they’ve never met that’s been ordered by their physicians – in my particular case, by leading experts in their field of medicine. The aftermath can include incapacitation or death, as with the couple who spoke to the New Hampshire State Legislature just ahead of me who’d lost their four year old son after their insurance fought them on the meds he needed. By the time he got them it was too late.

I’m “lucky” in a way to be able to give the account that follows. There’s no way of knowing, but my guess is that patients and families who go through something like this are usually too devastated and overwhelmed by dealing with their adverse circumstances to bring their situations to light, especially since the “legal remedies” often touted by the industry as making health care reform unnecessary – “patients always have the right to sue” – turns out to be another example of misinformation propagated by American Healthcare Inc. to preserve their numerous opportunities for enhancing their bottom line at the expense of those patients who, in market terms, are more trouble than they’re worth.

Currently I’m going through other problems with the system that are as outrageous as anything I’m describing in these posts. But it’s tough enough to live with them. I can’t write about them at the same time because it brings almost all my time under their domination. I find it less oppressive to write about what’s already been done.

Forced Experimentation: Watching my condition rapidly deteriorate without treatment and unable to afford what had been prescribed, I took half of what remained of my life savings and spent it on an unconventional, similar sounding but less expensive treatment not covered by my policy because it was considered experimental. It sure was; I was permanently injured by it. Cost: $5,500 dollars for three weeks that produced permanent contractures in my left paraspinals.

Partially Unglued: Anxiety and helplessness over my health and finances created major problems with insomnia. I had spent several years at tremendous personal effort and expense making what appeared to be a slow recovery. Watching myself backslide and the years of work come undone, I felt abandoned. For months I slept two to four hours a night – sometimes five or six, sometimes zero. Twice I blacked out behind the wheel of my car and had to figure out where I was when I came to. I developed significant short term memory problems and became incoherent over the phone to the point that a family member came to stay with me.

When I was in grad school for my counseling degree I’d read about “panic attacks”. They’re not well understood; as I recall a genetic predisposition is thought to be involved. They’re genuine physiological attacks and not to be confused with feeling emotionally “panicky.” They come on abruptly and include symptoms such as rapid heart rate, dizziness, and trembling to the point where people often think they’re having a heart attack.

I’d never had one nor had anyone in my family. But it turned out that this level of sleep deprivation and stress brought them on. I was barely able to continue working.

Insurance Refugee: After getting a grip on the sleep with the aid of a minor tranquilizer that finally worked for me, I had to launch an all-out job hunt to obtain new insurance if I ever wanted treatment again. It turned out that my employer's insurance also covered all the related employers in my area. I was forced to seek work out of state and relocate in declining health, uncertain that I would be able to make the transition in these circumstances.

Have you or anyone you’ve known ever become “partially unglued” from major health problems combined with no access to care or other forms of severe adversity? How did you get through? Ironically, mental health care is one of the areas where insurance coverage is typically skimpy to non existent.

For further info on our health care situation generally and more on my story in particular see
http://www.hmoappeals.com/.