Can you recover from Ulcerative Colitis (UC), Arthritis, Acne, and many other medical conditions, and ... without Medication, is that possible?
Part 1 - The Insurance
I am not a medical doctor, I am not a beauty salon beautician, I am not a pharmacist.
Once upon a time
I was just a desperate homemaker, frustrated of seeing my dining table full of many types of medicines, the medicine becomes part of the daily food, 2 to 3 times a day, for my spouse.
Concern start to set in when the relapse become more frequent as a patient age, and the insurance limit is heading to zero. It did not help when the insurer rejected application of upgrade of old existing insurance plan to unlimited annual and lifetime limit. Back then when we first bought insurance 2 decades ago, unlimited medical plan was non-existence.
And to rub salt into the wound, stronger & more expensive medication or treatment are recommended, whenever there was a relapse. "There is a new treatment, but still on trial version, RM75000 (>USD17K / >SGD22K) for an injection, but you have to enquire at government hospital." That was the last straw that breaks the camel's back. That was the beginning of my long journey to find an alternative solution, and eventually lead to what this blog post is about, so that for those who have similar experience, frustration, despair, whatever it is, wherever you are, hopefully my sharing will bring you some hope.
Are you adequately covered?
Let's talk about getting or upgrading insurance plan while you still qualify.
Get a basic medical plan when you are still young & healthy, or if not young but at least still healthy. "Healthy" is defined as have not been admitted to a hospital before, i.e., have not been hospitalized due to an illness. If you have an existing medical plan, do upgrade accordingly when you still can.
You can never beat the rising medical cost, which is an unknown figure. If you are self insured, you are in control of the insurance premium you are committed to, year after year. Self insured means not depending on company group insurance as there is limit & you are not covered in between change of job. If you are still attached to family plan, you need to get your own individual private insurance plan asap regardless how young you are, you may not be eligible due to medical history along the way before you reach the age limit of the plan.
Make sure your medical insurance plan do NOT exclude infectious disease. Many, unfortunately, were caught off guard during Covid 19 pandemic, their costly hospitalisation bills due to Covid were not claimable due to this exclusion. Some were lucky as there was temporary Covid 19 hospitalisation Fund, but it was limited claim & first come first served basis. What about future infectious disease? Read the fine print of your policy. Change insurer if need to.
I speak from experience as a customer who were misguided by irresponsible insurance agent, thereafter sat for exam to qualify as insurance agent (ex-agent, oops, selling insurance is not my strength ...)
"It is just a hemorrhoid/piles". Sounds familiar? I hear and read about this happening to many very often nowadays. I believe many medical conditions such as IBD (Inflammatory Bowel Disease, which include Crohn & UC), Colon Cancer, etc went undetected in the early stages due to misdiagnosis. That explained why in recent years, there have been many cases of colorectal or colon cancer detected at later stages, whether you are in US, China, Asia, etc.
Eventually, we visited a specialist at a hospital. After a costly colonoscopy but fortunately covered by Medical Insurance but unfortunately with limit, the diagnosis - UC. That was more than a decade ago since the first diagnosis. Relapse becomes a norm, a dread, and nightmares.
continue onto Part 2 - The Change of Diet ...
