Facial Numbness And Healthcare
Moderator: talkhealth
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Hummingbird
- Posts: 2
- Joined: Tue Sep 19, 2017 11:46 am
Facial Numbness And Healthcare
I don’t know what is going on, so I will refer to my condition as facial numbness. Please excuse me for any grammar errors. Grammar is not my strong point.
The short version:
It was around March 2015 that I started to notice this weird swelling sensation around my right eyes, pushing again my eye ball or at least that was how it felt. I was also having abnormal right eye movement when I shifted my focus to the right. As summer approached, the sensations of swelling, numbing, tingling spread to my cheek by May, towards my right lip by June (drooping sensation), and by August down my neck and shoulder. Since the facial numbness spread down to the neck and shoulder, I would have spontaneous ache only on the right side of my neck and shoulder. I also experienced slight swelling feeling that most people won’t notice, problems with positional awareness (feel right side isn’t align with left, feel as if right lip and shoulder are drooping down, can’t feel shoulder as if it is not there, and can’t feel right lip like it is all the way down by the jaw bone) and right cheek is quite firm making smiling an extra effort to match it to the other side. This may not be related, but I am very fatigue and usually would start to feel drowsy within one to four hours after waiting up. I don’t wake up rested, but very tired. If you let me sleep, I can until I have headache from it. I am also having issue with short-term memory where I find multi-tasking hard, walking into a room or reaching somewhere like opening the refrigerator and forgetting why I am there, forgetting how to spell words, and easily distracted or other times hard to concentrate.
My doctor whom I just established connection with for my 6 years of neck and shoulder pain/ache, said it was not a tumor. I don’t know if my neck and shoulder issue is related to my facial numbness. MRI of the neck and shoulder showed that I had straighten of the neck, but that did not explain why I have this constant ache (tolerable), spontaneous ache as if it is coming from deep in the tissues (kinda tolerable), neck and shoulder ache after a headache (not tolerable), after/during stress (depend on the situation), and ache even when I sit at the computer for a short duration of time.
My neurologist had a CT scan done and blood test. Nothing abnormal. She referral me to San Francisco by May 2016, but Medi-Cal Anthem Blue Cross made it so hard. The referral staff told me I had to make the referral through my primary doctor, while my healthcare sent me a letter half in English, half in Spanish (not my native language) stating they want a second opinion (I understand because that part was in English). My clinic didn’t tell me my primary doctor left, so it took me a while to get in and get a referral only to be denied by healthcare. I was refused under the based that I did not show signs of headache abnormality such as cancer or tumor. I went to see my doctor asap and he confirmed he referral me for facial numbness not headache. He made another referral in which I got another letter stating there was not enough evidence to say I need this visit. I got that last notification letter, but I never got the request I made for them to send me all the information they used to make the first decision. While in the process of getting a repeal through independent medical review, I was told I am not longer eligible for Medi-Cal. I am on my wait to get Covered California.
The long version:
It was around March 2015 that I started to notice this weird swelling sensation around my right eyes, pushing again my eye ball or at least that was how it felt. It was weird. It was also very strange that I was having the urge to roll my eyes up. Around this time I also notice some weird right eye movement. When I brought my focus to the right side (no eye movement involved), my right pupil relaxed and shift to the right. As I re-focused my attention on the center of my vision, my right pupil shift back to its original position. At first, I thought I was just imaging thinking. But then I record it, and that was freaky. I didn’t know if it was a great talent or something to be alarm about, but I was worried.
Toward May, I established with a primary doctor to discussed my 6 years of on and off neck and shoulder pain/ache. They were just getting worst. I was having neck and shoulder pain after a headache, out of the blue, when I wake up, when I am stress, can’t sleep on my back without feeling the pressure evolving into ache and pain on my neck, being on a computer for less than 30 minutes, and reading textbooks (to point I don’t even want to look at any big books). I had an MRI showing I had a slight straighten of my neck. But that shouldn’t be enough to cause all the hell I went through, right? Doctor said there is nothing she can do, other than physical therapy and sleeping on a lower pillow in which she suggested I should use a towel instead of pillow (I had switch pillow numerous time and was at that time sleeping on my u-curve pillow ). It was also around this time, that I had sensations of numbing, tingling, and cold chill under my skin on my right cheeks towards ear and the jaw. So I used this opportunity to talk to my doctor about this issue. She suggested it may be ear allergy (first time I ever heard of that) and gave me a list of stuff to avoid which wasn’t even part of my daily diet.
It was early June when I was heading to the movie theater with my siblings when I notice my right lip felt like it was drooping. When I touched the area, it I didn’t felt much anything or that the lip was drooping. But I was anxious and decided to go home instead of watching the movie. Once home, I immediately went to the mirror. Nothing wrong, aside from a slight swelling around the lip that most people won’t notice and the movement, a slight stiffness to it. I had a doctor appointment already scheduled so I waited for a couple more days, to be told no tumor and Medi-Cal probably won’t cover my CT scan of the brain. So after I followed her out of the visiting room, she finally said she will referral me to a neurologist.
