Worst Health Mistakes Young People Make

[@noelrivera2583]

The urgent care thing is more than just young people are doing it wrong ... The reason people go to urgent care rather than establishing long term PCP is because of insurance reasons and and job changes and moving locations. We live in a much less stable environment than people realize

[@bathroomsushi8419]

Yup I work third shift. Urgent care has more available hours, you can get serviced at walk in, rather than having to call for appointment a few days later for something you need to get addressed sooner than that. PCPs work monday through friday, health issues are around the clock.

[@abigaylebaer1085]

I completely agree. With college courses changing all the time and trying to find a stable job, it is extremely difficult to find an appointment with my primary that works within the time I have available. And growing up I didn't have good insurance so my family relied on urgent care most of the time and I didn't have basic "check ups" so I can imagine it's the same for a lot of other young people.

[@luiscuba9188]

I only got reliable insurance till now at 24

[@TrainerGre3n]

I dont ever want to get insurance from my employer, because as soon as i need it i might be fired and have no insurance

[@Floofie_boi]

I don't have a primary care because I virtually never get sick, except for right now I'm sitting in the emergency room with kidney stones.

[@Mullethaver]

Urgent care is cheaper than going to primary care by almost 300$ for me. It’s the difference between affording care and not , I also work the only hours the doctors office is open. It’s not young people making these mistakes it’s the system forcing them into it

[@Shijaru64]

Sounds like an American problem. Hopefully one day you folks will actually get universal health care.

[@sunnypeach1328]

@@Shijaru64 Unfortunately the UK's healthcare, despite being free, is not very good - there are so many delays, difficulties and underminings that at some point it's not even worth it to go for a 'little thing' which may just end up getting worse. Other UK commenters can attest to this, and don't even get me started on mental healthcare! It practically doesn't exist!

[@francescabeans9722]

Universal healthcare is great, but does not guarantee the availability of family doctors. Canada has a serious shortage of PCP’s and people are forced to go to the ER for minor issues, extending wait times and delaying care.

[@mutantraze3681]

@@sunnypeach1328difference is that the US has the best healthcare in the world. The issue of finding care is only an issue in rural areas. What makes US healthcare one of the worst systems is insurance companies making it impossible to navigate and afford. Thats why universal healthcare cutting out the middlemen would greatly improve it

[@aff77141]

Yeah the whole everything being open 9-5 is pretty short sighted

[@agarbanzo360]

I don’t go to my PCP for every small thing because I don’t know if I’ll be charged $50 or $500. I once got charged $200 for asking about foot corn during a routine checkup. It’s the medical system that’s messed up not young people making bad choices.

[@trevnti]

Right, like I know urgent care is $125/visit… my insurance may or may not cover my doctors visit depending on their magical flipping medical code numbers. I had insurance deny an annual care visit because the doctor also did a psychological referral and it was deemed a psych appointment and it’s because the friggin doctor coded it that way because they make more money. (It was a 12 question assessment for depression when I was pregnant)

[@javadivawithdog]

ANYTHING beyond the basic physical incurs a code and a non basic physical code. Thus a charge for another type of visit. Dr Mike addresses this here.

[@javadivawithdog]

Insurance dictates coding not providers. They pull the strings. The rest of us just do the dance.

[@blusafe1]

Specifically, I'd say it's insurance that is messed up. They're supposed to disclose costs, or at least the fact there are additional costs. Sometimes they don't know what insurance will charge, but they should say so. Doctors still typically DO NOT think about patient costs when it comes to care. Sucks to say, but it's really up to the patient to advocate and insure there are no surprise costs.

[@graco79]

Agreed!!!

[@regi4834]

Nothing but love for Dr Mike but I'm glad to see the comments calling this out. I literally sometimes fantasize about being taken seriously by a doctor, especially one with time, expertise and resources.... a girl can dream

[@saltiestsiren]

the privilege he and his patients have is grotesque. i can say this with certainty just by looking at his house lol

[@milagomez55]

@@saltiestsireni wouldnt say that he’s a doctor bro. And influencer he helps millions get accurate information its not the the info was false its just he was out of touch with this one

[@carolinacoreas7716]

He has talked about it before, at least in his podcast. He has gone over the hoops he and other doctors have gone through in order to approve authorization to deliver treatments to patients. I agree being sponsored by Aflac didn't help his case in this video, but he really has talked about the problem with the system before, you just gotta find it.

[@graceburrows5781]

Absolutely agree. I love Dr Mike but the amount of times he says just go to your doctor I'm like?? It's not that easy

[@graco79]

Agreed

[@0nly0NE.]

Why we use urgent care: -The PCP can’t see us for a long time and we need care sooner rather than later -You are in college out of state ( or out of state for a different reason) and your insurance only covers urgent care or ER out of state -You move often, don’t have a PCP, and can’t find a new PCP quick enough to meet your medical need -Urgent Care is the appropriate place to go -You don’t know which option is better for your needs and opted for urgent care, perhaps the wrong choice. -You don’t like your PCP and get better care at urgent care -Your medical needs happen outside the hours of your PCP, and while not an emergency, are better to take care of that day

[@lilium_lancifolium]

One counter to your last point is that it's either an emergency or it's not. You either have to get it done now, or you don't. Hospitals are short staffed, we shouldn't be overloading them even further.

[@0nly0NE.]

@@lilium_lancifolium There is an in between, and that is largely what urgent care is for. Have a simple fracture to your arm? Well, you shouldn’t wait to take care of that, but no need to add to the burden on the hospital if your urgent care can take care of it. Slipped and lacerated your lip badly enough it needs stitches? Again, if it’s a simple cut, take care of it right away, but at your urgent care-no need to go to the hospital. There are plenty of things that need to be taken care of urgently, but aren’t severe enough to have to go to the ER (unless you are outside of the UC hours, the the ER is your best option).

[@CoveringFish]

@@lilium_lancifoliumas an emt you’re fundamentally wrong

[@hypotheticlz]

@@lilium_lancifoliumyou don’t always know if it’s an emergency. Chest pain could be anxiety, or it could be a heart attack. It’s usually better to play it safe and go to urgent care or the ER if there’s a chance it could be life threatening. Not every emergency is obviously. Many people died after saying “it’s probably fine.”

[@graco79]

Agree with this list. I'd also like to add that maybe you have a PCP, but they only see you for 5mins a year and the "continuity of care" sounds better in theory b/c they don't know or have time to listen to your concerns and urgent care is more helpful!

[@winstonwolf6791]

Urgent cares are used more and more because you can't get in to see a primary doctor on short notice anymore. I had a possible infection, the doctors office literally said to go to urgent care if I couldn't wait a week to be seen. That is pretty much the norm now.

[@maryrospos]

Yes. Same here

[@rickwrites2612]

THIS!!! YOU CANT GET PCP APPTS WHEN SICK OR INJURED.

[@Frau.Kanzlerin]

I actually see an urgent care as my PCP. I can walk in and have long term history with her. It's pretty cool. Admittedly she's probably not the best doctor in the world. 😅 She over prescribes antibiotics. But otherwise she's decent. Anyway, I recommend finding an urgent care that can also serve as a PCP if that's an option for you. I always get in within a few hours. In fact, she doesn't even take appointments. Only walk-ins. The line can get long, but I just show up at opening when I can.

[@erinreed730]

Yup. It takes months to get in with my PCP

[@cassyap7182]

Yes same for me bearly can get in.

[@thehegemonca]

The reason why people go to urgent care is because its almost impossible to find a good primary care in many parts of the country. The issue is with healthcare, not the young people... Also people are much more mobile, which makes it difficult to be in one location with a specific doctor.

[@mattpassos5689]

There's two sides to the coin, just because something isn't as easy as you'd like doesn't mean you should give up trying, like the saying just because something isn't your fault it doesn't mean it's not your responsibility it's your health imo, and Dr mike made good points

[@sharonwiller]

@@mattpassos5689I searched for two years for a new primary when I moved and I got a resident who has nearly no availability because she is also in over her head with patients, it seems. It is not our fault there are not enough primary physicians to take care of us.

[@jonathanscherer7482]

​@@mattpassos5689 The reason most people don't have a primary care doctor is financial.

[@wuzzy41123]

It is the same here up in Canada. Finding a quality primary care doctor, or just any primary care doctor, is very hard to do for younger people. I've had the same primary care doctor since I was a teenager, but he is not of quality. I've wanted to get a new one for years, but he is the only option for me. On top of him being not of quality, he is a 30+ minute drive away, and I don't drive. For well over a decade, he disregarded a lot of my symptoms due to many "broken arm syndromes" (you're overweight, its all in your head, etc.). However, these symptoms were later found to be caused by ailments that greatly affected my quality of life (and still do). It took me having to rely on specialists to get the proper care I needed.

[@shikikywketsuki9892]

Or maybe if my general doctors actually listened to my concerns in the first place I wouldn't need to go to urgent care in the first place....

[@mandie492]

Dr Mike, i have a PCP in NYC and i was extremely sick a few months ago. I went to see them and she zeroed in on a non symptom, largely ignored the actual issues (severely swollen tonsils where i couldn't even swallow water or broth) and told me to get my inner ears cleaned. Ran no tests. Urgent care ran tests, provided suggestions, and prescribed medication. It didn't fully solve the issue but i felt way more SEEN by the urgent care team than my own PCP

[@Beth_Alice_Kaplan]

@@mandie492 Yikes. Maybe she graduated med school at the very bottom of her class?

