Medical Deduction Tips ~ Tax Season Is Upon Us…

Tax season is upon us and for those of us with chronic illnesses; we may or may not be able to claim medical expenses. For the fortunate people without brain fog, yearly taxes can be a major headache. It is all that much worse for those of us with medical expenses and figuring out the Schedule A form. What can you deduct how much can you deduct, etc. For the most part, most people can not claim medical deductions on their taxes. Why? Simple, if you have medical insurance most of the time you never can get over that 7.5% tax floor. Say you make $40,000 for your AGI (adjusted gross income – line 38 on your 1040) you would have to spend more than $3,000 to claim any of it. I don’t want to depress anyone and you should always keep all of your receipts. Anything can happen throughout the year, more than one family member could have a lot of medical expenses. Get a old shoe box or buy one of the plastic ones with a lid. Whenever you go to the doctor, get a prescription filled, etc. throw them in your box. This way they are all in one place. Every so often, make copies and bundle them up with the receipts (this makes less work all at once).

What is deductible (Qualified Medical Expenses)? Diabetic supplies, eye exams, eyeglasses, contact lenses, contact lens solutions, hearing aids, laser eye surgery, orthodontia, dental cleanings, dental fillings, over-the-counter (OTC) medicines (not vitamins though), prescription drugs, physical therapy, speech therapy, chiropractic expenses, specialized equipment and devices for disabled persons, transportation expenses related to medical care, weight reduction programs for physician-diagnosed obesity. Whew, for more detailed information check out Section 213(d) of the IRS Publication 502.

Now for the tips and tricks:

• Mileage – I am really bad about remembering to write down the mileage when I go to the doctor. What I do is get map directions from google or yahoo (both ways, the mileage is not always the same to and from) then print out the map and file it in you receipt box. You can do this for doctors, hospitals, pharmacies, etc.
• Hearing Aids – Most insurance companies do not cover hearing aids, therefore all expenses are 100% deductible. This includes the hearing aid, batteries, repair, etc.
• Parking – Keep your receipt if you have to pay for parking.
• Stop-Smoking Programs – You can include in medical expenses for stop smoking programs. You can not deduct OTC’s such as nicotine gum or patches.
• Get a copy of one of the tax software programs. A lot of them have programs that will keep track of all of your deductions.

As crazy as our tax system is this is just the tip of the iceberg. I really encourage you to read the IRS publication 502 or contact an accountant if your taxes are more complicated.

Photo thanks to Flikr

Tonsillectomies, Tonsils And Strep Throat

It is strep throat season and long gone are the days when doctors scheduled Tonsillectomies on a regular basis. Being a mother of three children, I have seen my fill of Strep Throat. My oldest and my youngest were the main ones to get strep. My oldest (daughter) had it constantly when she was little as young as two years. The first time she got this it was not “plain old” strep, she got Scarlet fever (this was her favorite one to get). Scarlet fever is basically a stronger version of strep throat or strep throat with a rash. The rash starts on the chest and abdomen and then spreads, the rash is tiny red dots with white centers. For more information on scarlet fever here is a CDC link. She wound up getting either scarlet fever or just strep twice a year from the age or 2 until she finished school. Now, in her 20’s she gets strep on a yearly basis. No to the middle child, he is autistic and most autistic children have lots of tag on diagnosis but not mine just lots of autistic symptoms. He has only had strep twice in his life, go figure? Then there is the baby…like his sister he got strep every time I turned around. After he turned two (maybe three) if my daughter got it, he was soon to follow. Our pediatrician knew us so well, all I had to do was call his office and say “they have strep again” and he would call in a prescription or two. Sadly, this pediatrician retired and we had to find another one. It took taking my youngest in to various peds to finally hear, “I think that he may need to get his tonsils out?” His first year in school wound up getting strep throat three times. We scheduled an appointment with an ENT and the first visit he told me, “it is not an emergency but, his tonsils and adenoids need to come out.” That summer we scheduled the tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy. He has never had strep throat again. You would think with all of my illnesses and craziness, I would have wound up with strep throat or scarlet fever. But, I never did? Maybe, it is because I had my tonsils out when I was about two?

Here are several really good news articles that I found on tonsils and strep throat.

Auricular Biomagnets ~ To Quit Smoking

As you may know, I am in the process of trying to quit smoking. I ordered some of the Auricular Biomagnets from eBay, called Zero-Smoke. I have been using them since this Tuesday. Tuesday went pretty well. I did get a headache and I was really sick to my stomach. I am not sure what the upset stomach was from? Anyway, I did pretty well not smoking that day. But, then I wound up going to the store and asking for the cheapest, ultra light 100’s that they carried. The nasty cheap cigarettes have helped too because, I am used to the premium brands.

