Appt. with my Dr on Friday, I get the impression she's ready to move on to IV abx. I've been on oral abx for one month now. My neuro and cardiac symptoms keep getting worse, I'm worried the little critters are doing irreversible damage, would like to at least halt the progress.

I don't think my insurance is going to cover it, so can anyone give me a rough "guess-timate" of how much IV abx will cost?

I'm willing to administer myself, order drugs from Canada, whatever. I have a couple of friends who are nurses who have offered help, too- one is a home health aide.

I know it varies depending on type, etc etc. Just give me an idea- are we talking hundreds or thousands or many thousands per week?

Many thanks!

I was told last fall from a family that hers cost $6,000/month out of pocket.

Here are some resources for ya:
http://www.lymeinfo.net/insurance.html
http://www.infuserveamerica.com/

There's no simple answer. Everyone's costs will vary greatly.

Depending on the plan, you may still be able to get the medication vials covered at a local independent pharmacy through the pharmacy plan, not medical management which approves IV care. There are also free medication programs through the pharmaceutical companies. If buying the medication, each drug has a different cost.

Aside from the medicine, there's the compounding (some patients do it themselves, others can make deals with agencies to do it cheap), IV line insertion and maintenance, bloodwork and supplies. Usually the insurance still covers the routine bloodwork if done at their drawing facility. Sometimes local homecare agencies will cut deals for homecare supplies, but watch out for per diam charges that are not necessary or affordable. The supplies can get pricey. Supplies include the dripline, syringes, heparin/saline, dressing change kits, etc. They can be bought in bulk, but the easiest route is probably to check out the agency above. They can help to explain things further.

The IV line insertion varies depending on the type of line your doctor wants, the length of time you will be on treatment, and whether an IV nurse can access your veins at home or if a hospital insertion is needed. Dressing change needs also vary depending on the type of line, but that is something that your nurse friends can do, or, depending on the location of the line, the nurses can show you to do yourself. You will need a nurse to come out a few times to show you how to do the infusions, and then your doctor may also require that you have a once weekly nursing visit as well as an IV nurse available to call should something arise.

If you plan to stay on it a while but insurance will only cover a few weeks, it's still worth getting the initial coverage to get the initial costs out of the way.

I'm sure this sounds confusing, but I hope this helps!

Cheryl

Cheryl, thank you so much for the links. The lymeinfo site had details on the lyme policy for my insurance, or at least one branch of my insurance- info I could never get out of them myself. Looks hopeful. Guess I'll find out soon...

I'm also being given IVIG once a month. That one is about $5000. I'm going on 6 months with that. Thankfully no insurance problems yet.

Now if I can just get them to authorize more than 6 Zithromax pills at a time...

Would you have a reg nurse put the line in? I think they are specially trained picc line nurses...be careful.

good luck