How sick would you have to be?

I have to be very sick before I go anywhere. I absolutely hate doctors. Hospitals are worse. They say thousands of people get sick while in the hospital and end of sicker than they were when they arrived. In 2002 I had allergies starting in August. I kept coughing more and more, and I felt very tired. However, I was in a new job, and I kept pushing myself. I started even believing that I was feeling a little better. Then, a week after Thanksgiving, I came home from school knowing I wouldn't be back in the morning. My husband made a doctor's appointment, but when I got up the next morning I was too sick to wait, so we went to the ER. They discovered I had a blood count of over 21,000 and pneumonia in both lungs, and I ended up right in the hospital. My hospital stay is another story, but suffice it to say that I'm even more inclined to stay away from doctors now than I was back then.

Well the last time I went it took until I couldn't breathe. I had been sick for sometime, several months actually and had first put it down to allergies. The problem was it wasn't getting any better. I kept pushing it off even though my family wanted me to go. I don't have insurance or cash so couldn't go to the doctor It was getting to the point where I was using an over the counter inhaler, sinus meds, cough syrup, vicks vapor rub and anything else I could think of to help. I wasn't sleeping because everytime I laid down I'd get maybe an hour or two before waking up coughing and trying to get in air. I finally decided I'd go but wanted to wait till after the holiday of July 4th. That was the plan but didn't work out that way. On July 4th I was still really bad and took some cough syrup after a few minutes it didn't help. Actually it was worse. I could barely get any air in. By the time I got to the hospital I was hyperventilating with trying to get air into me. I was hospitalized for pnemonia. I started to get better and they thought they might release me after four days with an oxygen tank at home and breathing treatments, thankfully they didn't. I bottomed out that night and ended up in ICU. The staff told my family to make final plans for me. That was on Saturday, by Wednesday I was released without oxygen and just a few perscriptions. They had no clue what cuased it, why I recovered when I did, or if it could happen again (really scary on that last part). So yeah I'd say it takes a lot for me to go.

I would have to be really sick, but in your condition I would definitely have gone...

well if your doctor is not available and you are in pain you should go to the emergency room. better to be safe than sorry