Campfire

[Bethers]

Louise, I doubt you'll find a doctor who won't recommend cholesterol meds - so I wouldn't necessarily change doctors, but continue to do your own homework and don't accept treatments you know you don't need. It's unfortunate, but how I see it all the time now. And, those meds can cause more trouble than the help they can give ... even for many who "need" them.

I've been told there's several ways the insurance co can handle it - will see which way it goes First I have to see what they say!

And, boy, did we get lucky last night. A storm went just miles north of us that dropped enough hail (5-6 inches covering the main road) that they got out the plows. People have been coming in this morning asking if we often get snow in July lol

[WickedLady]

Exercise and change of diet can do wonders for lowering your cholesterol. That's what I did. Olives/oil and avocadoes are good. Oatmeal really does help.

[Bethers]

Exercise and change of diet can do wonders for lowering your cholesterol. That's what I did. Olives/oil and avocadoes are good. Oatmeal really does help.

I brought mine down, including my triglycerides which were mainly my problem, by diet and walking. Unfortunately, I've been not following my diet very well lately - need to get back on it!

[Redetotry]

Beth, if the amount of damage is more than 80% of the car's value the insurance company will consider it a total and pay you accordingly. You can then elect to buy it back from the company and have it repaired at your cost. I am not certain of how it would be re-titled. Possibly as "salvage". Also, paintless dent companies can often get the majority of dents out for a cheaper price than an auto body shop. Too bad your car isn't here in IL, I can recommend a GREAT body shop! LOL

Louise, sorry you are mad at your Drs. practice but think of it this way; it is a recommendation that you take the Lipitor, not a requirement. I agree, have a talk with your Dr. and see if she can word it as such so your health insurance carrier doesn't rider you out.

Kathy what does 'rider you out" mean?

I agree with Beth we all should do our homework when it comes to doctors recommendations. There is a lot of controversy now about what causes high cholesterol, the following is part of a long article I read and saved recently. Maybe it's another one of those, opps, maybe we made a mistake and eggs are really good for you, or maybe this theory is right, but with all the illnesses now particularly in children it makes sense to me that American diet needs changing.

"The injury and inflammation in our blood vessels is caused by the low fat diet recommended for years by mainstream medicine.

What are the biggest culprits of chronic inflammation? Quite simply, they are the overload of simple, highly processed carbohydrates (sugar, flour and all the products made from them) and the excess consumption of omega-6 vegetable oils like soybean, corn and sunflower that are found in many processed foods.

What you can do is choose whole foods your grandmother served and not those your mom turned to as grocery store aisles filled with manufactured foods. By eliminating inflammatory foods and adding essential nutrients from fresh unprocessed food, you will reverse years of damage in your arteries and throughout your body from consuming the typical American diet."

[gypsyrose1126]

Beth - Usually a company will call a couple salvage places for a bid. But if the owner wants to keep it, they just deduct the salvage bid and pay the insured the rest and you keep the car. BUT the title will probably be stamped salvage. The rules may be different in each state. Ginger was right about the paint less dent co. some of them do a great job for cheaper cost.

[gingerK]

BJ to "rider out" means the insurance company will put a rider on your policy regarding not covering a certain condition. For example, I have had skin cancer several times. When I finally did get private health insurance, they "ridered out" my skin cancer and wouldn't cover it. So if it came back it was all on me to pay for it. One company "ridered out" my uterine fibroids and basically wouldn't cover anything below my waist! Anything the insurance companies can do to not have to cover you, they will. This is why I have (unfortunately!) had to go with Obama care and my policy stinks. Practically no one in my area will accept my policy-and it's BCBS!

Just a note about the paintless dent guys; they can't always get out ALL dents. We are dealing with them right now regarding a client's brand new (only a few weeks old) vehicle. We also are having to remove and replace the headliner as they will not do that. They have told us that there are dents on this car that they cannot get out.

[havingfunnow]

Oh, thanks for the comfort, everybody! I'm much calmer today. The doctor called just now and actually rescinded her recommendation. What set me off is that clearly the lab computer reacted to a single number instead of the panel, and nobody bothered to look at the entire results before sending the recommendation on to me. (I had to insist to get the actual numbers. Over the day yesterday, three separate assistants called me back and read me the recommendations, but none of them were willing to discuss the entire panel. They also started talking about putting 'against medical advice' in my file. Not good for any future insurance.) The total number is high, but the LDL is only borderline. What raises the total number is the high levels of HDL -- the good stuff that we're always supposed to get more of, the stuff that protects against heart attacks so well that doctors remove other risk factors from the evaluation profile when it is present! Stupid! Again, thanks for listening and advising.

Keep us posted about your car, Beth. I think everybody is wondering how that will turn out.

