And if I have no income? I'm not married so my boyfriend's income isn't technically my income.

I'm not sure if we have a department like that or not. We probably do? If they're common, I mean. If they're not common, then no. I'm sure we don't. I live in an INCREDIBLY rural area where all the "towns" are villages so, yeah. We don't have a lot of modern conveniences, it seems.

I have no income, either. My college is being paid by the board of education. I'm living with my mother who's on disability. Yeah, rolling in dough. XP

Anyway, even rural areas should have a county health department. Just look and see and ask. Visit the county seat's government building and inquire there.

google planned parenthood, an american-based organization geared towards the sexual health of young women who also treats men, that provides healthcare at a sliding scale. there may be one in your area.

a local health department is also a great low-cost option.

either way, there are payment plans. even if you don't have money, you can pay $5 a month to get a doctor's bill taken care of. doctor's offices will work with you, they have to.


nothing is worth more than your health. it is worth the cost. trust me!




if you absolutely can't find anything other than a real doctor, though it's not the best idea, it's still an option: do what i've done when i've been totally broke and had to go to the ER. just go. and dont pay the bill. if you cant' pay it, you cant freaking pay it. the doctor will be the same way. you'll get a shit ton of calls for a long time. but dodging collectors isn't the hardest thing in the world to do. yeah my credit's shit. but i've been poor and desperate for healthcare before. it doesn't really bother me.

at least i got my health back on track. thats what really matters.

Trust me. I know it's concerning. I worry about myself all the time, especially considering I've had a history of ovarian cysts (or what we believe to be them). I would often get pains down there and I believe they've exploded before, such as the time I was on the bus in high school and burst into tears because of the sudden terrible pain after having days of lesser pain. I was supposed to get birth control to help control them right before the government took my insurance away because I was 18 and no longer important. Thankfully, I haven't really had them since then. I could really have used (and can use) that birth control, though.

@ aliceinthehole: I know about the whole ER thing, trust me. I have panic attacks that sometimes result in actual physical pain. A few years ago, I was going through a particularly bad time in my life and the pain in my chest spread farther through my body to the point where I could not even breathe properly, let alone move. I literally had to be lifted up from lying down positions and walked everywhere because I could not move. Despite my begging my sister not to call because I couldn't afford it, she did and so now I've got a $900 ambulance bill that has hardly been whittled down, on top of the hospital bills. Not to mention, the various hospital and emergency room bills when I had a combination of strep throat and mono and I couldn't eat or breathe anymore (I lost, like, seven pounds in a few days). No one could tell me what was wrong with me or fix it so I had to go to three different places.