I am trying to prepare myself for my dr. appt. next Thursday and possible treatment plan.
I heard this dr. usually uses IV antibiotics 5 days a week and orals on the weekends. How much does one IV treatment cost?
I know they will try to go through insurance first but I just want an idea of cost.
Thanks!
Posted by faithful777 (Member # 22872) on :
It depends on the drug that is prescribed. I was on Clindamycin 5 days a week with orals, 7 days a week.
I got my IV meds from Infuserve and it was about $400 month initially. I had a port and went shopping online for suppplies that I needed to maintain the port and infuse.
Infuserve would have me pay the cash price and then submit to insurance. If insurance paid, they would send me a check for what I initially paid.
With a free rental pump, I was able to get the price down to $200 month for my IV Clindy.
Some drugs used for treatment are more expensive. It pays to call around for the best price.
Posted by Neko (Member # 46592) on :
I had 3 months of rocephin and flagy, cost me $5,000. Insurance wouldn't pay a cent, but they did pay for the picc line, oddly!
I bought the pre-filled balls and had a nurse come once a week, some people buy the drugs from a compounding pharmacy and use s syringe and slowly push it over an hour. So it all depends on what drugs you need and method of delivery, premixed or if you reconstitute it yourself.
Posted by Avacado (Member # 46595) on :
Thanks for sharing your experiences.
I googled around and found some paying 4,000 to 6,000 a month. At let's say 5,000 a month that would be 60,000 a year!
Faithful- your expenses were on the low side it seems.
Neko- how long did your dr. want you to be on the IV?
I'm going crazy waiting for my appointment this week to see the results of the testing and what treatment plan the dr. recommends.
Posted by tdtid (Member # 10276) on :
My info wouldn't be helful since I did IV treatment for 16 months, 7 days a week and sometimes up to 9 hours worth of drips a day.
Also the fact that I did it several years ago, so I know that prices change.
With that said, like another mentioned, we ended up finding that Infuserve in Florida was the best going rate at that time and yes, we called around to tons of companies. But again, this was years ago.
I know that for the full year I was on the IV, there was $27000 to $28000 that was not covered by insurance and we were able to claim that out of pocket amount on our taxes. But that was for the entire year.
I don't know if insurances have gotten better or worse since those days, but I'm here to say that for me, it was so worth it since getting your life back is the most important thing ever.
Good luck to you and I hope you get the answers you need.
Posted by faithful777 (Member # 22872) on :
My husband and I were on Clindy IV and the per month cost with me shopping around for supplies was about $450 month.
I was able to borrow a pump from infuserve so the meds came in a big syringe which is much less expensive than the elastomeric balls that some use.
We were both on IV for about two years. If you get all the supplies and meds from one place, you will surely pay more for the convenience.
When I was on Rocephin in the beginning, it was about $800 month with a kit from infuserve that had all the supplies in it.
Posted by Avacado (Member # 46595) on :
Thank you!
Posted by GretaM (Member # 40917) on :
Rocephin, I prepared the IV bags myself.
Just going by memory, but the Roceph was about 1000/mo.
The IV clindy was about $600/mo.
The heparin was also expensive.
If you choose to do the IV Roceph, be sure to get the Ursadiol, aka Actigal, to help prevent gallbladder sludging.
I was a neuro lyme, and the IV meds made all the difference and helped me turn the corner.
Posted by A.G. (Member # 44713) on :
Infuserve had Rocephin and supplies around $600/mo.
Insurance may pay, especially at first. Fingers crossed
![[Smile]](smile.gif)