Prayers/Positive thoughts/ knowledge..please - Page 2

[camprunner]

Well I made my appointment today with the perinatologist. It turns out he doesn't want to see me until 19 weeks which will be  a little three weeks after I started medication. I'm hoping that he will do his scan and check my blood and decide that all is fine and tell me not to come back!  I was quoted $2200 for one visit. 

[sillysmile]

Wow that is absolutely criminal. The specialist we saw today quoted us $2500 for a genetic test (of which we might need two), and we're having a hard time determining if it's covered. Craziness.

[becca_howell]

Originally Posted by camprunner 

Well I made my appointment today with the perinatologist. It turns out he doesn't want to see me until 19 weeks which will be  a little three weeks after I started medication. I'm hoping that he will do his scan and check my blood and decide that all is fine and tell me not to come back!  I was quoted $2200 for one visit. 

Have you looked into state medicaid? I qualified even though we make too much for my kids to qualify because we didn't have health insurance. I think if you're underinsured they should cover you too.
 

[camprunner]

We have insurance. We just made a calculated decision not to purchase maternity since generally, they don't cover midwifery services anyway. However, I've determined that for Maternity insurance to have been worth it, we'd have to have over $8,500 in medical bills and would have covered less than half of my midwifery fees since I'm seeing a CNM. Just praying my levels and everything else are so good that we don't have to go back!

Yeah, see that's the thing. "Complications" of pregnancy are covered under my insurance but thyroid disorders are not specifically mentioned so I'm guessing I'd be better off as a self pay.

[PAgreenmama]

you should still check into medical assistance.  our insurance doesn't cover maternity either.  i didn't realize it until after i discovered i was pregnant with the twins last year.  (i knew it didn't cover delivery but for some reason i thought prenatal care was covered)   i was shocked to discover that we qualified because they don't look at savings or investments at all, only income.  and the limits are pretty high, at least in PA.  

[WriterMom2be]

I'm going through some thyroid issues as well, but with low tsh. I had no idea some insurance companies don't cover pregnancy. That's awful!   I hope everything works out with your thyroid levels and you won't have to see the high risk ob. That price is insane. I wonder what the criteria  is for receiving medicaid. I know people who had pregnancies while uninsured and received hep while others didn't qualify and ended up with medical debt. Their financial situations seemed the same to me.

[camprunner]

Well, it was a calculated decision we made. I think I will be able to pay for most of it out of the HSA so long as it's only a couple of appointments.   I'm up tonight. I think I'm having a hard time adjusting to the medication. After a few days I was sleeping all the time. A few days after that, I'm having trouble sleeping again :(

[jr'smom]

If your synthroid regulates things okay, is there still a concern?  Can't you retest and find out once you've been on it for a while?  I've been hypothyroid since the birth of my first, and no one freaked out at all when my levels weren't normal with my blood test at the beginning of my pregnancy.  The doctor said my reflexes are normal and we didn't have to increase the dose of meds--I asked to anyway because I could not function at all.  They've always said the blood tests aren't great for diagnosis anway--they go more by the reflexes and the way a patient feels.  We haven't even retested even though the dose was increased over 30%. 

I'm just wondering what the urgency is.  What is this doctor going to check, and how will it affect your  treatment?  Can't you have another blood test first, before escalating the concern?  What would they check for on a scan?  Why a specialist?  I understand the lack of insurance.  My maternity coverage doesn't kick in until Jan 8th.  I'm on my own until then and am constantly trying to avoid unnecessary recommendations.  (Not saying yours is unnecessary.)  Just trying to help you ask all the questions you need to.

[TXmom2]

I'm on Synthroid (100mcg currently) and have my levels tested every 6-8 weeks during pregnancy. My OB also wants me on the brand name during pregnancy because she says it is more stable and keeps the levels more even. No other big issues with it other than adjusting my dosages up/down as needed asap.

[camprunner]

No. It's not a big deal. It's just that I wasn't on my medicine when I got pregnant and my midwife feels uncomfortable so I'm having to see specialists because she's concerned about it getting regulated and concerned that my time off medication has hurt the baby. We'll probably find out more at my appointments on the 3rd, 4th, and 5th of January. For now, I'm only on 50 mg of Synthroid.  My TSH isn't THAT high. Just enough to be a concern in my opinion.

[Kristynwy]

I am on Levoxyl 50mcg and I am 18 weeks today, got tested a week or two ago and my level was perfect right a 1.04 TSH.

I was on the same dose before pregnancy. I am also monitored through out pregnancy.

If you have Hyperthyroid, why would she put you on Synthroid out of curiousity? Synthroid is for Hypo-thyroid aka slow thyroid isn't it?

[camprunner]

I am definately HYPOthryoid.  My T4's are not significantly high enough for it to have ever been mentioned to me after  I got the actual numbers. Hoping that mine go down quick :)

[camprunner]

So this week, I had an appointment with the Perinatologist, the Endocrinologist, and the midwife.  Peri said everything looked great and told me I didn't need to come back (yay!). He said he even coded things to make it a little cheaper (and by the price I paid, I'm pretty sure he did).  Endo said my labs weren't that bad and the labwork came back in my opinion great, however, he's still raising the dose :( Oh well. It wasn't perfect and I think he's shooting for perfect.  My midwife admitted that she pretty much made a big deal out of it so that I would take it seriously  . THe first tests she said "Your labs came back border line, you can decide between meds or no meds" I chose no meds. Had she said "I think you should take meds" I would have taken them.  Now, because I spilled suger at +1 one time, she's saying I need to be on a diet for gestational diabetes. No way. I had a urine sample taken the day before at the peri and nothing was said about spilling sugar. I'm pretty sure I spilled sugar with dd1 the whole pregnancy.  We'll talk about a diet without fruit and white potatoes (I pretty much don't have a lot of sugar otherwise) if it happens again.  I think she's making a big deal again so I'll take it seriusly but normally, I don't have a whole lot of sweets or sodas or anything anyway. 

[atnightingale]

Glad to hear the thyroid situation is better.  FYI re the sugar, I have spilled sugar at almost every appt.  So I ended up getting a glucometer and checking manny blood levels.  None were high.  So I guess I'm just one of those women who spill sugar while pregnant.  It can happen.  FYI.