Genuinely don’t know and don’t like 911 since police are involved.

911 dispatcher in the US here

This will vary a lot from one jurisdiction to another, I can really only speak to county I work in

But while in theory every EMS call also gets a police response, probably more than half of them the only action the police take is to tell us “not responding unless requested”

And if they do respond, a lot of time they don’t do much besides sit at the end of the driveway with their lights flashing so the ambulance can find the house easier.

Things like overdoses, assaults, shootings/stabbings, psych emergencies, cardiac arrests, etc. they do of course show up to because they may actually need to do something.

And if you live in a bigger city or rougher part of the suburbs, sometimes they may even take their sweet-ass time getting to those.

And if you live in a rural area, there’s a decent chance you’re covered by some part time or regional police department, or state police/county sheriffs who are stretched way too thin covering a huge area with maybe 2 or 3 officers on duty at any one time, they’re probably not gonna show up in a hurry if at all either.

Like I said, it varies a lot, some towns in my county I can count on police being there before the ambulance (whether or not they actually do anything once they’re there in a different story) and in others the cops don’t give half a fuck unless someone is actively dying.

If you do find yourself calling 911 though, for the love of God, don’t tell them you don’t want police on your medical call, I swear that might be the most surefire way to make sure they do actually show up in a hurry. If that ends up in the notes of the call it makes the cops think you’re hiding something or I don’t know, planning to jump the EMS squad or something, some cops can be pretty panicky, paranoid weirdos like that, or sometimes just spiteful.

Get checked immediately chest pain and vomiting are signs of a heart attack

Seek medical attention now!

Your life is worth much more than the price for emergency care <3

Seek medical attention now!

Go to ER.

In the US, they are required to provide care for actute condition (meaning chronic, aka: along term conditions like cancer or diabeted can be legally ignored), so if you are about to die, they are required by law to stop you from dying.

Worry about the debt later. Or just ignore any invoices/bills… they can’t seize anything if you have no assets, debt is gone in 7 years.

Edit: If they ask for your social, say you forgot. Don’t provide anything other than basic name, birthday, gender, that sort of stuff.

Really sorry you don’t have healthcare! Have you tried the NHS symptoms checker?. You don’t need to be eligible for NHS treatment to use it, you don’t even register. IME they are a bit trigger happy with saying you need to get checked out but it will hopefully give you a steer. Good luck

Found the American… 🥴

You okay?

Consider going to a walk in clinic. If it’s nothing serious, you pay 100-200 and you’re on your way. If you go to the ER and it’s nothing serious, your insurance may deduct you hundreds more (my ER copay is $500 and I have great insurance).

If it is serious, the walk in will tell you to go to the ER. In that case, the insurance may waive the ER copay. While it is true they can’t deny you care, this system of expensive ER copay was presumably put in place to stop people using the ER to provide free care. Check your insurance policy (preferably before you get sick). I believe some places also have free clinics, but I would expect them to be pretty crowded.

Good luck OP. This sounds serious and you need to take care of your health. Try to find a way you can at least get some real qualified medical advice, even if you seemingly recovered this time.

RIP I guess. Hopefully you don’t reincarnate into a poor girl in a third world country.

Sounds almost identical to my panic attacks. But im no dr, go see one if you don’t feel better

Sounds like heat illness. Did you sleep too hot?

Welcome to America. Where medical advice is asked to a bunch of weebs on the internet over going to the fucking hospital when you feel ill because of money concerns… I hate it here.

I am in the US, so financial calculations need to be factored in.

God I fucking hate what capitalism has done to what should be basic human rights.

Medical debt in the US is an unsecured debt. You won’t be thrown in jail or any impact on credit if it takes you forever to pay it off. Go to the emergency room and ask for a payment plan when the bills due. Then, do what you wish with the first sentence I wrote.

I’ve had something similar other than the heart rate stuff, and like top comment says it was acid reflux. But if an irregular heart rhythm persists more than you have felt before, then absolutely go!