Doctor Visits (What do you go for?)

In My Humble Opinion
1

I know all kinds of people who’s opinions about doctors range from the obsessively fearful to the hypochondriac. For various reasons, they choose to go to the clinic for minor things (one girl I knew at a previous job insisted on medical attention for a paper cut) to the deranged tough guy syndrome (a guy broke his hand at my friends work place and refused medical attention.)

Let’s disregard regular check-ups for this question. Let’s also disregard flu shots (I don’t do them, but I consider them within the line of a yearly check-up)

I generally lean towards the latter, but go when I know I have to. The last time I went for a minor condition (a stye) did me no good. I ended up lancing it myself and wasting over $100 on a visit. Other than regular check ups, the last time before that was an emergency room visit for near third degree burns on my wrist from hot water at the restaurant I managed.

I think the worst injury I’ve had that I didn’t visit the doctor for was a dislocated knee. I was extremely drunk and underage and fearful of parental backlash (yes, I know it was stupid and I’m still paying for it in pain over 12 years later) The most insignificant thing I ever went for was a poison ivy rash (I was very young at the time, and constantly crying because of the minor itch)

Before we get started, let me point out that I advocate seeking medical attention whenever it’s deemed necessary. I’m not judge nor jury of what anyone thinks needs a doctor visit. If you have a hangnail and you feel you have to seek professional help, it’s no skin off of my ass. If you have blood in your feces and decide not to get a second opinion, I may think you’re a bit off your rocker but it’s your choice.

With all that being said dopers, where do you fall? Do you go to the doc for small cuts and abrasions, or are you the type that self amputates gangrenous digits with a bite on a bullet and a mouth full of whiskey? What do you feel is the least significant thing you’ve went to the doc for? What about the most significant thing that you didn’t seek help for?

2

I don’t see my GP unless I absolutely have to! I have a yearly check-up for prescribed medication which entails a 5-minute visit to check my blood pressure and so the doc can ask me if I’m happy with the medication, and that’s it.

I’m not the kind of person to seek medical attention for every last bump and scrape, but I go when I know that I need to. The last couple of visits have been for an ear infection that required anti-biotics and a badly bruised foot after I lost my footing on a step in my friend’s garden. The latter required a visit to hospital for an x-ray and some bandaging but that was the extent of it.

3

I go twice a year for prescriptions. He gives me a general checkup - weighs me, a bit of poking and prodding and a set of blood tests. Other than that over the last 15 years I have only gone for physical injuries and my original bout of gout. I don’t go for colds, flu or GIT viruses.

4

I don’t see my internist (my “general” doctor) very often. The last two times I went were: back in 2008 when I was coming down with bronchitis before a big trip (wanted some good meds), and then this week for possible anemia - I keep failing blood donation attempts due to low hematocrit/hemoglobin. She sent me for a blood draw of CBC/iron after a quick exam. I came home last night to a phone message from one of her nurses, asking me to - not an emergency - call them back, and have my pharmacy’s phone number handy. So whatever turned up was a “let’s start with a prescription” thing, I guess. I didn’t really have too many overt symptoms other than being unable to donate blood, which I initially thought was due to unfortunate timing with menstruation, until it wasn’t the last time. (I haven’t gone for any other respiratory infections, and I haven’t had influenza (knock wood) since I was a teenager; my husband did, though, and we went to his doctor because of the severity of his symptoms and because of the mental confusion he was experiencing.)

I see my gynecologist yearly for a checkup, swab, and oral contraceptive prescription.

I see my neurologist as needed for my ongoing migraines - which reminds me, that is needed, so I have to make an appointment.

I’m lucky enough to work in a medical center, so if something semi-urgent happens, I can go in during work. The only time I’ve started elsewhere, in recent years, was when I broke my wrist on a Saturday. My workplace is too far from my house to go there for a break, so my husband drove me to our closest ER. The orthopedic and therapy followup appointments were at work, though.

5

For any wound type thing I’d look after it myself or go to a privately run clinic (http://www.vhi.ie/swiftcare/index.jsp) or the ER.

I go to the GP for things like tonsillitis, flu or back/leg pain(I’ve got bad sciatica). My sciatica has been playing up of late so I’ve seen him maybe four times this year. Usually it would be 1 or 2 times.

Usually the main reason I go to see him is that I’ve been out of work for three days and so need a doctors note from him.

