Is there a doctor in the house?

[bladespark]

So, as all sorts of folks read this thing, and some of you may know more about this than I, I thought I should ask.

For most of my life I have had rather good medical coverage. My father is a teacher, and whatever else you may say about the poor pay of that profession, at least the insurance is very good.

But that coverage has long since ceased to benefit me, and as I am totally self-employed, I do not currently have other coverage. (This is a fairly temporary situation, as I do plan on getting medical coverage, one way or another, within the next year, but for right now I have none.)

I'm quite capable of dealing with my own minor medical problems. I apply bandaids, remove splinters, self-dose with echinacea, vitamin C and herbal tea for colds, and am generally okay, but now I am not so okay. I've got a chronic cough that I've had for at least a month now, which is starting to really worry me, and I fear I'm suffering from chronic fatigue and/or thyroid problems, because I'm sleeping ten hours a day and still feeling tired, and am having a lack of apetite and a high instance of headaches. These things need looking in to, and I cannot take care of them myself.

But given the lack of insurance, does anybody have any suggestions? Are some doctors cheaper than others? (I assume that some must be! But how does one go about finding a cheaper doctor that's still trustworthy?) Is there a way to get a basic check-up on a budget? If I must I will dip into the savings, and can thus come up with a few hundred, but if I can keep expenses low, I really would like to.

Any good ideas for where to go?

Comments

[graydown.livejournal.com]

Doctors I'm not so sure about, but I know that some uninsured friends of mine got dental work done at the local university's dental school. One girl's root canal was someone's final. She said the supervising dentist kept going on about what a textbook-perfect case she was. When I brought this up with my dentist, he looked a bit horrified, but then he can afford to be snobby about such things. ^_^ Sorry if this isn't what you're looking for.

[bladespark.livejournal.com]

Hrm. I don't /think/ there's any medical programs local to me. Thanks for the suggestion though!

[crystallinegirl.livejournal.com]

Actually, that reminded me that LCC does, indeed, have a medical clinic of a sort, and a nursing school, and I -think- a dental school. It might be a place to check into. I know you could have dental work done there fairly cheaply, and I got some vaccinations there. With the recent funding cuts, I'm not sure how much of that still exists, but it's a starting point!

[lightgreendryad.livejournal.com]

You could try shopping for the lowest quote on doctors listen in the phonebook. While you're shopping, ask each of them whether they provide financial assistance. I did for a doctor, and after a referral to something calle Health Access, a little filling out of more paperwork with a weird insurance company that provides financial assistance and that is very legit for those of us who don't have our own insirance and have a certain low income, my doctor's bills were cut significantly.

[coyoty.livejournal.com]

There are group insurance plans for the self employed. One is offered by the National Association for the Self-Employed, along with other association benefits.

[silveradept]

It depends. There may be public health clinics around you that will do at least some of the basic things on a sliding scale or no cost at all because you're uninsured. I have no idea about quality of service, though, so your mileage will vary, but it's a suggestion, at least for basic things.

[2dlife.livejournal.com]

There are way too many possible causes of excessive fatigue to be able to diagnose easily: chronic infection, diet or other nutritional deficiency, anemia, hormonal inbalance, and depression are the ones that come to mind but there are certainly others. For now, start keeping really detailed records to make the most of a single doctor's visit. Where do your headaches originate, how long do they last, how often are they and when? What are you eating, when, how much? When do you have your period, how does it look? When do you sleep, for how long?

It's possible that stress or whatever is causing your fatigue is supressing your immune system so that may be the cough but it's also possible that the cough is masking a serious infection that is causing your fatigue.

If you want to try self medicating, it's probably cheapest to take a complete vitamin a day and to take an iron supplement (especially on days after your period). Also, take protein supplements; your immune system needs protein. Regular light exercise is also a general health booster.

Take all of the above with lots of salt, I'm not a doctor. I'm a biologist and I'm just extrapolating from what I know of metabolic processes in mammals, I don't have a shred of real medical evidence that could support any of what I said.

[dexam.livejournal.com]

I'm not a doctor, either, but the above sounds like good advice to me. The only thing I would add to the above is make sure you're drinking plenty of water.

It is possible that you may be reacting to mould or mildew in your house. It could be in air ducts, or if you have carpets, in the underlay. Or you might be allergic to something in the area. Several years back I was getting worried that I might have had chronic fatigue or Ross River virus (a mosquito-bourne disease), but it turned out it was just seasonal allergies affecting me a bit differently.

[gungho-squirrel.livejournal.com]

You can always surf the internet for free clinics in your area. Otherwise, a lot of city clinics will take a downpayment and the full bill will come later. Medical bills can be paid off slowly and cannot use collection agencies and the like- so don't worry about paying off your bill in tiny chunks.

As for medical insurance, you should really check with your state to see if you have Medical Assistance available. If you do, you can get coverage with no charge- granted, it's all up to circumstance of age, financial situation, education... things like that.

That's about all the help I can give.

I have no insurance right now, so what I've been using is my credit card- I don't use my credit card for anything else but medical bills and overdraft protection from my bank. :)