OK I'm mad now

Nancy2581

Grrr. I had my 6 month checkup with my oncologist last week. She wants to start me on Prolia. I don't have osteoporosis (yet), but i do have osteopenia and I'm taking letrozole which we all know thins your bones. Of course, insurance denied it. So I get a call from my oncologist's nurse and they basically blew me off IMO. I was told to go to my primary care doctor and have him prescribe some bone strengthening preventative. WTF?Why can't they do it? I wasn't even told what to ask for. I know nothing of bone strengthening preventatives. I'm so angry right now. I feel like just quitting letrozole. Thanks for listening to me bitch.

Nancy

PhoenixCruiser

I dont understand it either. I had to make an appointment with my general practitioner to have my high blood pressure monitored and then again to request a done density test. Why couldn't they do that since I was going there weekly?

I get your frustration, but have no advice.

123JustMe

Nancy,

My oncologist wants me to start on Prolia as well. I am on Arimidex. My insurance company however requires a trial of 2 other meds before they will cover it. You might want to see how/when your insurance coverage works. I know that Prolia is EXPENSIVE! Somewhere between $1200-$1650 per injection. I have a flexible spending account at work that I can use to fund but of course that will reduce my take home pay.

I don’t know a lot about preventative bone strengthening except for weight bearing exercises, walking, diet high in calcium and Vitamin D.

I would be interested in knowing what your PCP recommends for bone strengthening.

Good luck

Nancy2581

Thanks ladies for sympathizing with me. I've calmed down a tad lol. I haven't called my PCP yet and told my oncologist I wasn't going to. She is the one who prescribed letrozole so I feel she should be the one to prescribe something for strengthening bones. I think I will call my insurance (oh how I just love doing that humph). Maybe they can give me some insight on what's covered.

Thanks for listening

Nancy

Michelle_in_cornland

Nancy, if you have bone issues, why does not doctor not have you on Tamoxifen and high level D3?

Nancy2581

Hi Michelle, I was on tamoxifen. I kept having endometrial cells show on a pap smear. Ended up with cervical biopsy, endometrial biopsy and finally a D & C. Though nothing cancerous was found I was taken off of tamoxifen and put on letrozole.

Michelle_in_cornland

Many of us have had a hysterectomy and take Tamoxifen just fine. I was glad to have mine out, because I had cycles that were every 24 days and I was anemic. Tamoxifen has treated me well.

edwards750

I can relate to you guys. My MO prescribed Arimidex for me post treatments and I had osteopenia too. Great Arimidex attacks the bones. She switched me to Tamoxifen after a year on Arimidex but the damage was done.

I have osteoporosis now and trust me it’s not fun. I take calcium and Vitamin D everyday and Boniva once a month. My internist suggested those infusions but I doubt BC/BS would pay either and I’m not paying for them out of pocket.

That is ludicrous Nancy. Why didn’t your MO take care of it? Talk about passing the buck. My MO said I was her go to doctor for the next 5 years and if I had problems to see her not my GP.

Btw I’ll be 7 years out next month.

Diane

Nancy2581

Michelle - at one point my MO suggested a hysterectomy, but I'm just not ready to go that route. I have no issues in that area except for those atypical endometrial cells. Doing a pap in September to see if I'm back to normal.

Diane - thank you and guess what it is Blue Shield that I have. I just got my denial letter in the mail. It said I have not tried other bone strengthening drugs so that's why I was denied. Makes me angry because we pay a ton of money to them for health coverage. I have no idea why my MO didn't take care of this. Yes I felt she was passing the buck and she did this once before . I left a message and asked her why I should go to my PCP and why cant she do it 😬? I do like my MO, but she is overworked - seriously. She is the only female MO and every body and their brother wants to go to her so I sort of get it , but still makes me mad. Waiting to hear back

Nancy