6

I forgot - I went in to the dermatology office as a walk-in appointment when I had mysterious “pustules”. Turned out to be bites from the oak leaf itch mite, and they were pretty common in the Chicago burbs that year, among people who spent any amount of time outside. One had become really infected, and there was a wide red stripe working its way up my arm from the initial site, so it was important that I’d gone in.

7

Woah, hold it there. Why did a GP visit cost $100? Is that normal? Don’t you guys have insurance for this sort of stuff? Sorry, not trying to create another UHC debate, but I just have no idea how it works across the pond.

I only go to the doctor when I think I’ve got something that he can cure or help with a prescription - allergies, mostly. I badly cut my finger a couple of weeks ago which I really could’ve taken to the ER - looking at the gaping wound, I think a stitch might have helped, but I feel bad bothering the ER people for such a minor thing when other people are having heart attacks and losing limbs.

8

Mmmm, whiskey.

I do see my gynecologist yearly, and my dentist twice yearly, but I dislike going to the regular doctor unless I really, really have to. I just got back from having my flu shot, actually, and kind of forgot to bring up my shoulder, which has been sore for just over 6 months now. (Hey, it might clear up on its own, you know?)

I hate needles and am leery of nasty germs lingering in doctors’ offices from all those sick people who hang out there, so my idea is that I’m better off in the long run handling the minor medical stuff myself and avoiding picking something up by trotting to the doctor all the time. Which might, of course, be a big rationalization to keep me away from the needle-wielder.

9

If I have pain of any sort for over two weeks, I go. Usually pain will clear up in under that time.

Generally, if I think it won’t get better on its own, I’ll see my doctor. I’m diabetic, I have IBD, I have heart problems, so I need a lot of maintenance visits, and generally I’ll bring up any additional problems I’ve been having lately. Recently I’ve been having problems with my pancreas and gall bladder, so I’ve been seeing my GP every week or two.

I also watch out for things like cellulitis and lymphedema flare ups that I’ve had in the past.

10

I just went for a series of checkups, all of which I was overdue for (several years for pap, years past due for baseline mammogram, general checkup, etc.) due to a period of no insurance/poor insurance. Happy to say that I seem to be quite healthy. Also go for regular dental visits and eye exams (except I’m three years overdue for the later due to poverty)

Other than that, I tend to deal with things myself, although persistent illness, serious injury, or skin infection will send me to the doc as I have learned over time that doing this sooner rather than later results in a quicker recovery and less pain and suffering on my part.

The worst injury that I didn’t go to a doctor for was broken ribs. Well, actually, I did eventually mention the persistent pain on a visit. At which point the doc looks at my side, gets all concerned, and asks me when I broke my ribs. Yes boys and girls, he didn’t need an x-ray to determine something had been broken. Between my svelte figure and the bone deformation he could see from the outside Something Bad had happened. Upon thinking of the recent past my only conclusion was that during a rather severe beating, during which I was rendered unconscious by multiple blows to the head, my ribs had been kicked hard enough/often enough to break. I hadn’t noticed this because the rest of my body hurt so badly from the beating. It wasn’t until the bruises (and they were amazing in scope, size, and color) and soft tissue injuries had healed that I noticed the persistent bone ache.

Obviously, I have some tolerance for pain. Knowing this, my family tends to haul me off to the doc, if not the ER, if I start to complain about hurting as that generally means that yes, something is wrong. This is also why I, and to a great extent my husband, get pissed off when some medical ninny poo-poos my complaint of pain. Broomstick has been known to ignore bone fractures, if she says she’s hurting she is hurting.

The dislocated knee was bad, but I went to the ER that evening as the joint wasn’t functioning and I knew that meant more than first aid was required.

The worst physical pain I’ve had to endure was the thrice-daily washing out of a facial wound, immortalized in the Great Pimple Thread some years ago. THAT had me literally screaming and crying, it hurt so bad, but I was under a doctor’s care at the time and he had mentioned it would hurt like a m----f----. Thanks for the honesty, doc, and thanks for the narcotics, they did help even if they didn’t take all the hurt away.

11

I didn’t have insurance then. I do now with my new job. As far as I know, that cost is pretty standard for a non-free clinic visit. Basically, the office visit was around $70 on its own, and the worthless saline solution prescription they gave me was around $30.