Yesterday (day 2) was really hard. I wound up spending the entire day shopping for cocktail attire for an awards banquet that we are going to this weekend. I have been to busy watching my favorite shows and not “What Not To Wear” to know that the “New Black” must not be black after all. First of all, I hate to shop especially when I have to go to the mall. It is really hard to find appropriate clothing when you are 40something and not a size 4. I wound up exhausted and frustrated. Two really great smoking triggers…I am trying not to be too hard on myself. I have cut down from a pack per day to 5 or 10. Yesterday though was another story 15! Then, I wake up this morning and all of that shopping flared up my Fibromyalgia. I am all stiff and my joints really hurt. I am feeling like I am 90 years old. Then, my husband tried on the new dress shirt that I bought him yesterday and oops…wrong size. So, off to the mall again. No telling what I am going to fell like tomorrow.

Despite all of this, me making this much progress is a major accomplishment! Like I have posted before, I have tried just about everything. So, I am still hopeful that these Biomagnets will finally do the trick and end this addition with nicotine.

Photo thanks to Flickr

Parkinson's Disease ~ Back to the Future

This is my first guest post for Mandy, the original Texas Medical Freak! I'm honored to be a member of Friends of Mandy! - I was trained at the Mayo Clinic, and have been practicing Internal Medicine in Toledo, Ohio for 25 years. I am the creator of the Crazy Medical Cases blog. ~~~

People suffering with Parkinson's Disease want to go back to a time when their brains made enough dopamine, a neurochemical that helps transmit electric impulses between nerve cells. It is possible that in the near future, stem cell treatments may help restore the brain's natural production of dopamine.

Michael J. Fox has been a great spokesman for Parkinson's Disease (PD), though he is not the typical patient. PD is usually a disease of older men and women, and it is fairly common. The two main features of PD are a resting tremor and a stiffening of muscular actions. The tremor is most visible when the person is not moving and is relaxed. That is why you see Michael J. Fox always squirming around, so as to conceal the tremor. As long as he is in motion, the PD tremor is not so visible. PD patients describe the stiffening like a feeling as if they are encased in stone, or walking through thick syrup. It is difficult for them to bend at the joints. This stiffening is more incapacitating than the tremor. As the disease slowly wears on over the years, PD patients develop a slow, shuffling walk, lose the expression in their face, have trouble getting out of chairs, and even their handwriting changes drastically. This adds up to a terrible loss of quality of life. Much later, PD can also affect their memory and their thinking, much like in Alzheimer's disease. All of this is because of the loss of brain cells that make dopamine.

Increasing dopamine in the brains of PD patients has been a challenge. There are various medicines available, and that's a very good thing, but each of them have significant side effects, and ultimately they fail. The cure would be to find a way to prevent the destruction of dopamine producing brain cells, or to somehow restore them. That's where stem cell research and treatments fit in.

Stay tuned for future posts on Parkinson's disease that will delve into the science of stem cell research and treatments in a little more detail.

This is a short YouTube video of a Parkinson's patient:

Medical Googlers – Is There Really A Need For Them?

Recently, I was sent an email about an article from Time magazine’s medical writer, Dr. Scott Haig. In the article “When the Patient Is a Googler,” he complains about one of his patients who is a “medical googler.” He did not like the fact that she was Googling information about her condition while he was talking with (or to) her on the phone. To make matters worse, before her appointment with him she researched his medical information and background. How dare she…If doctors would be more open minded, less condescending and believe in their patients more, there wouldn’t be a need for all of us “medical googlers.”

This all goes back to my last post Physicians And Hospitals Rating System. Correct me if I am wrong but there is a Patients Bill of Writes. We as patients have ever rite to research our medical conditions along with the doctors that treat us. Don’t get me wrong there are a lot of really great, caring and knowledgeable doctors out there. I think that one of the biggest problems is that the medical profession has become so splintered and specialized. Your family doctor is no longer a “one stop shop.” Things that they used to treat they send you out for; x-rays, lab work, sutures, etc.

Take me and my own experience with; PCOS, FM, CFS and Thyroid cancer. It took nine years and countless doctors to get a diagnosis. All of them (excluding the ones from recent years) looking at me like “this woman is nuts!” I make a lot of reference to the TV show “House” as much as I love the show watch the show religiously, just in the hope that they do a show on me. I would never go to a doctor like Dr. Gregory House (aka Hugh Laurie), it would be nice to have a doctor like that with a better bedside manor.

Photo thanks to flicker