I'm about to ruin my meager credit rating for a medical emergency.

[lildreamer316]

I've been suffering from what I believe to be a very bad case of food poisoning since this past Wed. I hope this is ok; mods..please read.

I AM NOT LOOKING FOR MEDICAL ADVICE!!!!!

Tues evening I was bedridden because of severe menstrual cramps..I took something for that;but was exhausted and my husband, who was out and about, offered to get me a treat - fast food. I've been cleaning up my diet and don't usually eat fast food more than about once a month, if that. As a side note, I am usually a very healthy individual..I've been very lucky in my life. My only existing medical condition is hypoglycemia; which I keep a close eye on. It does not usually give me any big trouble unless I forget to eat for some reason.

Anyway; he brings home two roast beef and cheddar sandwiches and I eat them. He goes to work and I go to sleep.
I wake up early that morning when he gets home and feel a little strange. He cooks dinner and I can't eat it at all. I camp out on the couch and go back to sleep.
I wake up about four hours later and my body needs sugar; so I grab a small muffin. Go back to sleep.
Wake up shivering so hard my muscles in my legs will not stop clenching..I'm having a hypoglycemic attack (I ate the wrong kind of sugar and nothing else) on top of a fever chill.
Then it swings to a semi-high fever; so I take a pain reliever/fever reducer and my fever breaks; sweating-ly.
This repeats over the next two days (minus the hypoglycemic reaction; I managed to get some solid food down later). I am nauseous but my body never forces me to expel.
Finally, today I force my body to expel. The fever and chills stop; but now just water makes me nauseous. I'm not going to be able to rehydrate myself, get any sugar into my system or flush my system out this way.
Husband brings me anti-nausea syrup; so I'm in the process of using that now and going to see how it goes.
If I am not better by the time he gets home; I'm going to give up and go to the emergency room.

The point of all this is that we have *just* barely dragged ourselves out of a bad credit rating into a slightly good one (one that is on the upswing; for sure). We do not have:1)house payment 2)car payment 3)credit cards; but of course we are both independent contractors and have no health insurance..just medicaid for my little boy. I had a 401K my mother left me; but you all know what happened to that. So....


SINGLE PAYER RIGHT FUCKING NOW. PLEASE.

[mdmc]

1. feel better my friend

[LovetheUSA]

2. HOPE YOU ARE OK

It is more than food poisoning. That only lasts about 72-96 hours at most. Seems like salmonella (sp). Get to the docs ASAP. Keep us updated

[CaliforniaPeggy]

3. It's just so fucking unfair.

I am so sorry to hear all this...

I hope you won't need any medical intervention...

:hug:

Yes: Single Payer.

[davidinalameda]

4. most places will set up some sort of payment plan

don't worry about it too much

[proud2BlibKansan]

5. No Walgreens?

They have great urgent care clinics. Less that $100 too.

Feel better!

[bkkyosemite]

6. This is not food poisoning I suspect. May be appendix or something else. You

need to get to the emergency room. You are probably now dehydrated too. Please be okay positive thoughts going your way.

Oh and edited to say SINGLE PAYER NOW! We must start calling, emailing and faxing those jerks and let them know we will not stand for anything other than single payer.

[truedelphi]

18. It did not sound like food posioning to me either.

Food poisoning tends to clean you out. Radically. And of course, you might need or want to go to the ER, early on, but if this woman has been hanging in there since Wednesday - i don't think it is food poisoning either.

Why we don't have Universal Single Payer Health care, I don't know, but it is criminal that we don't have it.

[cabluedem]

27. I agree. Food poisoning will have you puking and sitting in the can for hours. nt

[cabluedem]

28. We dont have SP because the powers that be dont want it. nt

[Orrex]

7. If you're a low-income family, your hospital may reduce your costs

Definitely check into it--at the very least, you'll find out what the criteria are.

And, as someone else noted, lots of places allow you to pay by installment.


Best of luck to you--I'm sorry that you're suffering through this!

[Warpy]

8. If you are now able to hold things down

you might be recovering from a virus. Food poisoning doesn't go away because you puke. It blows both ways until you are seriously dehydrated and refuses to let you replace fluids.

I feel your pain. The last trip to a hospital for an enteric virus that blew both ways until I was barfing blood cost me over a thousand bucks, but I knew I'd bottomed out my blood pressure and needed IV fluids.

I haven't had insurance for 22 years now. I am sick of this country's refusal to do things for its people.

