Let’s Just BE Profanely Clear, Here
October 23rd, 2007 | 
Author: I don’t know any Iraqi veterans really well, up close and personal, so although I have heard of all sorts of non-life threatening, but certainly miserable medical mystery-conditions afflicting them, I don’t really know how it is for them. But I do know how it has been for my Viet Nam veteran husband of over 30 years. He has had this misery-inducing rash ever since his first year spent in Viet Nam. Doctors have given him the ounce by ounce equivalent of a 55 gallon drum of topical salves and creams. He has been told it is athlete’s foot gone wild to his crotch and chest, he has been told it is psoriasis, he has been told it is a yeast infection. He hasn’t been freaking CURED.
Our last civilian doctor since 1988 mumbled about it maybe being fungal, but said our insurance wouldn’t pay for the oral drug to treat it. So he didn’t prescribe it. He has been “sacked” for that and other reasons. So, yesterday, my husband and I went to a local “doc in a box” quick care place. I am fed up with fancy doc offices with color coordinated receptionists running in hot and cold herds and spending an entire half day in commute and waiting to be blown off by a guy who spends 5-10 minutes ignoring your questions and demands.
Imagine my surprise when the tiny woman doctor with over 25 years of practice and teaching behind her, looks at this rash and says, “That IS a fungus…..you have put up with that since the 60’s? Do you want me to treat it or just get RID of it?” Duuuh. She prescribed oral Lamisil and said that the insurance would likely puke about it—so I mentally girded up my loins to do battle.
Off to the pharmacy we went. Happy information from pharmacist—there is a generic now for the drug, so we hope the insurance company doesn’t have too big a fit. But no, they won’t pay, we will have to fight. Then I ask how much the drug costs if we simply plastic card ourselves further into debt hell. The pharmacist whispers to us: “Too much, but I know Costco sells it cheaply, and we MATCH prices if you call and find out the price at Costco.”
Here is where I get profane, so all of you with virgin ears and eyes….go away now. The price at Costco for the generic Lamisil is $21.53 (only about $7 more than I pay for insured prescriptions). The pharmacy matches the price and we buy it. Then I look at the receipt—the “normal” price for this drug, for 30 little pills is $390! That is the grocery chain ‘reduced’ price, down from $420. FOUR HUNDRED TWENTY DOLLARS??!! Holy fucking shit, are you kidding? So let me just say, pharmaceutical companies and pharmacy chains are blood-sucking, gutter-crawling, low-life, douch bag sons of bitches, ok? I wish I could simply transfer the ailment that has made my husband miserable since 1965 to THEIR sorry low-life asses (literally), but I would be satisfied with puking on their shoelaces if it is all I can get.
Not only that, but the insurance companies that play with them are the same AND stupid asshats as well. Do you know how much they have paid for all the useless if barely mitigating tubes of creams over the last 20-40 years? They could have paid ONCE for the pills and been freaking DONE! Dumbfucks, ok…yes, they ARE.
So, the point of this rant? If you are a Viet Nam vet, if you have lingering crotch rot or any sort of rash and it won’t go away and you have NOT tried treating it as a systemic fungal infection, I urge you to do so at once. The Man has had ONE pill, and he can already see the fire engine red beginning to shrink at the margins of his misery. Find a Costco, or some pharmacy that will match prices and ask for the generic when you have a doctor’s prescription in your hot little hand.
Posted in Walk of The Fallen
I would have had a solution much sooner if I had not allowed my avid dislike of the VA prevent me from calling them. There have been many advancements and discoveries over the course of the last 40 years. Although some of the VAs have a long ways to go they are much better than they were even 20 years ago.
Glad you found a solution! I know a fair number of guys who never got that bit of luck.
After being driven mad by jungle rot for almost 30 years I called the VA to see if anyone had come up with anything that would provide some relief. They had. I wrote down the name of the drug, took it to my doctor. She checked it out and wrote me a script. At the time I had decent insurance so all I paid was ten bucks deductible.
I took it as directed. I haven’t had an outbreak since the mid 90s and that is a good thing.
Yes, same thing…sweaty weather or work and it worsens. He cannot have a beard without his face trying to flake off. He noted a difference in a single dose! The doctor says one month worth will likely cure the systemic infection….but says if he wants his toenails to go white again it could take three months. I will keep you updated on this.
labrys,
All the times I went on sick call in the Army, they never ran a culture on my problem. In 1988 a Retd. AF Lt. Col dermatologist did a simple culture, and determined that I had a fungal infection. I’ve used prescription Nizoral (ketconazole) cream and shampoo since then, both prescriptions through the VA.
It still gets red if I stop treating it, and esp. if I sweat a lot. It’s just like your husband’s. I haven’t tried Lamisal b/c I am concerned about the liver effect. The Nizoral is non-steroidal, and I recommend it.
But, PLEASE keep us informed about your husband’s progress. If he becomes cured, I would consider the oral option. I cannot wear a beard b/c the whole things gets reinflammed, probably from the sweat in the beard.
Thanks, labrys.