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This I don't get. Are they difficult to get?
I mean, I can walk into an imaging center and get one for maybe 25-30 bucks - free if I plop down my insurance card.
This I don't get. Are they difficult to get?
I mean, I can walk into an imaging center and get one for maybe 25-30 bucks - free if I plop down my insurance card.
In the states expect to need like 4 appointments.. also expect the insurance cover about 70% of the cost and also expect the insurance not to cover any of the cost unless you follow every single rule. Also most hospitals dont want to release them to you directly. They will often only release them to other doctors unless you jump through hoops to get them.
This I don't get. Are they difficult to get?
I mean, I can walk into an imaging center and get one for maybe 25-30 bucks - free if I plop down my insurance card.
In the US, you need a prescription from a doctor to get an MRI, or any other medical imaging procedure.
In my case, I'd already established a relationship with an MD regarding this problem last year, so when it flared back up against last week, he wrote the order immediately. And getting the appointment for the MRI wasn't a problem. I made the phone call on Wednesday, and was inside the machine on Friday. (I was pleased to note that it was a Siemens Magnetom. I've never trusted GE, for some reason...)
Health insurance here typically works in such a way that, for a given year, the patent is responsible for all expenses up to a certain amount in a given year (called a deductible, which is $900 in my case), after which insurance takes over and you pay only a small percentage of the total cost (co-pay.) Since this is my first medical experience this year, the doc visit cost me $120 and the MRI was about $1,050. It's not a big deal in the grand scheme of things, I just want to be able to drive a car like a normal human being without excruciating pain. (Protip: if you have radiating pain from sciatica in the left side, the clutch-leg is a tool of utter misery.)
Gas leg:
Clutch leg:
(not my actual legs)
Which reminds me... I need to go to the hardware store and pick up some grip tape for the clutch pedal.
Originally Posted by triple88a
Also most hospitals dont want to release them to you directly. They will often only release them to other doctors unless you jump through hoops to get them.
I've never had this problem. On Friday, I just said "Can I get a disc with the processed images, and a copy of the radiologists report?" and the girl at the desk immediately burned me a CD with the images, and gave me a card with the number for medical records where I can call next week to get the report.
Same deal with the X-rays when I broke my foot in 2009, and the fluoroscope images from the reconstruction of my right hand in 2014.
Last edited by Joe Perez; Mar 26, 2017 at 12:48 AM.
I have paid as much as $1,200 for an MRI and his little as $40. It has taken only a few minutes to go from being admitted to getting an MRI to scheduling it out a couple of days depending upon the circumstances. I have asked for and received copies of the Imaging discs every time without any problem at all.
When I went in for the MRI on Wednesday, I obviously had to fill out some patient-info paperwork. The person behind the counter crossed out a large section of page 1, dealing with the "are you pregnant / breastfeeding / may become pregnant, etc" stuff, before handing me the form.
After you get fixed, start getting in shape; running wasn't enough for me. I would have lumbar/pain down butt cheeks a few times a year, each time lasting ~2 weeks or so. That ended when I started cycling.
My first issue with severe back pain was running to make our fastpass time.
your MRI looks similar to mine l4-l5 not so healthy looking. L5-S1 blown out. first blew it out in 2001 when I was probably about the best physical fitness of my life and was competing regularly at a grass roots elite level bicycle racing with a very high level of cycling fitness. Mountain, Cyclocross, and Road racing. By 2003 I could no longer spend much of any time at all on the bike without intense pain and quit racing competitively and just couldn't ride much so started playing with cars more. in 2007 after spending a week on the floor in intense pain and basicly not having a functional right leg if I sat or stood for more than 5 minutes I had a microdiscectomy. It relieved the pain well but still attempts to return to bike riding still resulted in severe back pain. Last year July it blew out again in the same spot. had a microdiscectomy again. felt absolutely wonderful for about 6 months after that. I had forgot what it was like to wake up without back pain after living with it for ~15 years. After being off the bike for 15 years and gaining ~75 lbs in the process I was feeling good and decided to work back in some bike riding slowly working my way back to riding on a regular basis riding to work etc. couple weeks ago it did it again. MRI shows the disk pooching out and completely crushing the sciatic nerve cavity. I'm back to being upright right now but not sure what I'm going to do. Dr is back this Friday. it might be disk removal and fusion time. I have a feeling l4-l5 will fail too if I do that.
Originally Posted by Joe Perez
I hear you.
When I lived in NYC, I didn't own a car and commuted by foot. Worked my way up to 8-10 miles a day, at about a 70% jog / 30% walk pace. Best shape I've ever been in my whole life.
Now that I'm in Chicago, I drive to work every day. My work day is about 3-4 hours at a desk, and 4-5 hours on my feet walking, climbing stairs, working inside racks, etc. At 6'2" and 185 lbs, I'm hardly obese, but I'm definitely not in marathon trim anymore. That may well be the explanation for why this has suddenly started to happen to me again, after nearly 3 years without a single episode.
My next doc appt is this coming Friday. He's not a specialist, but now that I've got the MRI I'm going to ask for a referral to the Chicago Back Institute, which rather conveniently is only a few miles from here at Swedish Covenant Hospital.
While I dread the idea of the convalescent period, if the docs there say "surgery," then I'm 100% on-board. I just want this to stop.
I want to be able to do this again:
(Without the sparkles, obviously. Also, that's the last pony meme, I promise.)
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