So I have an ulcer. I dry heave at least once a day and I haven’t eaten in 21 days. (Please do not give me advice, I hate it, I don’t want medical advice from people over the internet. At best, if you do, I’ll respond with a “thanks.”)
I’m in a somewhat smaller town, not really small, about 80,000 people maybe. There is exactly one gastroenterologist in this town. I went to him when I hadn’t eaten in 6 days. For a $50 copay, he said to take some Mylanta along with the Protonix I was already taking and call him in two weeks if I wasn’t better. So I call him yesterday. I talk to the nurse. I tell her all my symptoms, none of which have changed. She sounds very concerned.
I hear nothing all day. This morning, I call again. The doctor hasn’t even gotten to my information. So the nurse sends a message that I called again, which he probably also won’t see.
I have tried to get a second opinion, or just another prescription for something, but there is not a single gastroenterologist within a 90 minute drive that would see me within three months. I’m pretty sure if I don’t eat for three months, I’ll be pretty dead. I mean, I’m living on Ensure and Gatorade, but I doubt that will get me to three more months.
Oh, and this is the second time this has happened. The first time, I had to take a bunch of tests like a CT scan and an X-Ray and a blood panel and they found nothing. I had a scheduled colonoscopy anyway, so they just went down my throat as well and that’s when they found the ulcer. No one even suggested an ulcer before that.
Why am I saying all of this? I’m not even complaining about all of this. I’m complaining about the fact that this has cost me almost $2000 already and I feel lucky because I have good insurance. I’m not poor, but I don’t really have $2000 to spare. I’m paying it off in installments, but god damn, I have to pay all of this money and they have stopped even giving a shit about me.
What would someone in my position without insurance even do? Die? That’s what conservatives fucking want.
We need universal healthcare and a complete overhaul of the healthcare system now.
And any time you hear someone complain about how long a wait you have in Canada or the UK to see someone to help you and how America has the best healthcare system in the world and how people from other countries come here for treatment, send them to this post before telling them to get fucked.
TL;DR No one gives a shit about you in American healthcare except maybe the nurses and all they do is suck money out of your bank account.
I know you don’t want advice, but I want to share some information that may be important and helpful for you: recent studies have shown ulcers are essentially an infection and antibiotics have some success in treating them.
For too long doctors thought it had to do with stress or diet, but it’s an infection.
Sorry to hear about everything you’re going through and how much it costs for no treatment. I think a lot of doctors do care but they are overworked and have to constantly battle hospitals and insurance companies. A lot of them seem to be seeing less patients which is not going to be good, and many are retiring or burning out. There are also now more seniors than people under 17, the seniors require more care. Article on the doctor shortage: https://time.com/6199666/physician-shortage-challenges-solutions/
Thanks. I understand what you’re saying, but when I tell a doctor I’m not eating twice and he says to me keep taking your pills before you eat, I don’t think he gives a fuck. He seems like a nice enough guy, but he’s apparently a terrible doctor. And I don’t have anyone else I can go to. I mean I know why. This is one of the shittiest towns in the country, Terre Haute, Indiana, but still…
Yeah that doctor definitely is not doing their job. What do you call the person that finishes LAST in medical school? Doctor.
I was concerned when I first met him. The guy has terrible teeth. That alone is not a good sign of a doctor. A doctor that doesn’t care about his own health?
Yikes. He doesn’t sound like the guy for the job.
Is there any way you can see a doctor near Indianapolis, or maybe one of the towns between you and there? I know that places a burden on you, which should not be necessary. However, one unfortunate aspect of our healthcare system is that you often must advocate for yourself to get decent results. This is even true (especially true) of mental health, which doesn’t exactly make a ton of sense.
My PCP and a treatment center I go to for one of my medications are both about a half hour away, because I don’t want to change away from them. If you can make a one-hour drive to a new doctor happen, it may be worth it for your health and sanity.
