Just A Thought

[ladysprite]

The next time I go to the doctor with a nasty upper respiratory infection and he tells me not to take over-the-counter remedies because they're all lousy and ineffective, and that instead I should take his six-page handout of home remedies, would someone please remind me to smile nicely, nod, and then go home and take the damn sudafed anyway?

I'm an open-minded girl, and I'm sure that many of the home remedies are good ideas - I'm a big fan of tea with honey and lemon, and I know to drink lots of water and soup, and I've got a stash of rose hip tea and willowbark tea just because. But spending four hours unable to breathe reliably while contemplating his instructions to eat five raw cloves of garlic a day, gargle with cinnamon tea, and dose myself with slippery elm oil was just ridiculous. And where the heck would one even find slippery elm oil even if you wanted it?

So this morning, honey and lemon and cinnamon tea aside, I am breathing and happy thanks to the miracles of the modern chemical war on germs. I'm sure my doctor would be quite dissapointed in me, but at least I'll have enough air to speak my apology....

Comments

[jtdiii.livejournal.com]

You are a vet. Thus you have undergone a great deal of medical training on the effects of various medicines on animals and how double blind tests for effectiveness are performed.

When confronted with a doctor who is pushing the herbal remedies instead of over the counter ones, ask him or her what the actual studies on their herb of the month club cure has actually been... Yes there have been a large number of traditional remedies that have been proven to be useful. However the vast majority of them have little to no effect other than as a placebo.

[quietann.livejournal.com]

seconded. If I had a doctor do to me what yours did to you, s/he wouldn't be my doctor anymore. (says Ann, the overly scientifically-trained one...)

[goldsquare.livejournal.com]

Ayuh. Anything can work, but some notion of proven effectiveness is a good thing.

[fractalgeek.livejournal.com]

A friend of mine's mother worked for a doctor who went "wierd" and started prescribing things like pitch. When they checked up, his qulifications were forged, and he had only been runnin a popular (2x as many patients as recommended) practice for 30-odd years.

[starcat-jewel.livejournal.com]

No shit. It's fine to suggest naturopathic remedies, but this doctor seems to be forgetting the first line of his oath: "First, do no harm". Leaving a patient with bronchitis unable to breathe properly is definitely doing harm.