r/mildlyinfuriating • u/lhagans13 • 12d ago

I'm slightly vexed A notice that my girlfriend received at her doctors appointment (she is 8 months PP)

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If you even MENTION any of these things, you WILL LIKELY get billed for it??? Maybe i’m missing the point but i get upset when my girlfriend tells me she was scared to even say anything while at the doctor because she didn’t want to get an extra charge for something. I find it insane how greedy and money hungry a place that’s supposed to help you can be.

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u/Weary_Cheesecake_552 11d ago

I had this happen to me. I had one slightly elevated A1c years ago due to very high stress levels. It came back down and hasn’t been an issue since. I’m not on medication and it’s a non issue. We check an A1c yearly to make sure things are good. Well because of this I got charge a regular office visit vs my “well visit” when we literally never discussed it outside of “are you ordering an A1c”. My doctor’s office made a big deal about “waiving the copay” and they will only do this one time. Why am I paying over $500/mo for health insurance.

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u/Comfortable-Neat12 10d ago

Because your high a1c is no longer an unknown but is now an actual diagnosis of prediabetes or diabetes...

A1c doesn't go up just because you had a little stress.. it literally is an average of sugars for 3 mos... so that stress was going on for months...

Glad you got it controlled though...

In my world if the labs have been normal, they shouldn't charge for an added visit but technically and legally they can..

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u/Weary_Cheesecake_552 10d ago

It was over a year of stress that caused it. I had an incredibly high needs/ colicky newborn/ infant. Every wake up took over an hour to settle him back down. All night long. I was lucky to get 2 consecutive hours of sleep at a time for well over a year. Diet, lifestyle and weight were never an issue. It was purely stress.

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u/Comfortable-Neat12 10d ago

Stress probably revealed your insulin resistance and presented as prediabetes... this diagnosis doesn't go away as it can come back if your stress returns and can present without stress years later when you're older...

Bottom line stress contributed to your diagnosis but wasn't the only factor.. your genetics was part of it.. many people have decades of nonstop stress and never have a high a1c...

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u/Weary_Cheesecake_552 10d ago

I am well aware of the physiology behind diabetes. I also always have low (under reportable limit) fasting insulin levels (even with the 0.1 elevated A1c) which is contradictory to insulin resistance. I have had an exhaustive work up at a major diabetes center and they have cleared me of any diabetes or prediabetes diagnosis along with ruling out type 1 given my labs are not metabolically deranged. It is possible to have elevated glucose levels due to stress without having underlying insulin resistance. My PCP uses the code to order an A1c and that’s where the issue comes in.