12

I don’t have insurance so the last time I went to a doctor I was pregnant. She’s about to turn five next month. Her father hasn’t been to a doctor since he was fourteen. He went to the ER a few months ago and received six thousand dollars worth of a misdiagnosis so he probably won’t be going back any time soon.

I’ve been sick enough to buy antibiotics online. I buy my Zoloft online. If I could buy a hysterectomy online I would.

My little girl goes for annual check-ups and sicknesses I feel may be infections. She’s taken antibiotics twice in her life.

13

This is how I work with my medical issues, too. I go in for all maintenance stuff like clockwork (OB/Gyn appointments, pregnancy check ups (only a few more of those left), neurologist check up, etc.), but I generally wouldn’t bother for anything else unless it felt like it would get worse if I didn’t.

14

Only if I think there’s a good chance of death or permanent disability if I don’t go, or if I’ve got something painful that I think they can fix (like an ear infection). I have insurance, I’m just always afraid that they’ll find something seriously wrong, so going to the doctor is always a scary experience for me. Oh, and they’ll nag me about my weight again- I don’t like that either.

15

I don’t need the doctor, that’s for other people. :slight_smile:

Last time I went to a doctor was because I kept going temporarily blind in one eye. He referred me to another doctor, who referred me to another, and none of them could decide what the problem was. Eventually, with the help of the internet, I decided the episodes were optical migraines.

I got through eight months of my first pregnancy without seeing a doctor (or telling anyone about it).

I once cured a toothache at work by slashing open my gums with the blade out of the box cutter.

16

I have to go every six weeks for a blood test, after which my dose of coumadin is occasionally adjusted. I try not to go (although it is free) unless I have to. The most benign thing I recall going to for was a lump on my leg that appeared after I had tripped and fallen hard against a piece of furnture. When it didn’t go down after a couple weeks, I went to my GP. He felt it, said it was a hematoma (blood body) and would clear gradually over the next month or so. Which it did.

On the other side, let me give you a cautionary tale. My 43 year old daughter had a cold last summer. At some point, her left ear appeared tp close completely. When it hadn’t reopened in two weeks, she went to an ENT, who told her that the nerve had swelled and was not operating. There was a treatment, but after two weeks it might not work. Had she come immediatley, it could probably have been cured. Now she is permanently deaf in one ear. I have to say I would have done the same thing she did.

17

This is my attitude also. I began to realize over the years that every doctor I went to see was a drug pusher of the worst sort. Every time you go you get another prescription for yet another drug that the pharma sales reps are promoting to the doctor.

The kind, informed, concerned medico you see on TV?, never met or heard of one.

The average doctor appointment is 40 minutes of waiting, for 4 minutes of conversation, followed by the drug pusher pad for a prescription to something that if IT doesn’t kill you, the side effects will be worse than the symptoms of whatever you originally came in for.

And we want to see you again every 30 days until the end of time so we can keep adding pills to the pot. The current medical philosophy seems to be that everyone should be on a permanent program of prescription drugs. Everyone.

18

I don’t remember exactly how long it’s been since the last time I went to any sort of medical facility, but it was years ago (and both the clinic I went to and the Walgreens where I got my prescription filled have since been torn down and replaced), but it was for a sore throat that I was afraid might have been strep (IIRC it wasn’t, but it was something that responded to antibiotics). But I’m a pretty healthy guy.

I don’t get this attitude at all. Going to the doctor is scary; it’s inconvenient; it’s time-consuming; it’s sometimes painful; it’s expensive (and even if some or all of the expense is covered by insurance, it’s still a big waste of precious medical resources if it’s unnecessary); and there’s a nontrivial chance that it’ll make things worse (like, if you’re misdiagnosed or mismedicated or exposed to nasty germs in the waiting room).

19

You need a better doctor.

My trip to my internist this week involved being seen early even with a waiting room full of flu-concerned people, a quick but thorough exam with words of encouragement, and being sent to the lab to have blood drawn. I got a call last night, which I returned today, and the nurse said, ‘your hemoglobin is normal but on the low end. Since you’re concerned because this means you can’t donate blood, take iron supplements three times a day and we’ll retest your blood in 6 weeks.’

Sure, sometimes you do need meds. Sometimes they do have side effects - everything has them. Even the iron tablets I’m taking can have them.