After three months of waiting where the issue has spread to my neck and shoulder, I finally had three visits to the neurologist within a year to be told she doesn’t know what is going on (three months in between each visit). She, however, suggested I go down to San Francisco for a specialist. But what is the biggest obstacles most of the time? Healthcare insurance!!! In my case Medi-Cal telling my neurologist that my primary doctor needs to refer me. While the Medi-Cal Anthem Blue Cross sent me this weird letter half in English, half In Spanish saying I need a second opinion (which I actually understand because this part was in English). Like seriously, that was unprofessional. I am positive I wrote my primary language is English, and I was told the referral didn’t go through because of another reason. My clinic didn’t tell me my primary doctor left, so I had to wait a good almost two months to establish with another doctor. To be told, my healthcare won’t cover my visit down there because I did not show signs of headache abnormality such as cancer or tumor. Which doesn’t make sense because I wasn’t referral due to headache. I went to see my doctor asap and he confirmed he referral me for facial numbness. He made anther referral, in which I got another letter stating there was not enough evidence to say I need this visit. I got that last notification letter, but I never got the request I made for them to send me all the information they used to make the first decision. I filed for an independent review, but I haven’t heard anything back from then. The 30 days waiting period is probably over by a couple of days now. Recently, I even got a letter from Medi-Cal stating I am no longer eligible because the express lane Medi-cal program is ending for me. Sadly, I am on my wait to get Covered California.
Right now, I am just thinking positive. I would feel the swelling go up and down. On certain days, it is very bad. Other days, I could forget it is there. But my neck and should will be a constant reminder as I, most of the time, can’t feel their location or feel they are not in alignment as if they are way below where they are supposed to be. I tried not to sleep on that side.
The short version:
It was around March 2015 that I started to notice this weird swelling sensation around my right eyes, pushing again my eye ball or at least that was how it felt. I was also having abnormal right eye movement when I shifted my focus to the right. As summer approached, the sensations of swelling, numbing, tingling spread to my cheek by May, towards my right lip by June (drooping sensation), and by August down my neck and shoulder. Since the facial numbness spread down to the neck and shoulder, I would have spontaneous ache only on the right side of my neck and shoulder. I also experienced slight swelling feeling that most people won’t notice, problems with positional awareness (feel right side isn’t align with left, feel as if right lip and shoulder are drooping down, can’t feel shoulder as if it is not there, and can’t feel right lip like it is all the way down by the jaw bone) and right cheek is quite firm making smiling an extra effort to match it to the other side. This may not be related, but I am very fatigue and usually would start to feel drowsy within one to four hours after waiting up. I don’t wake up rested, but very tired. If you let me sleep, I can until I have headache from it. I am also having issue with short-term memory where I find multi-tasking hard, walking into a room or reaching somewhere like opening the refrigerator and forgetting why I am there, forgetting how to spell words, and easily distracted or other times hard to concentrate.
My doctor whom I just established connection with for my 6 years of neck and shoulder pain/ache, said it was not a tumor. I don’t know if my neck and shoulder issue is related to my facial numbness. MRI of the neck and shoulder showed that I had straighten of the neck, but that did not explain why I have this constant ache (tolerable), spontaneous ache as if it is coming from deep in the tissues (kinda tolerable), neck and shoulder ache after a headache (not tolerable), after/during stress (depend on the situation), and ache even when I sit at the computer for a short duration of time.
My neurologist had a CT scan done and blood test. Nothing abnormal. She referral me to San Francisco by May 2016, but Medi-Cal Anthem Blue Cross made it so hard. The referral staff told me I had to make the referral through my primary doctor, while my healthcare sent me a letter half in English, half in Spanish (not my native language) stating they want a second opinion (I understand because that part was in English). My clinic didn’t tell me my primary doctor left, so it took me a while to get in and get a referral only to be denied by healthcare. I was refused under the based that I did not show signs of headache abnormality such as cancer or tumor. I went to see my doctor asap and he confirmed he referral me for facial numbness not headache. He made another referral in which I got another letter stating there was not enough evidence to say I need this visit. I got that last notification letter, but I never got the request I made for them to send me all the information they used to make the first decision. While in the process of getting a repeal through independent medical review, I was told I am not longer eligible for Medi-Cal. I am on my wait to get Covered California.
The long version:
It was around March 2015 that I started to notice this weird swelling sensation around my right eyes, pushing again my eye ball or at least that was how it felt. It was weird. It was also very strange that I was having the urge to roll my eyes up. Around this time I also notice some weird right eye movement. When I brought my focus to the right side (no eye movement involved), my right pupil relaxed and shift to the right. As I re-focused my attention on the center of my vision, my right pupil shift back to its original position. At first, I thought I was just imaging thinking. But then I record it, and that was freaky. I didn’t know if it was a great talent or something to be alarm about, but I was worried.
