

Short answer is I’ve been to urgent care twice, once in my early twenties for pneumonia and once a couple years ago for a fungal ear infection that a nurse practitioner was able to flush out. Other than that, just dental visits and eye exams.
It’s not necessarily an aversion (though I’m wary of pharmaceutical kickbacks leading to over-medication). It’s mostly the way all these regular responsibilities stack up (oil changes, DMV, dishes, laundry, etc), doctor’s appointments are the thing where I don’t see immediate consequences for not doing. But I recognize that I’ve finally encountered a medical issue that requires deeper examination and treatment than I can do on my own. And I’m just getting to that age where I need to do more preventative checks. Mostly right now I’m trying to see if there’s anything I can do to keep any potential issue from getting worse between now and the time I have insurance again.
But I agree. It will be nice to have a GP even if just so I don’t have to feel so alone in my healthcare.
Just mild nearsightnedness, not the kind of impairment you would expect to lead to non-24. I think every case is a bit different, and I’m probably not the best person to ask what with my lack of professional diagnosis.
But for me, I think it could have some relation to ADHD. In particular, I tend to “sleep procrastinate”. I can lie in bed for hours and hours without feeling tired, because my brain is telling me, “You’re not done with your day yet.”
Typically this means doing a collection of self-serving things (video games, movies, etc) for the purposes of de-stressing, and hopefully also the life maintenance things I should be doing, including work. And after all of this, I tend to feel like my day is just starting - now that I’ve gotten all of those things out of the way, I can finally think about the passion projects that might allow me to escape the rat race altogether, and maybe even change the system for the better. For me, it comes down to this doubt as to whether there will be a place for me in the world, come 5 or 10 years from now. The more I feel like I’m “escaping” the system, the less stress I feel in my day, the more complete I feel when it’s time to sleep. But it’s a work in progress.
So, if I had to guess based on personal experience, I would think there could be some near-constant stressor that has simply always been part of your mom’s life, and if that thing were to be addressed (or maybe therapy to figure out what the root even is), the symptoms could lesson. But of course, this is highly specific to my own personal experience (which I am still struggling to understand), and your mom’s ailment could be from an entirely different cause. What I have heard from internet research is that it’s a lot rarer in sighted people but still definitely does happen. And may have another ailment as the root cause (such as how ADHD can disrupt circadian rhythm in general).
And thanks for the tip on seeking the more rural urgent care facilities. Without being too specific about region, in my area, that would definitely be applicable. Right now, I have no aches or pains, and since prostate stones can be caused by temporary bacteria infections, it’s entirely possible it just went away. An ultrasound would definitely be the right move for me though. I’m just hoping that I continue to feel fine until I have good insurance again, just because that seems easiest. I’m lucky to have decent social services where I am should anything truly urgent occur. But it’s definitely a good reminder to make health a priority over work when I am employed.
And while a smidge embarrassing, I appreciate being on a small-scale social media network like this where I can randomly discuss my health issues on a meme thread. Have to remind myself that I haven’t really discussed my health with anyone as an adult, and it’s probably something that men in general could stand to get more used to doing.