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The Big File All issues not easily categorized in the above forums are here. Comments on general health, diet, "getting comfortable," and more are here.


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  #11  
Old 03-02-2010, 10:48 AM
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Harrison Harrison is offline
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Tim, I know you know since we talked about in email (check out the study I sent you), but some people do worse with supplemental D. Some suppose that the body cannot metabolize supplemental D in excess, especially if there exists an endocrine disorder of some kind. Perhaps with sunlight, this is not an issue.

You're right, though, D is a hormone and a secosteroid. Maybe because of these reasons, it can help some, but not all people with spine problems. I am just glad to see that some spine docs are screening patients for parathyroid and D metabolites as part of the screening process. Better to find any bone growth issues BEFORE surgery, eh?!

OK, sorry for the hijacking.
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  #12  
Old 03-03-2010, 02:31 PM
Jack Jack is offline
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Default itemized deduction and credit due

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Originally Posted by Harrison View Post
Jack, you raised some good points and thanks for sharing the details. Here's another thought: do you really think that they are intentionally overcharging?

What I've experienced personally and observed on this forum, medical billing is often messy - with mistakes made all over the place. You could be right, though, so let us know if you find out anything else....

So how are you doing? Maybe you can update us in another topic!
I tried to link to photobucket but was a no go. I'm a little weak on computer stuff as there was no computers in the bulk of my life and am self taught. Also tried to fax but didn't work either. Maybe this will work. http://s614.photobucket.com/albums/t...fusion%20bill/

A couple things I found when going over the bills with the white out:
Back in October I had an MRI. Our insurance has family deductibles, individual deductibles, in network, out of network, preferred providers and I'm sure there are others. All of which make it hard to keep up with exactly what is my part of the fees. I paid $554.00+- as I assumed was my part. When I saw how little the insurance paid, I called both the insurance company and the hospital owned imaging center. My insurance said the radiologist who read the study was not an approved provider. Long story short with hours of waiting on hold I found out a resident signed the report and either had his name entered as the provider or his attending didn't co-sign the report as the insurance approved provider. The clinic said that it was their mistake and I should get a credit. Since the hospital doesn't send out credits by themselves, and I didn't make myself a note to recheck in a couple months I forgot about it. It showed up as an item on my surgery bill. I still need to get them to send me a check so they won't apply it to some unrelated charge.
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Suffered thru every non-surgical cure known without relief.
Pain management '06 to April '10,
Had minimally invasive PLIF with internal fixation on 12/28/09 for isthmic spondylolisthesis of L5-S1 (TDR contra-indicated) DDD at L3-4 & L4-5, All L-Spine doing well. Episodes of no pain at all. After being relatively pain free for 4 months, C-Spine gave up. MRI due 11-1

Last edited by Jack; 03-03-2010 at 02:49 PM. Reason: add photo link
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  #13  
Old 03-03-2010, 09:28 PM
2cool4U 2cool4U is offline
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Default A good precautionary lesson

Quote:
Originally Posted by Harrison View Post
Tim, I know you know since we talked about in email (check out the study I sent you), but some people do worse with supplemental D. Some suppose that the body cannot metabolize supplemental D in excess, especially if there exists an endocrine disorder of some kind. Perhaps with sunlight, this is not an issue.

You're right, though, D is a hormone and a secosteroid. Maybe because of these reasons, it can help some, but not all people with spine problems. I am just glad to see that some spine docs are screening patients for parathyroid and D metabolites as part of the screening process. Better to find any bone growth issues BEFORE surgery, eh?!

OK, sorry for the hijacking.
Jack, also sorry to hijack. Feel free to move this post to wherever is appropriate.

Harrison, I did look into the dysregulation stuff. It appears that these cases are a minority of vitamin D problems, but I cannot find statistics. I'm a numbers guy, so this is frustrating. I did find out that people with vitamin D deficiency have low serum D2, D3, and total D levels while in dysregulation there may be high levels of D2 and total but low D3 (which is the active form) according to one article. However, I found contradictory info in another article. So it would appear that serum testing should be performed prior to beginning any high-dose replacement.

There is also the matter of possible infectious causes due to binding of the vitamin D receptor (VDR) by biofilm or other substances produced by phagocytic bacteria. In that case, I would presume that serum levels could be normal or elevated, but the patient would still have symptoms. Thanks for tuning me into this stuff. I was a skeptic last year when we 1st discussed this, but now I'm predicting this topic will head in the same direction as ulcer disease and h. pylori and cervical cancer and viruses.

BTW, were you aware that the VDR has been identified in 30 different organs and tissues in the human body? The actions/mechanisms/importance of that info has yet to be worked out. As you've said to me, pretty exciting stuff. We agree on pre-op bone density testing for all, and now I think at-risk patients (age>50, overweight, renal disease, location north of around Georgia, the list is long) should have vitamin D panels with serum calcium and maybe parathyroid and thyroid studies.

Jack, if you want to pay extra $$ for radiology services, I'll PM you with my address. Glad to hear you're doing well in the other thread.

-tc-
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PT, ESI, SI jt injections, 3-level nerve root inj. x 2
Massage, heat, ice, TENS, etc
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New back pain in upper back though.

Last edited by 2cool4U; 03-03-2010 at 10:16 PM. Reason: tried to clarify, hah!
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  #14  
Old 03-05-2010, 02:32 PM
Jack Jack is offline
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Originally Posted by tconner94 View Post
Jack, if you want to pay extra $$ for radiology services, I'll PM you with my address. Glad to hear you're doing well in the other thread.-tc-
Maybe we could work out a trade and leave out the tax man, you know like the days when docs would get paid in pigs and chickens How many hogs to do a MRI of the lumbar spine? NC is a major hog producing state.
__________________
Suffered thru every non-surgical cure known without relief.
Pain management '06 to April '10,
Had minimally invasive PLIF with internal fixation on 12/28/09 for isthmic spondylolisthesis of L5-S1 (TDR contra-indicated) DDD at L3-4 & L4-5, All L-Spine doing well. Episodes of no pain at all. After being relatively pain free for 4 months, C-Spine gave up. MRI due 11-1
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