[@mandie492]

@@Beth_Alice_Kaplan what a horrifying thought, thank you

[@GodZirra]

@@Beth_Alice_Kaplan What do you call the worst doctor in medical school? Doctor.

[@Beth_Alice_Kaplan]

@@GodZirra You sound like my Husband-Person! 😏

[@ukeheliel]

As someone whose doctor literally went on vacation during the same week he had scheduled me to see him, with no coverage for the visit at all, I have to echo that urgent care/the ER is not simply because we don't want to or don't think about it. I also went to the UC for a potential heart condition and was sent to the ER, told by the ER to book a followup and to mention that it was for an ER visit so they get me scheduled within a few days, only to be told by my PCP's scheduling that they couldn't possibly see me for at least 3-5 weeks. I like my doctor alright, but the scheduling is like this SO OFTEN that I don't even try to book appointments for anything minor or much major anymore. Sure, it's nice to have consistent care with the same people, but half the time I also have to re-explain my situation anyway. Or why he put me on XYZ medication. Calling it a "mistake" that "young people" make feels really disingenuous. It's neither "young people" (I'm in my late 30s now, and I know people much older than me dealing with the same) nor an active choice being made out of ignorance or stubbornness. We're literally fighting insurance coverage, changing plans, doctors not having appointment availability, networks changing abruptly and without warning, and the cost of insurance added to any copays and consistent medical bills-and probably more that I've forgotten. At the very least, at least most urgent care locations will take most available insurance.

[@SomeoneIusedtoknow-s1f]

Thank you! Not to mention how hard it is as young people for a PCP to say anything other than "it's nothing you're too young for XYZ" or "well you're a girl." Or "well it sounds like anxiety to me..." Like regardless of age, the above is used so much... I don't want to keep going to doctors for help, I now just want a PCP who will continue my current treatments, give me referrals when needed, and leave me alone and not mess with my meds that are working unless something actually comes along thats new. And stop telling me I'm anxious when the stupid anxiety tests are consistently mild, meaning I'm not anxious enough to break out in hives, or wake up in the middle of the night with 140 heart rate, or be reading a book and suddenly have 140 hr..... Or my favorite, they can see my stomach is distended like I'm pregnant, and it's extremely painful to touch it or push or strain, and they then tell me ehhhh it's just anxiety. The quality of care people under 50 get is abysmal, and we have to deal with so much to even get such care to begin with.

[@RoselynShade]

I understand your point, but not all primary care doctors are like you. When I was battling to get my gallstones diagnosed, which took them over a year and a half despite my test results, I was at a point I could only eat couple pieces of toast or else I had to have a trip to ER for pain medication. My primary care doctors told me 'Have you tried eating later, so you wake up later so you don't have to go back to sleep and can just go to work instead!'. Nurses in ER actually had some good inputs, has logged everything just so I could be put forward in the list and get my surgery earlier. I have no trust in primary care doctors based on my experience.

[@catherinegabriellajohnson8881]

The Urgent Care thing for me is more connected to how hard it is to make an appointment with a primary care doctor. If I start to notice something is wrong, it might take me 4 months to get an appointment with a Primary Care Doctor. It's really only an option for annual check-ups in my area.

[@lacoleson]

Exactly. Getting into my doctors is usually a several week wait.

[@ldg3968]

Exactly this!

[@catherinerowe221]

Exactly this. Even with great insurance and a primary I like it’s almost always over a month to get an appointment whereas a specialist or urgent care can get me seen within the week before a problem starts getting worse. Primary care currently seems more aimed at maintenance care than actually diagnosing and starting treatment in a timely manner in my experience, even for simple conditions. And a lot of times a primary will just refer you out anyway so you wait the month plus to see them just to have to wait for another appointment with a specialist. The only other option is out of network care and that’s just not financially feasible for most people (especially young patients).

[@MonkeyJedi99]

I too use urgent care as "ER Junior". Where I live (Massachusetts) many of the urgent care sites are part of the same networks as the bigger hospitals. This means that they have access to my records, and anything done at the urgent care site is automatically part of the records my PCP has access to. - The network nearest me even has a simple webpage helping people decide which tier of care is appropriate to their current situation. I used it five days ago to pre-sort myself to the right level of care, which this time was the actual ER for what turned out to be an upper respiratory infection. - edit: I am not a young person, here in the midst of my 6th decade of forgetting to die.

[@april_7970]

I am an urgent care RN and this here is the biggest reason people come to us rather than their primary care. In my health network, sick appointments are often offered many days or weeks later and patients simply cannot wait that long for care. We are so incredibly busy that it's getting ridiculous, and we do it with a skeleton crew because💲.We see 60-75 patients in 12 hours with one nurse and one provider. I am burned out.

[@D_To_The_J]

A lot of time for primary care you can't get an appointment until weeks or months out. Might be dead by the time your appointment comes up.

[@elizabethm937]

This! Said in my own comment but I had a UTI and she couldn’t see me for three months, I couldn’t even be seen by one of her NPs or PAs for nearly two weeks. Couldn’t even talk over the phone with anyone.

[@awifeinterrupted]

Truth!

[@lilacdaven]

@@elizabethm937for a UTI?! WTF?!!! That's a medical emergency!! Don't they understand a uti easily turns into kidney infections which leads to septic shock leading to death?? Please make a long review on their site so people see it. That's all we can do at this point.

[@LuthienNightwolf]

Last November I had an infected cyst that I couldn’t pop safely myself. Urgent Care gave me antibiotics but couldn’t cut me open, and my regular doctors office couldn’t even schedule me because their whole system had been hacked. Tried to set up with a new doctor and even they couldn’t get me in for another week. My husband ended up just taking me to the emergency room where they were able to fix me up no problem. I make my last payment for that little visit this month. 😮‍💨

[@RosaliePacheco]

@@elizabethm937Exactly! My friends and I were discussing similar last week. Where they know they have a yeast infection or uti but can’t schedule an appointment for 4/6 weeks out. Then when they are like hey I’ve had this happen before can I just get the prescription, the answer is no. UTIs are serious and wtf why are they making people suffer from a YI for so long, as it gets worse and worse.

[@elffys]

they arent going to urgent care because it's convenient. they're going to urgent care because primary care usually requires insurance and they don't have that either.

[@Newton-Reuther]

Doctor Mike doesn't really care about insurance. This is a problem he will never face.

[@cathybrown4102]

They go because like most of us it takes months to get an appointment regardless of the seriousness of the illness. In fact my doctor’s office will tell me to go to urgent care because they can’t get me in right away😅

[@Snorlaxiian]

Medical and mental health care / treatment / whatever you wanna call it in North America is an absolute joke

[@minig5207]

@@Snorlaxiian but also a wild amount of people seeking it think it should solve all their problems for them

[@kristiangjessvaag4617]

(In the US) There are times when people has to ignore medical issues and hope it solves itself due to cost, lack of insurance or fear of losing a job due to taking unplanned time off. Or when people have undiagnosed issues that doctors don't care enough to properly diagnose and repeatedly tell people to just take over the counter painkillers or outright accuse patients of faking it. At times, insurance simply won't cover the cost of medications or diagnoses. And what other options do you have than wait until it gets so bad you do need emergency care?

[@ChrisPaqueta]

How is nobody talking about Health and Beauty Mastery. That book exposes industry secrets

[@135Jaeger531]

Like what?

[@wisteriiiiaa]

That book doesn't show up

[@SierraDDL]

​@@wisteriiiiaa I just dug and I think I found it. Health and Beauty Mastery by Dr. Julian Bannett.

[@Theunicorn2012]

How is nobody talking about Health and Beauty Mastery. That book exposes industry secrets

[@eternyti]

Also guarantee 95% of younger people, if they're like me, put off healthcare visits not just because of time and work, but because it's expensive AF even with insurance. I'd rather just deal with the pain until it goes away or find some other remedy rather than blow hundreds of dollars on a visit or medication that likely won't do anything. It's not our fault the system is terrible and we don't want to use it.

[@sterlthepearl1000]

Or things just could be the way they are because of the de-population agenda from the financial elites.

[@SomeoneIusedtoknow-s1f]

I'm putting off changing my bc because I cant even get insurance right now, and I'm waiting and praying that MNsure will take me in for the next year. :/ my birth control is to control a hormonal issue that causes falls, and fainting spells..... So..... It's not even for pregnancy prevention or because I want it, I need it to even be able to function consistently.

[@jtb1515]

The problem I have, is doctors and nurses telling me that I'm too young to be having a problem that I am having.

[@shroomyk]

Yes. When I was in my 20s I wasn't taken seriously. Now having the exact same problems in my 30s they pay attention. It's wild. It's like they think you can't get injured or feel pain just because you are younger, which is an absolutely absurd notion.

[@ali99_82]

​@@shroomykwhat injury

[@lopsided4831]

I asked my GP to check my blood pressure when I was 19 and they said I don't need it cuz I'm too young 😅

[@NinaCohen-dl4hm]

​@@lopsided4831wow. Malpractice/Medical neglect, much? Refusing to take patients blood pressure???

[@Mismatch_Monday_Mayhem]

100%

[@PristinePerceptions]

Asking young people "who's your primary care doctor" is like asking them "who's your butler". They don't have one. For the first time in US history, people aged 30 and under are doing worse than their parents were at their age.

