Is Saline Like A Narcotic Or Something?!

[Trach]

I recently found out why getting IV saline is so hard in the US when I was trying to get IV treatment for my 18 year old. I was told due to past Medicare fraud, only pediatricians can administer IV's in their offices. Prescriptions for IV saline for adult patients must now be administered through infusion centers, qualified "doc in the boxes", and hospitals. Since doctors do not make money on an iv saline prescription and insurance companies are frowning on the cost, doctors are more reluctant to prescribe IV saline treatment.

So, what used to cost $50 in my pediatricians office cost over $500 at the "infusion center". But the chair was much nicer and there was a tv.

[Trach]

I think the best thing you can do is get set up on home health for saline infusions. Much cheaper in the long run.

[yogini]

Interesting. I think many of us couldnt get at home treatments bc we don't need the infusions all the time. It would be nice if saline became available as a recognized treatment to us. They think about $ but how about all the money and time in wasted drs appointments, medications, sick time etc when a little salt water would do the trick to get out of bad times.

Rama, I would be interested in reading about the clinical trials. Is there info on the web?

[brethor9]

I hate to sound negative but perhaps the reason Dr's don't prescribe saline is more because there is no money to be made in it.....not for the Dr's or the drug companies.....medications are big business!! I mean seriously I have spent ridiculous amounts of money trialling all of these next to useless medications for this illness....when I told my Dr how much saline helped he just said to keep drinking more and the only reason to ever need saline is because I am not hydrating properly (yeah like 3-4 litres isnt enough?)

Bren

[Lemons2lemonade]

I hate to say this, but the fact that saline works better than drinking makes me think kidney/intestine problems.Not to mention it bypasses the stomach.

[ramakentesh]

Not sure why you hate to say it, but there is active research in this area right now.

[goodnuff77]

I have had a port and done at home infusions for a little over a year now. I couldn't tolerate meds so this was like that last helpful thing that could be done. There is a little money to be made off the supply's Dressing kits, needle's, heprain, flushes, rate flow etc then a nurse every week to change the needle. Plus I was just in the hospital for sepsis and had my port removed week of Iv antibiotics 7 days of oral antibiotics. Then had new port put in. In my case the infection was due to a nurses error. Took her three time's to place the needle properly and didn't clean the area correctly in between atemps. I was then told to be using my port every day for over a year I should have had problems sooner. Also back to the cost I have a Dr's appoinmet every three weeks and also regular lab work to check for kidney and liver functions because of the amount of saline I use. So I would say all that cost alot more than a pill. The research I found they say with all the risks of having the port isn't worth it. Plus they think the usefullness is short lived. But I still have some benifets from it.

[yogini]

Good, Thanks for giving a first hand account of the risks of saline. It is not an easy answer for us by any means.

[ramakentesh]

A PICC line has potential infection issues but really saline has less side effects (or none) than any of the meds ive tried and you must remember people that are severally ill with POTS or NMH hve nearly no quality of life to defend. Personally if i couldnt get out of bed the risk would in no way outweight the benefit.

[yogini]

Saline has been used for years in severe cases. The question is for the rest of us - there may be no side effects such as fatigue with beta blockers - instead there are risks as good mentioned.

[Lemons2lemonade]

I hate to say it because organ damage is more challenging than hormonal supplementation...

[ramakentesh]

Oh right. Well maybe but it could just be a faulty enzyme or something easy? We can only hope. It might also just be a false lead.

[issie]

I hope it is something easy. But, my gut instinct says it's something to do with the kidney and/or liver function. Both elimination organs. And of course, like lemon said that would also affect the intestines.

[Trach]

I have a good friend of mine whose daughter had a PICC line for a year prior to seeing Dr. Grubb. Thankfully they did not have any complications with the line. Dr. Grubb told them that frequent use of iv saline was only used as a last line of defense, because eventually our bodies adjust to the iv treatment which then makes iv saline not as effective. So now my friend's child does get iv fluids, but on a periodic basis.