24. October 2008 by Lisa.

The Partnership for Prescription Assistance brings together America’s pharmaceutical companies, doctors, other health care providers, patient advocacy organizations and community groups to help qualifying patients who lack prescription coverage get the medicines they need through the public or private program that’s right for them. Many will get them free or nearly free.  There is NO COST INVOLVED!  Here is their site.

Posted in FRUGALITY, HEALTH TIPS, HOME & FAMILY, TIPS | No Comments »

15. July 2008 by Lisa.

Yes, along with suffering from migraines, I also deal with lower back pain. Not that I’m falling apart, it’s just that I’m in my 40’s and…well…you know how it goes. I think those are my only problems right now (knock on wood).

A couple years ago our youngest son was in a body cast for a broken femur (another story in itself) - you can visualize the kind of body cast with one leg straight, the other leg bent, and a bar between them (spica cast). He was 5 years old at the time, but lifting him was difficult because of the spread out position his body was in. In the cast for 6 weeks, my back finally blew.

I spent months visiting a chiropractor who came highly recommended. After no relief from the pain, we were at a Christmas party and a gentleman (who is a physical therapist) came up to me and my husband. He asked if I was suffering from low back pain. Later he revealed he could tell by the way I moved. And I thought I hid it so well. He asked us to step into a bedroom with him and he showed me how to properly sit. Not kidding! With that alone, my back pain subsided within a week. Completely subsided. He told me to sit in a chair with a rolled up towel (secured with duct tape) behind my lower back so I had pressure. He told me to keep my legs in front of me and try to make sure my knees were lower than my hips. That’s it folks. Since then, whenever I sneak back into old habits all I have to do is put his advice into practice.

I know it sounds simple, but it’s worth a try. I was on the verge of considering seeing an M.D. and going the traditional medical route - yikes. Talk about a frugal save! I don’t even need to take ibuprofen. Just thought I’d pass that along.

Posted in WFMW, HEALTH TIPS | 7 Comments »

11. July 2008 by Lisa.

For all you migraine sufferers out there, this post is for you. I’m one of those women who suffers from horrible migraines. They used to put me out of commission as I’d have to go to bed in a room as dark as I could get it in the middle of the afternoon. I went to my doctors (OB/GYN and Internist), but all they wanted to do was put me on regular meds. Aside from the fact I’m too young to be put on regular meds for anything, these particular types of meds (for migraines) are typically what they use for people with seizures. When a migraine came on, my choices were:

1. Go to bed and endure the pain until I fell asleep
2. Take the meds and go to bed because they made me so sleepy

Either way, I was out of commission for the rest of the day. I saw Excedrin Migraine and thought I’d give it a try. It’s a combination of caffeine and aspirin. I have found that if I take it at the beginning of my headache (there’s a window of time before the headache becomes “full blown”) it completely takes care of it. Even if I wait until it’s full blown, it still helps tremendously.

I know a couple of my triggers are sugar and lack of sleep. However, even when avoiding these triggers, I still get migraines. No one in my immediate family suffers from them, but my mother-in-law used to. Her migraines went away after she went through menopause. I’m hopeful. Until I finish menopause, I will endure with the help of Excedrin Migraine.

I have gotten this product for free and for pennies on the dollar. I’m well stocked thanks to CVS and Walgreens (not to mention the manufacturer and it’s coupons). Seriously, this is a MUST HAVE product for me as I average around 15 headaches per month.

If you’re on regular meds for migraines and struggle with that, and if you’ve never used Excedrin Migraine, I sure hope you give it a try. I was thrilled there is something over the counter that works because plain aspirin, Tylenol, Advil, etc. didn’t even touch the pain. Neither did several natural remedies I tried. Hope this little post helps even one person.

I should add here that it’s important for a migraine sufferer to make sure he/she is getting magnesium, vitamins B & D and fatty acids.  Other great items are Feverfew and Petasite.

Posted in HEALTH TIPS | 3 Comments »

8. June 2008 by Lisa.

Tena at Budget Helpers has this list of Prescription Helps on her site. This is great if you know anyone who needs it. Thanks, Tena.

• AstraZeneca Patient Assistance
• GlaxoSmithKline Assistance
• Lilly Direct Patient Assistance
• Merck Prescription Assistance
• Ortho-McNeil Patient Assistance
• Pfizer Patient Assistance
• Wyeth Patient Assistance

Posted in HEALTH TIPS | 1 Comment »

31. May 2008 by Lisa.

Caregivers Marketplace is a website any caregiver or person receiving care (you/your parents) may join in order to get a partial reimbursement for certain products you purchase for your children, yourself, your parents (whoever you give care to). You send in your receipts along with the form from their website and they mail you a check. Great support for all caregivers.! Glad to see someone giving care to the caregivers. There aren’t a ton of products in this program, but I’m hoping the more people take advantage of it, the more it will grow.

Posted in HEALTH TIPS | No Comments »

28. April 2008 by Lisa.

A couple of months ago, my mother went into the hospital. My family all had colds. I felt a cold coming on (I can always tell when I’m coming down with one) and certainly didn’t want my mother to come down with it, so I went to the health food store. The people who work at this particular store are very knowledgeable. I said, “I’m coming down with a cold and need to take care of someone coming out of the hospital tomorrow. Give me the best of what you have.”

They gave me:
GSE Liquid Concentrate (Grapefruit Seed Extract) 2 fl. oz. cost $10.95
CC-A made by Nature’s Sunshine - 100 Capsules cost $15.25

I was told to put 15 drops of the GSE in 8oz. of water and drink this mixture 3x/day.
I was also told to take 5 CC-A capsules every hour on the hour with water.

The next morning I felt better and never came down with the cold. I’ve tried this once since then and it worked again. Then, my daughter and I did this routine the day before we flew to Washington D.C. because someone in our family always picks up crud on airplanes and brings it home to share. We never caught anything.

Just wanted to share this with you in case you have a situation ever come up where it’s truly detrimental to have a cold around someone. For our family, seemingly we can spend $35 in kleenex alone when colds get passed around our house. FYI.

Posted in HEALTH TIPS | No Comments »