March 26, 2022

Update on the Provider Hunt

Since my old doctor up and moved away rather suddenly and with almost no warning last month, I've been on a somewhat frantic search to find someone new to monitor my medication for me because going off my meds is not something I'm interested in at the moment. Things have been frustrating because my husband's job changed insurance carriers at the start of the year and it's really limiting who I can see compared to our old insurance which was accepted almost everywhere.

My old doctor gave me two options within her clinic, but neither accepts our insurance. The only doctors in the clinic that do accept this insurance weren't accepting new patients, so I've had to go somewhere completely new. It's terrifying and exhausting trying to find a new provider.

I finally settled on a place called MedRx Providers. Literally all they do is medication management (although I now see through their terms of service they want you in therapy as well... sigh) so that works for me. What sold me on this practice was you could contact them through email. They had forms all over including for making appointments. So I finally emailed them the other day and asked if communication could stay in emails because I have a severe phone phobia. So far, that has worked well once we got past some initial tech problems with my emails not showing up for them.

After going back and forth for a couple of days, I got an appointment set up for Tuesday, March 29 at 1:30pm. This was a lot sooner than I expected to get in and it works perfectly because I'm out of my meds on that day (although it looks like a refill went through the pharmacy already so I didn't need to worry) and I don't have to babysit my grandson on Tuesdays so no interruptions to the online visit (all visits are virtual for them still which also works for me as I don't drive and then can only plan appointments around when my husband can drive me on his days off).

Now I have to fill out all of this paperwork. When I started with the last doctor in 2020, I was able to do the first appointment in person because I was nervous about doing virtual visits at first so I was able to sign stuff and just hand her a list of meds and it was just much easier. Now I have to fill out all of these forms online and try and figure out which information they want. Like, I don't remember all of the meds I've tried. I know they're listed through my old clinic's med portal because they got them from the provider I had before that, but I don't want to have to go write them all down and transfer them over. I want this new provider to just let me sign the form that allows them to get my old records from the clinic. That would be so much easier. Not sure that's possible with only virtual visits. I guess I'll find out.

I'm nervous now, though. I filled out most of the forms but got stuck on the list of medicines and was too tired to figure it out right now, so I guess I'll work on it tomorrow. I hate having all of this anxiety all of the time. It prevents me from ever relaxing because I'm always worrying about stuff in the back of my mind, and then certain worries will suddenly break free to the front of my thoughts, causing small panic attacks (tight chest, rapid heart beat, dizziness, feeling like I can't breathe, shaking, etc). It just sucks so much. And it's going to be like this all day long, every day until the appointment.

On top of that, I have an appointment to get my eyes checked on Monday. I've had the same glasses for years because our old doctor shut down for whatever reason and we just didn't have the money for new glasses. Well, I'm now getting headaches from not being able to see well so I HAVE to get a new prescription. And, of course, it's a new doctor. We're just going to Lens Crafters this time, so at least I kind of know what to expect since that's where I always went as a kid.

But that's something else for me to be worried/nervous about. I'm afraid we can't afford my glasses which are pretty expensive with progressive lenses even with our insurance.

Anyway, I'll update again after my appointment. Fingers crossed it all goes well and I like this new provider. I hate switching doctors, and I keep having to do it for whatever reason. It's just so exhausting having to go over my medical history again and again, hoping the new doctor agrees with the old doctor about my diagnosis and treatment. Ugh.

Written by justanotherjen

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