[@Steph-lc7hy]

I have one Don’t find them very helpful If I have an issue I try to see the specialist. That’s where I get referred to anyway

[@thaloblue]

I am 28 years old and I have a primary care doctor. I cannot afford to not have one, as I have several complex mental and physical health conditions. I have a team of doctors I see yearround. It is not like having a butler. Most insurance policies are not making primary care visits cost prohibitive. That’s actually the main way to save money. You don’t want to wait until you need to pay $180 for urgent care or $500 to visit the emergency room when you can go to your PCP for $30 freaking dollars. It’s ignorance that keeps young people from primary healthcare, not finances. Obviously it gets more expensive from there, and there’s absolutely a huge problem with the affordability of prescriptions and specialist visits and specialist treatments and dental care… basically everything else IS cost prohibitive. But PCP is not a butler or a luxury service. Go to your freaking doctor once a year.

[@deleted_acoount_0530]

@@thaloblue You can speak for yourself on that one, lil bro. Realize that you're closed minded.

[@MeganSmithers]

it’s wild to me when people don’t have a primary bc even on my bad insurance, it’s $5 to see a primary, whereas it’s $50 to go to an urgent care, & $650 for ER

[@MeredithDomzalski]

​@@Steph-lc7hyIt's funny he said not to see a specialist unless it's a serious issue. Meanwhile, my PCP wasn't comfortable prescribing Hiprex to prevent chronic UTIs. (Hiprex is a very old bacteriostatic drug, and it would've been extremely easy to look this up.)

[@nicolek5747]

Some of us are forced to rely on urgent care or telehealth even when we DO have a PCP. Scheduling is often months out (three to six months in almost every instance). So, unless it's planned check-ups, you're forced to rely on urgent care.

[@ChristiLeilani]

@@nicolek5747 my PCP has told me to go to an urgent care because they couldn't see me within a few days.

[@jodiecarlson6955]

Yes, this is exactly true!! I have really good health insurance and a primary care doctor. I would love to go see her when a new concern is bothering me, but I can't get an appointment for several months. So other than annual checkups, having a PCP does me no good.

[@Sly-Moose]

*This!!* Made a similar comment pointing that out

[@chrisinnes2128]

Its ov

[@MxmuPrm]

Last year I scheduled an annual preventative exam with a nearby pcp as a new patient. When I got there they took my vitals, weight, and asked family history. The doc saw me and ask me some general questions about my health, then I left. For that I got a $200 bill in the mail ($400 before my insurance kicked in) because it was billed as a “new patient visit” as opposed to a “annual preventative exam” which is 100% covered. I tried to appeal it and get it discounted , but they said that the doctor had already marked it as a new patient exam and there wasn’t anything I could do. The system in the US is so messed up…

[@123bobetta]

Yes, same thing happened to me! I thought I had scheduled a physical, but apparently it was just a "new patient visit". I hadn't even changed providers, I just went to a different office location. So infuriating!

[@brandonhoover2120]

It’s asinine how doctors can book so many patients that’s it’s considered wrong of a patient to discuss the problems they want to in a visit. Having a doctor tell you no more problems now because I want to go the next person is such a huge problem that healthcare industry pushes on us.

[@amberpavelka4638]

Yeah, a lot of insurance companies will only approve addressing between 3-5 concerns per visit. There's so much bureaucracy that doctors have to deal with, it's harder and harder for a PCP to actually do their job.

[@pixality7902]

I wouldn't even mind so much except most problems they say "let's see if it gets worse, come back in x time (sometimes too soon for how far out they are booked). If I do that for every problem, I'll never get anywhere. Even more than that, it's extremely problematic for people with undiagnosed systemic problems. One visit per problem makes them treat various symptoms like separate problems if it's not immediately obvious they go together (like sore throat and cough). Im sure even that mental separation in their minds makes it harder to connect the dots between symptoms. Once diagnosed it becomes one problem, but before that, it could be several. Even if the physician may connect the dots, patients may be the ones not realizing multiple problems might be part of the same problem.

[@linseybachko4470]

I tried to find a new pcp in my area (500,000+ population) after mine moved out of state and after being told over thirty times by different offices that they are not accepting new patients, I finally found one who was. The problem? The first available appointment was 15 months out. 15 months. In my area, reliance on urgent care is necessary because getting established with someone is either impossible or so far out that you can’t wait.

[@baurochs2283]

This, we dont even have PCP here only urgent care

[@sdela6987]

I live in a fairly small town and have the same issue, I just gave up on finding one.

[@Quon]

I've had an experience of a doctor not even listening to me or reading my file, just talking about treatment without even knowing what specifics I have. Then after they were done talking the nurse read my file and they changed their mind. If they READ first and listened to me then talked later we'd have saved a lot of time

[@CraiiZeD]

I hope dr mike reads these comments… he doesn’t understand us, the normal civilian, at all 😭 and the things we go through with the healthcare system

[@missyme2673]

Reading some of these comments, I can personally vouch that it's the same here in the UK. I have been hospitalised via the emergency route numerous times because my primary care doctor either misdiagnosed me and underplayed my symptoms, or I simply couldn't get an appointment to see them. As a result, symptoms escalate to the point where I've once come close to losing my life. Had it not been for the swift actions of the emergency services, I wouldn't have made it. All this because my primary care doctor only consulted with me over the phone and said, "It's nothing."

[@Mr.Genesis]

years ago before government got involved in healthcare.. doctors used to be able to provide home visits.. years ago before governments got involved Doctors would treat patients on a personal level. Lots of things have changed

[@fabulosospucas]

@@Mr.Genesislol I’m sure it’s the government’s fault and not private equity firms slashing costs and insurance companies lobbying (bribing really) for not changing anything.

[@jordyboy62]

@@Mr.Genesis Ironically, it's not the Governments fault. Most people don't know this but in the UK GP's are not part of the NHS and are private practices. The reason they don't do a lot of the things you mentioned anymore is because it's a financial risk or isn't worth the cost. A good example is that GP's don't like sending patients for CT's, MRI's other tests etc because they have to pay out of their budget the NHS gives them for it.

[@jordyboy62]

I feel your pain, a few months ago I had sudden onset pain in my lower chest around midday. Pain I have never experienced in my life and at least a 9/10, on the floor sweating in agony. I had an amublance called and they did an ECG and confirmed I wasn't having a heart attack. They took me to A&E for blood tests and further investigation. I was on the floor of the A&E waiting room unable to move and doctors and nurses just ignored me, I was sent for another ECG and never had my bloods taken. They then sent me to the on-site GP still in agony, who was annoyed they hadn't done bloods then discharged me. The pain did not stop until Midnight that day. I had to go via my companies private insurance to have that followed up and investigated, even still I have no explanation other than it could have been a one off gallstone. Which the consultant told me, had it not disloged could have killed me.

[@missyme2673]

@jordyboy62 Gosh, I'm so sorry to had to go through all that. I hope you're doing well 🫶🏽😊

[@rachelmedling8695]

I basically only see my PCP for physicals. When dealing with an extreme mental health crisis after having my second baby, I WANTED to see my doctor, but couldn’t be seen for weeks, if not months. So I had to hop between providers, in and out of urgent care, seeing people in person or virtually trying to figure out medication (especially after I had a severe allergic reaction to the first medication we tried). I desperately WANTED continuity of care, and it was unavailable to me. I was grateful to have a therapist guide my care and I passed on all the doctor’s recommendations to him and asked what he thought since he knows me so well and I wasn’t in a state to think clearly. I would LOVE to have continuity of care with my PCP.

[@brunette3cookie]

My vegetarian parents who exercise have high cholesterol. I like food more than them, so I knew mine would be high in my 20s. Cardiologist said I was awfully young to be there. After handing him two autopsies and family history, he got me checked out for several things. Keeping good medical records on yourself and family history is really important.

[@ding9633]

What is "high cholesterol"?

[@thetribalwarrior]

As a millennial, the reason I go to urgent care instead is because every time I try to get a family doctor in my area they tell me it’s a 6 month-1 year wait. There’s no way I can make an appointment like that. In the times Iv tried something always changed in that time span forcing me to reschedule which resulted in a similar wait. (Yes I tried different groups)

[@RabbidTribble]

Yep. If it’s a problem that needs to be dealt with anytime sooner than within the next month, my only option is urgent care. The pcp’s are too overwhelmed with patients to get to any person within a reasonable amount of time.

[@OTatime]

That delay is usually only for new patients. If you are an established patient, appointments usually take a day or two, not weeks or months.

[@rfmerrill]

@@OTatime my PCP often is not available for weeks at a time

[@Ichthyodactyl]

@@OTatime A day or two is really unrealistic in some areas and/or with some insurance providers but even then, sometimes a day or two is too long, sometimes you need to provide your employer with a note asap or risk issues. My experience has been that more people go to Urgent care because they need a doctors note now than because the issue actually needs addressed now.

[@OTatime]

@@Ichthyodactyl Employers require physician notes after treatment has been provided…not while you’re ill. Insurance providers don’t determine availability for providers. Whether you’re on ACA, PPO or HMO, physicians determine their availability - not insurers. Existing patients take priority in non-emergency visits. If it is a truly an emergency, a hospital ER is the proper place to go - for treatment, cost and coverage. Urgent care centers are not equipped to handle emergency care. Private emergency rooms - which set their own rates - are not urgent care centers. Those are two different levels of care. Urgent care center have higher co-pays and lower coverage than physicians offices. Those who don’t get that, probably also believe that they save money by shopping at Dollar General and Family Dollar.

