Avoiding Non Productive Doctor visits

I have lived with constant pain since 2013, and I rarely seek medical help. I have never gotten any firm answers, and I have never gotten any long term relief or any sort of cure, so, what is the point? I always ask myself these questions when I am dealing with a particularly bad episode of pain: Will the two to three hours I spend on a trip and visit to a doctor (This includes travel and waiting time) result in a guaranteed imrpovement in my condition? (Which, by the way, is some form of arthritis according to the last doctors visit.) Will I end up hurting worse after the visit than before due to the rigors of simply getting there and the things that may ensue from being there? Will the doctor want to stick me with a needle? (I have a pathological fear of needles that I have lost my control over.) If I am prescribed a pharmaceutical, will it improve anything, or will it add to my problems? Some people power through initial adjustment periods to new pharmaceuticals and do indeed feel better. Experience has taught me that this is not for my body. Have I done everything for myself right here at home that I can possibly think of doing? Hmmm. This one can be endless and multifaceted depending on how creative I get. I believe that my arthritis is actually not all that bad, after reading numerous accounts of the struggles of others. I believe that I can keep on existing and doing what I can do without taking hours away from time with my family, projects, and Netflix in order to obtain a more definitive diagnosis and a treatment regimen that might very well make my quality of life much worse. After all, I am writing this, despite my sore wrists and hands. (Typing peckishly is ever so mush better than trying to write with a pen!) After I write this, I am going to immerse myself in pleasantly hot water for some home hydrotherapy, and I am going to eat 1/4 teaspoon of some nice Bali kratom. I am going to wash the kratom down with some ginger infused iced tea. I believe this to be equally if not more effective than 800 mg of Naprosyn, and so far, I have not suffered any side effects that make the treatment as unpleasant as the pain. I have put my tolerance threshold for seeking more medical care as this: If I cannot find a way to void my bladder or bowels unassisted, If I cannot find a way to feed myself without assistance, If I cannot keep from screaming from the pain when I try to move a limb: Then somebody can call an ambulance. Standing up to pee doesn't count, yelping from brief pain spikes doesn't count, and having only one hand to eat with doesn't count.  Waking up in pain every single night from my annoying spine doesn't count. When my feet act up, I avoid walking and standing outside of my little job, and that is life. It's the treatment that works. When my feet subside, which they still do (and I am VERY grateful) I use them more. Not everyone with these ailments can manage them like this, and I am grateful that I can. My garden is not so big, but it is full of butterflies and bees and hummingbirds. My herbs have grown wild and rampant through less harvesting, and it is good that I can pick them as needed.  I don't have to be pain free to teach Algebra and Zoology, etc. to my daughter. I just have to be pain tolerant. My condition is mild. I am grateful and I will spend my time wisely.