We had an online consultation with our doctor at home and he prescribed antibiotics to treat coughs with thick phlegm.
Of course prescriptions abroad isn’t honored here, so we talked to a nearby clinic and told about the case that we need an antibiotic drug as prescribed.
Instead, the Japanese doctor prescribed Resplen.
To be honest, I didn’t fully understand our conversation with the doctor here except for the keywords, specifically one for antibiotics.
Oh well, it is understandable that doctors here don’t necessarily have to take the word of doctors back home. Our doctors back home have understanding of our medical history so it is easier for them to prescribe antibiotics…
Edit:
Our doctor isn’t just prescribing antibiotics on the fly, he asked a lot of questions for the diagnosis and he also explained why he prescribed the antibiotic, Azithromycin.
We went to a local clinic, told the doctor that we consulted with our doctor at home and show him the prescription. He didn’t ask a lot of questions, no tests, but we fear we might give the wrong information due to our poor Japanese if asked. With that, he prescribed Resplen.
We do not want to get lost in translation, if we didn’t check with our doctor and the local doctor gave us antibiotics, we wouldn’t understand the important details of the diagnosis.
So it was for our best interest to consult with both, so we could understand the important details in case both prescribed the same antibiotics. The best case is to be cured without taking antibiotics at all. In case the local doctor prescribed antibiotics while our doctor didn’t, we can just ask our doctor why this antibiotic is prescribed.
11 comments
Please check out the medical resources on the [wiki!](https://www.reddit.com/r/japanlife/wiki/medical)
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/japanlife) if you have any questions or concerns.*
What is the cause? Antibiotics are useless for viral infections and cause more harm.
Doctors try to hold back from prescribing antibiotics everywhere for very good reason.
Since the doctor has seen you, Resplen is likely ideal.
Normally Japanese doctors hand out antibiotics like candy, even for viral infections.
>Our doctors back home have understanding of our medical history so it is easier for them to prescribe antibiotics…
I think it might be a good idea to question that relationship in the future. It is possible that your doctor at home has been over prescribing antibiotics. Doctors are advised not to prescribe them unless necessary. That includes cases where patients demand them. If we take too many of them, we develop a resistance.
Don’t forget that you’re not home. You are on an island in the Pacific Ocean, where things may be very different from your home town, including different bacteria/viruses.
So a local doctor, who can take tests and samples and measurements, and who knows, what’s currently going around the neighbourhood, may be the better bet as long as you are here.
OTOH, a doctor, who “prescribes” antibiotics over the phone to people halfway around the globe…
I had a rare case of mild appendicitis and the doctors offered an antibiotic course as treatment instead of surgery. Which was baffling to my family back home.
Since you didn’t fully understand what was said isn’t it possible what you had didn’t need an antibiotic?
Not all bugs need drugs commercial playing in my mind.
I recommend going to another doctor if you’re worried and want a second opinion. Not one back home who can’t see you in the present. Ask questions and pop out the Google Translate if you have a hard time understanding what is going on. Antibiotics aren’t the cure-all pill for everything.
Go to the local clinic 内科, meet the doctor and describe your symptoms to the doctor, if it is a chronic issue, mention that. let doctor prescribe the medicine. If symptoms don’t show improvement in couple of days, go back and tell the doctor, either s/he will run tests or prescribe something else. Let the diagnostic process take it course.
I am assuming you are living in Japan, if that’s the case, once doctor has finally determined what works, next time you have the same issue, go back to same clinic, and doctor will skip all intermediate steps, and give you what worked last time.
Doctors can’t take your word for it. They need to do their own diagnosis and treatment. You can speed up the process if you have the diagnostic reports and documentation describing previous treatments, official medical records.
over prescription of antibiotics can and does lead to antibiotic resistant bacteria. Its a serious problem in hospitals and why an infection from a hospital may be more serious than your run-of-the-mill strep infection.
There is a reason they are a controlled substance in the US.
FFS… You go to a doctor because they are doctors, they know what they are talking about and you take their advice. They are not there to take your advice on medicine. Gtfo with your ‘I told the doctor to give me this and they didn’t’ bs.
If more doctors would only use antibiotics as an absolute last resort humanity would have a brighter future… Or just a future.