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Trying to assemble a healthcare plan -- Where to Start?
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21M | 6'2 | 140 lbs | Asian-American | Non-smoker | Light drinker | Non-drug user

Hi all, apologies in advance for the long post and thanks for your patience. Basically I have a bunch of different health conditions (all undiagnosed), and I want some advice on how to go about getting it all looked at.

My lungs are hyperinflated right now -- I can inhale perfectly fine, but I can't exhale well, which ends up with me randomly suffocating from all the carbon dioxide that gets stuck in my lungs, and being unable to breathe in new oxygen. This got me thinking that I might need to finally get my lungs sorted out once and for all, as this is not really an isolated incident for my lungs.

Respiratory History: I was born with Asthma, and I've needed to use an inhaler on/off for a good half of my life. Even with an active lifestyle playing on a recreational soccer team, my asthma still prevented me from ever getting a sub-8 minute mile time. In the 6th grade, I contracted pneumonia, but it was a mild case and I was still able to do some mild exercise. In freshman year college (start of COVID-19), my right lung partially collapsed, and I had to take steroids antibiotics for a good 3 weeks while feeling like I was dying. Now, as a senior in college, the SAME lung has started hyperinflating.

Skin Problems: So I played soccer (and other sports) for most of my life without much of an issue. In the 10th grade though, I started getting heat rash (google: cholinergic urticaria for a pretty similar image) whenever my blood warms up (whether this be from sports, being out in the sun, working out, or even from being nervous for a presentation or losing a pencil and not being able to find it). Even being in a hot shower gives me an unbearable rash all over my body that makes me want to die for >15 minutes.

Genetics/Heart Problem: When I got my collapsed lung checked out in college, my nurse mentioned that I had most of the symptoms of Marfan Syndrome, a genetic condition affecting the aorta that can be potentially life-threatening and cause my heart to stop suddenly when exercising. This genetic syndrome has never been diagnosed within my parents/further ancestors, but my mother is also from a poor village in China, so there was no one there to test her genetics. Also I am not sure if this is linked to Marfan or not but my ribcage caves inwards, which looks really deformed/messed up and may or may not be adding extra pressure against my heart/lungs.

So what I'm trying to ask... is how should I go about getting everything taken care of? Should I find myself a primary care provider (which I don't have atm), and let them find me all the individual specialists I need (dermatology, heart, lung) or should I schedule appointments at individual specialized clinics myself? I'm 21 years old right now, and so I am very new to all this (my parents have a little bit of experience with the healthcare system, but I want to be responsible for the state of my own health)

(also somewhere down the line I am going to need a colonoscopy done too due to a history of colon cancer in the family)

Thank you so much for your help guys.

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2 years ago