[@alexisj1526]

About the not bringing up a bunch of things to one appointment thing. Some of us have to pay for every appointment and don't have the money or time to have multiple appointments. Also when setting up multiple appointments they have long times in between like months out. It's frustrating, add in the doctor rushing you and not listening to your legitimate concerns and its just a frustrating mess. It would just be easier if I could somehow tell them I need a longer appointment time slot, but they refuse to let you do that. I honestly just give up most of the time and only visit the doctor if i absolutely have to.

[@saltiestsiren]

yeah, i give up too. it's so annoying, i'd rather just go to urgent care where they'll probably send me to the lab. and if my cdc diff and bmp numbers look good, i'm not pursuing it further. i'll just deal with it since seeing a doctor about each and every thing has a 90% chance of not relieving any suffering, but causing further mental pain.

[@nova.noveiia]

This too! Even if your insurance covers it, you need to take time off of work and get there and back. I’m disabled and my insurance provides me transportation to and from every appointment, but it takes a lot of coordination to figure out pick ups and drop offs and get it all scheduled.

[@Felinecatty209]

Totally agree. It may also have to do with insurance companies but it only requires them to append a modifier to the service but that stuff isn’t patients problem so absolutely tell them all your issues in your visit! Best of luck!

[@christined9784]

Multiple ailments could be signs of a singular disease process. My dog gets better care from her veterinarian than I do from my PCP.

[@soccernoodle17x]

I’ve always avoided the doctor for random small things. Now I’ve realized through primary care I can just message them about a problem and they’ll get back to me within a few days and either just tell me what I need to know, or confirm I should go in for a checkup. It’s pretty nice. And I’ve actually developed a relationship with my doctor where I feel like they somewhat know me.

[@nailsofinterest]

Yeah I like doctors that do that!

[@lunaraeway]

wait.. y'all can just TEXT your doctors in the US? Here in the UK no one will speak to you unless you call up at EXACTLY 8am and just hope and prey you got in the queue early enough

[@baily492]

​@lunaraeway I think they meant message online through a web portal. Most practices have web access and one of the features is to send a secure message to the doc/nurse. Though some doctors give their cell phone number, usually only if they're a specialist and your condition is severe or complicated.

[@MrAnslo]

@@lunaraeway Doctors are human and have lives outside the work place. You cannot expect doctors to be responding to messages 24/7.

[@samnew3297]

@@lunaraeway I live in Northern England and my Dr’s practice has an online system for making requests or appointments - it’s a great idea in theory and when it works it’s great, especially when I just have a minor issue, but the current app still has a lot of problems. I can see how it makes some things easier but it’s a nightmare when you actually need to talk to an actual person urgently. I hear a lot of people complain about it, but it’s genuinely better than sitting on hold for 3-4 hours just to book a call-back slot later

[@Chislevs]

So in the Netherlands we have a few rules that help: - Health insurance is mandatory and subsidized when the patient can't afford it - There's a small deductible for health care, but it is affordable (385 euro) - A consult with a primary care physician is free, where urgent care is not - Urgent care but ALSO primary care physicians have a doctors assistant doing "triage" to check how urgent something is. I once called my primary care physician because my daughter had a respiratory rate of >50/min (very, very high). I called at 4pm and I was seen by the doctor at 4.45pm. But when I was concerned about something with her eye, I was seen a few days later.

[@makssachs8914]

Demographic collapse is coming for us all. Soon we Europeans will be as poor as Africa.

[@AutumnLynx]

Sadly the Netherlands isn't perfect either. Often times (or not) our primary care doctors don't have time for you, will not take you seriously and you should just take a paracetemol (if ur near death try 2?) I've been going to appointments for roughly a month and only after 1.5 month I finally got the referral to see a specialist. Fear not! I have another month wait until I can see them. My symptoms (and other people's, i'm not the only one!) Should've been taken seriously from the start (swollen lymp node, fevers without reason, itching, sleepless nights and loss of weight). Sadly I still do not know what's wrong with me. Often times or not they check ur blood, if ur bloodwork is "fine" (don't worry, they'll only look for basics and in those blood works usually everything is fine!) You no longer qualify for a listening ear or someone who takes u seriously! I think the majority (worldwide) of the healthcare system is overworked and fucked.

[@makssachs8914]

@@AutumnLynx healthcare is only for the rich. Everyone else is left to die

[@vinny184]

It used to be much better in the past. Before the privatization of health insurance. Most of the problems, like what the other commenter mentioned, are because of insurance providers, who’re not knowledgeable on healthcare in any way, getting to decide which prescription medications will be covered by your insurance and what you need to pay for yourself, which other forms of care are covered or not. This is also becoming less and less, while the prices for insurance and the deductible is rising. Also the deductible isn’t affordable for lots of people and is purely a product of the insurance companies being privatized and becoming more and more profit driven. They also put pressure on doctors to do less tests. All the while the government is the one actually paying these insurance companies. Privatization was a huge scam by certain politicians (VVD and CDA mainly) to literally fill the pockets of their friends and themselves. Healthcare insurance shouldn’t be purely profit driven in a country with mandatory healthcare and insurance should be nationalized again. There’s also the decades old issue of the Netherlands having a shortage in healthcare workers, especially PCPs. In my city there’s a literal multiple year waiting list if you want to become a patient at all of them. So I have to drive to my old one in the city I previously lived.

[@vulturegriffon]

The point you made about “looking healthy on the outside side doesn’t mean you’re healthy on the inside” really resonates with me because I have dealt with many doctors, urgent care and even VA doctors alike, in my early twenties saying I was healthy when I asked about the reason why I was consistently missing my menstrual cycle for months at a time. They honestly thought I was pregnant, but I wasn’t. Turns out it was the amount of stress I was under in the military that was causing me to miss my periods. There have also been times where getting a PCP wasn’t worth it because of just how much it is just to see them for a question! Not to mention, how long it takes just to get an appointment! Dr. Mike I’m really glad you made this video, but in America at this moment of time, having a doctor long term is a rarity due to financial constraints. Alot of people, not just young people, think going to the doctor WILL financially ruin them and opt to not go. I wish I could have the peace of mind to know I can go to a medical provider with all my health related problems and concerns, but very many of us can’t…

[@itsivymiha]

How can we have a good relationship with our primary care doctor when they have very few minutes with us and it feels like everything’s a rush and then they move to the other patient. Honestly i don’t know how you do it Doctor Mike. 👏🏻

[@SeuOu]

Yeah, I feel like my PCP is pretty good, but we only get 10 minutes to actually talk in a visit and it's obvious he's completely slammed with other patients. It's just not enough time to provide real care. It's basically just either "here's a prescription", "go get this test done and we'll call you back in if there's a problem", or "here's a referral to a specialist".

[@Violet_Parakeet]

@@SeuOu literally. I don't know how anyone ends up having a relationship w their doctor tbh.

[@OpalLeigh-il8yj]

@@SeuOuSee this is where I think all the referrals to specialists comes from!! I’ve NEVER asked to be referred to a specialist, but my doctor keeps sending me to them for mild symptoms because, I think, she just hopes they have more time than she does 😬

[@erinstenback475]

As a Canadian with our lovely health care system I don’t know anyone that is under the age of 45 that is able to get a family doctor unless they have been grandfathered in. There just isn’t enough doctors here.

[@WritePassionFaves]

That’s true in the States also. I had a great PCP, and then I changed insurance, and she wasn’t on the network. So I wound up going to a doctor who is in the next city over, because none of the GPs in my city were taking patients. The ones who were, it would be months before I could see them. It turns out that I love my new PCP, and because I was able to get an appointment quickly, we discovered I had endometrial cancer. Two months later, after surgery and a round of radiation I’ll be done, hopefully. If I had waited six months, we might have needed to stack chemo on top of that.

[@WookieWoman]

​@WritePassionFaves I'm sorry to hear that. 😞 Ohio is surprisingly not that bad.

[@sayanama]

That's because the doctors from Canada move to the US to earn more money from the insurance companies.

[@mitchs3886]

Yet my experience is the opposite. Don't know anyone who hasn't been able to get one.

[@erinstenback475]

@@sayanama my mom always says you can’t get a good doctor in Canada because the smart ones move to the US where the money is 😂😂

[@Astermints]

I'm not a young person, but sometimes I have to rely on urgent care because I can't miss work for every little thing that I need to see a doctor for. I'd like to see my primary more often, but you guys are usually open 8-5 when everyone is working. If I got fired, I wouldn't be able to see any doctor. Urgent cares are open later at night and on weekends. Not to mention sometimes getting an appointment with a pcp can take too long. Not everything is urgent but there are some things that would be better off not waiting a week+

[@lanfear963]

Yes! I have a more accessible doctor now but my old doctor used to be booking sick visits 4-6 weeks out! Obviously in that case I'm going to go to urgent care.

[@OpalLeigh-il8yj]

This! If I need to be seen faster than a couple months away- urgent care it is. And you usually have to wait until your symptoms get worse to drag your butt there anyway. It’s literally a risk to my health, but here we are.

[@MJ-revered]

Get other work.

[@eininw]

​@@MJ-revered Don't be a troll.

[@MJ-revered]

@@eininw I thought concentration camps like Auschwitz were closed long time ago but it seems the both of you work for such miserable organisations, poor you. 🥺

[@PotatoBread-nz5gv]

I really disagreed with the statements (for the most part of the video) on young people’s mistake. Urgent care works more efficiently in scheduling, cheaper and short term. Work is a factor and financial obligations. A lot of times, I find myself unable to schedule an appointment that works with my work schedule with my provider’s set hours. On top of limited scheduling opportunities that works best for me, because they’re 2-6 months later on. The reality is that the medical field is driven by such financial incentives that hurt many in having the chance to see a doctor. This leaves a lot of people to self medicate or hope that it goes away along with time.

