I am in the US, so financial calculations need to be factored in.
For a moment, I couldn’t breathe, felt like I was going to die, then vomitted.
Now heart beating slightly off, not feeling great but not terrible, had mild chest pain earlier in evening…
Kinda feel off. Have medical insurance with large deductible.
Ignore it? Taxi to ER? Call 911? Genuinely don’t know and don’t like 911 since police are involved.
Also I feel hot, feel burning around my neck.
I am in the US, so financial calculations need to be factored in.
God I fucking hate what capitalism has done to what should be basic human rights.
Really sorry you don’t have healthcare! Have you tried the NHS symptoms checker?. You don’t need to be eligible for NHS treatment to use it, you don’t even register. IME they are a bit trigger happy with saying you need to get checked out but it will hopefully give you a steer. Good luck
Frame 1: “Hey USA, how’s it going?”
Frame 3: this post
Frame 4: “Jesus Christ…”
I couldn’t be arsed to do it in a higher quality“i hope i don’t have to sell my gun collection to survive”
No, just frame 2.
> Makes thread asking if you should go to the ER
> Literally everyone says to go to the ER
> Doesn’t go to the ER
ok
Lemmy has made it. It’s Reddit from 10 years ago
secretlyaddictedtolinux
Probably just Linux withdrawl.
Typical
he did say hes from the us.
This sounds like GERD/acid reflux, which I am unfortunately far too familiar with. Go see a doctor.
If it takes too long to see a GI specialist, there are OTC acid reducers like omeprazole you can start in the interim. They take a while to see results, especially if the reflux has injured your esophagus.
Sounds almost identical to my panic attacks. But im no dr, go see one if you don’t feel better
Alright. Way too many socialists in this post who don’t know how 'Murica works, god dammit. Here’s real advice:
You woke up, so you aren’t dead yet. In most cases, that’s a good sign. Give it 30 minutes. If you feel better, great! This is where I preposterously tell you to follow up with your family doctor and we both have a good chuckle.
(Edit to explain: we have no idea who our family doctor is and we haven’t been there in so long we would be considered a new patient.)
If you don’t feel better, might well give it another hour. Most of the damage from a heart attack or stroke is done in the first 30 minutes, so you’re probably not going to get any worse.
If you’re still not dead after that, you’re probably clear to make it through the weekend.
Next question is do you have sick leave? If not, congratulations, you’re fine! If you do have sick leave, go ahead and make an appointment first thing Monday. They won’t do anything, just send you for labs, maybe or just leave that part to the specialist they will refer you to.
So now it’s 6 weeks later and the specialist is calling to confirm the appointment you’re forgotten about. Do you feel better or are you out of sick leave? Congratulations, you’re fine.
Next, is your deductible over 10% of your annual income? (5% if it’s after Nov.15. You’re gonna wind up paying that whole thing for diagnostic tests this year and the actual treatment will hit you after Jan 1 and you’re double fucked.) If it is, congratulations, you’re fine!
If you reach this point, you probably are in need of medical attention and can afford it. Congratulations on getting the help you need.
Bask in the superiority of the best healthcare in the world, you European nancies!
Obviously the tone is meant to be humorous, but this is basically the reality. The only thing I’ve omitted is that you can just go to the hospital and get the treatment you need and then avoid answering unknown numbers for 7 years. I have yet to see anyone sued over medical debt.
Its actually funny (in a fucked up way, that is), because for appointments, you have to pre-pay, so if you are already bankrupt, you might as well just go to the ER where you do not have to pre-pay.
Pre-pay for PCP and Specialist visits? What is this plan you are on?!
Poor people insurance like the majority of the US.
I have yet to see anyone sued over medical debt.
If you’re in my area they sue you without telling you and it goes straight to garnish out of your paycheck. I had to spend a better part of a decade committing fraud just to keep enough money to pay for rent and food.
I always ask myself, “is this worth driving across town and waiting in a gross lobby for 4 hours?”
Here’s some general life advice: if your body (especially your heart) starts doing things it shouldn’t be doing you should probably talk to a doctor. You have insurance, this is what it’s for. Hit up your nearest urgent care.
Edit: I’m gonna go ahead and add this because I’ve now had two people tell me how ignorant I am of the US healthcare system: I am a disabled American in my 50s who has been dealing with serious medical problems my entire life. I understand the ‘system’ far too well. But I’m gonna state what is apparently an unpopular opinion in this community: being dead sucks a lot worse than having medical debt.
Healthcare, in the US, is still pretty expensive even if you have insurance. Chosing between maybe dying or being disabled, and being homeless is pretty common place here in the best country in the world.
I am a disabled American in my 50s, I have dealt with serious medical issues my entire life, including the ones that have made me unable to work for the last ~15 years. I understand the healthcare ‘system’, such as it is, far too well. But you know what sucks worse than being broke? Being dead.
We’re not talking about being dead vs being broke. We’re talking about being MAYBE dead vs being homeless, hungry, and unable to clothe your children.
Health insurance exists for medical emergencies; vomiting and chest pains are signs of a heart attack which, I dunno where you’re from, but where I’m from that sounds like a medical emergency to me.
I get that the US healthcare system is bad and exploitative and absolutely leaves people in crippling, life-altering debt. But one fucking trip to urgent care is not going to render you homeless unless something is very seriously wrong with you in which case see also: being dead also sucks pretty hard.
