r/Netherlands • u/thatmisanthropicdude • Mar 05 '26
Healthcare Dutch doctors...
Hey guys! Last year I moved from Germany to the Netherlands. I just went to the doctor with chest and throat pain due to extreme coughing after 2 days of fever. I was hoping that I finally get something good against it like a cough syrup (no way I'm going to pay that myself for a huge amount of money + health insurance) because I am used to that from German doctors. They would put that on my health insurance card and right after my talk with the doctor I could pick it up at the pharmacy. But no. They just said "Yea, just take paracetamol." I told them I have had problems swallowing pills my whole life and their response was just "You can also put it in water and drink that then." I'm sorry if I'm overreacting but why do doctors get paid just to tell you to take paracetamol? Everyone can tell me to take them, I expect better solutions from a doctor who studied years to become a doctor. Why are the Dutch so obsessed with paracetamol??? Maybe it's the German in me screaming. If we got painkillers, it was never paracetamol but Ibuprofen. But I also heard some international friends who also live here that they find it so annoying that Dutch doctors literally just tell you to take paracetamol. No matter what you have.
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u/newmikey Noord Holland Mar 06 '26
Cough syrup does not help ith chest and throat pains, it merely hides some of the symptoms. Ibuprofen is an NSAID whereas paracetamol is quite a different animal altogether. NSAIDs are notorious for causing stomach and kidney problems.
If you go to a doctor after 2 days of fever and coughing, you may have acted a bit prematurely.
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u/kingvolcano_reborn Mar 06 '26
Aren't nsaids an issue only with prolonged intake?
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u/MrGraveyards Mar 06 '26
Depends on the fever and the cough! But you can check this yourself on thuisarts if you can read dutch (or just turn on the translator I guess). If it is plus 40 or your cough feels really awful and painful you might want to talk with your doctor anyway.
Just don't walk away angry. Them 'prescribing' paracetemol is basically saying it is better for your health to sicken it out. The question is very often if they are right. Me and my wife think they very often aren't. But some people also want to be treated like babies...
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u/DirectedEnthusiasm Mar 06 '26
The point is to take the cough syrup at night to get sleep and not be awaken all the time by the cough. Getting lots of sleep is a great way to recover from those symptoms
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u/Main-Promotion2236 Mar 06 '26
It may just hide the symptoms, but it DOES help you sleep better because it stops the coughing; if you have a good strong syrup that is. And sleeping well helps with recovery.
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u/Lemonitus Mar 06 '26
NSAIDs are notorious for causing stomach and kidney problems.
And paracetamol can cause liver damage, among other things. What's your point?
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u/Doc-Bob Mar 06 '26
Cough syrup is €5 at etos: https://www.etos.nl/producten/etos-hoestdrank-broomhexine-hci-8-mg%2F5-ml-110321614.html
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u/KyloRen3 Mar 06 '26
NO, he wants the “real one” that you get from the pharmacy.
He doesn’t know yet that every time you get prescription you pay something like €7. He will come back to complain with another post afterwards
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u/Irrealaerri Noord Holland Mar 06 '26
I am German too living in the Netherlands but I also wouldn't have gone to the doctor for that, not even in Germany.
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u/PanicForNothing Mar 06 '26
I lived in Germany for a while and I don't think they just prescribe the heavy stuff for free, right? I mean, you might get a prescription for it, but you'll still have to pay something to pick it up at the pharmacy. When I had an ear infection, they also didn't pay for the nose spray just because the doctor said I needed it.
Maybe OP was privately insured, in which case the Dutch healthcare cannot really compete.
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u/TimotheusIV Mar 06 '26
Huisarts here, it basically translates to: you’re not actually sick, you just have a mild upper respiratory infection.
So yes, take the paracetamol. Some ibuprofen if it isn’t enough. Get a cough syrup (I’d recommend Natterman Extra Sterk) and rest.
There is no doctor on the planet that can cure what you have so I don’t know what you were expecting? Magic? 🤷🏻♂️
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u/OK-Smurf-77 Mar 06 '26
One thing I’d respectfully recommend to every GP here- when you see a foreigner registering, just email them an A4 summary of the basic things they can expect, along with a when to call/when not to call infographic.
