Very Angry

[trbrown22]

I don't know where to begin. I had the interstim in 2001, helped with freq and urgency, but not pain. I've been in severe pain for 2 solid weeks and when I called to make an appt the gal told me I couldn't have an appt because my acct had been sent to collections. I was furious. She told me to make arrangements with the collection agency to make payments and then they could see me and I did that and made sure a check cleared before calling for an appt. Been eating pain pills for 2 weeks. she tells me I can't have an appt until the balance is paid and I told her that that was BS, she had told me that if I made arrangements that I could have the appt and she claims she didn't say that. Not to mention the other gal told me it was sent automatically to collections and if that was fact, she would not have called me several times in the past to remind me to pay the bill. Considering the amount of drugs I'm on, looks like they could be more understanding, but nope. So I was fighting mad and I drove to the office, thank goodness I had mind enough to call my mother first and she met me up there. My mom is a kind soul, very generous and very caring to all. But this gal got under her skin too and mom started telling her how rude she was and she told mom that I had cussed, so I asked her, do you have IC? do you knowthe pain of IC? the answser was no, of course she doesn't, so she doesn't realize the desperation. So I tell her that I know it doesn't go to collections automaticaly that they are given the list to review and don't send their favorites to collections, and up until this point, I thought I was a favorite. I was the 2nd implant patient of this dr. If I find out he got a kickback, I'll be furious. So mom asked how much the bill was and pulled out her check bok and started writing a check and told the gal to make me an appt and the gal said, if ya'll don't stop telling me what to do, I will call the police and have you removed and mom kept on writing the check and said, call them, I con't mind telling them how horrible you are. Once the gal got the check and started fixing the schedule, mom asked her for asap appt and she said the 18th was as early as possible and mom asked to work me in, or if they have a cancelation to call, but she said they don't do that and won't do it under any circumstances. So here I am having to eat pills for at least 2 more weeks with a hunk of metal in my butt that needs adjusting. If and when I speak to the dr, I will tell him my side of the story and I will demand that he refer me to someone to remove the implant or treate me like royalty when I walk in that office. I will not be treated like dirt after he talked me into getting the device and it only half helped. So I eat my pain pills, bawl my eyes out and consider the alternative. I see a pschologies, so I made an appt for wed, maybe she can keep me from going over the edge. I don't know, I'm so close now. Im desperate, I'm scared, I'm mad, I'm all negative things. Can someone please give me some advice on how to handle this situation. If a small balance of 527.00 is going to keep me from getting service from the only dr in the area that can take care of the implant, then I might as well have it removed and deal with IC on my own. Elmeron does not work on me, nothing works on me, but hydroxyzine seems to help.

As I sit here and bawl, I may forget to check back for your repsones, if any. But I will eventually. For now, I must lay down and cry myself to sleep.
Thanks for listening. Oh, the 527.00 would not put a tire on the dr's hummer, if it did, it would only be one tire. How sorry is that?

[waterflow]

Oh, I am so sorry to hear this happening to you. I wish I could be there to give you a hug and help you through this but I will give you a cyber hug instead. :grouphug: It makes me so mad when women who work in the office and does the phone answering act like the doctors work for them. :mad: Have you asked to talk to the doctor directly about this? One thing that might help is when you see your phycitrist on Wednesday ask them to get you an earlier appointment. I did that once with another kind of doctor and I got in the next day. Doctors seem to respond better to another doctor. In the beginning for me I had to get tough with some of them. Kept hearing come back in 3 weeks, 2 months and so on, you have to do what you need to do to get help. Have you had problems with this doctor in the past?
Please come back to us. Everyone here understands what you are going through and will help as much as we can. :kissing: I know there are others who can help you out more then what I have said but please keep coming back here posting. Let us know how you are doing and feeling. Even if you want to cry or just let it all out. You are not alone on this. I hope things start to go better for you. :kiss: :grouphug: :grouphug:

[ShePurzz]

I see a pschologies, so I made an appt for wed, maybe she can keep me from going over the edge. I don't know, I'm so close now. Im desperate, I'm scared, I'm mad, I'm all negative things. Can someone please give me some advice on how to handle this situation. If a small balance of 527.00 is going to keep me from getting service from the only dr in the area that can take care of the implant, then I might as well have it removed and deal with IC on my own. Elmeron does not work on me, nothing works on me, but hydroxyzine seems to help.

