Reciprocity

No question our healthcare system is not the greatest, mostly because of understaffing and too few Dr.'s practising as GP's or, Primary Care Drs. A large percentage of the population do not have a "family Dr.". There are walk-in clinics though but you're seeing a different Dr, every visit. In the past couple of years, hospital wait times have been getting very long if you go to emerg. That's because people go there due to not having a primary care Dr. and not wanting to go to a walk-in clinic. so they bung up the system. Any time I have had to go to the hospital for MRI's or CT scans, or other procedures it's been very efficient with no BS & a high level of care by all involved. The wait times to schedule an MRI or CT Scan is quite long and getting longer. Normally a few months at this point. They are now starting to license private health care clinics to perform CT Scans, MRI's and some common surgery such as knee/hip replacements and other common place issues like that. People are up in arms about it because it private practise medicine but I think it's great! Better, faster service and the Govt. still covers the cost to the private facilities. Of course, the Hospital admin. & healthcare workers unions don't like it because many of their members will leave to go into non-union private practise positions. I'm honestly not sure which system is better or more cost effective. I think the same issues are working against cost effectivness with both systems. The only difference is that in Canada, it's the Government that's constantly having to pay more and more. In the US, it's the insurers that take the hit on higher costs. Either way, it's passed down to us pleebs in the form of either taxes or insurance costs.

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Yeah, I had a bit of a reaction to my first shingles shot as well but not the second one. It was just that I felt tired later that day (could have been the whisky I had that night too though??) I don't have any medical insurance as medical stuff is mostly free here in Canada (paid for through taxation so not really free). Dr. visits, hospital stuff including Catscans, MRI's etc operations & hospital stays are all pretty much covered, especially for seniors. For perscription drugs I pay $100.00 the 1st of August each year then I get perscriptions at no charge other than the pharmacy dispening fee, which is $4.00/script. Flu shots are free, Covid shots are free, the pneumoccal shot was also free. For some reason, the first Shingles shot was free but the second one cost me about $125.00 - not sure why. The RSV shot for some reason is not covered by the Govt.; at least not yet.

Exactly what i was thinking as well ... what the hell is RSV and where did it suddenly come from? I'd never heard of it until 6-12 months ago then suddenly, it's the new plague I got a pile of vaccinations last fall ... the super-dose Flu shot, another Covid shot, the pneumococcal vaccine and, two shots for shingles ( I thought those things were just on my roof??). I felt like a pin cushion. Thought I'd start leaking with all the holes they put in me! I didn't get the RSV vaccine bacause they wanted like $350.00 for it Mind you, if I were gasping for air laying in a hospital bed I suppose that cost would seem trivial?

You know today I was reflecting on smoking and quitting and it dawned on me that 7 years ago today I could not imagine not lighting up upon awakening in the morning, after a meal or after finishing any task yet today, after 7 years being smoke free I can not for the life of me fathom why I ever smoked those damn things. They did absolutely nothing positive for me! Quitting brings about a complete metamorphosis in your life! You come out the other side as a completely different person free from the chains of addiction and able to live your life to the fullest.

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Yup! 7 years today. I remember that day like it was yesterday. So glad I managed to make it through the quit process and prevent further damage to my health. When people ask me how if feels to be a non-smoker, I say this: Then I do my Happy Quitter's dance:

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I'll start be saying, I'm no expert nor am I a doctor but here's my 2 cents worth: Yes, I have heard of people continuing to imbibe in various nicotine suppliments for years after they quit so you are NOT alone in that respect. From my experience of quitting, the issue of ridding my body of nicotine was not a major issue. The real challenge was gradually changing my lifestyle to not include lighting up a smoke every hour or so when going about my daily routine. That took a good year or more to really solidify my new lifestyle and feel comfortable with it. If you were to stop the nico lozenges all nicotime would be out of your body within roughly 72 hours (3 days). That's the phyiscal reality; not the mental/emotional reality. I'm going to suggest that perhaps your fixation with the lozenges is more mental than physical in nature. If I were in your situation I think I might try going to a registered hypnotist to seek help in adjusting your mental fiz=xation on using the lozenges. Either that on a psycologist for a few session only because I think this is more a mental thing than physical. Just my opinion. Food for thought maybe? Hope you find an answer to your situation. Perhaps others will have some suggestions as well? By the way ... I got use to sucking hard candies while I was quitting. Keeping my mouth busy I suppose? I still suck on candies from time to time today. A habit I picked up while quitting and never really got rid of. The only difference between me and you is that my candies don't have nicotin in them but clearly I also have a mental fixation now on having something in my mouth?

I think you're right about Covid being less of a threat nowadays than it was a few years ago. These days RSV is the deep lung virus that scares me the most. I've know a couple of people who've had it and it's really nasty!!

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Nope!

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Bird Feeder

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Everret

Oh my! That's terrible!! I've had a bunch of shots, probably 5 or 6 maybe? They've all been Pfizer and I had zero issues. If I had the reactions you've had, I wouldn't go near another shot either. Some people I know took the Moderna shots had bad reactions to them. Not sure if that was wide spread or just my experience.

Bones

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