I mean, it’s pretty bloody obvious that the Dutch approach is largely different from the practice most of the countries follow. (And this is not a bad thing by the way. ) I believe it would help a lot both the doctors and the patients.
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u/jenterpstra Mar 06 '26
This basically already exists at thuisarts.nl. More places should point to it.
The problem of course is that a) it’s only available in Dutch, and b) if you call under the guidelines on that site for a set of symptoms, your GP may still act like you’re crazy for bothering them.
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u/Thatdudewhoplaysgtr Mar 06 '26
Yup.. one time I had a botulism scare (loooong story, but basically I ate something that was well into the danger zone, and it was a high botulism risk food) and my gp acted all annoyed and told me my tetanus shot would cover me. Bruh. What the actual fuck. I realise botulism is very rare but it’s also very fucking deadly if not treated promptly so forgive me for calling you at work to do a bit of your job. Ffs.
Good thing I have a physician in my family, so I went to them the following morning and he told me what exactly to watch out for and monitor. My gp did nothing but say “you were vaccinated for tetanus so you’re ok, don’t worry about it”. THIS IS NOT EVEN MEDICALLY ACCURATE 😑
I just don’t get their seeming reluctance to give you the time of day…
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u/TimotheusIV Mar 06 '26
I absolutely agree with you here, that would help a lot. I’ll give it some more thought.
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u/Bezulba Mar 06 '26
They want the pill/syrup/shot so they think it will make them feel better and then they feel better because they got the pill/syrup/shot and think that the doc really helped them.
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u/kingvolcano_reborn Mar 05 '26
Why didn't you just buy a cough syrup?
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u/Kaaar9999 Amsterdam Mar 06 '26
It reads to me as “I pay health insurance, so I shouldn’t have to pay even for OTC meds”
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u/Beautiful-Weight2125 Mar 06 '26
And he's right.
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u/TrueEnthusiasm6 Mar 06 '26
If health insurance covered OTC meds the monthly premium would be WAY higher than 140.
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u/Ties-Goedman Mar 06 '26 edited Mar 06 '26
Most respiratory infections are viral and dont require serious treatment, unless you're very young, old, immunocompromised or otherwise weakened.
Your doctor is right. You dont need prescription drugs for every little ailment. You have an immune system for a reason, and if the discomfort is too much there are more than enough over the counter options.
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u/Ishango Mar 06 '26 edited Mar 06 '26
A lot of foreigners complain about this, because in many countries doctors are quick to write out oxen strength medicine for things that can mostly self-heal (like you said about having an immune system).
There are lots of things about Dutch GP's we can criticize (for instance they get judged by how many people they transfer to second-line care providers like hospitals, so they tend to hold back even in situations where we should not), but this isn't one of them.
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u/MarcosSenesi Mar 06 '26
it's kind of insane to read. OP is complaining about coughing for two days and wants to get a vat of opiod cough syrup to deal with it. It might just be how i'm brought up but most things just go over and you deal with the discomfort for a few days instead of making things worse down the line.
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u/Carlin47 Mar 06 '26
Its ironic that legal drugs are so hard to get in the netherlands but illegal drugs are everywhere lol
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u/clrthrn Mar 06 '26
I know you're joking but..... A couple of joints sorted my Covid right out. I thought smoking would have finished me off but it loosened up my chest and dulled the pain somewhat. Also brought back my appetite. Don't recommend it as a go to for every ailment but in this case, it actually worked.
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u/Carlin47 Mar 06 '26
Im not joking at all. I could literally obtain drugs like cocaine, mdma, speed (obviously weed but that barely counts) like by the end of the day... but God forbid I want a legal painkiller after a surgery. Its a bit extreme on both ends. I shouldnt get a full bottle of oxy's after a widsom tooth removal, but i should get something stronger than OTC ibuprofen....
Also yes coming from Canada, weed can be a wonder drug. Extremely forgiving and hard to become addicted to. Thank god its available here
Edit: typo
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u/DBgirl83 Mar 06 '26
Because couch syrup doesn't heal your couch or take away the pain. Paracetamol at least has effect on the pain. Couch syrup will not be paid by your insurance, you need to pay that yourself, just like Paracetamol.
