So my doctor ordered a HIDA scan and my insurance didn't approve of it. Today we received the letter that tells why it wasn't approved. However, in the letter was some background on my problem that was given to my insurance by my doctor via a phone call. Part of this background says "An ultrasound showed aaa." I was never told about this. In fact, I was told everything was normal in my ultrasound except for an enlarged gallbladder. All I could find online for aaa was an Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm and when I checked the symptoms, it descirbes what I feel including the pulsating in my abdomen which I always thought was normal so I never included it in any of my symptoms. I will call my doctor ASAP but I'm a little scared right now and would like to be relaxed sooner than that. Is there anything else aaa could stand for that would be found in an ultrasound? Or is it possible my doctor could have lied to my insurance company?
AAA is an aortic anurysm, much more common in men over 50 than in females. With men size matters:-) Watchful waiting is the usual approach until it gets to a size where the risk of it bursting is greater than the risk of majjor surgery. It would nortmally need to be way over 4.5cm before surgery would be considerd.
Do you realise that you are on a British site so we don't know about American insurance requirements. Here the NHS started a national screening programme for men over 55 but not for women.
Quite likely it a normal pulse you are feeling in your abdomen. My anurysm is about 3.6cm and the doctor can only just feel it.
I've researched it and across the likelyhood of having it myself. It's extremely unlikely since I'm a 17 year old female, however, the letter I received does in fact say my ultrasound showed it. I wasn't be screened for an aneurysm, I was having my stomach and other organs looked at to find out what has been causing my abdominal pain. I understand that most AAA are found on accident while examining the abdomen for other problems since they are asymptomatic. So, this wasn't found due to screening. The us does have the same policy about when and who to screen, though.
The only reason for my concern is the letter that states my ultrasound showed AAA. I never heard of it before, nor has it ever came up as an option when trying to discover what's wrong with me. I'm not guessing about this in anyway, I was told about it. The letter oly states AAA, no meaning behind it so I was hoping there was maybe something else AAA could stand for, which is what my father thinks. So far I haven't found anything so I'm still scared about this letter. I will be calling my doctor before they close since that's the only time they answer questions. I can only hope the ultrasound showed an AAA while my MRI and CT didn't show one.
The pulse I have felt was pretty strong. I'd only feel maybe five beats at the most in my abdomen and only on occasions. I always thought it felt funny and assumed it was a normal thing to feel as a human. I'm sure it it normal, but I am scared due to this letter.
My anurysm was found about 11 years ago (3.2cm then) when I had my gall bladder scanned. The doctor doing it said that my gall bladder was OK but that I had a lot of cysts on my liver and a small aneurysm. I always talk to and cultivate the people doing things and mosly get an early opinion before a final study is made. It is always better when a doctor does it.
If it is an aneurysm then you are fortunate to have it discoved early in order for it to be watched for any growth over time.
The problem with aneurysms is when you try to get travel insurance. They just work to a tick list and don't take into account the ones at the harmless stage. I just ask them to exclude it from the policy.