wasn't sure where to put this....

[Dreamscapes Collectives]

...here or therapy lane. Finally decided to just post it here. We've been having a bad time of it and most of our posts have been...well certainly not the kind of thing that typically helps people. And we hate that. We don't like people, but we do like helping (I don't know how that works). Anyway, this is one of the things we've been dealing with...

Lupus SLE and Cognitive Dysfunction:

The following key components of cognition that could be impaired in SLE were identified at the ACR symposium,
1) Simple attention—the ability to register and retain information
2) Reasoning—problem solving
3) Executive skills and complex attention—planning, organizing, sequencing information
4) Memory—learning, recall
5) Visual spatial processing—recognizing visual patterns
6) Language—verbal fluency
7) Psychomotor speed—ability to rapidly process and produce written and oral information.

Massive problems with almost all of what's listed has been my life for the last several months. How do you remember when your brain is busy scrambling your memory circuits? *sigh*

Yes, my Lupus is currently not being treated. It's been, I dunno, five years since I was on medication for it. I didn't figure it was that important till an ER doctor mentioned that I had brain damage and needed to see a neurologist.

No, I haven't seen a neurologist. Blame my insurance for that one. Trying to find a specialist is damn near impossible, especially when you're also dealing with rotating fatigue and insomnia. Sleep deprivation doesn't help.

I know I prolly share more than most people really care about here, and I've decided that I don't care anymore. I have to be me.

After all, someone somewhere might take this in and help me find myself when whatever-the-hell is destroying my mind succeeds. My partner helps, but she has numerous physical and psychological issues to deal with as well. We help each other as much as we can. That's really all we can do.

If I could just manage to remember the things I need to...

numerous realms people and others

[nats]

seriously, it seems so impossible. why is there no health insurance? thought USA was a rich developed country?

[MakersDozn]

(08-24-2012, 03:55 PM)nats Wrote: seriously, it seems so impossible. why is there no health insurance? thought USA was a rich developed country?

Unfortunately, insurance is a big business, and big businesses get rich at the expense of working people....and people who aren't able to work.



MDs

[Reilly]

Sorry you are feeling poorly Dreamscapes.
Finding specialists, especially Neurologists, can be daunting.
Just a thought, choose a hospital you like (that has top Neurologists) and go through the emergency room. Once you are through the doors they can't turn you away. Maybe you can have a sleep study performed as well to address the insomnia.
Hope things improve for you soon.

[Dreamscapes Collectives]

(08-24-2012, 03:55 PM)nats Wrote: seriously, it seems so impossible. why is there no health insurance? thought USA was a rich developed country?

I have insurance, but it's state government insurance that is based on income. In one way it is good because it covers ALL my medication costs. Which is good because I wouldn't be able to afford all of me meds otherwise. But it's bad because less and less specialist and even PCPs will accept the state insurance because the get as much money from the state as they get from private insurance. So it isn't that the specialists aren't out there, just they won't take my insurance.

Those of us on the extreme lower end of the financial scale often get caught in this, and it sucks. There is a lot of stigma about being on state and federal gov't insurance and social security disability. Especially in hospitals. They say they don't treat us any differently than someone with private insurance, but the plain truth is that often they do.

I, myself, am in a catch 22. To get private insurance, I would have to get a job. As soon as I get a job, I lose a certain amount of my disability check. I can't get a job right now that would make more than what I'm getting from the state so I would actually be making things harder by working. If I could work. Right now, strictly physically speaking, I simply cannot handle the physical stress on my body at any job I currently qualify for, which are all minimum wage jobs.

*sigh* It is a f*ck*d up situation.

realms people.

[Dreamscapes Collectives]

(08-26-2012, 09:35 PM)Reilly Wrote: Sorry you are feeling poorly Dreamscapes.
Finding specialists, especially Neurologists, can be daunting.
Just a thought, choose a hospital you like (that has top Neurologists) and go through the emergency room. Once you are through the doors they can't turn you away. Maybe you can have a sleep study performed as well to address the insomnia.
Hope things improve for you soon.

I have been admitted through the emergency room a couple times and once I was in, the Neurologists only did the most basic tests, and when they couldn't find anything didn't look any further. they said I would have to do anything else on an outpatient basis with a specialist. *shrug* usually the name they gave me didn't take my insurance and didn't know the name of anyone who did.

I know that I have very bad sleep apnea. apparently it runs in the family. our dad has it, we have it, our son has it (like the Force, but negative). We know that other friends of ours with bad sleep apnea like ours were put on c-pap machines to help their breathing when they sleep. We couldn't use a c-pap machine. It is beyond triggering for us to have anything on our mouth and/or nose while we sleep. Now, it is possible that we have another problem in the form of an obstruction of some kind in our nose. We were asked once if we had ever broken our nose, a question we simply don't have the answer to. And we don't know if our current PCP would pursue it. But it's also something that often get lost in the shuffle.

realms people

[Reilly]

Hi Dreamscapes Collective.
You are correct about the government insurance. It really stinks that so few doctors accept it. I always had private insurance. Then when I left work to care for my son we qualified for the state insurance. I really appreciate the doctors and dentists who accept this plan and treat every patient with respect.
Just a thought about your sleep patterns. Have you ever had your tonsils and adenoids removed? It made a tremendous difference for my son.
Hope you feel better soon.