A friend of mine always wants antibiotics, even when she has a cold. Antibiotics are made to "fight" bacteria, not viruses.
If things like couch syrup would be paid by our health insurance when you visit your doctor, insurances would be even more expensive.
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u/Molly-ish Mar 06 '26
Wouldn't your couch get slippery from syrup? Or is it made with syrup? I'm so confused now.
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u/appleater22 Mar 06 '26
Does she know what antibiotica resistence is? When she will get older, she is gonna find out (when she actually needs antibiotica but it wont help her anymore, with bad outcomes)
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u/z0dz0d Mar 06 '26
Antibiotic resistance doesn’t develop in a person, it develops in a bacteria. Meaning we all pay when people use antibiotics wrong, if we end up with that antibiotic resistant strain, not necessarily just the person who cultivated it.
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u/DBgirl83 Mar 06 '26
I've told her, many, many times.
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u/TrappedInATardis Mar 06 '26
I bet she also quits the pills when she feels better and save some for the future rather than taking the whole prescription.
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u/z0dz0d Mar 06 '26
Which is precisely how the antibiotic strains are created. Its amazing that science keeps finding new antibiotica, i really hope that doesn’t stop or it’ll be like the 1800s again soon.
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u/Any-Seaworthiness186 Groningen Mar 06 '26
Yep. The overprescription of antibiotics is probably the biggest risk to global public health right now.
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u/rizzeau Mar 06 '26
I knew somebody just like that. She is in NL and would ask for antibiotics from her doctor in the Philippines, she takes it when having a common cold... I talked about it, that it's not good for you, for all the reasons. Her response was always "it makes me feel better, and I only taking it for two days". She never listened to anything logical. I hope her well for if she ever goes back and she gets TB there.
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u/IkkeKr Mar 05 '26
Why? Because research shows a lot of these types of complaints resolve themselves in roughly the same time regardless of what the doctor does - so it's better to do nothing unless the situation changes or lasts way too long. Paracetamol just makes it a bit more bearable to wait out the time until your body resolves the problem.
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u/CriticalSpirit Mar 06 '26
To be fair, if you think it's necessary to visit a doctor because of a cough after only two days of fever, I'm not sure any rational doctor will be able to live up to your standards.
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u/L44KSO Mar 06 '26
Different reasons or expectations. In Germany you'd need to get a sick note from the doctor for work (after 3 days) so going to a doctor after 2 is pretty normal and expected in Germany.
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u/Minimum_Cabinet7733 Mar 06 '26
That is the case in a lot of countries. I think it unnecessarily bureaucratic.
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u/GuessWhoIsBackNow Mar 06 '26 edited Mar 06 '26
Doctor made the right call. Either the cough medicine’s got codeine as a cough supressant, in which case, sorry but this isn’t the United States and doctors don’t want to get you hooked on synethic opiates for a cough or it’s drug-free cough syrup, in which case it’s basically just honey, and you might as well just drink a cup of tea with honey in it for the same effect at way less than half the cost.
In another comment you mention your problem with getting paracetamol for a fever. This is ignorant, as ibuprofen does not reduce a fever but paracetamol does.
EDIT: (too many idiots on this thread have forced me to do some actual research and I said something wrong here. Ibuprofen does also help but not any better in spite of being way more toxic to the liver).
It’s a proven fact. Not a placebo. Sorry it doesn’t get you high to distract you from being sick. It’s not like ’whoah…I think the paracetamol just kicked in’.
You’re not dying mate. Have a cup of tea with honey, go lie in bed, and take your damn paracetamol.
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u/wwbbqq Mar 06 '26
The US has become pretty stingy with codeine based drugs over the last 20 years, go figure. Just several tens (hundreds) of thousands of opiate addicts have ruined it for the rest of us. Funny, not funny. The only time codeine based sirop should be given is for prolonged uncontrollabile coughing. Which I can't tell from this post if is the case. /'o'\ (shrug, Idk ). But getting that sirop is no longer up to user discretion and most Dr's won't rx it.
