bad primary care doctor...

red_roni wrote:I am not happy with my pcp either. I have told my doctor several times that I felt bad and did not sleep well. She would tell me that people just feel bad when they get old.

They told a close friend of mine that when he started falling, having trouble reading, etc. Turns out he was having TIAs left and right and has permanent damage now. Some doctors have no business working on living beings. What your doctor said there is a giant red flag with 'GET A NEW DOCTOR NOW' printed on in block letters. I know it's aggravating to go doctor hunting, but this one can't be trusted with your health anymore, not after saying that.

red_roni wrote: Sometimes I feel like when you are overweight and have depression, they blame everything on those problems. At this time, I need to find a new doctor but I am worried that I will run into the same thing again. It is so frustrating. I think I am going to ask my sleep doctor if he knows of a good doctor to refer me too.

On the other side of this, I am so excited to be feeling a little better. Now I am motivated to get out and exercise and trying to eat better also. Those things are important also.

They do that, and it's another bad habit that speaks to a lazy doctor. Depression and weight gain are not only conditions, they are also symptoms of other conditions, and a halfway decent doctor would take that into consideration.

When I put on 60 pounds in a year despite working out diligently, my old doctor didn't believe me, and it wasn't till I went to a walk-in clinic that they found out my thyroid had tanked. When I was depressed despite a high dose of SSRIs, my new doctor ran more tests and found a genetic issue and a vitamin D3 deficiency that were complicating things. The resolution in both cases was as simple as a doctor giving a damn. It's worth the aggravation to find a doctor who does. (Also, take your vitamin D, especially in the wintertime, it really can screw with your mood if your levels fall too low.)

Also YAY for feeling better! Isn't it weird to have energy again? You almost don't know what to do with yourself...

ChicagoGranny wrote:

bellab wrote:she generally charges between $150-$250 for office visits

That's the so-called "list price". Your insurance company probably allows something in the range of $80. So you pay a copay of maybe $50 and the insurance company pays $30.

Prices vary. So do insurance companies. My primary doctor does have different charges based on what is being done. For example, a first visit is almost an hour long as she goes through your medical history, current prescriptions, current issues, etc. A followup visit to check on medication results is cheaper than a visit out of the blue for a problem. My copay is a percentage after billing. So, my amounts do vary.

My first visit to her was billed at $300. Allowed amount was $255.51. All of my other visits were billed at $210 or $170. Allowed amounts were $180.29 and $134.62. Most of my visits were either paid by my HRA account (I used to get $500 per year, now ZERO). And then by me since my deductible has gone up. With no HRA account this year, and a higher deductible, any visits will be completely paid by me. Yes, I will get the slight discount via insurance, but I will still be paying $180 or $134 per appointment. Not exactly cheap.

Also, different doctors and clinics charge different amounts, and yes, my insurance has different allowed amounts for them. I went to a clinic on new year's day since my doctor was closed. The amount billed was $340. The amount allowed was $206.27. Last year, I went to a different clinic for the same thing, sore throat. Only that time, I also had a test for strep since I had white spots on my throat. That one was billed at $209. Allowed amount was $147.87. More work, less cost. Go figure.

MrGrumpy wrote:Most primary care doctors know nothing about treating sleep apnea. If they know anything about it, they know you should be referred to a sleep medicine specialist. Losing weight can help some, maybe reduce your pressures a little but it rarely gets rid of all sleep apnea. Many doctors are obsessed with this delusional relationship they have had hammered into them by the health insurance industry "that if the sleep apnea patient would just lose a bunch of weight, most of this apnea stuff would go away on its own." Many PCP docs and even many sleep docs (especially the pulmonary based sleep docs) seem to buy the obesity/OSA relationship link hook, line and sinker. Sometimes there is a strong relationship between obesity....but most of the time, sleep apnea is an illness all unto itself.

I think that the "just lose the weight and all your problems will go away" promise is one that doctors think is easy to make, because nobody ever loses the weight and so we can't tell them that they're liars.

Except that I've lost 97 lbs over the last year.

And my average AHI has gone from 0.2 (over the first 3 months of treatment, while I gained 5 lbs), and steadily increased as the weight has come off and is now at roughly 1.0. Still great, and treatment still is very successful, but definitely NOT down.

Oh, and my goiter isn't any smaller, either.

(My major challenge is that I was already in an XS mask and my face is smaller now. I've done extensive surgery on my headgear, but I haven't got that mastered yet.)

Another problem that I ran into occurred when I was appealing a worker's compensation insurance adjusters denial of a doctor's ordered treatment [second appeal] only to have the RN reviewing the appeal tell me that she once had sleep apnea and cured it as if I could cure myself also.
I got very excited and asked how she cured her sleep apnea and she responded by "losing weight". I was newly diagnosed and did not know there was no cure and did not know to ask if her theory had been tested by a follow up sleep study.
I explained I was not overweight and she did not respond. The doctor's ordered treatment was denied and continued to be denied on the third appeal.

My sleep apnea is not work related so she could not deny cpap treatment but she did have a lot of power over other aspects of ordered treatment regarding my health. I feel some of these insurance people have too much power, too little knowledge, and too easily lead patients in the wrong direction. I believe they are easily brainwashed by there employers [insurance industry]. Just my opinion.

What City/State do you live in?

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