*grumblemuttergrowl*

[kuangning]

Just when I begin to believe in the benefits of the medical system...

Doctor: well, you have the 'flu, all right. The good news is, you're almost over it. I'm gonna put you on some antibiotics...

Aio: erm. isn't the 'flu a viral infection?

Doctor: yes, that's exactly right.

Aio: then what good is an antibiotic going to do?

Doctor: truthfully? not much. but it can't hurt, can it?

< conversation mercifully snipped. >

There's a difference between a placebo, which is an intrinsically harmless substance given to bolster the patient's faith in the doctor and the healing process, and a medicine administered for the sake of administering it. If you can't help me, dammit, say you can't help me, and leave it at that. And whatever happened to treating the thing empirically? I was doing that much on my own. I understand that sometimes people demand antibiotics because they want to feel that something's being done... but I didn't ask for them! It's downright irresponsible of any physician to contribute to the misconception that an antibiotic is a cure-all, especially when an antibiotic is, no matter how you look at it, a poison. It is designed to kill a living organism within your body, and the over-use of antibiotics can leave you vulnerable to antibiotic-resistant strains of infections. Makes me wonder just how much damage this particular doctor has been responsible for with his "can't hurt, can it?" philosophy.

Comments

[laura.livejournal.com]

Well....um...the ONLY good thing I can think of...despite you being 150% right about antibiotic overuse, this doctor being a weenie, and antibiotic resistant strains of things...I'd think giving you one would serve two purposes:
First, it'll help prevent a secondary infection while your immune system is already battling a flu. Second, since colds and flus are so...random and difficult to diagnose specifically, it might NOT be viral, so perhaps you'd be nipping something else in the bud. Chances are, I'd guess, most antibiotic resistant strains of the really nasty stuff are already resistant to stuff like Amoxi and commonly used stuff, and it's most important not to overuse the really powerful antibiotics that we've got left, like Cipro, etc.

That is all from Dr. Laura ;-)

[kuangning]

Actually, there is one very simple if slightly disgusting way to tell whether an infection is viral or bacterial. A viral infection gives you yellowish mucus/phlegm... if the mucus is *green,* you have a bacterial infection. And I really don't believe that an antibiotic should be given as a preventative... rest, fluids, and treating the symptoms generally provide enough relief that the possibility of a secondary infection is lessened.

Re:

[laura.livejournal.com]

Definitely, ideally, you can prevent the secondary infections with the proper care, and rest, etc...but for most people, if they can't take time off work, or if they have small germ factories (ie children) coming in and out of schools, and aren't able to just take that down time...I dunno, I personally WOULD prefer some prophylactic antibiotics...NOT just for the hell of it on the third Tuesday of every month, but while I'm already sick? Ideally, I wouldn't need antibiotics with proper post-op care when I have this c-section, but I won't blink twice when they run them in before the operation begins, and I take them afterwards.

I do think that people have totally different comfort levels with types of medicine. I'm very, very firmly a Western Medicine girl, believing in 'alternative' forms of medicine mostly for their own placebo affects, and because the mind is SO powerful, that if you BELIEVE doing something that I think is whacko will work, then it just might. But I find I'm a lot more of that mind than most of my friends, and I think I've got friends who are into naturopathy and homeopathy who think I'm a clinically obsessed nut, ya know?

So definitely do what you want...but that might include a different doctor. I just think that some of us aren't *uneducated*, but we might prefer the type of doctor you're uncomfy with.

[kuangning]

*nodnod.* Changing doctors is a little bit drastic, I think... after all, he did listen to my objections. But definitely, it's a personal thing, and what may seem to be simple comon sense to you may seem frivolous to me. :)

[galith.livejournal.com]

You should get said friends to read this (http://www.quackwatch.com/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/homeo.html), and other stuff at quackwatch. Of course they are problably so deep set in their belifes that they won't even bat an eye, but its still worth a try.