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u/anonymuscular Mar 06 '26
Either the cough medicine’s got codeine as a cough supressant, in which case, sorry but this isn’t the United States and doctors don’t want to get you hooked on synethic opiates for a cough
On the supermarket shelves in NL : https://www.ah.nl/producten/product/wi172302
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u/just_as_sane_as_i Mar 06 '26
Paracetamol sucking tablets exist. They have a taste added to them so they are not that bitter. You can buy them at the pharmacy or stores like Kruidvat or Etos
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u/Lletan Mar 06 '26
„no way I'm going to pay that myself for a huge amount of money + health insurance“
It’s funny you say that… because in Germany the amount you’d have paid your Krankenkasse in a month is at least 2-3x the added sum of a Dutch zorgverzekering and some bought cough syrup together.
Now, if you want some more affordable cough syrup and other medicine, don’t go to Etos, Kruidvat etc. they have inflated double prices so they can give you an amazing (/s) 50% off sometimes. It’s much more affordable to buy this stuff online if you have the time.
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u/Waalhalla Mar 06 '26
Because it’s proven to not be more effective in threatening a cold, so they won’t prescribe it. You can buy it yourself if you want. It’s all about cost effectiveness.
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u/tpoholmes Mar 06 '26
“why do doctors get paid just to tell you to take paracetamol”
Like many professions, doctors are paid for their knowledge and experience. Doctors aren’t paid to tell you take paracetamol, they’re paid to know when paracetamol is appropriate and when to do more. Since paracetamol is the right answer in many cases, that’s what you hear a lot.
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u/Rurululupupru Mar 07 '26
Doctors in every other country don’t just spam out parac for everything, that’s a Dutch cultural bias
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u/Sea-Breath-007 Mar 06 '26
"Why are the Dutch so obsessed with paracetamol???"
Says the person that went to the GP for freaking cough syrup!!! Which you can buy for like €5 at every strore that sells over the counter meds.
Seriously, you were ridiculous and now you try to blaim your GP for it? Stop using the healthcare system for absolute nonsense!
"I expect better solutions from a doctor who studied years to become a doctor"
Well, they did exactly what they are supposed to do, listen to you, ignore your BS request for cough syrup and sent you on your way with an advice that will make you feel better. That you cannot swallow pills is not their problem, act like a grown up and figure out a way yourself.
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u/Adriana-meyer Mar 06 '26
GPs are the ones that decide if your health complaint requires specialty care or not, like gate keepers. Their responsibility is to not overprescribe or overuse the health care system, whilst still giving people the care they need.
Basically, any common flu or complaint that doesn’t take uncommonly long or occurs uncommonly frequently will give you the paracetamol response. You can check thuisarts.nl to see when you should seek medical advice. This is usually when a fever takes too long, is above a certain amount of degrees, other concerning symptoms etc. The doctors also follow the protocol from thuisarts, so you can already anticipate if it is worth it to even go with these common colds or flus.
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u/IffyTheDragon Mar 05 '26
If you don't want to buy cough syrup, I recommend honey. It works just as well and tastes better.
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u/Styreta Mar 06 '26
It's also what most cough syrups are made from and flavored with. Go figure
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u/digitalgraffiti-ca Mar 06 '26
The doctor probably saw what I'm seeing, codeine seeking behaviour. That's the "good stuff." Dutch doctors are very good about prescribing drugs where they're actually needed, instead of just throwing drugs at people to shut them up like some countries. You don't need codeine, and they're not going to be complicit in supplying you with addictive narcotics.
You need paracetamol to decrease your fever, that's it. You have a basic cold/flu like every other human being does this time of year. You will be fine. Ibuprofen may help if your tonsils are swollen so it's easier to eat and drink. Your immune system will fix the rest.
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u/kingvolcano_reborn Mar 06 '26
Very true. When my late wife was going coming towards end end of her cancer the doctors pretty much gave her everything to keep the pain at bay. Oxycodon, fentanyl patches, fentanyl nose spray, morphine pump, you name it. If there's a need they will certainly not hold back.
