Do you reckon doctors hold a monopoly over our health?

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Okay, I'm very frustrated. In the last half year or so I seemed to have decreased health, and recently tried to write down several specific symptoms - this is because when I went to doctors in the past with a single or couple of symptoms they practically did nothing. There's this one who just smiles at me and I can barely understand him, though that might be due to social ineptness, which of course I tried not to discriminate against for obvious reasons.

But the list seemed to overwhelm him or something... he glanced at it mostly, for about ten seconds, and then only addressed the issue about nose blockage (and without checking for anything they just immediately prescribe sprays which don't seem to work). What should I have done, *forced* him to analyze it for longer? I was hoping that through a collection of symptoms they might come to some conclusion.
Today I was researching what possible condition might have cold/hot fluctuations as a symptom (which, of course, is dishearteningly generic) and found out that pneumonia might be one. I'm not obsessed about having that now or anything, but what if I did (and hot/cold being one of the symptoms he simply glanced over), and it becomes much worse... would I be able to get compensation or something for their complete oversight? (That is, of course, if I don't simply die.)

Anyway, point is, all the people in this profession seem to go through their education knowing only the very basics, and if I had their equipment I bet I could do much better for myself. But, no, they won't even prescribe some things (that are even over-the-counter in other countries, so can't exactly be potent) that might help, and ultimately I'm left feeling utterly hopeless (although, since that's the vibe I get from nearly every other societal institution I'm not sure if it's just me). I mean, if a doctor simply smiles at you and talks incoherently even after presenting them with a list, something is wrong with the world, right?

What did Hippocrates say, again? Was it "have no understanding of anything relevant to the person, ironically treat them as if they know nothing, and finally crush any possible hope they might have"? Because it sure feels like it.

Unfortunately a list of several symptoms won't necessarily flag as a specific syndrome. I would advise you to go in with a short list of one or two of the most severe symptoms to give focus and steer the doctor towards tests to do, but you already did that.

Maybe if you take your symptoms to health message boards, your list might flag for somebody else who had a similar list. You will have to narrow it down with google searches to figure out what health message boards would be the most fruitful. After all, many of the people on WP wound up on WP just that way: they researched their symptoms (or character traits or whatever you want to call it), thought Aspergers seemed like a reasonable guess, and wound up on here listing their symptoms to see if they flagged as Aspergers (all those posts on the General board saying "does this sound like Aspergers?"). The same process can work with other conditions. It's best to see a doctor but you already did that several times.

Enter your symptoms into google and see where that takes you. If it takes you to any health message boards, maybe somebody on one of these boards will have a list that matches yours and will be able to say, "I have those same symptoms and I have X and here's how I'm treating it". It's worth a shot.

It probably won't wind up being pneumonia. That's something that presents with symptoms that a doctor could pick up easily without tests.

If it really is pneumonia, then you could be dead before you find out, unless you are examined and treated by a trained and licensed medical-care professional.