As I sit here and bawl, I may forget to check back for your repsones, if any. But I will eventually. For now, I must lay down and cry myself to sleep.
Thanks for listening. Oh, the 527.00 would not put a tire on the dr's hummer, if it did, it would only be one tire. How sorry is that?

tr -- I am very sorry about your situation -- and trust me, I am not an advocate for the doctor or the receptionist -- I agree that it is not polite to treat someone ugly because they owe money. However, there are a few things in your note that I guess "concern me" and I will respond to those things.

First, you said that you see a psychologist, so you set up that appointment because you were concerned you were going to go 'over the edge' -- That, along with your next couple of comments are concerning to me. I believe that you are placing your own value way below its proper level of worth. If a doctor not seeing you is enough to run you over the deep end, then you need to stop and ask yourself WHY AM I STILL SEEING THIS DOCTOR? I hope you will talk with the psychologist soon, because the statements are those of someone very depressed and that isn't a good place to stay or visit any longer than you have to.

Second, you mention the fact that this is a small bill -- but it is excess of $500. To me, that is huge, but to you it seems small. If that doctor has even a couple of dozen patients with that size outstanding in bills, he would be in a complicated place to continue to provide services to those who still have outstanding bills. I am certain that there are a LOT mroe than a couple of dozen people who owe that doctor money, because that is par for the course, and as far as what he drives or how much it would cost him -- remember, he paid hundreds of thousands of dollars and dedicated 8-12+ years of his life to earn his degree to care for YOU and ME and he continues to pay thousands of dollars per month to afford the insurance because of pitiful malpractice suits that are placed on doctors and the outrageous settlements the courts are now impeeding on doctors.

I don't mean to be ignorant of your pain, but by the same token, I think it is important to put this in perspective and not make it 'about YOU' seeing the doctor or not, but rather about the rules the receptionist has to follow in order to put you on his schedule.

I hope you will try to step back and recognize that in your pain and discomfort, you may be attaching this action on the receptist's part to YOU personally -- because in reality -- you are hurting and need help, but they are only doing what they can do -- and the receptionist is under orders from HER boss to follow a certain protocol.

I am sorry that she didn't treat you kinder -- and I am really happy that your mom was there and able to bail you out of the bill -- I do hope you will seek help asap from your psychologist though because you sound like you are in desperate mode over something that shouldn't make you consider whether or not you 'go over the edge' --- please, take care and get some help.

Hugs and prayers,
Mary

[Kara29]

Trbown,

I just wanted to say that you are not alone. I know what it feels like to be a favorite on a doctors list and his staff and then go down to be his worst patient because I didn't want to pay for more Botox. I know the anger, fear, frustration and hurt you are feeling because that is how I left my last doctor of 7 years. His staff and himself began treating me like the dirt under thier shoes. I cried every time I called. Later after searching the whole US for a new Doctor who could treat my case, I found out that the old doctor actually misses me and wonders how I am doing.

I wonder if when you talk to the Doctor, you could ask him what happened?
I would be curious to know if the doctor feels the same way about you as his staff did. Maybe you will find out that you are still one of his Favorites! Maybe he can help waive that bill! If so, I bet he will talk to these women and ask them to treat you the way you deserve to be treated!

I thought my doctor hated me by the way his staff were talking but I found out the opposite and will be visiting him in October.

Things can change when you actually talk to the Doctor. And if not, it's time to move on to a better one!

HUGS!

Kara:angel:

[trbrown22]

My desperation comes from having worked out a payment plan and the receptionist telling me that after I worked out the payment plan with the collections that I could see the dr and then she backtracked once I made that arangement and said she didn't say that. I have never met this woman, but I can tell by her attitude she is not an empathetic person. The other one has been my friend, we have visited away from the office and my son worked for her husband and yet she forgot how important it is for me to be able to see the dr when I need to. I've already suffered 2 weeks, i have 2 more weeks to suffer before I can see him. The staff will not let me talk to him, he was in surgery today anyway and I've called the hospital to talk to the nurse and they have paged her twice but she has not called me.

