Another Question for Diabetics (Type 2)

[Chattyaholic]

How often do you have to see your doctor for your diabetes?

Mine wants to see me every 3-months and I really don't see the need for having to go that often. All she does is look over my journal where I keep track of what I eat and my blood glucose levels morning/night. Checks my blood pressure. Checks my feet. That's it. Then charges me $96 and we don't have insurance that pays for these expensive visits. I have to go again in late July, and I'm thinking about asking her if I can come every 6-months instead of every 3...what do you think?

 

[sammi]

I usually attend my Dr's office every 3 months sometimes every 6 months just to check on my blood pressure,and get requisitions for blood work and meds too. I've been a t-2 diabetic for 6 years and we are very fortunate to live in Canada and not pay anything for our Dr's visits. Thats is a shame that you must pay for your check ups!

Good luck with managing your D.

 

[Chattyaholic]

Yes, sammi, you are very lucky you don't have to pay for your doctor visits. I just hate it that I'm in the office about 10-minutes and she can charge me nearly $100!! And prescriptions, ugh!! I take 6 different medications and a couple of them are pretty expensive. Thankfully I will soon be covered by insurance where I work and will finally have a co-pay (either $10 or $15) for doctor visits and prescriptions. I can't wait!!

I do think I'm going to ask my doctor if I can come every 6-months instead of every 3. But, I've only been diagnosed with diabetes about 9 months so she may not want to let me go 6-months at a time. But it can't hurt to at least ask.

 

[Pin Wizard]

I'm sure the reason for every 3 months is that the blood test they do in the office will show them how you've been running for that time period. If you skip to 4 months or longer, they are only seeing results for the most recent 3 months. A month or more would be dropping out if you saw the doc less often.

 

[piratesmate]

You could also try discussing the financial strain with your doctor & ask if you could send your log electronically for the 1st 3 mos & then come in after the 2nd 3. I did that with my doctor when both DH & I were out of work. I usually keep my "log" in Excel anyway & print it out when I see him. (Of course, you could also fax it in if you have access. He was very happy to do it for me. He'd just call if there was anything he wanted changed.

 

[Talking Hands]

Every 3 months. I don't have insurance either but my doc on charges $50 for the visit and $100 for the blood tests. He does Hb1Ac to check for glucose control over 3 months, liver panel because several of my meds can affect the liver, CBC and cholesterol.
I try to stretch it to more then 3 months but he screams if I do.

 

[mcnuss]

While I understand your desire to stretch out those visits, don't. He wants to see you that often to nip any problems in the bud should they occur. 6 months would be a long time to live with a complication. If you're supposed to be working on your weight & BP, as well as your T2, then that's another thing he probably wants to monitor. Lots of things to economize on, but not your health please!

 

[Chattyaholic]

piratesmate: I like your idea of just sending my "log" to my doctor and forgoing the actual visit and saving that $96.

I don't mind the blood tests, as I know that is really needed, and they send me to the hospital lab to have that done anyway (plus I'm on Coumadin so go once a month for that anyway), but that office visit for $96 just seems like such a waste to me.

If she would just look over my log and then call me if she wanted to make any changes, that would be great! I think I'll ask!!
Thanks!!