I watch the ripples change their size
But never leave the stream
Of warm impermanence
And so the days float through my eyes
But still the days seem the same
And these children that you spit on
As they try to change their worlds
Are immune to your consultations
They're quite aware of what they're goin' through

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Today's Heath Care Madness

So, back right before Christmas I had a physical, the first full work-up I've had in 5 years. One of the hot-est things lately, at least here in Cleveland, is to check your vitamin D levels (vit D being important in digestion as well as other things, as well as being actually a steroid). Seems we're all chronically short on it. And sure enough, my levels we low. Very low. As in, "bad things, man" low.

Just an aside here, you know those nutrition labels that have your percentage of the daily recommended amounts? Well, here's the thing, that's actually the "minimum daily recommended amount." As in, "below this amount of intake, you're having some problems, or will." Now, as a counter, too much of something can be just as bad (vit A for example).

My doctor prescribed me vit D pills. They include something ridiculous like 10,000 units. I'm to take one a week. In the first bottle I they gave me four pills. You know, one a week for the month. I took the first one when I got home, that Monday. That means this past Monday was the last one. So I called in the prescription for a refill (I'm supposed to go three months like this). Today I went to pick it up (two days after it was supposed to be done, there's this snowstorm going on). Well, because of insurance they won't authorize a refill until Friday.

Now, I'm out of pills. Used the last one already, and because of insurance rules I can't get a refill until Friday. Thank Brid I don''t need one right away, or to actually live, and I'm home where I can pick it up (which wasn't the plan for this week, btw). You know, I can understand that rule for pain killers and other opiates, but vit D pills? Really?

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yanno, Walmart carries Vitamin D-3 pills pretty cheap. Just in case you need to tide yourself over.

I take 2,000 IU per day. I've had fewer colds this year - I'm not sure that's directly attributable to the D or not.

Anonymous Cassie

Steve Buchheit said...

Hey Cassie, we talked about using over the counter vit D supplements. I'll have to research the unit count, the dr. told me that to get an equivalent amount I'd need to down almost a full bottle every week.

The crazy part of this, IIRC, the amount of the actual pills is below my copay. The Giant Eagle pharmacy, when that happens, only charges the actual cost (unlike some other pharmacies that charge the full copay, no matter what the costs).

Also, for taking vit D, don't forget that it's fat soluble, so you need to eat some fats to digest it properly (normally with just meals).

Anonymous said...

How about with coq au vin? Very, very tasty, plenty of fats to soluable in.

If you're going for 10K IUs per week, that's 5 of these pills. I don't remember how much these cost, but it was less than most of the other supplements I take.

AC

Steve Buchheit said...

Cassie, it doesn't matter what kind of fat, so however you wish to ingest.

And I double checked, it's 50,000 units.