Just woke up vomiting, choking on vomit, not drunk or on drugs, heart beating slightly off. Is this ER worthy?

Makes thread asking if you should go to the ER
Literally everyone says to go to the ER
Doesn't go to the ER
ok

Frame 1: “Hey USA, how’s it going?”
Frame 3: this post
Frame 4: “Jesus Christ…”
- "i hope i don't have to sell my gun collection to survive"
  
  No, just frame 2.

Alright. Way too many socialists in this post who don't know how 'Murica works, god dammit. Here's real advice:
You woke up, so you aren't dead yet. In most cases, that's a good sign. Give it 30 minutes. If you feel better, great! This is where I preposterously tell you to follow up with your family doctor and we both have a good chuckle.
(Edit to explain: we have no idea who our family doctor is and we haven't been there in so long we would be considered a new patient.)
If you don't feel better, might well give it another hour. Most of the damage from a heart attack or stroke is done in the first 30 minutes, so you're probably not going to get any worse.
If you're still not dead after that, you're probably clear to make it through the weekend.
Next question is do you have sick leave? If not, congratulations, you're fine! If you do have sick leave, go ahead and make an appointment first thing Monday. They won't do anything, just send you for labs, maybe or just leave that part to the specialist they will refer you to.
So now it's 6 weeks later and the specialist is calling to confirm the appointment you're forgotten about. Do you feel better or are you out of sick leave? Congratulations, you're fine.
Next, is your deductible over 10% of your annual income? (5% if it's after Nov.15. You're gonna wind up paying that whole thing for diagnostic tests this year and the actual treatment will hit you after Jan 1 and you're double fucked.) If it is, congratulations, you're fine!
If you reach this point, you probably are in need of medical attention and can afford it. Congratulations on getting the help you need.
Bask in the superiority of the best healthcare in the world, you European nancies!
Obviously the tone is meant to be humorous, but this is basically the reality. The only thing I've omitted is that you can just go to the hospital and get the treatment you need and then avoid answering unknown numbers for 7 years. I have yet to see anyone sued over medical debt.
- Its actually funny (in a fucked up way, that is), because for appointments, you have to pre-pay, so if you are already bankrupt, you might as well just go to the ER where you do not have to pre-pay.
  
  Pre-pay for PCP and Specialist visits? What is this plan you are on?!
- I have yet to see anyone sued over medical debt.
  If you're in my area they sue you without telling you and it goes straight to garnish out of your paycheck. I had to spend a better part of a decade committing fraud just to keep enough money to pay for rent and food.

Yeah this is hospital visit worthy. Please seek medical attention
- Are you sure? It could just be food poisoning. I ate a lot of candy earlier before sleep.
  I want real world answer, not "always seek medical care answer."
  I can risk a 20 percent chance of death to avoid medical bills.
  
  It sounds like heart attack symptoms. It is worth seeing atleast a clinic
  
  Or just don't pay the bills and debt is gone in 7 years 🤷‍♂️
  What do you even got to lose?
  
  A twenty percent chance of death is 1 in 5. That’s insanely high. That’s like if you chose to walk through 5 doors in your house and one of them kills you. You should always go to the emergency room if you have symptoms like this.

I suppose this person needs some advice from someone who actually lives in that hellhole and can judge if its not better to just die instead of fucking up the inheritance by going to the ER.
This is the best anticapitalist propaganda I have ever seen and its not even intentional.
To everyone who thinks this is a worthy system: i wont piss on you if you're on fire.

What the heck, how is this a question at all? Dude you need to get help asap!
- I live in the US
  We have to weigh the cost of a medical visit versus the likelihood it's nothing
  If it's food poisoning and I overreact, that's a 20K overreaction in the US
  
  Everyone who downvoted this can get fucked with a cheese grater and no reach around. This is how America works. Do some research.

USA, USA, USA!

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.
- Welcome to like more than 50% of the world.
  This entire fucking planet is a dystopia.
  
