Mark's right - the UK sucks

[Pinsandneedles]

Hi all - especially Mark who wrote in a post that you guys across the pond should 'be careful what you wish for in socalized medicine'. Yes, we in the UK get it 'free' but usually the very cheapest of drugs and the looooongest of waiting lists. I had to wait nine months to get my first MRI and that's not too bad. Some of the lucky ones have private medical insurance but when they find out you have a chronic condition they just bar you from having any treatment for that particular disease.

I was even thinking of paying to come over to the States to the Cleveland Clinic to see if they could find out why my PN is spreading so fast. I don't have any pain medication at the moment, just Cymbalta which is not a pain med as such and wonder if any of you with nerve pain think that the States is more advanced than the UK in diagnosing cause. A hard one I know but I'm quite desperate to try to halt the spread.

Pauline

[Mark N]

Pauline, I know of the benefits of your system but overall situations like your's really stinks. It is hard to believe that you don't have pain meds and you are right that Cymbalta helps but it isn't a pain med. I hope you can make it over to see the Cleveland clinic and they can help you.

[Spikey]

I agree I with you pauline. I am in the Uk and I cannot seem to get anything for the pain. I had a MRI scan and then had to wait 4 months for the results and the worst of it was that when I did get the results it was bad news and the tumour had grown.

They say it is free but not completely as we pay national insurance but to be quite honest I wanted to go private but I was told there was no one locally or near who could deal with the complaint I have. So then I asked if my consultant did private cases as a lot of them do and suprise suprise he didnt.

The NHS Stinks at times

Happy Chatting

natalie *fantasia

[champgoof]

being in Canada we have a "great" "Free" system bragged by all.. That is to say bragged from all the healthy people. It takes an average of 3 to 9 months to see a specialist, I waited 9 months to see an oncologist about my blood work , luckily for me despite some scary moments it wasnt leukemia. For a test such as MRI on organs , xray that are judged non urgent the wait is anywhere between 3 weeks to 3 months. TO get the results is another wait of 4 weeks to 3 months.

I have lived in Quebec and in New Brunswick, Quebec health system is the worst that I have yet to see, NB is well still free. To have a hip or knee surgery the wait is an average of 1 year or more, depending on your doctor and who you are.

Some province are talking about putting a system in place where for certain operations you could have a dual private system, such as for hip or knee surgery where if I could pay I could go to the private clinic to have it done rather than wait the time. but MANY MANY people are fighting against it saying that it would not be fair as the rich would be looked at first.. DUHH welcome to real life..

One family sued the government in Quebec's as someone had waited to long for cancer treatment than now they have passed a law that after a specified amount of time they will pay for the patient to be sent to Vermont to be treated. That must be real cheap instead of fixing the problem lets send them somewhere else :eek:

so yup I agree I think a free medical system you get what less than you paid for it ( I am certainly heavily taxed enough that it isn't free!)

We do have the adntage that if a doctor prescribes medication you can have it filled but nothing cover medication unless you are a senior, disable or on welfare so you pay for cost of the medication..

ok thank you for the vent I feel a bit better now :)

[brians2000]

I wish the Democrats could read all these messages about government controlled healthcare. I doubt it would help change their minds since they think the US should have it. I would hate to wait 3 or more months for something serious.

[alex44]

Hi ThereJust a quick note here, having had first hand experiance with the Cleaveland clinic, I would check out other options first. My wife is on medicaid and she was treated there, royalyally(no pun intended) until they found out she was on medicaid. then the care went from ok to very poor ( they left her screaming in pain) I am famialiar with shock and it's symtoms and had I not checked her out of there (I have POA/HS) i believe she could have died and this was just from the tests. the tests werre for Peripheral Neuorapathy and the doctor administering the tests had her screaming and would not stop until I intervenend. Please, for your own sake, therre are many good clinics both here and I am sure there. check them out carefully and ask what there pain management policy is - in particular ask if they are open to the use of narcotics. I am not saying this is the solution all the time but there are a lot of "needle Jockey's that will just take your money and you do not have a diagnosis and are stil in pain. it will also give you an idia of where the doctors are at as far as treaing pain goes. Good luck, i suffer from CP also and I went through a lot to get the Veterns assosciation hospital to treat me properly. Sometimetimes you have to fight the system - but plese, be very wary of th Cleaveland Clinic.
Love and light
Alex44

[cindybear]

Umm, I also went to the Cleveland clinic for my third opionion on my inoperable aneurysm ( I had about 20 opioions from different docters from different areas of the U.S, ) Anyway this place was one of the worse, I did stay and get treated for about 3 months before I fired them and found a different docter...But he would not give me any narcotics for my extreme pain..Just kept giving me amitryptaline (spelled wrong I'm sure ) and kept telling me aneurysm do not hurt unless they burst,,,Wrong !!! But Like all places , Every place is different,,,Now if I had something wrong with my heart,...This is the place to go to...No second guessing..Yes, At the time I had great insurance,,,Hugs, Cindy

[BrokenBladder]

This sounds like a nightmare and I can only express my sympathy to those who are going through this.

What a shame to have pain and not be able to get help for several months.

All I can say is I'm extremely sorry to those of you who are having to endure this unfairness.