[Redetotry]

Learning a lot here, riders and notes in files... Louise I didn't know they put notes in your files but, I bet my medical file is full of 'against medical advice notes! I always ask for and receive after signing release forms, all my test results, I can go back and look/compare numbers and send or take copies to the doctor I see in St Louis. If I ask them to send them it takes forever, if they do send them. I'm in same situation as you, my total is like 204 but with my high good HDL number it has a low average. What they need to look for and don't test for is the shape of the stuff in your veins. I'll see if I can find what that test is and the explanation. I have a friend who is a great researcher and also cautions of medical advise so she finds lots of good information. When they wanted me to take thyroid meds I didn't but had acupuncture for 5 weeks so my re-test at six weeks was perfect. Bet that isn't in my file! Also when I saw the doctor in STL with copies of first test here she said she would NOT have given medication at those numbers. You definitely have to read and be aware these days!

[gingerK]

While we're talking Drs. here, DH has a condition that causes his liver enzymes to be elevated any time he takes a fasting blood test. If he then takes the same test non-fasting his enzymes are fine. We told our Dr. about this and thought she put a note in his records. He recently took the tests, fasting of course, and when he asked the nurse for the results she cautioned him about his drinking because of his liver enzymes! DH doesn't drink except for the odd beer here and there and a glass of wine with spaghetti. I'm sure either there wasn't any note in his records or the nurse didn't look for the note. Seems as though one hand doesn't know what the other's doing anymore.

[Acadianmom]

Kathy, I feel the same way, the doctors don't pay enough attention. The hospital that my husband had surgery in last September had a wonderful system. I got emails with every lab test, procedure and doctor visit. I had printed the emails and brought them with us when we had to go to the local ER. They weren't paying much attention to what I was telling them and finally the doctor read what kind of surgery he had.

I learned when my son was small that you have to watch what they are doing. My son was allergic to fire ants. When we would show up at the emergency room the first thing they would do was ask who his doctor was and then proceed to try to get in touch with him. Of course his doctor was his pediatrician and he wasn't hanging around the hospital. There were a couple of times we didn't have time for them to mess around and whoever was there had to give him a shot. After that when they ask who his doctor was I would ask who's here.

Martha

[Colliemom]

Beth, I have friends who had damaged their trailer when he turned to sharp at a corner and hit a post. Insurance company totaled the thing rather than pay for repairs due to age of trailer despite it being in brand new condition. They didn't want to lost it as they reallynliked it, so bought it from the insurance company, for $2,000 (they paid them $10,000 for loss), then took it to the local dealer, who repaired all the damage for $3,000. So friends pocketed the rest of the $10,000. Bet you could do same with your car. Now, it would have been much cheaper for the insurance company to have paid forcdamage repair. And we wonder why our rates are so high. I'm sure they spend millions on "totals" that could have been repaired cheaper.

[gingerK]

Speaking as an auto body shop owner, you would not believe the mark up in the cost of parts. And because of the EPA, paint and materials like it are extremely expensive. It sometimes costs more to repair what appears to be simple damage than you might think. There could be hidden damage that won't be seen until the repair work is begun which then adds to the cost of the repair. So when estimates for repair approach a certain percentage of a car's book value, the insurance companies will consider it a total. That doesn't mean that the vehicle isn't repairable, however. You are free to buy it back from the insurance company and have it repaired at your cost.

And places like Maaco don't do anyone in the industry any justice when it claims to be able to paint your vehicle for $299. Some colors of paint cost more than that for a gallon of paint! Especially red paint!

[Bethers]

An insurance company made a mistake in not totalling a vehicle I owned. The estimate was over $14k and they elected to have it fixed. Then more things were found wrong. They paid out more than the value of that vehicle. If they total it, you have the option to find other means, or not do things, etc.

I have no intention of fixing the hail damage to the car. I intend to drive this car until it stops lol, the dings won't bother me. The RV, on the other hand, will be repaired. I've received the adjuster's paperwork on the rv. Waiting on the car, then to hear from the insurance company again.

[gingerK]

An insurance company made a mistake in not totalling a vehicle I owned. The estimate was over $14k and they elected to have it fixed. Then more things were found wrong. They paid out more than the value of that vehicle.

My point exactly regarding hidden damage. Sometimes until you get into the job, you don't really know the extent of the damage. When we find something like this, we have to stop and contact the insurance company for an "add on order" so that they pay for the extra damage. As you said, it can sometimes get to be more than the worth of the car.

[Bethers]

My RV has somewhat over $2K in damages from the hail. They'll be direct depositing a check for those damages and I'll be checking out repair places. The damage to the body will need to be done in a different place from the damage to the antenna. Before I have anything done with the antenna, I'm going to see if it works now.

I also heard that the appraisers damage amount for the car does put it as a total for the insurance company. I haven't got figures yet, but do know that it will mean going to the salvage title. Unfortunately, the value of the car isn't enough to bring me much, but we'll see.