Should I get a checkup while Omicron is peaking?
January 8, 2022 5:06 AM Subscribe
Last week I has the worst stomach cramps of my life, lower abdomen. I was double over in pain for about three hours. (Left side so not appendix and my gallbladder has been removed) This was followed by an urgent need to urinate, for about 5 days, even when very little came out.
While the symptoms have mostly passed, I'm a bit of a hypochondriac and think it might be best to get it checked out. But Omicron is everywhere in my city, which is to say America, and I wonder if I should wait a few weeks and possibly let whatever ailed me get worse.
Side note, I'm extremely reticent to go out in public and have developed some panic issues since the start of Covid.
Advice on going or not welcomed. Thank you.
While the symptoms have mostly passed, I'm a bit of a hypochondriac and think it might be best to get it checked out. But Omicron is everywhere in my city, which is to say America, and I wonder if I should wait a few weeks and possibly let whatever ailed me get worse.
Side note, I'm extremely reticent to go out in public and have developed some panic issues since the start of Covid.
Advice on going or not welcomed. Thank you.
Checkups don't necessarily have to be in person. Have you asked if you can schedule a telehealth appointment or a phone call?
posted by pullayup at 5:12 AM on January 8, 2022 [17 favorites]
posted by pullayup at 5:12 AM on January 8, 2022 [17 favorites]
Yes, please get it checked out. That level of pain and urgency is not normal. You don't want it to get worse. It sounds like it may be a kidney stone, in which case you definitely don't want it to get to the point of blocking anything and causing a kidney infection.
Think of it like this: if it gets worse, you might have to go into hospital, which will be expensive and will be much more risky in terms of COVID exposure. If you go now, you might be able to deal with it through a check-up and a prescription for some meds and you'll be able to recover at home.
posted by fight or flight at 5:12 AM on January 8, 2022 [21 favorites]
Think of it like this: if it gets worse, you might have to go into hospital, which will be expensive and will be much more risky in terms of COVID exposure. If you go now, you might be able to deal with it through a check-up and a prescription for some meds and you'll be able to recover at home.
posted by fight or flight at 5:12 AM on January 8, 2022 [21 favorites]
Get it checked. This may be nothing, or it could be much more of a risk to you than Covid. Doing nothing will cause you more anxiety in the long run.
If you have a reasonably good mask (FFP3, FFP2, N95) then it's pretty safe to be out and about, and to visit a doctor. Or if a consultation online is available (and they often are now), do that.
posted by pipeski at 5:15 AM on January 8, 2022 [3 favorites]
If you have a reasonably good mask (FFP3, FFP2, N95) then it's pretty safe to be out and about, and to visit a doctor. Or if a consultation online is available (and they often are now), do that.
posted by pipeski at 5:15 AM on January 8, 2022 [3 favorites]
I stay home pretty much all the time and am extremely careful about wearing good masks and very worried about getting infected because of how covid might interact with existing health issues, and I would get an urgent appointment for this. Even the five days you mention seems like too long to wait.
posted by trig at 5:17 AM on January 8, 2022 [8 favorites]
posted by trig at 5:17 AM on January 8, 2022 [8 favorites]
The intense pain and urgency to urinate sound like my experience with kidney stones (though the pain was in my back and not my abdomen). Some kidney stones will pass eventually. Some require intervention (laser lithotripsy in my case).
posted by alex1965 at 5:20 AM on January 8, 2022 [4 favorites]
posted by alex1965 at 5:20 AM on January 8, 2022 [4 favorites]
Definitely get it checked out.
Medical facilities are very, very, very, very aware of the dangers from Omicron - for obvious reasons - and as such are very, very, very diligent about keeping people safe. When I broke my knee last year I got temperature screened by the ambulance drivers who brought me to the ER, and then again by a nurse who came out to meet us in the ambulance before I even got brought in. I visited my doctor and the hospital about three times before my knee surgery and I got temperature screened each time, and a full-on Covid test three days before my surgery - and I had to sign a statement before my surgery in which I acknowledged that I understood Covid was a thing (because technically my knee surgery was "elective surgery", because i was not going to literally die if I didn't have it). I had to get temperature-screened before each and every visit to my physical therapist for the full year after surgery (they stopped a few days ago). And everywhere, we had to also stay masked.
You don't want to get Covid, but your doctor REALLY REALLY REALLY doesn't want you to get Covid either. They want to take care of you, and taking care of you includes "Making damn sure you don't get Covid".