[@lismarie9011]

Wow as someone who doesn’t live in the US its so sad to see how hard and EXPENSIVE healthcare is in your country, you guys deserve better than a system that makes it impossible to see a doctor when you need one

[@sharonwiller]

Most people I know rely on urgent care because their primary is overloaded with patients and appointment times are months later than what they need. Urgent care can diagnose a kid with the flu faster than they can get to their primary so urgent care can be more reliable in *urgent* situations that don’t require the ER. EDIT: I wanted to add that it is essentially a luxury nowadays to have access to a PCP. And to have a long standing relationship with them. People move or need other opinions or simply outgrow their PCP (mine was family care but tended to only see people up into their late teens and then referred them elsewhere once they hit 20/21). It doesn’t help that a majority of the doctors I’ve seen in my life have retired and have yet to be replaced. It sucks all around.

[@rolandxb3581]

Or even better, not go to the doctor at all for the flu as long as the symptoms are mild (fever below 100°, any vomiting is manageable, no extreme pain, etc). A doctor can't do much about the flu anyway, your body will fix it soon enough. Unless there's a pandemic and it could be something more dangerous than the flu, going to a physician for the flu is a waste of everyone's time, money, and resources.

[@rya1701]

​@@rolandxb3581this is the other side of the coin. People not going to any doctor until they're dying

[@AVisionInFur]

@@rolandxb3581That won’t give you a note so you don’t get fired (assuming the employer doesn’t have a no fault attendance policy and/or you can access something like FMLA).

[@sharonwiller]

@@rolandxb3581 adults might be able to hold out longer but children that are ill and don’t break fevers that mimic flu symptoms need to be seen. All in all, our healthcare system is failing us.

[@staciemiller7465]

This.

[@antoniolopezasd]

I'm glad we are calling out Dr. Mike in his comments about urgent care and the current state of Healthcare.

[@OpalLeigh-il8yj]

Yeah he’s a little out of touch on this one.

[@michellerhodes5477]

Yeah this video was a flop. Prob sponsored by Aflac. Even still, it's completely out of touch with the reality of healtcare now. In the U.S. and elsewhere from what I've seen in the comments. I'm a veteran so I use the VA healthcare system since the private sector, even where I live by a well known medical school and teaching hospitals, is impossible to find good, consistent care without atrocious wait times. But a social media wealthy doctor isn't going to see the reality we face. This video was very disappointing.

[@Arctivarius]

A sore throat or uti is not the same thing as following up with a primary for cholesterol / hypertension/ depression. The minimum requirement of the pediatric experience of some of the advanced practice providers like NP’s and PAs is 100 children in their rotations before they’re able to see and treat children. Hopefully they get more in their rotations but that’s 4 days of clinical training before dosing meds and diagnosing conditions for children.

[@KM-gy4ef]

Yeah... I get one free visit a year for my physical. You can bet I am going to load up with every minor nuisance I've been putting up with during the last year. Otherwise, I'm paying out $200+ for each one-off appointment even while having great medical insurance.

[@LauncherSpiderMk7]

@@michellerhodes5477 "Prob sponsored by Aflac." Prob? He explicitly stated it was sponsored by Aflac lol.

[@jarodmarkle7760]

There are so many valid points in the comments here, I'd love to see a follow up video addressing these arguments!

[@morichinatsu6096]

My PCP denied my medication refill because she wanted me to come in to be seen by her. Except she's booked nearly a year out, and my medication comes with extreme withdrawal side effects. So yeah... when my PCP can't be bothered to handle my medications well, I imagine I'd go to Urgent Care for even small things too. I'm very lucky I've been managing decently on my own.

[@ccanipe6512]

I work in a primary care office for a large "not for profit" organization. They want patients to use primary care for chronic illnesses and utilize urgent care for "sick" appointments. I hate it, the providers hate it, the patients hate it. But that's where money talks. Also, all the offices are forced to use a call center, who is a person sitting in their home making appointments and taking messages. They are not allowed to do most work in appointments. My advise, if your healthcare organization offers online services, use it! Most online patient messages go directly to your primary care office, and they can work you in quicker. Also, virtual visits can be used for more things than you think. Try it before going to urgent care!

[@rfmerrill]

2:41 one thing that's incredibly frustrating is that as a fair-skinned person with tons of moles I really should have a yearly mole check from a dermatologist, but so many dermatologists are absolutely jam packed full of appointments for cosmetic concerns.

[@callsign_cerberus159]

So book in advance..? That’s how all clinicians work man whether you have literal skin cancer or not.

[@SomeoneIusedtoknow-s1f]

@callsign_cerberus159 Except those appointments cost an arm and a leg and insurance requirements and referral needs and financial issues can be extreme issues. Care should automatically be geared to people who are at high risk of cancer but it's not..... And insurance many times thinks dermatologists are for fun little cosmetic details.... So.... Not always affordable.

[@dorothyrubyredmunchkin]

Working as a nurse case manager for years it is incredibly difficult to set up a new patient appointment with a primary care MD. It has been my experience in Florida that there are not enough primary care MDs to serve the community ergo urgent care and ER visits increase. Thank you for all that you do Doc!!

[@tippy2k2]

Sorry Doc but none of us can actually afford to go to the doctor regularly as our medical system has decided "Have you tried just dying?" is the best medical care we are allowed...

[@AlysaDunn-r6o]

I can, only because I'm both poor and disabled, but it means I have a smaller selection of providers and longer wait times.

[@samlcyo2]

The point is that going to regular check ups is going to be way less expensive in the long term. Preventing small issues is way less expensive than solving big issues later.

[@tippy2k2]

@@samlcyo2 It might be a good idea but if you can't afford a $150 checkup because your option is go to a checkup or not eat, most people are going to skip the checkup. This is assuming you don't have any major issues either because if the checkup tells you that you have X, knowing you have X won't do you any good if you don't have the time or funds to do anything about it anyway. Doctor Mike is absolutely correct that doing regular checkups and talking with your doc is a good idea but the sad reality is that many people don't have the time or funds to do it

[@mitchderise]

I would agree with you but I think a majority of people who can't afford $150 on the spot could make some adjustments to easily accommodate that cost. If you're visiting twice a year, which is still fairly frequent, then you're looking at less than $25 a month. The average Internet bill is $75 and phone bill is like $30.

[@mitchderise]

What I'm not saying is that everyone in poverty is poor financial decisions. I know some people believe that, but I don't. Just saying that even someone making significantly less than minimum wage can prioritize $150 for health (and save money in the long term)

[@G4M3RG1RL73]

Dr. Mike, I want to thank you for the bit on mental health and that it is not weak to seek help. I’m currently in therapy for my own mental health that I thought was only a recent obstacle but it most likely has gone on for far longer and I never realized how much it was affecting me. I thought of myself as weak for seeking help initially, but I know there is no way I’m going to get better without it

[@mmkaythxbai30]

Okaaaaay.....what about that time I googled and figured out I needed my galbladder out? I went into the ER, told them what I needed, they said I was wrong, ran a bunch of tests, and then came back to say "Oh! You were right! We're admitting you now." I was spot on. If they hadn't tested for it like I asked, it would have been a lot longer before I got any help. Sometimes you have to trust your gut, and question the people in charge.

[@redblue5140]

The idea of seeing a doctor your entire life seems like a fever dream. I've never had the same doctor for more than a few sessions they all end up quitting

[@nicholasweidman991]

Same. In my area, all the primary care providers are part of huge health systems. There just don’t seem to be any private practices anymore.

[@Theunicorn2012]

The idea of seeing a doctor your entire life seems like a fever dream. I've never had the same doctor for more than a few sessions they all end up quitting

[@chevystraightpipe1762]

I tend to use urgent care more than my PCP because when I am sick and need meds, my PCP is usually booked weeks out. I've tried other PCPs and the case is always the same. It feels like 10 years ago, this wasn't an issue

[@arleenm7367]

It takes several months to get a 15-minute appointment with a PCP and then there is a $30-$50 copay. After that if you happen to get a referral to a specialist it's another few months and more money. I once paid about $400 co-pay for an orthopedic boot (for ankle tendonitis) that I later found on-line for $60. Sorry, I can't afford the US healthcare system. And I'm an older person. I can't imagine how hard it must be for younger people to pay for this.

[@Michele-z4k]

Insurance companies have policies in place that make it difficult to get mental health care. The therapist many times have not gotten paid by insurance and they can’t in good conscience bill their clients who can’t afford to pay.

[@polina6435]

About the “googlitis”😂 My husband told Chat GPT my symptoms when I got sick, but couldn’t go to the doctor just yet, and Chat GPT said that I most probably have Systemic Sclerosis. And I was diagnosed with it couple of weeks later! Thanks to that I had time to mentally prepare for the diagnosis and not break down crying at the doctors office😅

[@vking7]

I'd have to wonder if the specialists thing is coming from patients who've been stuck with unhelpful primary care docs. Y'know, the horror story stereotype who answers all but the most serious concerns with "fix your diet, fix your sleep, lose some weight, get more sunlight, and/or reduce your stress levels"

[@Merith89]

Yep, and add "You're -lying for attention- too young to have those symptoms." to the list. Orthopedist fixed my hip pain. Primary was a waste of time.