  America is probably the reason those other places don't have health care as well.

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.
- some cops can be pretty panicky, paranoid weirdos like that, or sometimes just spiteful.
  And this is why we never want the police involved.

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.
- If they ask for social just refuse to give it. You don’t even need to give them your real name. They still must treat you.
  The last time I was in an American ER they asked for my social before starting to work on me. I told them, very angrily, that I will never give them that info because the last time I did, and paid my bill, it still showed up on my credit report as a collection. It took months to remove. The nurse asking me said okay with no further problems. They began treatment immediately.
- Unless it’s a red state and you have a baby in your belly. Then they will absofuckinglutely let you die.
  EDIT: A word

Seek medical attention now!
Your life is worth much more than the price for emergency care <3
Seek medical attention now!
- Yeah bro being alive is so worthy, who's going to pay for my landlord's vacations if I die? Who's going to slave away 12h a day lifting heavy shit 😢 Y'all can have this life I'll have the next one
  
  Sorry bud, you only get one.
  
  It's very much worth it imo. I get to kiss girls and enjoy the beauty of the world and help those I care for

RIP I guess. Hopefully you don't reincarnate into a poor girl in a third world country.
- At least poor girls in third world countries have free healthcare. Not good but free
  
  Not wrong.

Might be a heart attack
- Yup. Classic heart attacks symptoms for a woman, actually. But since they're ignoring medical advice I'm assuming they're a dude.
  
  That last line hits so hard

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.
- Heart issues? Chest pain?! They're not touching OP with a ten-foot frog, straight to the ER is all they will say.
  
  You're not wrong, but I would rather OP seek any qualified medical care than none, even if all they do is refer them to the ER.

Hope you're doing better now. As someone who works in the medical field, it can be a real removed to navigate everything.
For the future: Nobody here knows your baseline. If you tell any clinical medical worker you have had chest pain followed by difficulty breathing and vomiting they're very likely to tell you to go to the ED/ER (Emergency Department / Room). Speaking for myself only, that would depend how stable I feel following the vomiting incident and if the chest pain persisted, and baseline conditions and history (e.g., do you have a history of hypertension, high cholesterol, overweight, etc.? When was your last physical exam?).
We also don't know the full context on what you mean by couldn't breathe and feeling like you could die. For example, did you have a major GERD / Acid-Reflux incident (could explain mild chest pain)? Did you eat something and have an allergic anaphylactic reaction followed by a surge of adrenaline from your fear of death and a panic attack followed by vomiting? Have you had sinus congestion say from a cold and a glob of postnasal drip obstructing your airways? Do you take drugs? And yes, it's possible you also had a heart attack.
Worth noting: Urgent Care has limited resources beyond an X-ray machine, usually. The moment you mention chest pain, they'll hook you up to an ECG to take a reading. If your vital signs are okay (blood pressure, SPO2, heart-rate, temperature) and your ECG reads no active heart attack, then they might just refer you to a cardiologist follow-up. If on the other hand there are signals of a recent or active heart attack, they will pretty much demand you get loaded up into an ambulance and send you to the nearest hospital with a cath lab (due to liability on themselves). You'll thus be triple-dipping costs from urgent care, ambulance, and hospital when you might've been better off going straight to the ER.
ER will be a higher co-pay with insurance and absurdly costly without (but there are options, some ethical some not surrounding this). The good news is unlike Urgent Care, they cannot refuse treatment based on lack of insurance, if that's your predicament. Urgent Care will.
Also when you call 911 for a medical emergency, police aren't going to be involved. ACAB rhetoric aside, DO NOT REFUSE TO CALL 911 BECAUSE OF THIS. The moment the dispatcher sees this is a medical emergency, nearby fire departments or ambulances will be notified.

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.
- or any impact on credit
  Unfortunately I think the regulation that would have made that the case was stopped by the Trump administration
  https://www.npr.org/2025/05/26/nx-s1-5406799/cfpbs-medical-debt-credit-report-lawsuit (arc)
  
  Doesn't look likes it's passed yet, but that isn't good news.