I’ve called those doctors and none of them have time to see me. No one within a 90 minute drive. Although I’m wondering if I just go to an ER in Indy and demand to see a gastroenterologist if that would work.
Jeez. At this point I might just make appointments anywhere I could get them, even further away, and see if I like the first ones to get me seen. Granted, that’s easier said than done.
The ER route might have some potential as first step too. A legitimate one ass well. I mean this sounds to me like an emergency that is threatening your health in the short term.
I just don’t know if the ER route would work and it would end up with another huge bill.
You’ve got my vote for M4A. My partner has all kinds of health issues and as I get older I’m getting more and more myself. It’s wild that most any diagnosis of any affliction is pretty much a financial death sentence for anyone but the wealthy. We are what I’d consider lower-middle-class and live very modest lifestyles. I feel like we live in bizarre-o world with how bad things are and everyone just keeps trucking along like everything isn’t coming apart at the seems.
As a former healthcare support staff professional and current medical student, I want you to know that I hate it just as much as you do. I can’t make any explanations for that GI, but my least favorite part of medicine is when there isn’t a good answer, or enough time, or the right treatment is just too expensive…I hate it when the capitalist bullshit medical system gets in the way of actually practicing medicine.
Christ, thats fucking horrible
To your point about delays, I waited over two years to see a psychiatrist in a huge university hospital system – one of the only places which would even accept my shitty insurance – as a person with suicidal ideation. It’s so fucked.
What would someone in my position without insurance even do? Die?
Even those who have good insurance and can afford …… my doctor’s office stopped refilling my prescription, stopped returning my calls, after he had expressed concern about not wanting me to “stroke out” over my condition. I doubt it magically fixed itself, but I’m still having a hard time overcoming inertia to find a new doctor
Isn’t that like half the posts on lemmy? Some form of America bad?
Did you not read what I wrote? Maybe $2000 in medical bills is nothing to you, but it’s a lot to me and my family.
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My gastroenterologist story:
Chronic GERD. Talk to family doctor, who refers me to a gastroenterologist (one that is “in network” for my insurance"). My insurance is from my wife’s job, who works at a hospital, which you’d think was good. More on this tidbit later.
Go to Gastro doctor (took 2 months to get in), recommends an Endoscopy, which is scheduled for 1 month later. Initial visit is covered (mostly/kind-of) by insurance.
One day before Endoscopy, get a call saying my insurance won’t cover the procedure there, and I’d have to pay out-of-pocket if I proceed ($5k estimate). I say no thank you.
I call insurance company about better location, and am referred to another gastroenterologist. I tried to just get an Endoscopy at new location, but they refused to do so with an Gastro doctor visit with THEIR doctors. I schedule visit at new office (1 month to get in).
Go to NEW Gastro doctor, recommends an Endoscopy, which is scheduled for 1 month later. Visit is covered (mostly/kind-f) by insurance.
One day before Endoscopy, get a call saying my insurance won’t cover the procedure there, and I’d have to pay out-of-pocket if I proceed. I say WTF. Turns out the Insurance company recommended me to a Doctor who was In Network, but their procedure location is NOT in network.
Apparently, despite having a PPO insurance, there is “In Network” and there’s “in IN network”, since my insurance is through my wife’s hospital plan. I have to have the procedure at an official hospital location that is part of my wife’s hospital network.
I schedule an endoscopy at a 3rd location (1 month out again). Finally get an Endoscopy completed.
From initial referral to Gastro, until completion of Endoscopy, was 6 months. This was on supposedly good insurance (which was obviously a lie). We don’t have that insurance anymore.
This kind of thing happens all too often. Going in for a surgery that your insurance will cover? Oops, we forgot to mention that the anesthesiologist is actually out of network, so you’ll have to pay out of pocket for that part.
Did you ever figure out what the problem was? I have a very similar issue and a very similar story though the endoscopy just said yeah you got GERD bro lol and I’ve been taking meds that barely work ever since
Nope. The Endoscopy results said: “Evidence of Gerd present”, and gave me a prescription, that kind of works (sometimes).