[@mzdrea9468]

Exactly. I have a chronic autoimmune condition that I’ve always been told was because of my weight. Cut to me loosing 175lbs and my condition getting worse. Now all of a sudden the doctors want to come up with a treatment plan. 😂

[@alecortes6565]

I mean also that probably, but he likely means like what I’ve had happen to me, where a patient comes in with an ear infection and demands to be seen by an ENT. Like, not even that it’s been resistant to treatment, just that they think their VERY common ailment can’t be managed by a PCP. We can manage the most common diseases, and only if they meet certain criteria or have failed to respond to treatment/are difficult to diagnose, are they sent to the specialist.

[@candacechavigne5560]

Yes I think this is a big part of it.

[@OpalLeigh-il8yj]

My experience, it was the doctor who pushed for specialists. We already knew what I had and I just wanted some medical advice on managing it, but my doctor insisted on sending me to every single specialist (taking months at a time each) for them to tell me there was still nothing they could do about the primary condition 🙄 it was a waste of my time and theirs, and it kept me from getting help for a minor symptom for MONTHS.

[@gdxnsk]

Dont frame this as something "the youth is doing", its not like we dont want to take proper care of our health, its that we dont have neither the money nor the time to do so.

[@sherylwillis3991]

I agree. Things have drastically changes even for thisenof is with insurance and time. It is far worse for young people.

[@OpalLeigh-il8yj]

I’m glad people are pushing back on this one- I like Dr Mike but he’s out of touch here. Who would wait in the emergency room without care for 10+ hours when they could see their family doctor for minor symptoms in a reasonable time period? NONE OF US. We aren’t making this choice to be difficult, it’s the only choice we have to get moderately effective and timely critical healthcare.

[@RedVinesTheUmbridgeW]

The urgent care thing seems like a bad take. That's not an active choice most people are making, it's the direct result of lacking insurance for a steady PCP

[@SidewalkCitizenLA]

The problem I have with a lot of studies is that they don't start with a key question - which came first/how'd it start?

[@WarrenGarabrandt]

Almost everything I've needed to be seen for recently has been done at an urgent care facility, simply because getting an appointment at a Dr. can take weeks, even if you are an established patient, and going to an urgent care is MUCH cheaper than the hospital alternative and I can be seen same day. I got a spider bite and a bad infection from it: Urgent care. Fell off of a ladder: urgent care. Got really sick and needed to be tested to see if I needed an antibiotic: urgent care.

[@lechatbotte.]

Urgent care is for an urgent problem. Patients are sometimes having a hard time with waiting. Yes you have to wait for a pcp. Knowing which is correct is the patient’s responsibility. A laceration is urgent care. A problem that’s been ongoing isn’t. Severe bleeding, breathing issues, chest paint are emergent problems.

[@SherioCheers]

HEAR HEAR! Doctors doctors everywhere but not a one to treat. The Hippocratic oath means nothing with the existence of insurance.

[@Ford_prefect_42]

Plus when you are forced to move every 1-3 years due to rent hikes and the impossibility of owning a house a putting down roots, it's impossible to get a PCP

[@shananagins2006]

I feel blessed that I’ve had the same PCP since 2018. I was going through terrible depression and anxiety, and he worked with me to find the best care. He referred me to a therapist but unfortunately I had to stop because of insurance. Since then, he has worked with me to find the right medication and even stopped one when I started gaining weight. He’s a younger doctor, closer to my age of 36 so I don’t know if that’s why I like him so much. He’s really easy to talk to and I hope I can continue to see him regularly.

[@micahtataje]

I see a lot of comments saying young people use urgent care because they don’t have insurance, which is very true. However, even if you have insurance, the doctors you can go to that are covered can be limited, and your primary care caregiver might not have an opening

[@jasonrojas26]

It is so hard to get an appointment with my primary and if I do I just feel like the doctor doesn't even know me so I'm like urgent care it is

[@LightsHikesAndWanderlove]

Yes! And they're only open when I'm at work anyway.

[@SeuOu]

well, the urgent care definitely knows less about you than your doctor. I agree with you on the difficulty of getting primary care appointments, though, I usually have to wait a month to see my PCP. Plenty of times the higher cost of urgent care is worth it if you need something immediate and it doesn't warrant an ER visit.

[@catherinerowe221]

@@SeuOu I think it depends on your urgent care. The one I go to has all my pharmacy and health records pulled from the hospital system and actually is thorough in taking all that background info into account. My last primary I barely knew at all and she didn’t keep up with my chart and took maybe 5-15 minutes for an appointment most of which was me telling her what she should’ve already been aware of from hospital and past visit records. I like my current doc at least and she does a great job taking the time but the wait for an appt is over a month and if I’m feeling seriously ill I’ll likely be either better or too sick for primary care by the time I get to my appointment.

[@gdawgpaveng15]

maybe it’s time to find another PCP?

[@halien6384]

I’m 24 and i just got into a PCP for the first time since i was a teenager….but I wasn’t able to get an appointment until like a year out. hopefully nothing goes wrong before then and hopefully i’m able to get a job or marry my bf before i turn 26 and get kicked off of my dad’s. Even then, this PCP might not take my new insurance, starting me back to square one. America, amirite?

[@stwenty5758]

I saw a billboard recently that advocated for saying "brain health" instead of "mental health" because once you put it in that context, it sounds more like "kidney health" or "lung health" - it becomes treatment for an organ rather than a relative abstract. I thought that was a decent idea. At first I was a little concerned about lumping things like depression in with, say, brain tumors but it's kind of like the difference between kidney disease and kidney trauma.

[@sunnypeach1328]

That's honestly really interesting and I advocate for this!

[@eevee2411]

As a med student those are vastly different things though. I think making mental health sound even more clinical when it's so much more in-depth and personal than that, is going to do more bad than good

[@stwenty5758]

@@eevee2411 I see what you're saying to a degree, but the idea is to get people to not be ashamed to talk about it and seek help. Framing it as an organ issue isn't the end of the discussion, it's just to get people through the door. And in fairness, some mental health disorders are caused (or exacerbated) by brain structural or chemical problems, so it literally *is* brain health. Then there's the influence of gut health on mental health. The idea is to make people think of things like persistent depression or anxiety as health problems first instead of associating it with Nellie Bly's undercover reporting, or something to be ashamed of.

[@sillyjellyfish2421]

This. There have been plenty of studies that show a clear connection between changes in brain structures or neurotransmiters, and mental symptoms connected to them. Sometimes, the long term mental stress can damage the brain, sometimes it's the biology that influences the behavior. And sometimes a person gets a brain cancer that can damagele their cognitive functions or alter their personality. Regardless of what came first, the brain is the brain and mental health is just one aspect of the physical health as a whole. If doctors can prescribe placebo to treat some very real medical issues and it works, then they have no right to dismiss the mental state of their patient as "just something they made up and thus a non-issue". And then of course people in general need to adopt this view as well.

[@SeuOu]

Acknowledging that you have a problem is often the hardest step in recovery. There's definitely an important clinical distinction between 'brain health' and 'mental health', though, as in all mental health issues are brain health issues, but not all brain health issues are mental health issues. There's a clinical need to distinguish between them.

[@eringantz4508]

As a 24 year old with several rare and chronic diseases and more specialists than fingers at this point, I'd be rich if I got a dollar everytime somebody told me I was too young to have so many health issues 😅

[@ctfddftba]

Same 😅

[@marcusbrown188]

I’m about to be 26 tomorrow, and I will have health insurance as a birthday gift starting September ☺️ I’ve seen so many special students with a lot of visible disabilities like this one guy he landed face first on the metal parts of the trampoline and can’t even speak but make humming noises. To think someone is “too young” to have issues is very close minded and thinking too much about the expectations of a young person to just be healthy.

[@Jezziha]

This is absolutely 10000% important to know when to go to primary care or urgent care. In sweden we have a number to call if you have questions about your symptoms youre experiencing & what to do. HOWEVER it would be nice when you're calling for guidance that they wouldn't be laughing in your face or shame you when you're crying on the phone because of how much pain you are in wondering if you're dying or not. And asking yourself if it's "worth" a trip to the hospital.

[@violetvictoria7248]

men

[@Jezziha]

@@violetvictoria7248 fyi it wasn't men

[@reginafallangie2867]

Dr. Mike, Idk what primary care is like in your area, but my PCP often has a 3-6mo wait for a “problem” visit. The office TELLS US to go to express care. The system is BROKEN!

[@rijlqanturis625]

I mean, when the soonest I can book an appointment with my PCP is a month and half away, a walk-in clinic is often the only option we have.

[@Perseca]

One of the reasons I use urgent care is because my primary care doctor is so booked up with appointments that the earliest I can see them is in like 2-3 weeks. Which isn't very convenient when you have a real medical concern beyond just the normal fever/cough type symptoms.

[@christinem3904]

Side note… to everyone making comments about not being able to afford health insurance/ health care. PLEASE do your research on what the people you are voting for support. This really matters. I’m not trying to make this about politics but so many people vote for someone JUST BECAUSE of the letter after that person’s name. Be it a D or an R. Actually look at their voting record. (Don’t just read about them online, go to your state house and federal websites and look at their voting record. By voting just for the letter so many people are voting against their own self interests and don’t even realize it.

[@hstewar9757]

So I live in a small town in the Midwest and we used to have two hospitals here. Since Covid, one has closed and the rumor is the other one is going to close within the next few years. They have also been building a bunch of small clinics. This is terrifying to me.

[@4RILDIGITAL]

Thank you for highlighting these important health misconceptions. I really appreciate the insightful advice on striving for holistic health, especially the emphasis on mental health.

