Can you tell the difference between God and a Doc ? God knows he's not a Doc.
I am sure that same joke referenced a pilot too
Basically, although we don't always want to succumb to paying someone to tell us we have a sinus infection " ummm yeah doc, i could have told you that and saved myself the 200usd bill" However.... being in the medical field I can tell you this:
"Is there an easy way to tell the difference between a 'Strep' and a virus? So that I can take this or another antibiotic with confidence."
You need a strep test. They need to do a throat culture. Get it done. When it comes to any type of chest soreness, lung and throat, you need some labs done (blood drawn) and an Xray. In life, airway is number 1. If you have an infection, then fine, let it be treated. But it could be something else and unfortunately, it can't be diagnosed or treated in the cockpit
My mother, a good friend and others I have seen come into the ER treated themselves at home for "chest cold" " "pneumonia" in which they self medicated with left over or otc antibiotics who actually had lung cancer. I hope you're better soon !!