I have been off my meds since March for different reasons. First, I was sick for 2 months at least. At the end of May, I broke my hand playing softball and was unable to take my meds pre and post surgery in June. Now, I don’t have health insurance and have to apply for medical assistance.
I haven’t had any symptoms, I’ve changed my diet slightly (only really limiting carbs) and lost a few pounds. I don’t believe my diet or weight loss has caused my symptoms to go away but I am worried because typically the colder months are the worst for me. I do have all of the medication from the months I wasn’t able to take it.
I’m wondering if this could be a remission period. How long do you have to be symptom free to be considered in remission?
glad to hear you're doing OK despite being off your medications. I think Sybil is right about keeping on top of the situation as soon as you've sorted out your health insurance issues (I'm resisting the urge to go off on a rant about health insurance but I will not so as to not hijack your thread. Must. Issue. Self-Restraint.).
Be well and keep vigilant. You know that PsA is in there even if you're asymptomatic right now. Like you, I'm always far worse-off in the winter, so I've just started my fall/winter exercise routine in the hopes that when it gets REALLY cold I'll be in the habit of going so I won't quit, I say this as reminder that movement and activity are going to help prolong your feeling of well-being.
Not to be Debbie downer here but PsA does not go into remission. There may be periods of high or low disease activity. Remember the medications we take don't directly effect the disease symptoms, they all work to modify the immune response. Once its regulated it often maintains itself for a while add a shock to the immune system such as pregnancy, injury, surgery illness and it often snaps to attention.You are likley in one of those periods. How long it will last is anybody's guess, but I will assure you of this when this respite ends it will most likley be overnight and the mother of all flairs and very hard to get back under control.
I will wade into the insurance thing. If you have not set up a healthcare.gov do so go through the whole process and give your estimated income not previous. IF it is above the medicaid amounts you will get a subsidy for a silver plan, when you look at the options there will be one fo the 20 or so with virtually no deductible and a very low OOP (about 750.00) pay the first months premium of about 12 dollars if your income is around 14g. If you don't do the entire process from beginning to end and the fed exchange, you will not get the subsidy. There is little excuse for not having insurance beyond listeneing to the press.
Secondly Most of us see our doc twice a year, there are no procedures (most won't run imaging unless its demanded and you are already Dxd. Its rare if you are an established patient, that they will not let you make monthy payments if you have lost your insurance for the office calls and will make arrangemnets for any bloodwork for med management. They renew scripts over the phone. The bulk of our NSAIDS are available from Walmart for $5.00 a month (4 bucks from target) MTX is 20.00 (injectable form) without exception if are uninsired, the bilogicasl companies will supply the meds for nothing or the cost of freight. If its Humira, they will even throw in the MTX.
It takes some time an tenacity, but there should be no interuption of treatment. If you have specific questtions PM me and I can get you through or give you the "phrases that sell"
It’s so good that you are feeling well, and after the summer that you had, it sounds like you deserve a break. What worries me is that this is likely a smoke screen and there is more going on below the surface than you know.
I agree that you should get onto the healthcare.gov site ASAP. It’s pretty easy to use, and since you lost your previous coverage you won’t need to wait until open enrollment. You can get whatever plan you want, but I opted for a “platinum” plan. You pay more up front with you premiums, but pay less when it comes to copayments and OOP expenses. Even though you feel good right now, you don’t want to be doing all of this while you feel terrible sometime in the future.
Please try to see your rheum. They will very likely understand your loss of coverage and let you make payments for the visit. I’m still paying off my Remicade dose that I had while uninsured, and it was a whole lot more than an office visit in cost.