[@chronicallyfabulous88]

As someone with a bunch of complex chronic illnesses (due to a genetic disorder called Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome), having one primary care GP has made a MASSIVE difference in my ability to manage my health. While finding the right person can be difficult, it's absolutely been worth the trouble for me.

[@Mikayla_Y_1998]

I have a much of complex chronic illnesses because of eds too. Finally I am on the transplant list for a multi visceral one. I too have a great PCP and he is open to learning new things because of me/ my complex health issues. My old PCP SUCKED! She didn’t take the time to even learn about the basics !

[@DaydreamingSophie]

Yeah but people like us basically have no other choice and know how risky not having our health adequately managed can be. (I have severe ME by the way.)

[@el3212]

i’m so glad i have a good relationship with my new primary care doctor because she’s able to recommend specialists that i vibe with (explain things in ways i can understand, ask for my opinions, etc.), and since she sees me regularly, she is able to spot underlying issues that a single visit urgent care doctor would miss. she’s honestly the best doctor i could ever ask for and i hope everyone gets the chance to have a doctor as good as her ❤

[@maryrospos]

You are very fortunate!!!

[@elysej91]

The urgent care thing is for money reasons, yes some of it may be because of misinformation. But mostly, it's cause we're all poor and healthy insurance is too expensive and doesn't even help half the time. I have never found a doctor I trust either, why go to a primary care doc when they've never listened and even put me in danger and didn't care? I'm so tired of doctors putting the blame on patients, or other things, no it's because of money, it's always because of money. Young people are going to continue to die because they are poor and no one will listen to us.

[@ryanlong2601]

Until hospitals and private clinics start lowering their prices, nothing will change. The industry has allowed insurance companies to inflate costs, creating the illusion of discounts that are anything but real. It's a sickening cycle that exploits those who need care the most.

[@gishigoshi]

I went to therapy and my therapist suggested that I get a physical to see if any of my physical health was impacting my mental health. I figured that was a good idea and went to several walk ins asking figuring that it would be a simple process since a physical is just the most basic thing you can get. I pretty much got rejected from every walk in I tried with the only one accepting me telling me I would have to pay $110 out of pocket. This seems wrong and ineffective

[@MrChazzels]

Hot take. I think in high school we should have mandatory cognitive behavioral therapy classes. Because it would help de stigmatize mental health therapy later on and it might save a young persons life who doesn’t have access to mental health services. Not every day. But maybe every quarter.

[@snart9223]

I think this would be a great thing to integrate into health class

[@ogg5949]

I've been going to my primary care for 10yrs and have never even met the doctor- not once!! I see only PAs.

[@sherryg1838]

Same.

[@Thefoxthatbecameawolf]

I know I'm not American but how on earth is that possible ? And what are PA?

[@Southernguy41]

@@ThefoxthatbecameawolfPhysicians Assistant.

[@sherryg1838]

@@Thefoxthatbecameawolf I actually see a Nurse Practitioner, which is similar. We don’t have enough GP’s. Most doctors become specialists, it pays more. I believe my NP consults with the doctor on treatment.

[@beckycaughel7557]

Same here my primary care provider is a nurse practitioner. It’s probably been eight years since I’ve seen primary doctor. I do have several specialists which yes I do need it’s beyond family medicine doctor situation

[@jessicatfoulkrod6341]

I live in Northern California. It is very hard to get a primary doctor and then you wait months for an appointment 😢

[@southcoastinventors6583]

Same for most towns took me a year before I got a primary. Primary care unfortunately will need to be partially automated to meet demand in the US

[@nehalilisays]

I always thought there were plently of doctors in the US and they just charged you a lot ...

[@snailtsunami]

@@nehalilisays There aren't enough doctors AND they all charge a lot. T_T

[@julainem.3542]

I also live in Northern California, I have some pretty urgent health concerns and it’s incredibly frustrating not being able to get seen by my PCP for at least a month out. I’m right there with you 🫡🫠

[@LalaAgwood-t2s]

Hey Dr Mike! Your video are a huge inspiration for me, growing up with my Aunty as a nurse and my cousin in medical school your videos help me relax and correct my Aunty when her medical claims can be rusty 😉 and it has become a tradition for me and my sister to watch your videos when they come out, I am 25 now and am planning to go to medical school in a year or two, -from lala a huge and very grateful fan

[@YabiPowers-c3z]

HELP THATS SO SWEET

[@PabloPaver-e1w]

MAKE THIS TOP COMMENT

[@MadiFoxx]

I started my bachelors of nursing this week and even after one week, I actually understand so much more of these videos than before and it makes me very happy

[@sayanama]

Do you know how much the PCP in the US charges for normal regular visits let alone the tests and diagnosis? Obviously, people will wait till it becomes unbearable to go to an urgent care. Don't blame the victims, they are helpless.

[@anniegerlach2563]

Whaaattt. Do you know, it is their fault for being poor! They just shouldn’t be in pain! 🙃🙃🙃(this is commentary on the state of the union)

[@Rabies-gx5hy]

Hi Dr. Mike! As a pediatric primary care manager, our healthcare system is really set up for reactive medicine rather than preventative medicine which is a shame. Your primary care doctor can help with a whole host of issues. However cost of healthcare and insurance as well as access to care really impacts this. Health insurance is obviously expensive for many people and all the obvious hurdles that come along with this. Lack of access to healthcare is also becoming VERY concerning. I live in a larger city in the US, have a good BCBS plan myself and still cannot find a PCP- I only want to see a MD for this. Family medicine is becoming saturated in mid levels. I could chatter on and on about all the issues with our health system, but I don’t want to raise my blood pressure on a Sunday 😂 Edit: Also, a lot of family medicine practices don’t offer same day sick appointments or very little slots, pushing off patients to UC or ED. Our practice always gets all sick patients in same day, so we try to not overload the ED system. Of course this does lead to some longer wait times for patients, who then inevitably complain 🤷🏻‍♀️

[@davidjames6879]

The reason there are so many specialists in America is because we (patients) are not very good at taking advantage of things like annual physicals or checkups provided by our insurance companies (it's the "well nothing's wrong with me so why do I need a checkup" mentality), so when we do seek medical attention, it's often because we have finally realized something is really wrong, but could have possibly seen or diagnosed with a routine checkup. My cousin sells Medicare supplement plans in another state and says where I live the premiums are so much higher because of the amount of specialists. Fortunately, I do get regular checkups. My wife doesn't and just spent a fortnight in hospital because in 30 years she saw a PCP maybe 3x and when she did get admitted there were a whole host of serious issues. Be smart. A visit for a check up is far cheaper than urgent care.

[@Rabies-gx5hy]

@@davidjames6879 Agreed!

[@luzhang2982]

Right, Mike promoting continuity of care is a joke. That’s not how the health system actually works. Even Doc Mike isn’t going to see a person more than 10 minutes and very infrequently. I have never seen the same doc consistently and definitely not for very long because that is not how the healthcare system works. Where is this fictional medical primary care system that sees the same people regularly AND has a proper first diagnosis every time? Even just getting to see a doc, any doc, at all, let alone seeing the same one for any consistent length of time is an issue. It isn’t realistic.

[@nicolasgirard2808]

The aging population is going to cause access to healthcare to keep getting worse and worse.

[@B-SybrZaku-ThendHaloAirsofting]

@@luzhang2982i mean I’ve have amazing continuity of care

[@endees1317]

The point about "looking healthy on the outside = perfect health" resonates so deeply with me personally because I look and behave exactly as any young person in their 20s and people are absolutely //shocked// to learn that I have a really complex chronic health condition inside me lmao

[@sillyjellyfish2421]

Same. Also the whole "you can't be sick because you are always eating so healthy, all the vegan food and fruit you always snack on" like please, if i eat more than 50g of animal protein at once, i will trigger a rheumatic flareup lasting for a week. I'm constantly in a low level pain because of this, have been since i was a kid, so please shut up about what i eat, i would gorge myself on a whole roasted chicken if i could.

[@DaydreamingSophie]

This used to happen to me all the time, actually it still sometimes happens even though I definitely look very sick now and like I could fall asleep at any moment. I have severe ME so people not taking my illness seriously is a constant in my life. Although what I think is even worse when people give tips on what to do to get better and they somehow never accept a no and that we're experts on our conditions and definitely know our bodies better. At that point I often get called pessimistic and that I need to have hope to get better and the cherry on top is when I get told my life is awful and they'd never be able to do it. People have some weird notions about life with a chronic illness.

[@OpalLeigh-il8yj]

Invisible illness crew 🙌🏻 it applies to many things though, people don’t think I’m disabled because I “look healthy”, and don’t think I’m gay because I’m “straight passing”. People really gotta stop relying on appearance.

[@whisper4379]

I’m turning 40 in December, and people swear up and down it’s “not possible” for me to have the health issues I do (even when they’re there watching it happen in front of their eyes) because “[I] am young.” People will come up with any excuse they can to gaslight themselves and others into believing everyone is healthy.

[@clownboyyyy]

its wild how much people just assume youth = health lmao or that young ppl dont often have the same serious physical or mental health issues older ppl do

[@JosephineManiscalco-zr9gd]

Doctors are directed by insurance. They prescribe according to what insurance will cover. I love how excited you get about being a doctor ❤

[@traceypajala6938]

My sons have Blue Cross Blue Shield, health care that we pay good money for. I've spent the last two years trying to find a PCP for them that is taking new patients. There are none within a 50 mile radius from our home. NONE. So my youngest had to use Urgent Care for a cough that wouldn't go away. He had to go back again after this mis diagnosed him and discovered he actually has pneumonia. Our health care system is horribly flawed since COVID.

