I am no doctor, but i had coughs, pneumonia and bronchitis a lot in my life. I came in tokyo recently and today I had a really bad cough and I went to a hospital, but the doctor just checked my throat with the wooden stick and didn’t check my lungs with a stethoscope. Is this normal here? should i visit another clinic?
4 comments
What were you expecting him to do? Did he prescribe you some medicine after the checkup? Take the medicine, after few days if symptoms don’t improve, go back for follow up. He might investigate further then. Seems like standard diagnostic process.
Do you have any reason to believe it’s worse than a normal cough/cold that will pass quickly? If not, all you can really do is take cough medicine, drink lots of water, and rest (if needed). If it gets worse or you need to convey additional symptoms or risks to a doctor, you should do so (finding an English-speaking clinic if necessary).
If you need OTC medication, take a look at my post [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/JapanTravel/comments/yzoky8/a_brief_guide_to_otc_cold_and_cough_medications/). It also includes Japan’s guide for how to find medical care if needed.
My guess is that your symptoms were mild and did not warrant a thorough work up. Pneumonia usually involves a cough, also a fever, and overall feeling lethargic, etc. I’m not a doctor but auscultation of the lungs is usually a quick process for majority of cases, but then again, probably didn’t think it was warranted. Ofc, there’s the low chance that the doctor is a quack.
Yes it’s normal for doctors anywhere to not do something that they don’t deem necessary.