Oh god that’s so frustrating
I take the prescription (pantoprozole) as directed each morning, and then a Pepcid in the evening, if I happen to eat something that causes trouble. That more-or-less seems to work for me.
Our prescriptions are pretty much the same! Panto morning and dinner time, pepcid before bed. Stay away from triggers or I’ll pay for it regardless if I take medicine or not
OECD data actually puts the USA in the middle of the pack for wait times for specialty care for developed nations. I believe it could largely be solved by companies switching to advanced access/open access scheduling models, but most are too afraid to upend their business model.
Lmk if you have any questions about navigating appointments, I’m actually in grad school studying healthcare business. My only real suggestion at this point is to use your doctor’s electronic portal for communication. In many cases it’s more effective than a phone call, plus you have written records.
I know you said no medical advice, but I’d ask a doc about H Pylori. Always something that should by ruled out in cases like these.
I’m sorry you’re experiencing this, it’s terrible and should not be something you have to deal with. Not sure if this counts as medical advice but asking in case it’s been overlooked, do you have access to telehealth options or have you sought a care coordinator through your insurance? Those may be helpful in finding a different doctor, it won’t help with the existing debt though. I’m disabled and unfortunately very familiar with medical debt, if you’d like any information on ways to try to lessen that debt feel free to dm me. There’s also a lot of organizing around medical debt, this group is one I’ve been involved with, if that’s of any interest to you (or anyone else reading this).
You know, I would love a telehealth option, but only with a reputable doctor. I’ve seen a few websites where you can sign up for telehealth appointments with a gastro, but I don’t trust them. I don’t know that my insurance would cover it though.
Call your insurance company and ask them for options with telehealth.
They are the ones who make most of the significant medical decisions anyways in the U.S.
What Dr do you want to see? Better ask your insurance first who they cover.
What medication are you taking? Better check with the insurance first. If it’s an expensive one, it will take approximately 6 weeks or more while you suffer to approve it via one vendor.
What treatment do you receive? Better check the insurance first to see if it’s covered.
Only in the ER do they treat first. You get to pay whatever they charge. Oh and it might come from 4 different places that you’ve never heard of as every Dr has a different billing service.
As for what to do, well I live in a city of 250K. There’s a specialist clinic 3 miles from my house but they suck really bad. So we drive 3 hours one way to see a specialist that has my wife’s chronic condition under control.
I also have a chronic condition (yay me) and until I got my medicine sorted, I had to go see a neurologist that was a 2 hour drive away, so I definitely get it. Thankfully, now I can see a local one who is just there to keep writing prescriptions for me.
Would you like help researching those things? I’m a stranger on the internet but I’m happy to help or point you in some directions.
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This probably won’t help you since you live in a small town.
Finding a doctor in the united states sucks. Literally the worst experience I have ever had was transitioning to a PPO insurance policy after being in a combine managed HMO / healthcare group.
People told me for years “oh, that health care provider sucks. You get sub par care and nobody ever knows your name.” You know what else I got? Same day doctor visits and same day specialists, literally anytime I wanted or needed anything. I had reasonable medical care at a reasonable schedule for a reasonable price.
When my insurance switched to a PPO, people told me “oh, you will love this doctor! He is so great!” And… every… single… time… it is exactly as you described. “New patients are 6 months out.” And when I finally got a primary care doctor, they would recommend specialist who were their friends also in private practices with 6 months waiting lists.
Private practice medical care is an absolute joke. It’s another shitty system the boomers saw their parents use successfully that simply doesn’t work today.
The solution was to find a high quality medical group in my city. It took me nearly a year to figure it out. Same day doctor visits? Done. Same week specialists? Done. Same system / in network urgent care at the same price as a regular doctors visit? Done.
I don’t care which doctor I see, I just need medical care.
Exactly. I just want someone to help me. Apparently that’s too much to ask.
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Terre Haute, Indiana. The armpit of the Midwest.
