There's this horrible burning feeling in my throat... what's wrong?

Whad you eat?

@Val123 ; Life cereal. xD

Hmmm. How long after you ate the cereal did it start?

It was actually before.

M. So. What did you eat before the cereal, and how long before?

It’s probably heartburn/acid reflux. I used to never get it, but now it’s a daily occurrence. I rely on Rolaids chews. They help immensely.

It’s your conscience boiling up inside of you and bubbling out. (I know what you did… in Spain)

Sounds like heartburn. Take a tums and wait it out. If it persists, see a doctor. It could be something more serious.

This is another vote for heartburn/acid reflux. They can happen together and be quite painful. Take an antacid to help a bit. And watch what you eat to cause the problem.

SWINE FLU!

Have you been near Bill Clinton recently?~

Good Grief, get off the computer and go to the emergency room now,

Since you’re only 18, I doubt it is a heart attack, probably just indigestion. I always take and antacid and drink a glass of milk, but you said you had cereal so I assume you had milk on it?

Any other symptoms, pain or tightness in chest, or arms or shoulders? Breathing okay?

@YARNLADY Maybe she doesn’t have insurance.

@Val123 Emergency rooms are required to treat every person who comes in without any regard to their ability to pay.

@YARNLADY Of course that is true. But you still wind up with a huge, $1000 bill, just for walking in the door of an ER. Then you have collection agents coming after you, lawsuits getting filed, legal judgments against you, checking accounts getting garnished, credit report getting clobbered. When you don’t have insurance you just want to be damn sure it’s serious. You wouldn’t want to go, and incur a bill like that, that you can’t pay, just to find out it’s only gas and will go away by itself in a day.

BTW, how are you today @troubleinharlem ??

tell me about it, i’m in that debt collection situation right now for a medical emergency, true emergency, that I had to go to ER for with no insurance, ick

When I worked in a hospital, there was a special advisor to help make arrangements for people did not have insurance and could not pay.

My sister worked in a collection office, and she said the only people who have garnishments are those who do not communicate with the one they own the money to, and then the courts got involved.

I cannot speak from personal experience, but surely the problem of payment can be resolved by keeping in touch with the people to whom the money is owed.

@YARNLADY Well I can say it is completely a bunch load of bull (not you, lol, but the idea that you can always work something out).

For us, we tried the program that helps people make arrangements. Sorry but that is only for people who fit certain criteria. Argh! (although it did work for me once and also worked for family members so it should always be looked into).

Also for me the collection office was an arse. They wanted me to pay more than I could afford (even when I compromised to pay more than I could afford they wanted more) AND they wanted it before I got my check. They sent me to collections the next day, jerks. I only wanted one freaking day to get my paycheck. After sending it off to the court they usually will only accept the lump sum which of course if we couldn’t make the payments they wanted then we couldn’t find money for the lump sum.

Now I am quite responsible with my income and by no means try to skirt the system or get things for free. So I have no problem saying that the system is messed up in regards to medical debt.

In conclusion, although in many cases you can resolve issues by being responsible and exploring options, it is not always the case.

@YARNLADY As as addition to @RedPowerLady, payment arrangements really only work for those who have a steady, sure income that exceeds their outgo. If you know how much your check is, and you’re stable, you can put a pencil to it and say, “OK, I can cut back here and give you guys $50 a month.” But so many people are living on the edge as it is, barely able to pay the necessities to begin with, which is why you don’t have insurance to begin with. You can’t PULL $50 a month out of the budget. Thing is, you don’t want to incur a giant bill unless it’s a real emergency, and not just heartburn. Because gosh…you could go running to the ER twice a month for little things that turn out to be heartburn!

@Val123 I just can’t forget what happened to Jim Henson, because he couldn’t go running to the doctor for every little sniffle, even though he did have the money. I really miss him.

@YARNLADY damn miss piggy killed him with swine flu.