Hepatitis Forums
Hepatitis C Main Forums => I Just Tested Positive for Hepatitis C => Topic started by: heidi0723 on July 10, 2016, 08:21:10 pm
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please help me I was denied any help or treatment from specialist dr. he told me I was to early in the game to bother w any of the more exspencive testings needed to id my type and that I wouldn't qualfyi for TREATMENT TILL I WAS AT A LEVEL 4. he told me to follow up in 6 mo. also he said drugs were in my system and I know better he was RUDE PLEASE HELP
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Heidi, I hope you live where it is possible to see a better-educated doctor with a much better "bedside manner." Many insurance companies that used to deny treatment to people whose livers weren't damaged enough to be "level 4" (F4) have changed their rules and now treat people who have lower F numbers.
Hep C usually takes many years to do significant damage to a liver, so this is not an emergency. That said, why wait to be treated if you can find a better doctor now?
You are entitled to get all of your medical records from the jerk doctor's office. It sounds like you must have been tested enough for him to know your F level. Once you have those results, we'll be able to help you understand what they mean.
Good luck.
Gnatty
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F 1 is what the dr told me, yet no further blood work was done for the type of hep c. I live in Marysville ca. in speeking with my primary dr on a new specialist was frustrateing. he wont send me to a new one idk what to do and feel as if there killing me really. idk
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And thank you soooo very much for the reply
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Heidi, are you in an HMO or similar plan that won't let you see a specialist unless your regular doctor gives you a referral? If so, that does increase the difficulty, but here are a couple of things you can do:
1. Call your insurance company and ask specifically what F# (and what other tests) they require before they will authorize treatment.
2. Contact Patient Advocate Foundation (www.hepatitisc.pafcareline.org 800-532-5274) and explain your situation and ask for their help. They have been a huge help to other people on HEP Forums.
Keep in mind that this is not an emergency. I had hep C for over three decades before it was diagnosed, and I waited more than another decade for treatment, because the earlier treatments would have made my other medical conditions worse. Still, there are things that you can do such as those suggested above. Some people have joined clinical studies in order to get treated; others have cobbled together payment from a variety of sources.
Keep at it -- when there's a will, there's a way!
Gnatty