Personally, I’ve seen a lot of doctors and received very little help for my considerable trouble, and more than a little harm. I was fortunate that I rarely have to pay for medical service (but have to forgo it when I do) but if I had been paying all this time, it would be very easy for me to choose feeding my hypothetical children for the current week over another probably useless visit.
Removed by mod
I am a disabled American in my 50s, I have dealt with serious medical issues my entire life, including the ones that have made me unable to work for the last ~15 years. Please tell me some more of these wild-assed assumptions you’ve made about how little I understand about healthcare in the US.
**tl;dr ** Probably severe acid reflux but hard to say, use your insurance to get checked out, cops are a non-issue for this kind of call. To the Europeans, yes we know our health system sucks.
First off, I am not a health professional. However, based on somewhat common knowledge, If you’re barfing blood or pooping what looks like coffee grinds, immediate 911 call you’ve got less than 24 hours left. If your chest pain continues, that’s highly likely a trip to at least urgent care, don’t ignore chest pains. If you woke up choking on your barf, but it settled down and able to catch your breath, and your chest pain is going away it’s highly likely acid reflux which can be caused by a lot of different things. Either way you need to get looked at by a doctor soon and not consult the Internet. Your copay is shown on your insurance card for a dr’s visit so you can do your financial calculations. 50 to 100 bucks now is better than 500 to 10,000 bucks later.
Don’t wait either since you have insurance. Urgent care’s usually covered at a more affordable rate. If you get admitted to an ER from the urgent care, MOST halfway decent insurances will cover you so you’re not out hundred’s of thousands of dollars for a Tylonal. Before the Europeans chime in, yes, health insurance in the US sucks. It’s not free. You can talk the hospital down on your bill and you can absolutely renegotiate your minimum payment. Sometimes, if you’re nice in talking to both the insurance and the hospital, a grant can be found and you owe nothing. It’s a lot of work and time so don’t panic when you see the first bill.
So everyone in the US knows, cops are never involved in a 911 call unless there’s a crime in progress or there is an immediate threat to the responding EMS team. Don’t call 911 with some kind of threat. Obviously you’ll be in a panic and the 911 operator will only send what is needed.
Learned recently that reflux can cause throat cancer or some shit. Listen to what your body is saying.
This is what killed my grandfather. Before he passed, they removed half his esophagus and pulled his stomach into his chest to remove the damaged parts, that lasted a few years, then he gave in to cancer.
Definitely get on top of it while you still can.
Chiming in to say you’re right. I ignored acid reflux for years and now have what’s called “Barret’s esophagus”, pre-cancerous cells in my throat. It turned out I had a hiatus hernia. Had that repaired and now have a gastroscopy every couple of years to check I don’t have cancer. So yes, listen to your body.
Welcome to America. Where medical advice is asked to a bunch of weebs on the internet over going to the fucking hospital when you feel ill because of money concerns… I hate it here.
Welcome to like more than 50% of the world.
This entire fucking planet is a dystopia.
America is probably the reason those other places don’t have health care as well.
Welcome to like more than 50% of the world
But it’s the bottom 50%. And, in 100 years, it has fallen to 50%.
Trending is good.
Yeah this is hospital visit worthy. Please seek medical attention
Are you sure? It could just be food poisoning. I ate a lot of candy earlier before sleep.
I want real world answer, not “always seek medical care answer.”
I can risk a 20 percent chance of death to avoid medical bills.
It sounds like heart attack symptoms. It is worth seeing atleast a clinic
I’m in the US. It’s late at night.
The United States should be dismantled entirely and its leaders should be shot for making people think like you are right now
Its been a day , this was their last comment…
Whoa 😶
A twenty percent chance of death is 1 in 5. That’s insanely high. That’s like if you chose to walk through 5 doors in your house and one of them kills you. You should always go to the emergency room if you have symptoms like this.
Or just don’t pay the bills and debt is gone in 7 years 🤷♂️
What do you even got to lose?
I think medical debt is exempt from declaring bankruptcy, no?
No, you’re thinking of student loan debt; but even for student loan debt, that are some special circumstances where you can get rid of those debt.
Yeah, you’re right. I probably mixed them up.
I suppose this person needs some advice from someone who actually lives in that hellhole and can judge if its not better to just die instead of fucking up the inheritance by going to the ER.
This is the best anticapitalist propaganda I have ever seen and its not even intentional.
To everyone who thinks this is a worthy system: i wont piss on you if you’re on fire.
This was me when I had Norovirus, though the puking was preceded by firehose-level shits until I took an Imodium, after which it switched ends before deciding on some rather unpleasant alternating events
I had those issues before the doctor diagnosed GERD/Reflux, and prescribed medication. Now I take a Famotidine every day, twice if I’ve had something particularly spicy. I never have that problem anymore.
I finally did something about it when I aspirated in the middle of the night, like you did. It can actually give you pneumonia, which happened to me.
BTW, a banana can act as a pretty good acid treatment in a pinch., like in the middle of the night.
Also, which side you sleep on makes a difference, too. Your esophagus goes straight down the middle of your chest, until it reaches your stomach, which makes a left turn. So when you sleep on your left side, the opening to the esophagus is above the stomach, making it difficult for food to slip into it.
But if you sleep on your right side, your stomach is above the opening, and any undigested contents are up against that opening… if it’s weak, or opens, gravity draws that food into your esophagus, causing reflux.
So sleeping on your left side is preferred.
