Can anyone give us a FAQ on out of pocket IV ABX??

Hi everyone,

I am preparing to start IV ABX and I have read from time to time some members having to pay and prepare their own ABX after their insurance companies stopped paying for them.  Can anyone give us a "how to" on this route?  I have read that it can run up to $3000 a month if you don't know the ins and outs of how to obtain IV ABX on one's own, and that some have gotten the cost down to $700 a month doing it themselves.  Thanks for any help!

Chris

PS.  I'm not being lazy, I did a search in the last year and didn't find any detailed info. 

IV's are just expemsive there is not much way around it!! My LLMD has a choice of using HOme Health or getting all the supplies from his office and doing the changes at home. My husband does the weekly dressing change, they train you on how to do everything on your own.Not sure how many other LLMDs do that! But it is around 1200.00 a week for all the supplies and meds! I do Merrem and Clindamycin right now he also gives IV fluid bags to do 4 times a week to help with herxing and those are extra! So yeah Im going in debt like crazy but what else can I do ,I have no other hope! Hope things go well with you!

This is my latest:

My current LLDr. is the best in FL. I think I pay from $50 to $150 a visit. My insurance has always covered my visits. Now I have Medicare primary and then Cigna. My latest round of IV abxs cost:

New Patient: $106.47 (only paid this once)
IV Rocephin: $192.00 (per day, 4x per week)
Office service: $213.42 (per day, 4x per week)

So after my "new patient" visit, my IV abx cost $405.42 a day x 4 days = $1,622.00 each week x 10 weeks = 16,220.00.

So far it appears Medicare is covering the "New Patient" fee, my Cigna should cover the abx's (since they basically only cover my prescriptions).... and I don't know yet about the daily "Office service" fee.

This was the 3rd time in 8+ years that I have had IV abxs. The rest of the time I have been on oral abxs.

we pay $600 a month out of pocket now for rocephin and all the supplies through infuserve. I think length of illness has a lot to do with how long it takes to recover. i know someone well who is going into month 9 of rocephin and doing very well but it took 4-5 months of IV before she started having a lot of good days.... it seems for those very ill for a long time, long term tx is needed and if not treated long enough, there is more regression?....

Dowa said...
Jelaine: I see that you have done abx-IV many times, what are the doctors telling you about why you are not getting well? For all of us newbies, I think we are expecting to "recover" in fact a freind of mine was just told by her LLMD that she should be CURED in 6 months. Why do you think some of us recover and some do not?? Thanks  D

I truly believe that if the Lyme disease is caught early and treated early, that most people will recover.  I guess "early" might be actually seeing or remembering the tick bite and then receiving abx tx within 1 day to maybe 2 months (I am completely guessing on this). 

The only tick bite I remember is from when I was around 8 years old... although that doesn't mean I wasn't bitten again and I just didn't see the tick.  When I did get ill in June of 2000, I was told it was "all in my head" until my first LD test came back positive... this was in August 2001.  It took me 4 more mos. to find a doctor to treat me, and then it was 4-6 weeks of oral doxcycline.  So I was sick for 17 mos. before I received any kind of treatment.  I returned to work until 10/2002, when I had a complete relapse of all symptoms.  I tested positive for Lyme disease again.... and the doctor asked me if I had gotten bitten again (umm NO - NO friggin' way - I inspect dirt). 

So my belief is that I have chronic Lyme disease or as the IDSA likes to call it "In many patients, posttreatment symptoms appear to be more related to the aches and pains of daily living rather than to either Lyme disease or a tickborne coinfection."  and then the guidelines go on to say we have chronic fatigue syndrome and/or fibromyalgia, etc. etc.  I don't care what they call it, if these are the aches and pains of daily living, the suicide rate in this country alone would be around 50%.

I think I have had LD for many years and dont know if abx would help or hurt at this point. Thanks, sorry you are hurting...D