I know its late for this but you can also start with Urgent Care. With insurance it could be a fairly cheap copay. They will advise on what to do next. You could have something like the flu (i had the flu and it fucked me all sorts of up) and theyd just prescribe you some medicine and rest
- Urgent Care (or possibly insurance, I can't recall) will charge you more if they deem the situation "not urgent."
  
  Yea likely insurance, but it would likely still be cheaper than an ER visit
- Ironically, if your situation is "Urgent", you do not go to an "Urgent Care". Its a misnomer.
  I had chest pains and the Urgent Care I went to just told me to go to an ER. I'm like... 🧐 they didn't have blood tests lmfao. "Urgent" Care is for flu and like ear infections, not for a fucking heart attack or gasterointestinal problems.
  Edit: It turned out to be fucking anxiety. Lmfao I hate myself. I was on my parent's insurance so they covered most of it.
  
  Glad you went. I worked with a healthy young guy, he was like 26 at the time, and he had a heart attack on shift. It can happen to anyone.
  Oh and the lovely hospital made him wait hours to be seen because they thought he was too young for a heart attack.

this could be a number of things, some of which can be fatal. lab tests or imaging for these things are cheap, but only available at hospital and what else do you expect from random internet people than "haul your ass to hospital and ask someone irl that actually knows"

You have medical. Get checked out. Said the guy who hates going to doctors / hospitals. Be safe.

Can you ask somebody to drive you?
- No
  I could just get a cab
  The point is the ER costs a lot
  
  Sorry that I don't understand the financial situation in your country.
  But I think your health situation absolutely needs some professional to have at least a thorough look. Today.

Damn... Sounds like literally you just had heart attack...

So, are you still alive?

Sounds like heat illness. Did you sleep too hot?

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

Go to the ER. As someone with heart problems herself I always say that you only have one heart so I would absolutely get it checked out. At least get an ECG workup done. Nausea and vomiting alongside an irregular heartbeat can be a symptom of atrial fibrillation which would be confirmed with an ECG. I hate to worry people but the symptoms you mentioned can also be a sign of a heart attack and the longer that goes on the more damage this could be doing to your heart. Get to the hospital ASAP!

Do urgent care instead, if that's an option where you are.
Urgent Care vs. ER

Taxi to ER. No medical office will touch you having complained of, even mild, chest pain and a weird feeling heart. Been there, done that. Walk in the ER talking of chest pain, and say that first!, they will throw you in a room and attach an EKG. Been there, done that.
I don't mean to alarm you, but taken together those symptoms smell like a mild heart attack. By some voodoo I don't understand, the EKG can tell, even if the event is not happening in the moment.
I say no medical office will touch you, but first time my doc sent me to the ER, second time they whipped out a portable EKG. Times change, I may be wrong.

Kind of sounds like a magnesium deficiency. My buddy had that exact same thing happen to him. Got really weak too.
Get it looked at soon, for sure!

Sounds like a seizure. Of what kind, dunno. If it's candy, might be diabetes.
It's just guesswork though. Only a doctor visit will say for sure.

Found the American... 🥴
- I am in the US
  Nice work, detective.
  
  When you remove all that is impossible, whatever remains, must be the truth

Yeah, I think I'll just go back to sleep and risk death. Tired of being fuxked over by hospitals, society, everyone. If I die, so be it. Peace out.
- Hope ya didn't die.
  For those in a similar situation the correct answer is Uber to a hospital ER. Do not use stand alone ERs. Chest pain gets ya to the front of the line.
  
  This. They'll hook you up immediately to an ECG to see the state of your heart in the moment and draw blood for labs to check for signs of a recent heart attack or clot issue (trops, d-dimer, etc.). If ischemic heart attack, you'll be rushed to cath lab. Urgent Care doesn't have the resources to do this and will likely re-route to a hospital anyway, charging you separately in addition.