Anyone else find doctors here to be inconsistent and a bit frustrating? Don’t get me wrong, I’m super appreciative of health insurance and accessibility, but… have found that the quality of service has left much to be desired.
Hour-long waits for 2 minute consultations. Dismissive attitudes when describing symptoms. All that jazz.
To give context: I’ve been dealing with strong neck and back pain for the past year, and have visited a few different clinics. The first two places I visited wouldn’t take x-rays until I insisted, and then just said “you have a stiff neck”. Prescribed pain-killers that are weaker than OTC ibuprofen that I had from the US.
Then when I visited the third place, they finally took an MRI and found out that I actually had a herniated disc. I was relieved to find out the cause, but was soon let down when they gave me the same weak meds and peddled me off to their rehab guy, who just gave a weak massage and told me to lose weight (I’m a little overweight, but no where near debilitating levels).
Luckily, the pain has died down over a long period of time, but it’s still there, alongside a slight numbness from my left shoulder down to my pinky. I’d like to get it dealt with… but just can’t get myself motivated to deal with another disappointing clinic.
Rant over, but just curious to hear if anyone has had similar experiences. Cheers.
12 comments
Yeah, losing weight can be hard.
Dr. Taro just has to prescribe weak pills to 100 people a day to keep up with his Benz payments and country club membership. He’s not interested in doing actual work.
Add to that only a 30 day refill on prescription meds. Hours of waiting in a room of sick people for a two minute refill script. Waste of time.
I mean, if it’s disc herniation there’s nothing can be done unless it requires a surgery At which point you can’t stand the pain.
Fix your posture, get some core exercises in “not too hard thought it will make the pain worse, read some articles on disc herniation and watch videos.” I don’t know your weight but losing it will definitely help if you have some extra weight. Point is to not to cure the disc herniation but to relieve the pressure on the herniated disc by diverting the stress to the muscles by enlarging them or losing weight to relieve some pressure.
Herniation is a bitch, can’t be fixed. I’ve read that you can wait until it literally explodes and then your immune system will detect it as foreign object and clear it out then you’ll no longer feel pain but idk. It’s fun to read. I’ve got disc herniation as well, visited like 10 different doctors in varying professions in different cities in different hospitals, all were like “you’re young and not overweight, just get some exercises in, walk everyday, don’t lift heavy stuff, fix your posture, you’ll be fine.” And yea after some time of active life I rarely feel any pain.
I usually look at the reviews on Google maps before deciding on doctors here. They’ve been pretty accurate in my experience. And once you find a decent doctor in a particular specialty, make a note of it.
I had to go to the emergency room because I got chicken caught in my throat, only for some old asshole to claim that my inability to swallow water was just my emotions. After I left the hospital, I went directly to the ENT I trust and he immediately referred me to another hospital for an endoscopy. This was the day before a three-day weekend, so I’m genuinely not sure what I would have done if I hadn’t had a go-to ENT.
You definitely have to hunt around and tell you find the right doctor here. The Orthopedic clinic I go to x-rayed me the first day and puts up with my bad Japanese. I get massaged twice a week. I hope you find someone soon
Lots of young inexperienced doctors
Herniated disc!? I had to get surgery for two! I was in the hospital for like 4 days, paid about 6万, so not bad.
It’s a bit of an ordeal, but absolutely worth it to get rid of the never-ending pinching needle pain that just drained my motivation from life.
Have you tried gaman-ing through the pain? /s
But yeah, I’ve found that doctors here have a hard time with issues that are complex or chronic. In America there is more talent, but it will cost you approximately one billion dollars.
Find yourself a newer clinic that uses an online appointment system. Like at my dermatologist, I only wait max 10 min tires before the doctor sees me. Also the doctor is pretty young, so a lot less “phoning it in.”
You could go go a 整骨院 and have them teach you stretches you should do every day to alleviate pain. As long as you say you’re in pain, the seikotsuin will take insurance.
Outside of the university hospitals, I have a huge soapbox for most doctors here.
Giving antibiotics for viral infections.
Ignoring basic infections that NEED antibiotics but refusing to give them in case the patient is pregnant (not all antibiotics are unsafe).
And this is gross but, clearly for feminine health most “doctors” don’t know what healthy discharge is either.
Two smaller clinics, an elder OB-GYN and a female “woman’s health” specialist, cost me dearly. They ignored a basic BV infection that led to PPROM in my first pregnancy, which led to the worst case scenario. In between the end of that scenario and the beginning of the PPROM issue, the first doctor kept opening up my cervix…which you are not supposed to do with PPROM. When I was transferred to the university hospital my new doctor actually wondered wtf was wrong with the previous doctor, but it was too late by then.
Sorry for being a downer, but the medical systems here made me so bitter and so traumatized.
Yeah. It’s been very hit and miss for me too. I had persistent shoulder pain. The doctor didn’t even look me in the eye. Wiggled my arm a little bit and said, let’s do an injection to reduce the pain.
I also hate that they don’t have my medical record on file because all hospitals are separate businesses. I hear my number is going to change that though.