When in doubt, get it checked out.

But doctors are intellectually lazy assholes who are paid to not believe you. What do you do then?

I once had ear pain, throat pain, fatigue, cognitive difficulties and other symptoms of an upper respiratory tract infection after sex. I went to an urgent care center, where they saw that my ear was infected and prescribed 10 days of Augmentin. The symptoms persisted afterwards, and I strongly suspected that the infection was not merely in my ear/throat. I then went to my doctor, who told me I was having an STD scare. I made him take a throat culture, which grew an organism normally found in mucusal tissue. He told me it was all in my head and refused to run any more tests.

And he was right, because after going to several more doctors (spending over 1k dollars) they found this same organism in my cerebrospinal fluid and synovial fluid, where it was not supposed to be. It was in my head, literally, because it was an upper respiratory tract infection that disseminated to my spine and joints. After several weeks of antibiotics I was fine, but I lost six months of my life to asshole doctors who wouldn't believe me. If I could have written myself my own scripts I could have been cured within a month for less than $30.

Why are doctors such stupid, arrogant, torturous assholes? What do you do when you are better at diagnosing yourself than they are? Will they ever be more than a necessary evil?