Just want to hear everyone’s thoughts if they had a similar path. I had an appointment with DR Osborne and was in the stages of trying to get the surgery covered with my insurance but truthfully I am finding it really challenging so I have given up at the moment. In the meantime, I saw the name DR Pashkover written in the group a few times, and he takes my insurance so I decided to give him a shot. He has the same opinions at Dr Osborne. However, Dr Pashkover says I have to start with medication first to rule it out. Not sure if this is because I need to show I failed for the insurance to cover my surgery. He proscribed me Orphenadrine and Meloxicam. Alongside having my whole face Botoxed I am have the best relief. No headaches no pain in neck, all my mobility is back. Choking is not as severe, but I am still choking and the same textures have not gotten any better. Despite feeling a lot better, No matter what I still feel the constant lump in my throat. The ear fullness and jaw pain still breaks through but its not debilitating anymore. He wants me to get off for 2 weeks and see if all the symptoms come back because I cant be on this forever. Curious….. has anyone taken these medications and did you end up not getting the surgery and or was this how you were able to prolong it. The side effects are pretty bad though. I suffer from dizziness, forgetfulness, amongst other things. One thing it also hasn’t helped with is the numbness in my hand however I haven’t got the spasms in my face anymore.
@Gaby - We’ve had a number of members go to battle w/ their insurance companies to try to get them to pay for ES surgeries w/ Dr. Osborne. Even when insurance agrees to pay, I think it’s usually ended up being only a small portion of the total bill so there’s still been a fairly large financial outlay on the part of the patient. I’m sorry he doesn’t offer more insurance options since he’d be able to help a lot more people who could use his expertise.
Orphenadrine is a muscle relaxant & Meloxicam is a steroid. We’ve had members who’ve gotten some symptoms relief from both of those but I don’t recall anyone was told to take them prior to having surgery just to justify the need for surgery. They’ve mainly been used to reduce symptoms while a person was awaiting their surgery date. No one that I recall has taken these long-term as they are meant for short term use.
Meloxicam/steroids are powerful anti-inflammatories & when combined w/ a muscle relaxant, it makes total sense that symptoms would reduce. I suspect when you’re off the them for 2 weeks, your symptoms will become more significant again. Hopefully at that time, Dr. Pashkover will set a surgery date for you.
Not through those medications, but we have had a few members who’ve had steroid injections which have helped with symptoms enough to put off surgery for quite a while; usually most people end up with surgery eventually though. Medications only mask the symptoms, they don’t cure the styloids rubbing on nerves or compressing blood vessels.
I hope that this shows Dr Pashkover that you need the surgery, if you feel confident with him.