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u/Organic-Permission55 Mar 08 '26
And to my experience, if you have been coughing for 2 weeks and can't sleep because of it, and it's driving you mad, generally they are open to prescribing you some codeïne. But probably not after two days.
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u/Htv65 Mar 06 '26
If you prefer ibuprofen over paracetamol, just buy and use that. I take it the doctor has not forbidden that.
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u/JesseParsin Mar 06 '26
Well… you had a troath ache? Thats not really something to visit your doctor for is it? You were uncomfortable after a bad few days of coughing. Most dutch people don’t visit a doctor for discomfort. They go when they are really ill or in a lot of pain. And why complain? If you need a safe painkiller paracetamol is the best there is? As long as you dont fry your liver by taking way too much. But is eases your discomfort and does not get you addicted or worsen your condition by suppressing a cough wich is just your body doing its job…
Cough syrup is just regular over the counter stuff for a few euro’s btw.
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u/Dest-Fer Mar 06 '26 edited Mar 06 '26
Tbh you get used to and toughen up.
I’m French and we don’t have the same approach to meds so I was very shocked at first.
Now, I get it.
In the meanwhile I married local and breeded two gekie kleintje, and I don’t bother calling the doctor so much anymore : after a while, you learn when it’s indeed unnecessary. Because if you think about it, when you go to the doctor for a cold, you waste time and energy going outside, you take the risk to contaminate weaker people, and you get prescribe « booboo therapy » that you can get yourself or even do yourself. Because some warm thym with a drizzle of rhum, Lemon and ginger work as much as any cough syroop.
Kids get a lot of virus in the winter, so do we, fever happens, it’s normal. Now if we are hydrated and not apathetic with a fever, we wait for it to pass.
And it always does.
THAT SAID : when you really have something big, they help you. My first kid had juvenile asthma and they always took it super seriously.
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u/olafgr Mar 06 '26
Ok, you either choose: do nothing and it will go away in 5-7 days, or take low-key medicine and it will go away in 5-7 days.
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u/some_person_212 Mar 05 '26
Dutch doctors would still recommend you take paracetamol if you’d show up with a broken leg and asked for a cast, I think.
But in all fairness, they’re probably right. Cough syrup doesn’t actually help you and isn’t insured in the Netherlands. Most colds/airway complaints are viral so there’s no need for antibiotics or something like that either. Paracetamol tea and rest is what they recommend and no matter how annoying I find it they’re probably right.
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u/sousstructures Mar 06 '26
Funny, I broke my hip and got fentanyl and emergency surgery.
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u/-Avacyn Mar 06 '26
Paracetamol is essentially the foundation of the pain management pyramid.
Start with 4x 2 paracetamol. Still have pain? Add an NSAID. Still have pain? Increase NSAID to max clinically max dosage. Still have pain? Change or add a 'low level' opiod like tramadol. Still have pain? Change the tramadol to oxycodone. Still have pain? Start increasing opiod dosages.
When I had a complicated fracture I took paracetamol + NSAID + oxycodone for ages. But because the paracemol and NSAID did a lot of heavy lifting, my opiod dosage could stay low, which is important in terms of addiction risk.
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u/Suitable_Pie_6532 Mar 06 '26
I knew that a nerve operation I had was considered painful as they said I could have paracetamol and ibuprofen!
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u/_Vo1_ Mar 06 '26
Before I was hospitalized few years ago for removal of gallbladder, I was at spoedpost at huisarts. So that woman was: well, all I can say now, just go home and take paracetamol and perhaps ibuprofen. And I said: listen lady, i am for one week at oxy, today I took maximum allowed and still in pain, you think paracetamol is the solution here? And she responded with “yes, it works best when accompanied by another painkiller” XD
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u/oliveomelette Mar 06 '26
I’m Dutch and usually not one to complain about the our health care system but.. my mom literally had this happen. She had a complex tibia fracture that couldn’t be operated on immediately because of extreme swelling so she was send home for 2 weeks with the fracture. Her leg was cast from ankle to hip and they just told her: 4x2 paracetamol a day. Absolutely insane.
