shazney64 Posted May 9, 2011 Posted May 9, 2011 I knew emigrating to Perth with a 14 year old and a new baby would be tough. We sent our furniture early 5 weeks to be excat whilst i had a three week old babay. We sat at home on camping chairs i nrsed my baby on blow up beds. After the grueliing flight we arrived and stayed in a furnished caravan for the first week until we sorted a rental. Once we moved into a rental we had a further two weeks of sitting on one camping chair and two blow up beds. My hubby and i shared whilst my son had one. It was tough!! All the time i was exhausted thinking it was because i had a newborn baby and not sleeping well on the air beds. However five weeks in we have school, football team, job, doc, immunisations up to date. We think we have done great!!! But we never accounted for is the impact this has had on my health. I have just been diagnosed with Graves disease can be brought on by stress and common after a baby. Medictaion and constant monitoring of my thyroid levels is now needed for life! We are now panicking about the cost of this??? Are prescriptions covered by medicare?? Kinda of numb and not sure whether this has all been worth it. sharonx
janine the party queen Posted May 9, 2011 Posted May 9, 2011 You have to pay for presciptions. Although check they are on the PBS list then the maximum you will pay is approx $35. You can sign up to the medicare scheme where once you have reached a certain limit on your presciptions the rest are covered under medicare. There should be some info on it at your GP"s Really sorry to hear the news though.I'm just off to google it.
janine the party queen Posted May 9, 2011 Posted May 9, 2011 Oh heck, Send SiamSusie a private message,she is a fountain of knowledge with all things medical.She might be able to point you in the right direction for specialist help. I really hope you will start to feel better when you start your treatment xxxxxxx
2tigers Posted May 9, 2011 Posted May 9, 2011 Hi Sharon, I have no experience at all with this but just googled it and wanted to send you a virtual ((((HUG)))) after all you've been through and now this. I just hope your future is calm, stress free and healthy. Take care x
Petals Posted May 9, 2011 Posted May 9, 2011 Most prescriptions on the PBS are about $34.20 per prescription for people not on health care cards. Depending on the drug the doc will give you a repeat prescription from two months to six months and you will pay this amount each time you get your prescription filled. Some prescriptions are more expensive and sometimes you can be offered ttp://www.pbs.gov.au/info/about-the-pbsa cheaper option generic, same medicine but the patent has expired. It can be costly if you have several conditions however there is a safety net and once you have paid a certain amount each year the rest of the prescriptions become free. For our family this happened usually at the end of the year so usually only meant we got a month free. Diabetics on insulin have to join the Diabetic Register in order to get concessions and they get six months insulin for the sum of $34.20. Have a look at the pharmaceutical benefits web site ttp://www.pbs.gov.au/info/about-the-pbs If a drug is on not on the list then we have to pay full price for that drug and depending on the drug can be over a hundred dollars. Some drugs on the scheme are not available to all patients and a special prescription is required which has to be authorised by the government each time the medical practitioner writes a prescription for it. My daughter takes Keppra which is not generally available so she has such a prescription because she is a diabetic the listed drug is not good for her health and Keppra is required. It seems difficult but it is not and do not listen to anyone who tells you it will cost you heaps, I saw in our local rag the other day a mother of a diabetic child saying prescriptions were going to cost her hundreds of dollars, not true, she was assuming she had to pay each month for insulin rather than getting it six monthly which is what happens. People need to read and understand. Good luck
RockDr Posted May 10, 2011 Posted May 10, 2011 Big hugs As has been mentionned, there is a cap on the amount of prescription charges you will be liable for. Your comment about whether this has all been worth made me want to mention this. Like many auto-immune diseases, there is a large component of genetic pre-disposition to Graves disease (it's not directly inheritable though, complex combination of genetics rather than a single gene). They're somewhat like ticking time-bombs that may or may not get triggered at some point during your life. While the stress of having a new baby and moving to Australia may have triggered the condition, it might have happened anyway, so try not to place any blame/resentment for the condition on the baby or Australia, they didn't do anything... On a more positive note, unlike many people with this condition, you've actually got a diagnosis, which means you can actually start to treat/control the condition. I'll keep my fingers crossed that you find a good combination of medication soon, and wish you all the best.
AJ Posted May 10, 2011 Posted May 10, 2011 Hiya - dont worry too much - hundreds of people have Graves, I did and had to have my thyroid taken out. I have to take throxine for life. Once they get the dose for you right its only a matter of a yearly blood test and taking one or two pills a day. My prescription costs $29 but I get 200 pills for that and I take 1 100mg pill per day so they last more than six months. its also quite common to have this after a baby and it can be temporary if this was the cause. ********************************************************** Sorry please ignore most of the above - was getting confused again! This is what I take now since I had my thryoid removed! When I had graves I took 3 drugs(not saying you will have to) Frusemide(which is is direutic) carbimizole and propanolol. I dont know how much these cost but if you look them up on the PBS at least it might give you an idea. As RockDr says it could have happened anytime - my mum and gran both had goitres so it can run in families.Hopefully they will sort you out soon
shazney64 Posted May 12, 2011 Author Posted May 12, 2011 Thanks for all your wishes Its not the country to blame (the process may have had a part to play) also the baby, not trying to apportion the blame. My words were at the time probably out of fear of the unknown. After reading up on it, at least i have a diagnosis - which is a relief as i was doubting my ability in being a proactive mum. The only downside with me being all the way in oz is not having my friends and family to support me until i get on my feet again. Did really just take my health for granted. xx
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