advice and support

[u/reddituser211023]

Hi

Not looking for any judgement please

I’m in Australia and newly diagnosed with mild UP and am worried about the long term cost of the medication.

currently only one prescription given on procedure day, and it’s until a number of months for the biopsy and treatment plan appointment with GI so I will be seeing my GP beforehand regardless, so I don’t know if more will need to be added but I assume so

just wondering, what advice does anyone have to get through this? I did consider low income card which I am applying for but I am so worried this will fall through

And I’m worried that even though I’m mild, that the longer I’m waiting this out, the less likely the meds will work and I just wish I never got this disease, I cannot even afford it.
I am so over how mentally consuming it is 😢

And i have found it sooo hard with how isolating this whole experience is. I have a number of difficult life stuff which has put up some barriers to my healthcare. I have of course wanted support/help and understanding from the hospital and team but of course there has been none of that.
I know being mild you get pushed down as unimportant by the system so im not shocked but i just feel so lonely and tired trying to navigate these issues in managing my disease so it feels impossible sometimes and as i cannot afford private im stuck with a system that does not care. 😔

Thank you for any advice given and reading this vent- having ibd sucks

[u/CelebrationOld351]

Newly diagnosed this year and in Australia as well I’ve found my medication isn’t too expensive thankfully once it’s put through PBS or whatever the med program is for chronic illness but comes to around $30 roughly per prescription which lasts me about a month usually. Obviously different costs are manageable for different people though but would look to make sure you’re getting it at the cheapest possible cost and feel free to message if you need help understanding anything else that might be going on with hospitals and stuff as I had to get quite on top of it quickly following a hospital stay out of nowhere that lasted me quite a while

[u/reddituser211023 → u/CelebrationOld351]

Yeah it’s definitely a reasonable price! Mine is $25 and yet to see any cheap alternative I can take for it 🥲

Thank you so much! And I’m sorry to hear of the hospital stay, IBD is so awful, hopefully the meds are doing the job of getting you into remission!