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Thanks, John, for sharing your story with us. It was interesting indeed. Sweden seems the place to be for health care. The story here in India is vastly different. Incidentally, homeopathy has a treatment for kidney stones that dissolves the stones and they are passed out without any discomfort. Moneesha 2008/6/13 John Svensk <[log in to unmask]>: > Hello my fellow Parkies, > I thought I'd just share my experiences of the past weekend with you. > Friday the 6th, at 1 pm, I took my noon dose of pills (Madopar Quick Mite, > Tasmar, Sifrol/Pramipexol) and went to bed for a short nap. > Twenty minutes later I woke up with what felt like the worst back cramps in > recorded history. The first thought in my mind was that it was weird to > have > dystonias of that magnitude all of a sudden; up to this point they had just > affected my neck and shoulders. I decided to try to relax and ride it out, > the pills ought to kick in in just ten minutes or so. No such luck; the > pills started to work their magic, but just enough to convince me that the > pain wasn't from my PD. It was hurting bad at this point. I called my wife > who was just around the corner to get some groceries, including that > all-important staple of my diet called licorice. Addicted to the stuff! ;) > She came home, and we decided that the best option at this point was to > call > 112 (our version of 911) and ask them for an opinion; there are registered > nurses available for advice on those tricky cases... After a short > description: jabbing pains extending from the back lowest rib to the front > just above my belly button, they decided to send an ambulance since it > might > be the heart. The EKG taken in the ambulance was inconclusive, but > nitroglycerine and two shots of IV morphine had no significant effect, the > pain went from 8 to 5 on a scale of 1-10. I was wheeled into the heart ICU > of the nearest hospital, and after some 4-5 hours, quite a bit of poking > and > prodding they ruled out the heart and transferred me to a ward that I only > can call "internal medicine intensive care for post-op and weird cases we > don't know where to put yet"! > > There I was put on two different drugs, one codeine variant (I think) and > one morphine drug. Finally the pain went away... The blood work had ruled > out the heart, and a urine sample tested positive for blood, so the working > hypothesis was kidney stones. At 12.30 am they woke me up and took me down > to have a CAT-scan. Yup, three stones of approx. 1/8th of an inch diameter > or a bit larger. I'll be returning to the hospital to have them crushed > with > ultrasound later this summer. After spending 48 hours at the hospital, I > didn't need any more drugs and was sent home with a prescription for one > drug to take the pain away and also help dilate the (for lack of the proper > medical term) funnel of the kidney, so that the stones can become dislodged > again should the pain return. > > Today I received the hospital bill, and honestly I couldn't believe my > eyes: > USD 45!!! All included. I hereby promise never, NEVER to complain about the > 35 % tax I pay, ever again. I knew healthcare in Sweden was inexpensive, > but > this is just amazing. > > Take care guys and gals! CU! > /John (18 onset, 26 diagnosis, 39 years old now) > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto: > [log in to unmask] > In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn