Insurance denies meds -- diarrhea starts

[brooklyn23]

So last night, my insurance denied my pentasa and recommended two other medications which are UC meds and do not affect the small intestine which is where my problems are thank you kindly.

As I was walking home from the pharmacy, the symptom I almost NEVER have kicked in... and I hadn't eaten anything too weird that day. Some carved turkey and gummy bears. (by 7 pm that's all I'd eaten all day.)

So, now I've had D all day, and now I'm currently playing "blood or that red velvet cake I had earlier?" game

 

[Clash]

They weren't Haribo sugarless brand gummy bears were they? They cause serious D. I know it's the case with Haribo but not sure of the others.

Here's a link:

http://m.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2014/01/whats-in-those-haribo-gummy-bears/283162/

Anyway, can you contact your GI and see if he has suggestions?

 

[brooklyn23]

No, they weren't haribo but I don't know the brand. They were in a glass jar in my office's cafeteria and the recruiter in HR told me they were tasty (and they were)

 

[nogutsnoglory]

What meds are they suggesting? Apriso can also work on the SI. I would fight back and appeal it. Have your doctor write a letter of necessity. The Jennifer Jaff Center may also be helpful in fighting the appeal for you. They are a nonprofit that advocates for people with chronic illness.

 

[brooklyn23]

It was Lialda and something else I don't remember.

 

[Cat-a-Tonic]

Can you ask your doctor to appeal the denial? My GI has said he can appeal to my insurance company in situations like this.

Lialda mainly works on the colon & rectum, I believe, so that wouldn't work on the small intestine. Was Asacol HD the other one? That one works on the TI and the colon, but again, no small intestine help there either. If it were me, I'd definitely be on the phone with my doctor explaining the situation and asking them to appeal on my behalf.

As for the maybe blood or maybe red velvet cake - have you had any other symptoms like pain, cramping, etc? I'm also one who only occasionally/rarely bleeds, but when I do bleed I usually have other symptoms with it so I can usually tell if it's blood or something I ate. Hopefully for you it's just the cake and not blood! Hang in there!

 

[brooklyn23]

No, Apriso was the other one. My doctor is working on appealing it, apparently the same company is giving him BS about another patient who is supposed to go on Pentasa as well.

I am pretty sure the cupcake was the reason for the color, though the D lasted for two days. And now I'm right back to being constipated. Whooo *twirls* I'm still getting used to this whole... having good days vs bad days thing. Especially since my scopes looked mostly fine, but I'm still experiencing pain, so I feel like I'm grappling with a need to prove that something is wrong? versus, why shouldn't I just be happy that I'm having a good day.

 

[Cat-a-Tonic]

I understand completely. I'm not fully diagnosed (I have some type of IBD but my doctors can't seem to figure out which one) and I've had normal scopes and other normal test results when I was feeling pretty awful, so I totally get that. It's really frustrating when how you're feeling and what the test results say do not match up. I'm sorry you're going through this.

I also understand not being able to enjoy good days. For me, especially when things are really up and down, I just can't enjoy the good days because I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop and things to get bad again, because I know things most certainly will get bad again and soon, you know? It's hard to enjoy a good day when there's a monster lurking around the corner. Don't beat yourself up for not enjoying the good days as fully as you expect that you should. There's no right or wrong answer here - you're not somehow wrong or bad if you're not all sunshine and flowers and puppies on the good days, I promise.

 

[brooklyn23]

It's such a weird state of being. I don't think I thought as much about it when I was first diagnosed, but as time goes on and all these weird things aren't going away, I do not know what to do with myself.