Thank you to 2nd.MD for providing me with a $200 stipend to test-drive this revolutionary online medical service. 
A couple weeks ago, I was asked to try a new online service called 2nd MD. It’s a service that provides a consultation with a medical specialist of your choosing. Using face-to-face video chat, you get to chat with a specialist about your medical concerns. I was pretty intrigued with this idea for a couple of reasons. First, because making a doctor’s appointment is always stressful for me. It’s hard to find a window where I am without the kids, and it always seems to eat up half of the day, between driving there and sitting in the waiting room. I’ve been dealing with health stuff since October and yet still couldn’t seem to find the time to get in for an appointment. It also doesn’t help that my doctor’s office always seems to be scheduling appointments several months out. I also like the idea of 2nd MD because, at present, Mark and I do not have traditional health insurance. The kids do, but the two of us are using a co-op that really only activates in the case of a catastrophic health crisis. We pay cash for most minor issues, and I really like that the pricing on 2nd MD is up-front. As a cash-paying client, I’ve found it really frustrating to never know what I’m going to pay for a 20-minute appointment. I was also anxious to try 2nd MD for personal reasons. As I mentioned, I’ve been struggling with my health since October. I have always had asthma and allergy issues, but this year it got to the point where I was barely functioning for several days a week. I was in an endless cycle of allergies that triggered post-nasal drip, that triggered nausea, that triggered a migraine. I felt like I had the flu for several months. Yet, I was having a hard time finding a doctor who really took this seriously. I’d leave the office with a prescription, but never with an explanation of why this happens to me every fall and what I can do to prevent it. I was excited to try 2nd MD, and immediately went looking for a specialist in allergies. I was surprised at the selection of doctors on 2nd MD. Most of them appeared to be prominent specialists in their fields – many of them employed at nationally-recognized hospitals, and a number of them department heads. I made an appointment with Dr. Kaufman – a board-certified Internal Medicine, Allergy and Immunology specialist who practices in New York. His credentials looked ideal and I was hopeful that he could offer me some good feedback. I’ve mentioned before my disdain for making phone calls, so being able to make an appointment online was pretty ideal. As the appointment time came, I loved that I could just have the kids watching a video in the next room instead of paying for a babysitter. There was no waiting room time – we started right on time. Dr. Kaufman was warm and friendly, and was the most knowledgeable doctor I’ve met with in terms of the issues I deal with. He understood what a big deal it was . . . and how debilitating it can be. He explained the environmental AND anatomical issues I’m dealing with (I have a deviated septum) and also gave me some recommendations I’ve not been given before. Namely: I’m going to start on allergy shots and a new cocktail of allergy meds, and also get a cat-scan to investigate my deviated septum further. He took extra time with me even after we hit the 20-minute mark, and made sure all my questions were answered. My experience with 2nd MD was positive overall. I really liked that I could choose a specialist and get upfront pricing. I will most likely use it again, because the time and babysitting money it saved was pretty worth it for me. But aside from the conveniences it offered me, I also like the fact that it allows families with very serious illnesses a way to see a specialist from anywhere in the world. You can check it out in the video below. 2ndMD – Our Story from 2ndMD on Vimeo. Thank you again to 2nd.MD for sponsoring this blog post. Please click here to learn more about 2nd.MD. I was selected for this sponsorship by the Clever Girls Collective. All opinions are my own. #Clever2ndMD #spon
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