Dumb question - seeking medical care (Annandale, Centreville: insurance, house, pharmacies)

[seiketsu]

I've felt like dog poo for the past week. It looks like my strategy of waiting for it to run its course is not really working out, and I can't afford to miss more work. So I want to go to the doctor. Somehow, I've managed to live here for a couple of years without ever needing medical attention. I'm working down the list of doctors from my insurance, but no one seems interested in a new patient or has appointments available within the next couple of days.

I don't need to go to the emergency room. I also don't want to wait a month for an appointment. I think I might need a bit more attention than one of those CVS walk-in clinics. I'm doing a google search for urgent care centers, but is there a better option? How on earth did I make it so far in life without ever learning how to find a doctor?

[ViennaSausages]

Oh the drama. Just go over to Inova Urgent Care and be done with it.

[seiketsu]

Thanks. No Inova Urgent Care near me. I'm super frustrated because I've spent the past two hours on the phone, even called Inova for physician referrals with immediate availability, and the earliest actual appointment I could get is next week. I'm going to go to CVS after all and let them direct me to the ER if it looks like I'll need more than simple antibiotics.

[CaliTerp07]

The CVS nurse practitioners have always been really helpful when I've been sick. I

[spencgr]

Originally Posted by seiketsu

Thanks. No Inova Urgent Care near me. I'm super frustrated because I've spent the past two hours on the phone, even called Inova for physician referrals with immediate availability, and the earliest actual appointment I could get is next week. I'm going to go to CVS after all and let them direct me to the ER if it looks like I'll need more than simple antibiotics.

While I am sorry you are not feeling well, you are essentially saying that you are frustrated with any doctor who won't drop everything (and other patients) to see you because of your lack of planning and procrastination in calling them.

[Forehead]

Try to find a Patient First or something similar, some of them have pharmacies on site.

[Flamingo13]

As far as I know, there are still those urgent care places (not hospital affiliates). You don't say what area you are in.

[car54]

Originally Posted by Flamingo13

As far as I know, there are still those urgent care places (not hospital affiliates). You don't say what area you are in.

Yes, they are still around. A year or so ago, I felt awful and my regular doc was out of town. So I went to the urgent care place near my house (LRT in Annandale) and the doc said he thought I had pneumonia. He suggested I go get a chest X-ray, but also gave me a rx for a heavy-duty antibiotic. I went to Inova Fairfax and the X-ray confirmed the diagnosis....and they prescribed a full course of the same drug that the urgent care doc prescribed.

Here's the kicker, the doctor from the urgent care PERSONALLY called me a couple times to ask how I was doing. I have NEVER had a doctor do that, EVER !!! I hope he wasn't just passing through, because I will definitely go there the next time...

[ChristineVA]

When I first moved to Woodbridge, I didn't have a GP. I got a sore throat/fever and had company coming. So I ran to an independent urgent care. The doctor there diagnosed me with a virus, but also during her exam noted that my thyroid felt enlarged. She urged me to find a doctor and pursue further. I did that and learned I had thyroid cancer. I went back to her about a year later and thanked her for being so thorough. I had been to a few other doctors not too long before her and no one said a word. She told me she had felt numerous "weird" thyroids and about 5-6 of them turned out to be cancer. She ended up leaving there and going to work for an Inova Urgent Care in Centreville.

Some of those docs can be very good.

[Dazed&Confused]

I concur. I work for a doctors office and use Inova Urgent Care myself.