lately. Is your asthma allergy-triggered? I use OTC Zyrtec now and my allergic asthma is much better, I rarely wheeze. You might check with your doctor and/or pharmacist if it's OK to take Zyrtec if you think it might help. It's the only antihistamine I've tried that doesn't make me drowsy. It helps me sleep with no hangover. Made my mouth dry at first, but that passed after I'd been on it regularly for a month or so, that was the only side effect. The vet also recommends Zyrtec for Oreo the diabetic/allergic pootie! At half the human dose, and he seems fine with it too, so it must be pretty mild.

Too late! I'm started!

I'll just describe the two most recent healthcare horror stories I've experienced trying to get proper diagnosis and treatment.

In March of this year I was visiting in a city about 60 miles from home when what had been a moderate lower-back pain suddenly became severe. I was driven to the nearest ER which as luck would have it was swamped with patients awaiting their turn. When my number was called a full four painful hours later, I was then led to the secondary exam room where I sat behind the curtain for another half-hour before a nurse came in and took my vitals, then ten minutes or so later the attending physician came in, asked me about my symptoms, felt around on my back and declared: "I think it's a pulled muscle." My explaining that I'd been a brick/block/stonemason for 35 years and had pulled every muscle in my back and elsewhere numerous times plus had kidneystones several times I was pretty sure he was wrong fell on deaf ears. Got a prescription for muscle relaxant which I told him I didn't want because they instantly set my stomach on fire, prednizone (gotta have those steroids) and Percocet and was sent on my way. Two days later I was catching bits of calcium in the strainer I had leftover from my last kidneystone attack, and still on occasion get that burning feeling which tells me more dissolved calcium is being passed.

In August of 2015 I was having a routine stress test performed. The first order of business in a stress test is an echocardiogram, which was performed by a technician. Ten minutes or so after that was done the tech came back in and said a cardiologist was going to talk to me about something which showed up on the echo. Cardiologist said that I was being admitted and scheduled for open-heart surgery in two days since the echo had shown a growth on my heart which posed a grave danger. I spent all the rest of that day and most of the next having every test ever invented performed, missed all but one meal during the whole time in order to have said tests performed, only to be told in the eleventh hour that the final test, an MRI, revealed that the growth the echo had shown was not what they thought it was at all but something else which was rare but would not now nor in the future cause any problems. Hurray for no open-heart surgery!

Begs the question though; if the MRI is the crown jewel of diagnostic tests, why not do that first?? I think we all know the answer to that question. Luckily for me and thanks to Obamacare insurance paid for it all.

and the last shred of faith went out the window when I was left suffering in pain due to medication side effects for 4 months. 4 months of piercing headaches,muscle spasms in my legs arm and back,every time I touched something with my fingers it felt like I had been zapped with electricity. I called in telling the doc I need different med cause I was going insane with pain. He tells me I needed to get used to the meds and in the meantime he would call in some anti depressent and strong pain killers.I said no thanks and waited for my next scheduled appointment,I could barely walk due to my legs being swollen.When she saw me she gasped and asked me what happened to you.I said I've been taking the synthroid you gave me.Do you now believe me that I need something different?
She finally relented and put me on armour which I had asked for in the first place.Two weeks later I was back to my old self.She still trying to get me back on synthroid....does that make any kind of sense?

Their healthcare really is. Until you experience healthcare outside of the us, you really can't appreciate how bad and how unaffordable it is.

We've been sailing around now for 5 years and haven't been to a doctor for a checkup since we left Hawaii. We decided it was past time and took a ferry to Penang in Malaysia for complete executive physicals at one of the many private hospitals there. What an experience!

No appointment is necessary so we showed up at 9:00am, showed our passports and registered for our physicals. 15 minutes later we were being escorted from one test to the next. What was included?

Full blood workup(and I mean full)
Urine analysis
Chest x-ray
Abdominal ultrasound
EKG
45 minute consultation with doctor to review results

The tests were completed in about 2 hours and we were to return later that afternoon for the results and consultation. The facilities were better and at least as modern as anything I've ever seen in the us. Staff seemed extremely well trained and efficient. 5 star rating from me.

So what did this walk through a full physical cost? Please sit down. Total cost was $240us! And much to our surprise, at the consultation we were given a nicely organized folder that included about 9 pages of test results and a CD that contains our chest x-ray, EKG results and the video of the ultrasound.

I can't even guess what that would cost in the US, not to mention how many visits it would take to get all that completed.

I laugh when someone tries to tell me how the US has the best healthcare in the world. We aren't even close!!