posted
I was diagnosed with lyme over a year ago with positive bloodwork. Various doctors have given me random antibiotics and nothing has helped. I'm exhausted and in so much pain, I can barely force myself to go to work and only do so over fear of losing my job. I have no more social life and rely on strangers form craigslist to come take care of me, as most of my friends have abandoned me for being too sick. I have great insurance (BCBS) but not much money, and I can't seem to find any LLMD in the area that will take my insurance. Please someone help me!
Posts: 1 | From Gaithersburg, MD | Registered: Nov 2013
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TF
Frequent Contributor (5K+ posts)
Member # 14183
posted
In your area (and in most of the U.S.), there are no lyme doctors who take insurance. But, your insurance will still pay for the medications and most tests the lyme doctor orders. That saves you lots and lots of money.
And, you can submit a claim to your BCBS for the cost of each doctor's visit, and you will get some reimbursement from them. (Not a large percentage.)
Until you get to a lyme doctor, the treatment you will be given won't work--just as you have found. You need a doc with a lot of expertise in lyme. Lyme is extremely difficult to treat and very hard to cure.
Lyme docs don't take insurance because they have to spend so much time with you at each appointment. The insurance would not reimburse them for their time. They would lose money if they accepted the insurance payment (which is based on them spending only 10 minutes with the patient.) The first appointment with a lyme doctor lasts at least an hour and often longer.
So, find a way to pay for the expensive first appointment. Some ask a church or family to give them the money. Or, you can put it on a credit card and pay it off over time.
I can send you the name of a doc not far from you and his price is not too bad.
After the first appointment, you see the doctor once per month. These routine (1/2 hour) appointments are not nearly as high as the first appointment.
Sorry, but this is the only way you are going to get better.
Send me a private message for the name. Click on the envelope above my post to write to me. I can even give you an insurance-taking doctor if you like. But, she is not a lyme doctor. She is lyme-friendly, meaning she will treat you as long as you like. Her treatment is not very good. I don't know of anyone she has cured.
Lyme gets worse over time, so you are wise to do something about this disease now while you can still work.
Posts: 9931 | From Maryland | Registered: Dec 2007
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You will get better - you need to be evaluated and treated by a Lyme-literate doctor (LLMD). Non LLMDs have no clue about this horrible disease and its complex treatment!
Most Lyme-literate doctors do not accept insurance, due to the politics surrounding this horrible disease and its complex treatment.
Please break up your posts into 2-3 sentence paragraphs, as there are people on Lymenet who cannot read large blocks of text due to neurological problems from Lyme. Thanks.
Posts: 8981 | From Illinois | Registered: May 2006
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