[@daviddavis3939]

I have a great relationship with my PCP but I know I would go years between visits without my family pushing me to continue follow up appointments. I had an appointment last week that went well. I have some family history of things like heart disease and diabetes so he wanted me to do a basic screening blood test. But I lost 20+ pounds without changing anything since my last visit and with no other symptoms I have noticed, so we decided that since I am already getting blood taken we might as well get a full metabolic panel just to be safe. It certainly is nice knowing that I brought up a concern and he took it seriously.

[@lizblock9593]

Who wants to live to be 100? Not me. I have a chronic medical condition that medical science doesn't have a clue about and that significantly limits my quality of life. I'll bow out gracefully when my time is up.

[@nicolabaker4391]

As another chronically ill person with a controversial unknown illness , I agree with you (M.E/CFS Fibromyalgia)

[@nehalilisays]

Would be interesting to see how much AI can improve the research, diagnosis and treatment of rare diseases.

[@cloudyskyz2237]

@@nehalilisayshow tf would they know more about a real human though? They’re programmed and fed knowledge by humans.

[@RaeRaenicorrrn]

this!!!! THANK YOU!

[@oldladytrexarms]

As someone with hEDS, osteoarthritis in almost all joints, a permanently subluxed knee, migraines, mental health issues that constantly make me dizzy/disassociate, fibromyalgi, skull thickening, and potential Autoimmune disorders, I want to live long enough for my family/husband to be happy (their mental health couldn’t take my death so I'm fighting to be here for them everyday) but will go out once they're gone because then I'll have nothing to really live for. Just waking up hurts...

[@Sicod79]

The over antioxident intake having a negative health outcome makes perfect sense if you remember your body can only handle so much of any particular substance. You can even drink to much water if done in to short a period of time. Balance is key.

[@southcoastinventors6583]

Better off eating whole fruits or vegetables especially the bright one

[@Sicod79]

@@southcoastinventors6583 I love eating the Three Berry Blend from Costco as a dessert.

[@AnjaSteiner_AWAKE]

For me it doesn’t make sense as most antioxidants are watersoluble and the body therefore just gets rid of it if its too much like vitamin c. Those things are proofen so no I don’t get it

[@martinlong1679]

I know you say not to watch your phone before going to sleep. However I must say your videos help me fall soundly asleep in the best way possible.

[@nuc2726]

I love the fact that you make very specific statements in a very understandable way. You almost never use generalizations, which when you *do* use them, makes those generalizations that much more impactful. You specify IF then X, instead of just saying X, which makes me understand and trust the information you're saying, knowing that I know the nuances of what you're talking about.

[@ryanworkman3032]

In my pharmacology classes in nursing school we were taught that the difference between medication and poison is dosage.

[@redjoker365]

Wellbutrin is literally rat poison, but great as an antidepressant

[@SeuOu]

Indeed.

[@DaydreamingSophie]

Considering some medications are made out of poisonous plants that makes a lot of sense.

[@leonardfield6893]

🙄 Sounds like the type of oversimplification I’d expect from nursing school. Anything, not just medication, can be poison - water will kill you if you drink enough of it.

[@athenachristinemusic]

Circa survive anyone? Lol

[@dean.mcmxcvi]

The reason I go to urgent care is because establishing a primary care doc always takes forever meaning the appointment isn’t until MONTHS out and then I’m just bad at making those appointments so then I go to urgent care, remake the establishing primary care appointment which is then another two months out and the cycle just repeats 😩

[@emmyggamer]

It would be great to see a primary care provider over the course of your life. Unfortunately, the American Healthcare system is a scam. If I want affordable Healthcare, I constantly have to switch insurance providers. A lot of them are not in network with the same doctors. And if you get healthcare through your job, what happens when you change jobs? You have to change insurance AGAIN.

[@smalltime0]

When people are fronting Urgent Care and Emergency rooms, its a function/symptom of the primary care system failing in some capacity - not people opting out

[@llaftsewyelrebmik5103]

This is why insurance needs to be detached from your employer. It should be like auto or home insurance, available in the free market for an affordable price throughout the country.

[@TheJingles007]

@@llaftsewyelrebmik5103 It is technically affordable through the market, but obviously people that get it through their employer can’t afford it in the marketplace

[@southcoastinventors6583]

It not a scam but in not well run due to the fact that it require to much red tape to become a primary physician not to mention enormous education bill so people are just going to have to wait for the Autodoc since it looks the Autodentist is only a few years from approval

[@anniegerlach2563]

I pay 4,000 dollars each year for insurance. This gives me the ability to pay an addition 3,000 dollars each year if I I use the insurance. Love this scam, it’s literally a racket

[@mxliice]

I have a PCP who manages my medications and conditions. However, I do rely on urgent care for cases where I'm unsure if a pain is normal and want a second opinion, if I'm sick and need medicine, et cetera.

[@dielonnn7110]

When i was young and my elders would give me life advice i would think i knew better and i was different than them. Now at 32 with chronic pain and avoidable health issues if i had listened i realize how valuable wisdom is when used and not ignored. Listen to your elders advice, they know they seen a lot of life and are not trying to steer you wrong or away from a "good time" a lot of great times when i was young led to life long health issues and battles

[@AIHumanEquality]

I'm getting really tired of people and doctors acting like it's the people's fault and not the system being broken or badly put together. Every system of healthcare has problems but the US healthcare system is ranked as one of the lowest and for good reason. For the sake of your patients and average Americans stop trying to portray it as a choice thing. It's systemic and that needs to be acknowledged by US doctors far more often than it is.

[@autumnlove96able]

I find it irritating that Dr. Mike isnt addressing the fact that young people use urgent care so much because getting a PCP requires insurance and even then costs too much in comparison. It isnt fair to just blame young people and say they're doing something wrong when literally the job market, economy, healthcare system, and government all work against us and make it extremely difficult to get a PCP.

[@HSMfanatic17]

I already knew you advocate for mental health treatment, but as a mental health counselor, I was SO EXCITED and wanted to hug you when you said that psychotherapy should be as normalized as other health treatments ❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤

[@bencurry6520]

As far as urgent care, I want a PCP but finding anyone accepting new patients is impossible. Every doctor I try to go to isn’t accepting new patients. My coworker’s wife had to get a favor from a doctor she works with for him to get in somewhere.

[@Rosey_Squirrel]

Thanks for sharing that statement about people trying to buy their there health instead of taking care of themselves. Currently I'm taking care of my aging mom. Recently she received bad news from her opthomologist that her eye condition doesn't seem to be getting better after her recent surgery. Asked him what else she could to make it better. My mom stated he said "there's nothing you can do". Probably taken out of context. I didn't get to go with her. Instead of turning to her doctor for help, health advice, reevaluating her care plan. She decided to turn to holistic medicine which has now caused even more problems psychologically and physically. Now I'm contemplating if I'm even equipped to take care of her now. It kills me that I missed those markers such as making sure her blood sugars weren't in check, and that diabetes could have been the culprit to her declining vision. I feel a lump of guilt sitting like a rock in my stomach even though I tried to warn her of the potential dangers. I know staying in this pit of shame won't help my mom. Now just waiting on where to go from here. Rest, revise, and stress we stick to the new care plan. I'm nowhere ready to lose her.

[@gonzallm]

Medicaid typically will go off on you if you go to an emergency room instead of an urgent care. Sometimes this makes sense. Sometimes this pisses me the shit off because the urgent care sends me to the ER anyways, so now you got two bills. 😒 😑🤦🏽‍♀️

[@Dragonbleps]

I agree with others that the reason people probably use Urgent Care more often is because of wait times + lack of insurance + scheduling issues + not feeling like their doctor actually takes them seriously. And if you DO have insurance, that limits which doctors you can see too. Dad has been trying to schedule appointments with his PCP for upwards to a year. His work schedule made it very difficult. Mom had to take him to Urgent Care for Acute Pancreatitis, and I'm realizing that over the last few months each time he had "food poisoning" it was actually this Pancreatitis flaring up. If he'd had that blood work done, they might've found it sooner. Unfortunately his doctor kept cancelling and postponing and rescheduling. Now he's dealing with complications in the Urgent Care because his bowels and kidneys and liver were affected, too. I promise it's not people being flippant and wanting a quick fix. It's because trying to see a PCP sometimes takes too long and the patient doesn't always know when it's safe to wait, and waiting can be deadly.

[@martinlazar9420]

Good message about the specialists. I have an ent who I see for chronic sinus infections. He did a balloon technique which opened them up very well but when I get a prolonged Sinus infection 12 days or more without being able to stop it he does want to see me to make sure things didn’t close up. I don’t go to him for a normal sore throat or a standard ear infection. I go to him for the specific cases he treats for.

[@valerypc25]

My family and I often have to go to urgent care because most of our doctors give us our appointments for MONTHS after calling to MAKE an appointment, and I'm pretty sure no one would want to wait that long, risking the issue getting worse or fatal, to see a doctor

[@erickaamor2610]

As a nurse, I recently transitioned to “Direct Primary Care” instead of using corporate primary care. 10/10. I would recommend it! The benefits of direct primary care include price transparency of the care you’ll receive, less burnout, no long appointment wait times, and time to address my concerns in detail. Con: It’s subscription-based, but most direct primary care attempts to make it affordable, e.g., 50-75 dollars a month.