I'm So Extremely Serious When I Say Doctors Should Be Put Through An Extremely Extensive Reliscensing

hey guys psa regarding hospital bills

don’t just pay it. do not automatically pay the hospital bill when you receive it. call your health insurance provider and POLITELY say, “excuse me, i just received a bill for $1200 for my hospital visit/ER visit/etc., is that the correct amount i’m supposed to pay?” because hospitals bill you before your health insurance and they will take your money no matter how the amount due may change based on your health insurance looking at it. 90% of the time, if your health insurance is in any way involved in the payment of that bill, you do not have to pay as much as the hospital is billing you for. call your health insurance provider first, and POLITELY request clarification, always remember that the person you are talking to is human and this is just their job, and then you will very likely find out you actually only owe $500.

don’t shout at anyone about it, don’t get mad, just understand that this is The Way Things Are right now and call your health insurance provider before paying the bill your hospital just sent you. there’s a chance the hospital bill might be correct, true, but call your health insurance provider.

𝐏𝐈𝐍𝐍𝐄𝐃

𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐦𝐞 : lexi / 24 / gad & ibs

𝐛𝐥𝐨𝐠 𝐭𝐨𝐩𝐢𝐜𝐬 : chronic illness / disability / invisible disability / gut health / mental illness / advocacy

Useful information

Thyroid Awareness Month! Waking up and feeling like a normal human being is always a gift that is never taken for granted.

and ibs otter, which i made mostly for me lol. i really want her name to start with cy…. cypres…. cyril….. hmm

i have no words

source

what are your thoughts on ibs diagnosis

78% of people reporting to ERs due to IBS have chronic gastritis.

population studies on microscopic colitis are rare, but have found that rates are much much higher on a population level than previously assumed

the symptoms labeled as ibs (diarrhea and constipation with no obvious flags for inflammatory bowel disease) are often treated as an issue of simple dietary intolerances, or as a psychosomatic condition, and people with ibs are told to follow various diets, or to "reduce stress."

these diets tend to be high fiber, which could literally kill someone whose actual issue is gastroparesis, or could severely aggravate microscopic colitis. i know that when i was trying to eat high fiber, my symptoms were completely unmanageable, and switching to a low fiber diet is the only thing that's helped at all. the food intolerance stuff can be really helpful for people who do have rare food intolerances, but for people who actually/also have autoimmune gastritis, it wastes time that could be spent monitoring for gastric atrophy, metaplasias, and precancerous lesions.

the worst part of this is that things like microscopic colitis and h-pylori related chronic gastritis are treatable, either with steroid medication or antibiotics to kill the h-pylori. but if you're dismissed with "dietary changes" or "reduce stress," then you're not getting treated for conditions that can cause really serious tissue damage and increase your cancer risk.

basically ibs is a "fuck you get out of my office" diagnosis

If they claim they can cure your condition that you have been told is incurable, run. If they claim they cured themselves, run. If they claim they have cured everything from cancer to lupus holistically, run. If they claim you have to buy only supplements from them, run. If they claim they that only thing that will cure is x but x costs tons of money, run. If they refuse to run tests or address your diagnosed conditions before insisting you do an expensive treatment not covered by insurence, run. If they offer a one size fits all treatment/cure, run.

I have been scammed by "holistic" and "naturalistic" people before as a chronically ill person. In fact it was an actual doctor who went to medical school who scammed me for years. So watch out. If it seems too good to be true it probably is.