As for me being over the edge, it has nothing to do with the dr. He probably doesn't even know what is going on in the front office. My desperation comes from pain. I need relief. If I don't get relief then that could push me over the edge. I understand also, that the bill was past due, however, the insurance lady had always called me and reminded me to pay the bill so it would not go to collections and I forget. Forgive me for forgetting to pay the bills, I take enough meds to stay unconcious most of the time. I forget to pay the light bill! so it is not that I did not intend to pay the bill, but coming up with that much at once is a little hard for someone on SSI. My secondary insurance has raised the prices of a lot of my meds and it has put us in a bind. My husband is working a good job, but doesn't make enough money to cover all the expenses of my medicine and the bills.

I will try to reach the dr at home tonight. I doubt I will be able to, but I will try. It has been a year since I have had to see this dr. At tht time, he was referring me to an endocrinologist because he thought something was wrong in other areas. He's a good dr. I like him, I will probably always like him, but his staff need to be more compassionate to a desperate person in dire pain. I've watched a man that was in such pain, lay in the floor and cry and scream and beg them to let him see the dr and they would get him back asap. But that was right after I started seeing this dr. And since then he has really built a business and is over run with patients. So he hired a gate keeper, I suppose, but there again, he may not know she is the way she is. As for the one that I considered a friend, that consideration is not coming back into play again, ever!

Also, he is the only dr in the area to take care of the implant. the only urologist in the area that treats IC patients.

My appt with the shrink is on Wednesday at 10 am. She is also a minister and goes to church things on Tuesdays, so I will hang in there until I see her.

I see that others have listed their meds and problems, I will do the same.
Thanks for your replies. I appreciate your understanding. Thank you.

Medicines:
Lotrel 5/20mg
Toprol XL 50mg.
Aspirin 325mg
Metformin 2000mg.
Provigil 200mg
Synthroid Tabs 125mcg
Hydroxyzine HCL Tabs 50mg
Effexor XR Caps300mg
Alprazolam (Xanax 3mg
Vytorin 10/40
Vivelle dot patch 0.1
Urimax
Propoxyphene NAP+APAP Tab 100mg
Methadone HCL 5mg
Peridium Plus 4 daily

Diagnosis:
Narcolepsy - 2006
Colitis - 2006
Diverticulum Disease - 2006
Hypertension/High blood pressure - 2005
Insulin Resistance/Metabolic Disorder - 2005
Epstein-Barr Virus - 2005
Sleep Apnea - Nov. 2003
Hypothyroidism - 2002
Fibromyalgia - 2002
Chronic Pain Syndrome -2002
Interstitial Cystitis -2001
Pelvic Floor Dysfunction - 2001
Irritable Bowel Syndrome -1997
TMJ - 1996
Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome -1994
Hypoglycemia - 1982
Heart Murmur - birth

Surgeries:
Surgeries and History to Date
Tonselectomy - 1970 - constant infection
Right Knee - 1975 - cyst removed
Blood Transfusion - 1980 - son’s birth
Hysterectomy - 1987 - constant pain and swelling
Gall Bladder - 1997 - constant pain and swelling
Colon Resection - 1997 - mass in left pelvic area removed 4” of colon
Right Ovary removed - 1997 - constant pain and swelling
Bowel Obstruction - 1997 - 1998 corrected with Left Ovary 1998
Left Ovarian Cyst - 1998 - constant pain and swelling
Left Elbow - 1999 - cubital tunnel release
Stint in left Ureter - 2000 - placed and removed within one week
Test Sacral Nerve Stimulator - 2001 - placed and removed in 10 days
Permenant Sacral Nerve Stimulator - May 2001
Hydrodistention of Bladder - 12-10-03
Vaginal Taping - 08-18-04
Colonoscopy with random biopsies - 02-2006

[1blessed]

So Sorry,
To hear about what happend to you. What the people in the front offices at the Dr's offices is that it is not them nor their family member that is going through this daily pain so they can care less:loco: !!!!!!! If I was you I would try to speak to the Dr dircetly but not through her because it will never happen. I have had some of those days they are called trying days. I say to you just hang in there and it is so refreshing talking to some one. I found out that the gang here at the site is awesome.:woohoo:

[blondie45]

How sad is that is so true? How come some doctors offices can be so understanding while others are not at all. I go to one dentist and my husband to another. My dentist is fine if I give them like $20 a month no matter what the balance and never charges interest. My husband's dentist wants payment in full within a month or gets nasty and tries to charge interest. I usually ignore it and figure if they want to send me to collections for that interest amount they can go right ahead.