Please go get it checked.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 5:22 AM on January 8, 2022 [6 favorites]
Medical facilities are very, very, very, very aware of the dangers from Omicron - for obvious reasons - and as such are very, very, very diligent about keeping people safe. When I broke my knee last year I got temperature screened by the ambulance drivers who brought me to the ER, and then again by a nurse who came out to meet us in the ambulance before I even got brought in. I visited my doctor and the hospital about three times before my knee surgery and I got temperature screened each time, and a full-on Covid test three days before my surgery - and I had to sign a statement before my surgery in which I acknowledged that I understood Covid was a thing (because technically my knee surgery was "elective surgery", because i was not going to literally die if I didn't have it). I had to get temperature-screened before each and every visit to my physical therapist for the full year after surgery (they stopped a few days ago). And everywhere, we had to also stay masked.
You don't want to get Covid, but your doctor REALLY REALLY REALLY doesn't want you to get Covid either. They want to take care of you, and taking care of you includes "Making damn sure you don't get Covid".
Please go get it checked.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 5:22 AM on January 8, 2022 [6 favorites]
Some health insurance companies and big hospital systems offer a free 24/7 Medical Advice phone line staffed by nurses (to cut down on inessential or too-long-delayed PCP/Urgent Care/ER visits).
That line may have much more information about those locations than we do and may make recommendations like: you will definitely need an MRI, Urgent Care A does not have those, and you should therefore go to Urgent Care B or an ER.
posted by All Might Be Well at 5:24 AM on January 8, 2022 [1 favorite]
That line may have much more information about those locations than we do and may make recommendations like: you will definitely need an MRI, Urgent Care A does not have those, and you should therefore go to Urgent Care B or an ER.
posted by All Might Be Well at 5:24 AM on January 8, 2022 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: I should add that I have an appointment Monday morning and your comments have assured me that I should go. Thank you.
posted by captainscared at 5:25 AM on January 8, 2022 [39 favorites]
posted by captainscared at 5:25 AM on January 8, 2022 [39 favorites]
Good on you for going. Consider a telehealth appointment for your panic issue as well. It sounds like it may be negatively affecting your life and mental health is health too!
posted by momus_window at 7:34 AM on January 8, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by momus_window at 7:34 AM on January 8, 2022 [2 favorites]
You should definitely go. Rather a brief exposure at your primary care place than a prolonged stay in the ER which will probably have a number of COVID patients waiting to be seen.
posted by praemunire at 7:54 AM on January 8, 2022 [4 favorites]
posted by praemunire at 7:54 AM on January 8, 2022 [4 favorites]
Yep, just another voice from Team Kidney Stones here - if it is one you absolutely need to get it checked out. That pain sounds similar to mine when I had my first one. (You never forget your first kidney stone… :lolsob:)
posted by hijinx at 8:28 AM on January 8, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by hijinx at 8:28 AM on January 8, 2022 [2 favorites]
It's about relative risks. Yes, there is a risk of COVID, but the risk of your acute condition turning worse is, well, worse for your health.
posted by kschang at 9:19 AM on January 8, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by kschang at 9:19 AM on January 8, 2022 [1 favorite]
another Team Kidney Stone member here -- those symptoms sound familiar indeed.
it's not the only possibility -- diverticulitis is up there also -- but yeah, go, at least to get decen pain meds because kidney stones HURT.
posted by humbug at 9:56 AM on January 8, 2022
it's not the only possibility -- diverticulitis is up there also -- but yeah, go, at least to get decen pain meds because kidney stones HURT.
posted by humbug at 9:56 AM on January 8, 2022
Yes, but from your PCP if at all possible and not the ER.
posted by Jacqueline at 2:54 PM on January 8, 2022
posted by Jacqueline at 2:54 PM on January 8, 2022
your symptoms match the ones i’ve had for diverticulitis. diagnosis for me depended on CT scans when symptoms were recent. so get to a doctor ASAP.
i also agree that clinics and hospitals take covid seriously; i’ve felt safer there than, say, the mall.
posted by bruceo at 5:26 PM on January 8, 2022
i also agree that clinics and hospitals take covid seriously; i’ve felt safer there than, say, the mall.
posted by bruceo at 5:26 PM on January 8, 2022
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by redlines at 5:10 AM on January 8, 2022 [18 favorites]