On edit: sometimes they do reduce the price at the door now. Sometimes they will reduce it later. Just let them know you're low income and uninsured.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

9. Please be all right ........

This is just so unfair.

I'll be thinking of you, sending you good vibes .............

[JanMichael]

10. pedialyte

it's not just for babies.

and this is not medical advice ;), right?

[MercutioATC]

11. Even Gatorade...something with electrolytes.

[lildreamer316]

12. On that

right now.

I'm afraid to try food yet, but maybe later.

[JerseygirlCT]

15. Food you can do without for a while - it's the fluids

you need to watch for. (Though you know better than I about your blood sugar situation).

When my body is tossing everything back out, I don't push it too hard - just keep sips of fluids coming though - even if you have to go to sucking on ice chips.

I hope you find yourself feeling much better in the morning.

[JanMichael]

16. get the grape pedialyte

take a tiny sip every 5 minutes. Tiny. Ridiculously small.

[MiniMe]

30. Get the popcycles. It works great when you are nauseous

Gets some hydration in very slowly, and tends not to make you as sick as straight liquid.

[ThomCat]

13. I am so sorry. I hope this breaks so you don't have to go to the ER.

:hug:

So many people I know are taking credit hits because they are at the end of their resources. Please don't have to go there too. :(

Not only do we need single payer health-care right now, damn it, we also need Obama to start sending some of those trillions of dollars of relief money towards helping real people. Not corporate bottom lines. People should be more important that corporations. Our health and our survival should come first.

[Mike 03]

14. Be well, friend. My heart goes out to you. NT

[Wednesdays]

17. K&R

:kick:

[bkkyosemite]

19. I wonder if you got the swine flu...just a thought..I've been sick now for a week but no both ends.

Cough, fever, chills etc...but the swine also carries with it vomiting and diarrhea.

[lildreamer316]

23. I'll pm you.

[backscatter712]

26. Usually, you don't get the hardcore gastrointestinal symptoms with influenza.

You get some nausea, but it's not the worst symptom.

With influenza, it's fever, cough, sniffles, congestion. If it's a really bad flu, you get bad, potentially life-threatening fevers, and pneumonia, possibly caused by a cytokine storm, but even the swine flu probably won't cause that.

My bet is that it's food poisoning. Definitely worth seeing a doctor about, but if you can't wait for regular business hours, see if you can find an urgent-care - they're cheaper than the ER.

[MagickMuffin]

20. What really is so UNFAIR is WE pay for our Congresscritters and their staff

to have excellent Health-care, yet they will NOT pass legislation to provide us with the same benefits :grr:

Get the medical attention you need lildreamer. Will send vibes your way.

[NJCher]

21. Going to visualize you well

lildreamer, that's all I can think of to do.

I am so sorry this medical move might be necessary after your family crawled out of a financial hole.

Life in these United States can be so cruel. The rabid form of capitalism practiced here makes it brutal.


Cher

[shireen]

22. please post when you get a chance, let us know how you're doing

you need to go to the ER, actually, you needed to go to the ER days ago. It really sucks that you've waited this long because you have no medical insurance. I'm so so sorry .... :hug:

[backscatter712]

24. Can you hold out long enough to see a regular doctor that's not in the ER?

It's the weekend, and that's a problem.

If at all possible, try to see a regular doctor, or if it's really bad, see if you can find an urgent-care center. Chances are you'll be billed less than going to the ER.

If it's bad food poisoning, you might need some saline IVs to keep you hydrated, but you'd think that even at today's inflated prices, you'd be able to get some saline bags without being forced into bankruptcy.

Oh, and whatever you do, do not promise to pay, or have a relative promise to pay - if you sign on the dotted line, the credit vultures will come after you. Just state over and over that you have no insurance, you're not able to pay, and if you raise enough hell, they'll find some sort of indigent care program that will treat you for free. But before you get access to the indigent care programs, they'll try to pressure you into signing paperwork promising to pay, and if you sign, they'll send creditors after you and force you into bankruptcy.

[G_j]

25. perhaps

smoke a little pot.
an excellent anti-nausea supplement.

seriously though, I hear ya, a medical bill has certainly hurt my credit.

[cherish44]

29. Despite the right wing's view that bankruptcy is caused by lazy people living beyond their means...

the number one reason people declare bankruptcy is overwhelming medical bills. Something has to be done. People should be able to get the medical care they need without it ruining their lives. Please get well soon!