Posted by
Claire
18 yrs ago
What are the other medications for? Perhaps they only require a 3-day course, or perhaps the doctor added the additional ones because HK patients are not happy unless they get half a dozen little bags of pills for every sniffle.
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I have been told by my HK friends that if they don't receive all the little bags the doctor is worried they will go to another doctor who will give them lots of little bags. But they are quite happy to pay for paracetamol and vit-C tablets at doctors' clinics prices.
I hail from the UK and no one goes to the doctor's for a cold which surprises my HK friends and colleagues. I have paracetamol at home and can tell myself to get some rest and drink plenty of fluids. For some other things I'll ask the pharmacist, which we do in the UK too as it saves waiting at the doctor's for a couple of hours just for a cough.
I even have a copy of MIMS (ok it's 2004 but still relevant) at home and I double check everything. It's very handy for finding generic (cheaper) alternatives.
Hope your throat feels better soon and you can try out your "spices" recipes.
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Pumpkin, LOL! Antibiotics for a cold! And they wonder why bugs are becoming drug-resistant.
I have found Coldrex is good too. OK perhaps a tad more expensive than straight Panadol, but it has a touch of Vit C and caffeine (for getting thru the work day) in it. To stop a cold at the beginning I (and very one I have passed a bottle on to) uses Vira 38. Yucky Chinese medicine but it works.
green> Check whether your medications are available over the counter. So many are here. I use a couple of medications which are only available on prescription back in the UK, but I can get both here OTC. My fav pharmacy suggested a generic alternative for one which is an expensive 'brand' and the generic is 1/4 of the price!
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The truth remains that private doctors in HK are businessmen. They will try to get you to come for as many visits as possible so as you at least pay for another consultation.
A good example is when they prescribe anti-biotics. Instead of giving you the full course, they only prescribe a partial couse where if you fail to go back, there is a chance of developing antibiotic resistance.
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First of all, why are you seeing a doctor for a cold or a sore throat? It is a waste of time for you AND the doctor.
However, if it only seems like a cold (I am giving you the benefit of a doubt and assuming that it is not a rountine sore throat), then followup, not antibiotics is the most important.
The MOST imortant thing about medical care is followup. Too often overlooked by the general public. Most of the horror stories that you hear results from lack of followup, not giving the wrong drug.
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Well, if it's strep it won't get better without the antibiotic . . . but you have to take the full course. Is three days the full course? For some antibiotics, it is. Maybe this is a question for the doctor who saw you!
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green> Naproxen tablets by manufacturers Mova and Vickmans are both listed in MIMS Hong Kong. There are a number of others too. The Mova ones come in 250mg, 375mg and 500mg tabs. They might be available OTC, try a well-stocked pharmacy.
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Oops, just realised the two I mentioned above are NOT naproxen NA. Ones with naproxen NA are:
Apo-Napro-Na tab
Noflam-N tab
Soden tab
All come in 275mg tabs.
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1. You mentioned no antibiotics - just anti-inflammatories. We assume AB, but is that right?
2. Why go at all? If it is a "simple" infection, most likely viral, then it will settle quickly. If it is not simple, then you should be reviewed to see if the supposed "viral" infection is not, or has not become, bacterial.
3. If you do wish to treat yourself (and you should, if you are happy it is a simple self-limiting infection, not something else) then anti-inflammatories are OK such as naproxen. But they can cause gastrointestinal bleeds. Or paracetamol, but you lengthen the illness if you shorten the fever. Avoid aspirin if you are treating a child.
Why not go a more supportive complementary way with echinacea, zinc and steram inhalations with menthol/eucalyptus, and tea with honey, lemon and ginger for the sore throat and cough?
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People have to go to the doctor for trivial things as most companies here demand a doctor's note for sick leave. So, if I have a migraine, for example (or a serious cold, or period pain, or whatever), and know I cannot work, instead of my employers accepting that I am an adult who can make that decision, they require that I go and sit in a doctor's waiting room for 2 hours, surrounded by even sicker people, before coming back with a piece of paper that says I can't work. And frankly, after all that fuss I'm going to ask for two days off, whilst if they'd trusted me I might have just taken one. Stupid system.
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