How do I find a doctor?
I’ve had a chronic dry cough for months now. When I breathe in deeply, I get this pain in left side of my chest that goes away when I exhale. Shallow breaths are fine (no pain). Clearly nothing immediately life threatening at the moment, otherwise something would’ve happened. How do I go about finding a doctor? Should I get a PCP or just go to urgent care? I have my work’s HSA plan. My significant other is pressuring me to go, and I’m starting to believe my body won’t or isn’t capable of working through this on it’s own without some sort of medical intervention.
Urgent care doesn’t bill at ER rates, it’s very close to PCP cost, so go there.
Depends. Many insurance companies cover PCP at a better rate than urgent care.
Only in America does a person need months of deliberation and a discussion on a public forum to get chronic cough looked at 😔
Get a pcp
Take some pcp
Castlight
Zocdoc not available in your area?
Do not take it lightly. Get a PCP and see them ASAP
Issue is a PCP will not know anything about it. They never do... And you lose your time trying to schedule an appointment. Why not directly go to see a specialist? That's what I do now and usually they are all fully booked.
Well since I have no diagnosis I have no idea what type of specialist I’d need, though I’m 99% sure the problem is my lungs. Honestly now I’m thinking urgent care might be better since they have more on hand than a PCP would, in terms of resources to reach a diagnosis and whatever treatment that might be necessary.
As someone who sees a doctor regularly for serious chronic conditions in me and my family (all kinds of specialists), I suggest to schedule to see a primary care doctor first. He may not know what causes yours but you will be using him as a record keeper and also a person who you can ask any questions like this. He will see if this needs an attention to see a specialist and will suggest what kind of doctor you need to see. If you go to a specialist directly, they will ask you to find a PCP anyway. Make sure to see MD and someone who got a degree from US. There is big difference in analytical thinking with these two metrics. It will take months to know what is causing yours and there is a procedure and steps they need to go through. Your health is more important than money, career or relationships. Find a PCP right now. One more thing: don’t go to urgent care. Chronic condition is not something they deal with. Also most of people you see in urgent care are not MDs. They are either nurse practitioners, physician assistants or ODs (better). I have all kinds of experiences from all of what I mentioned.
Wow thanks for this advice!
Why is this such a difficult decision ? Go to your PCP if you have one. If not just go to the nearest urgent care in your network
I don’t have a PCP. It doesn’t seem like urgent care material since it’s nothing of a immediate concern. I mean, it’s annoying to cough regularly, but it’s not immediately life threatening. So it doesn’t seem like urgent care material.
I guess I’m also cautious because I don’t want to unnecessarily rack up medical bills. I wouldn’t want to get an expensive urgent care bill when I should’ve picked some more appropriate type of care.