u/callherjacob

I am so frustrated. My husband visited a cardiologist and we paid the provider copay (HMO plan, by the way). The doctor set him up for testing that we assumed (first mistake) was at an affiliated office.

Turns out, the site is considered hospital outpatient at a local hospital even though it's not actually at the hospital so, instead of paying a regular copay, we got hit with nearly $1,300 from the hospital. That doesn't include whatever the physician is going to charge.

I'm sure this will be a controversial statement. We qualify for a charity care discount but I will not disclose our entire financial profile for the possibility of a small discount. If it were hundreds of thousands of dollars and we were about to lose our house, yeah okay. Filling out the application would make sense then. It's incredibly invasive and seems to be a screening out tool to be honest.

That said, I'm going to negotiate. I just need advice on what is reasonable to pay to close out imaging fees they're charging us $1,300 out of pocket for.

Where would you begin with your offer? I was thinking I would offer a $700 lump sum payment to settle and close the account. Is that unreasonable for a prompt pay discount.

I'm in my first week on poor man's Contrave (150 mg bupropion/12.5 mg naltrexone). I was already taking 60 mg buspirone (30 mg 2x daily) for anxiety. My doctor cut that to 45 mg instead due to concerns about serotonin syndrome.

My doctor diagnosed me with perimenopause-triggered atypical depression. My specific symptoms have been sleeping soooo much. Like 16-18 hours on a Saturday. Really severe mood swings. Sudden weight gain out of nowhere. Legs feeling so heavy it was hard to move around. Motivated to do tasks but couldn't physically make myself do anything. I didn't register it as depression because I didn't feel hopeless or down all the time. I just felt so tired and my mind was so full of unwanted thoughts constantly.

She first recommended Wellbutrin because she said it was a first-line treatment for atypical depression. Then she talked to me about Contrave, which I had never heard of. I don't care about my weight or losing any, but I agreed that this sudden, pretty significant gain was alarming.

So, here we are now. It's only been a few days and I feel so much brighter. I'm able to think of a task and just do it without much effort. I'm more physically active. My mind isn't weighed down by thoughts. And, so on. Very cool. The weirdest part is my appetite.

As in, I don't have one. I can feel the effects of hunger. The back of my head feels a little tight and my body feels empty. However, it's so subtle. When I eat foods that used to cause radiating warmth throughout my body, now it's totally flat. Like, yeah, it tastes good but I guess there's no flood of hormones.

Does anyone else feel a little like a robot when it comes to food? On this medication, I really couldn't care less what I actually eat. I'm focusing on protein and fiber first because I know I'll lose interest pretty quickly. It's just such a weird feeling.