Hi all, this has nothing to do with plastering but I just wanted to let you all know my personal experience with First Choice Emergency rooms. As you all probably have seen them all pop up in your city or town, the emergency room type 24 hour or close to 24 hour open doctors offices. My daughter had an allergic reaction with hives and swelling, it was 8PM Saturday night, no doctors open, just the emergency room which would of cost us 300 for the visit and extra for anything else likely 500. We have a first choice emergency room a block away and decided to go there, no wait, good staff, and it totaled just over 300. We got a discount for paying cash as well.

The facility was top notch with it's own lab, mri, and emergency surgery center. 2 shots and the swelling is gone.

Actually, that's higher than what I paid here in Lexington SC. I had to go to their "urgent care" which is sort of like an ER for people with no medical insurance. Mine cost $194 but they didn't give me any serious treatments. I had a bad reaction to antibiotics and decongestants I was prescribed when I first moved here....yowzer, I was freaking out. My pupils were so dilated you couldn't even see the blue in my eyes. I was losing motor skills, having trouble breathing, my heart was racing so badly I couldn't catch my breath, and I could not think straight. I was also seriously dehydrated and began having muscle spasms. My mouth was so dry I couldn't even swallow. My neighbor came over to visit and I collapsed on the floor just as she walked in. She immediately drove me to the ER Urgent Care. They were a whole lot cheaper than most ER's would have been.

I don't know if they have "Urgent Care" ER's around the rest of the country....might be worth checking into.

One of the meds I had a bad reaction to was "respa". I advise everyone to steer clear of that drug. BAD BAD BAD stuff. Has belladonna in it.

This is all good to know...thanks guys & gals!

Nancy.....belladonna in the pills? I knew a guy when I lived on the big island who died from the belladonna flower. He wasn't too clued in on the flower, all he heard was that if you eat enough of it you will trip your b**ls off....well he ate too much and died, not before having intense, frightening hallucinations. That is one dangerous plant, why they would put it in meds is beyond me...

take care of yourself,
Greg

Greg,
When my neighbor took me back to the ER Urgent Care due to my bad reaction, they said "oh, it's probably the belladonna in the Respa". I had heard Belladonna was a hallucinogen, so I asked why they included something like that in the med. He said there was one characteristic about belladonna that helped as an expectorant in getting bronchitis healed. It's a relatively new medicine, not even available yet other than free samples from doctors/hospitals. I talked with the hospital administrator and encouraged him to get it removed before it goes to market. Whether they will, who knows.

I could have sued the hospital...if you research Belladonna on the web, says right there in plain english - do not give to patients with kidney diseases (which I have). Also says to closely monitor or lower the dose in people who have hiatal hernia and acid reflux disease (which I also have). Lucky for them, I don't believe sueing people is the answer unless every other avenue has been exhausted. I did make the hospital remove one of the bills, so I am only pay for 2 of the 3 visits.

Belladonna is another name for atropine, an anticholinergic. Atropine will dry you out, we use it in surgery as a preop med so that you won't asperate on your own fluids.