I am a man that often avoids going to the doctor, but it isn't out of any level of machismo (I could be deluding myself). Rather, I've had a lifetime of expe

I am a man that often avoids going to the doctor, but it isn't out of any level of machismo (I could be deluding myself). Rather, I've had a lifetime of experiences demonstrating that doctors could do nothing for me time and time again. Not necessarily their fault (medical science is trying to debug a program that you don't have the code for, do not control/know all of the inputs to, and you risk killing them if it crashes) but they've failed me time and time again in diagnosis, effectiveness, and availability, and in the US they were a financial burden until I was fortunate enough to reach the point my budget could take a hit. This has built a habit of assuming that if I'm not in intense pain, visiting a doctor would be a waste of time and money. I got pneumonia once. When the cough seemed serious I asked for an appt, but it took several days and by the day of I was struggling to breathe. Ended up going to an urgent care clinic hours before my appt because I was genuinely worried I wouldn't make it to said appt if I waited. The clinic agreed, given that as I walked in to their crowded lobby they heard me rasping and bumped me to the head of the line. I had four people on me at once, giving me oxygen, taking vitals, and one entering the numbers into their computer. I could see the screen, and saw that a few entries triggered a "the number indicates a critical problem, is it accurate?" warnings. They told me later that at 1 percent lower oxygen (i was 92%, which apparently low) they would have sent me to the emergency room. I'm glad they didn't, as their care beat any ER visit I've had, and was only $100, which included lung xrays. An ER visit would have been worse just walking in the door. Still worth it when they can help me breathe, but it demonstrates one reason why one can avoid doctors for seemingly non-serious ailments and conditions, particularly with all the times they've shrugged. I'm allergic to most everything that won't kill you (pollen, mold, dust mites, cats, dogs, even rats). I have a list of issues with this, mostly constant sinus production/drainage, but only learned it was allergies when I self diagnosed in my 30s and went to an allergist to confirm. Even then, the cause that was dramatic enough to clue me in (rats) was not part of the standard panel. I had to specifically request it...and then point out that they hadn't added it as they said they would. That ended up being so severe that the tiny scratch swelled to the size of a half dollar despite me being on benadryl (i had missed the instruction to skip such meds for the test) AND the calamine lotion they slapped on it almost immediately. Had I not asked for and checked for that test, the specific problem of the moment (my girlfriends pet rats) would have remained undiagnosed (I had a list of potential causes of an uptick in problems, not awareness of any specific one). Not one doctor growing up suggested an allergy test, even though I can now look back and see obvious signs. Not one doctor asked if my symptoms occurred at specific times or places, not one ever mentioned the high constant drainage or inflamed ear canals. (Though doctors offices are pretty allergen free. As a kid I joked that their ugly paint made you feel better, since by the time a doctor came to look in on me my worst symptoms weren't there...in retrospect the repeat experience should have been a clue to them and possibly my younger self) Instead they called it mild asthma (asthma test was negative, but shrug. My guess is that they called it that just to make me feel they had a clue) Machismo is a problem, but it isn't the sole problem.