Poll to follow shortly. If possible, please give your country & other circumstances.
I’m in San Francisco and I’m on disability so there is no out of pocket cost to see the doctor (yet). I would only go if I had complications.
“Only if I had complications or felt like I was at death’s door”; a doctor can’t really do much anyway if it’s just an ordinary cold.
Rural southern Maryland retiree with health insurance. I wouldn’t bother going to the doctor with a cold since I’m generally healthy otherwise. If it progressed beyond coughing and feeling icky, I might consider making an appointment. Beyond that, I’d definitely call and find out if it made sense to go in.
But a common cold? meh - rest, liquids, bad TV - it’s worked for me for decades.
I haven’t been to my doctor in five years. So, no.
Sometimes my colds make me feel like I got punched in the face or my top teeth are being pushed out of my head, which means I don’t actually have a cold but a sinus infection. The first time I had one of those I was in so much pain I went to an urgent care. So now when that happens I go to my ENT to get antibiotics. So I clicked the “complications” answer. But, in actuality, if all I have is a cold, there’s no reason to go to the doctor. The sinus infection thing just feels like a cold at the beginning before my sinuses start swelling up and causing pain.
I picked the “complications” option - my colds will occasionally develop into bronchitis, which means I will cough myself into a raw throat and aching ribs, and can barely get any sleep. I end up with bronchitis about once a year. So it’s not still a cold but started from one.
I went to my doctor on a walk-in appointment in late October for this, and basically told her how I was sleeping on our couch, propped up into a sitting position with pillows, and still groggy from lack of sleep, and I just needed better medication so I could sleep at night and get through this. She prescribed me Tessalon pearls and a mild codeine/guaifenesin (Cheratussin) syrup. It was bad enough for me that the week’s supply of the Tessalon wasn’t quite enough, and I needed a refill for a few more days after that, but at least I got more sleep.
UK. I would only go if there was some sort of complication (i.e. if the illness had rendered me unable to take fluids, or if I was concerned that a secondary infection was setting in).
There’s nothing a doctor could do for the common cold, except advise me to do things I already know well enough - keep warm, rest, drink plenty, eat soup, use OTC painkillers and remedies to relieve the symptoms.
No. My complications have to be pretty severe for me to find the money for a doctor (no insurance). I’ve done it once in the last 10 years, for what I thought might be (and was) strep throat secondary to a cold. Strep throat can cause Bad Things to your heart valves without antibiotic treatment, so that warranted a doctor’s visit. Otherwise, there’s not a dang - appropriate - thing they can do for it that I can’t do at home, so what’s the point?
ETA: I picked “complications” in the poll before I realized it was single choice. “I don’t believe a doctor could do anything to help,” would be equally appropriate.
Maryland.
No health insurance so I have to pay.
I checked only if I felt like I was dying and only because if I am feeling that bad it probably isn’t a cold.
Most of the time it’s a waste of money.
I’m allergic to codeine so I can’t take cough syrup.
The only reason I would go is because when I had my heart attack I thought I had a cold or the flu and it had gone to pneumonia, so if it hurts to breathe I’ll go.
I live in Korea and people go to see the doctor when they stub their toe. It’s cheap and you usually don’t have to wait more than ten minutes. You don’t even need an appointment.
I wouldn’t go for a mild cold, but I was running a fever I’d go.
I’m in Cayman. I have no out of pocket costs for doctor or meds.
I still would not go for a cold. Doctors can’t do anything to cure the cold, just to alleviate symptoms. I can get symptom relief with OTC meds.
Same in Taiwan. That’s one reason I was curious about this poll: even though it’s laughably cheap, I rarely go to a doctor for things like this because I don’t believe there’s much they can do, unless I suspect some complications. My Taiwanese friends find this attitude flabbergasting.
Also, doctors around here are accustomed to patients going away very unsatisfied unless they are prescribed some medicine, no matter how unnecessary. So I’m in the position of either declining or more likely just throwing away medicine.
Edit: OTOH decently strong over the counter meds are not easy to come by, so there’s that. What I wouldn’t do for a Walgreen’s . . .
I’m in the USA. I am a doctor myself. When I get a cold, I just take over the counter cold meds (I prefer the ones with pseudoephedrine even though the meth heads have made it harder to get) and drink lots of warm liquids.
However, I wouldn’t blame people for coming in with something that I would see as trivial, since of course it won’t always be clear to a non-medical person what is or isn’t serious. It’s better to come into the doc with a trivial complaint than to ignore pneumonia.
I think a common reason some people go to the doc for a cold is because they think they need antibiotics for all colds. That is not good practice. I wish that the general public understood that antibiotics don’t help viral illnesses and that inappropriate antibiotic prescribing can cause major problems. I think more people understand that now than used to, but it’s still a common misunderstanding.
I could go to see our company’s healthcare doctor for free, but there would be no point if all I had was a common cold. Visiting a nurse would be enough to get paid sick leave - first visit for 3 days, then another for 2 more if I still needed it. If I still had a fever or other complications after 5 days of sick leave, I guess I would go see a doctor. I live in Finland.
I happen to be a doctor so I know that there’s nothing my doctor can do to cure the cold. If I thought I was getting a sinus infection or actually had strep I would go but then I wouldn’t be going just for a cold. Unfortunately I know from direct experience that there are a large number of people who will come to the ED for a cold. Some of them have doctors who have previously given them antibiotics for a cold and very surprised when I explain that a cold is caused by a virus and antibiotics will only treat bacteria. So that’s not really their fault. But some of them just have unreasonable expectations. I had one woman who was quite angry that I would not admit her to the hospital because she’d been coughing for 4 days.
I waited five days to get treated for strep throat last year because I thought it was a cold and was embarrassed to go in for that. I finally went in when I started wondering why I’d never had white spots on my tonsils with previous colds and why the sore throat was so unusually bad and lasting so long. Rapid test immediately came back positive, but I also had congestion and a cough, so I’m betting it was also a cold on top of it.
I still won’t go in for a cold, but now I know other symptoms to be more careful of.
There’s no cure for the common cold, so I’d only go to the doctor if I had complications. I usually get a wicked ear infection when I get a cold, so I would go see Doc for that, or if I was really congested, and it wouldn’t clear up.
If I have a persistent cough or a very high fever, a sore throat that doesn’t get better with salt water after three days, or any symptom that makes it hard for me to sleep and isn’t controlled by OTCs, then I go in order to get better symptom suppressors. I didn’t know what to answer since I don’t necessarily wait till I’m on “death’s door” nor do I go as a matter of course.
For “feeling sick” I wouldn’t go of my own accord, but, I need a note from a doctor each and every time I call out sick from work, so, obvs, I go if I want to stay home and recuperate. Idiotic rule, but there ya go.
At this point in my life the cost of the visit doesn’t enter into it. I have good insurance. Growing up though, we didn’t have insurance and this definitely factored in.
I voted for “I don’t believe a doctor could do anything to help,” although I also think a cold is usually trivial unless complications set in.
I don’t even go for sinus problems anymore. I had a doctor who used to give me antibiotics for infections, but another doctor in college said no to that. I went another time when I had severe ear pain in conjunction with sinus pain and they did not recommend any medication. I’m assuming that’s because overuse of antibiotics is a serious concern now.
I know a lot of people who abuse the emergency room, presumably because they don’t have insurance, but they will go for colds, any ache or pain, etc. That must get very expensive.