Toward May, I established with a primary doctor to discussed my 6 years of on and off neck and shoulder pain/ache. They were just getting worst. I was having neck and shoulder pain after a headache, out of the blue, when I wake up, when I am stress, can’t sleep on my back without feeling the pressure evolving into ache and pain on my neck, being on a computer for less than 30 minutes, and reading textbooks (to point I don’t even want to look at any big books). I had an MRI showing I had a slight straighten of my neck. But that shouldn’t be enough to cause all the hell I went through, right? Doctor said there is nothing she can do, other than physical therapy and sleeping on a lower pillow in which she suggested I should use a towel instead of pillow (I had switch pillow numerous time and was at that time sleeping on my u-curve pillow ). It was also around this time, that I had sensations of numbing, tingling, and cold chill under my skin on my right cheeks towards ear and the jaw. So I used this opportunity to talk to my doctor about this issue. She suggested it may be ear allergy (first time I ever heard of that) and gave me a list of stuff to avoid which wasn’t even part of my daily diet.
It was early June when I was heading to the movie theater with my siblings when I notice my right lip felt like it was drooping. When I touched the area, it I didn’t felt much anything or that the lip was drooping. But I was anxious and decided to go home instead of watching the movie. Once home, I immediately went to the mirror. Nothing wrong, aside from a slight swelling around the lip that most people won’t notice and the movement, a slight stiffness to it. I had a doctor appointment already scheduled so I waited for a couple more days, to be told no tumor and Medi-Cal probably won’t cover my CT scan of the brain. So after I followed her out of the visiting room, she finally said she will referral me to a neurologist.
After three months of waiting where the issue has spread to my neck and shoulder, I finally had three visits to the neurologist within a year to be told she doesn’t know what is going on (three months in between each visit). She, however, suggested I go down to San Francisco for a specialist. But what is the biggest obstacles most of the time? Healthcare insurance!!! In my case Medi-Cal telling my neurologist that my primary doctor needs to refer me. While the Medi-Cal Anthem Blue Cross sent me this weird letter half in English, half In Spanish saying I need a second opinion (which I actually understand because this part was in English). Like seriously, that was unprofessional. I am positive I wrote my primary language is English, and I was told the referral didn’t go through because of another reason. My clinic didn’t tell me my primary doctor left, so I had to wait a good almost two months to establish with another doctor. To be told, my healthcare won’t cover my visit down there because I did not show signs of headache abnormality such as cancer or tumor. Which doesn’t make sense because I wasn’t referral due to headache. I went to see my doctor asap and he confirmed he referral me for facial numbness. He made anther referral, in which I got another letter stating there was not enough evidence to say I need this visit. I got that last notification letter, but I never got the request I made for them to send me all the information they used to make the first decision. I filed for an independent review, but I haven’t heard anything back from then. The 30 days waiting period is probably over by a couple of days now. Recently, I even got a letter from Medi-Cal stating I am no longer eligible because the express lane Medi-cal program is ending for me. Sadly, I am on my wait to get Covered California.
Right now, I am just thinking positive. I would feel the swelling go up and down. On certain days, it is very bad. Other days, I could forget it is there. But my neck and should will be a constant reminder as I, most of the time, can’t feel their location or feel they are not in alignment as if they are way below where they are supposed to be. I tried not to sleep on that side.
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esoledolu
Re: Facial Numbness And Healthcare
Hi Hummingbird ,
I'm sorry to hear you're struggling with some facial numbness. I hope you find some other patients or carers in the forum who you can talk to.
Do let us know how things are going,
Esther
Social Media & Patient Community Intern
I'm sorry to hear you're struggling with some facial numbness. I hope you find some other patients or carers in the forum who you can talk to.
Do let us know how things are going,
Esther
Social Media & Patient Community Intern
-
Hummingbird
- Posts: 2
- Joined: Tue Sep 19, 2017 11:46 am
Re: Facial Numbness And Healthcare
Thank you. Apparently, the healthcare responded that they are not giving me a repeal. It is stated in the letter that my condition is "mild pain compliant," "my symptoms do not require medicine," "not been treated for my complaint," " not severe or worsening," etc. I guess this is called "managed care" for a reason. The fact that nothing shows up in my nervous system exam and my scans are normal, is an indication that the problem is more complex. The fact, that this numbness spread from around my eyes, down my neck and shoulder is enough evidence that something is up. But they want me to be in "pain" and for it is severe enough. I think it is severe enough and my pain isn't physical. It's psychological because I don't know what my condition is. When I end up in the hospital, too late---when I lose mobility and reflex is too late. How healthcare are right now, it will take a while to even get in the door.esoledolu wrote:Hi Hummingbird ,
I'm sorry to hear you're struggling with some facial numbness. I hope you find some other patients or carers in the forum who you can talk to.
Do let us know how things are going,
Esther
Social Media & Patient Community Intern
I guess I can't do much right now. There is really no point since I am losing my Medi-Cal. I'll have to consider a plan that will cover my current issue.
-
esoledolu
Re: Facial Numbness And Healthcare
Hi,
Sorry to hear that you are have some difficulties. We hope that you find a solution to your symptoms. If you need any online support please do visit our online clinics.
Best,
Esther
Sorry to hear that you are have some difficulties. We hope that you find a solution to your symptoms. If you need any online support please do visit our online clinics.
Best,
Esther
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