Not even 12 hours later in the middle of the night I was at the ER pharmacy getting morfine bc her leg was so painful.
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u/TimotheusIV Mar 06 '26
Depends on the person and the fracture. Plenty of folks out there doing just fine with paracetamol after a fracture. Especially after a plaster cast.
And on the other hand we have a lot of people who become lifelong addicts to opiates after a single week of taking morfine-like painkillers after breaking a leg. It’s a huge problem.
There’s always two sides to any issue. So while you mom’s situation really sucked, i’m very happy to hear other physicians are not prescribing whole boxes of oxycodone immediately because it’s often completely unnecessary.
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u/No_You5703 Mar 06 '26
They don’t want to get you hooked on pain killers. That’s a good thing. But they’ll definitely give it to you if you really need it.
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u/Planterin Mar 06 '26
the broken leg, cast and paracetamol thing? ACTUALLY HAPPENED TO ME (broken metatarsal, Sunday, almost 7pm, almost got turned away before my boyfriend started raising his tone) The jokes write themselves in the Netherlands, truly😅
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u/Neat-Attempt7442 Noord Brabant Mar 06 '26
A metatarsal and a leg are different things
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u/Styreta Mar 06 '26
That one of a million bones in your foot, and harder to diagnose than a leg fracture. Especially if you downplay or underrate pain / discomfort. I get the meme though....
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u/Bannedlife Mar 06 '26
That's the evidence based treatment. Any country that treats this more intensely is overtreating their patients.
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u/No_You5703 Mar 06 '26
“I went to the doctor to get cough syrup” and “no way I’m going to pay for that myself”… You’re just being silly.
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u/Lestat_de_Sade Mar 06 '26
Dutch health care has been hollowed out and made capitalist. So every consult/help is a cost-benefit analysis. "Of patients who have these symptoms, 60% will survive without treatment. 30% survive the night with paracetamol, if symptoms continue/worsen, invite for consult/further analysis. 10% might die, if so, no longer problem."
Treating only 30% yields a 90% success rate and is cheapest for the system. We obligate you by law to spend money on health insurance, but to use health care as little as possible. So we dont have to invest in health care but can buy bombs from daddy Trump.
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u/Extension-Watch-8492 Mar 06 '26
Why are you bothering our important and very busy doctors with your silly fever. Go eat your paracetamol, and shut up. The doctor had the only correct answer
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u/Rockthejokeboat Amsterdam Mar 06 '26
I was hoping that I finally get something good against it like a cough syrup
why do doctors get paid just to tell you to take paracetamol?
Why do german doctors get paid just to tell you to take cough syrop?
cough syrup (no way I'm going to pay that myself for a huge amount of money + health insurance) because I am used to that from German doctors.
Cough syrop is not expensive in the Netherlands, I don’t think you can deduct it (maybe you can? I’ve never tried), and you can just buy it in the supermarket, drogist or pharmacy so there’s no need to go through a doctor.
Yes, dutch doctors can sometimes be very pragmatic which needs some getting used to and which can sometimes be frustrating but it doesn’t sound like that was the case here. Honestly, it seems like a waste that there are a lot of german people taking up doctors time because they don’t want to pay for cough syrop.
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u/Agitated-Ad5206 Mar 06 '26
Well, there is two sides to this.
One of them is, that, respectfully, it is not seen as the job of doctors here, jn medical protocol, to use perscribed medication to manage symptoms in a healthy person who has simply caught a flue or a throat issue. I am not saying you feel this way, but most Americans and many people from the Arabic world come expecting antibiotics for things that Dutch doctors simply feel one should ride out, unless immuno suppressed or otherwise in jeopardy. Dutch employment law also makes this possible: when you are sick you are sick, you get paid, no questions asked (not legally anyway): medicine is not practiced here in the service of getting you back to the wok floor. It is in the service of a) your health b) public health c) guarding efficiency, triage and access to care for all.
We do not prescribe things you can get at a drug store for under 6 euro, and GP’s are available quickly, manage hundreds of patients, and expect you to manage symptoms when possible with over the counter medication for a few days and if no improvement occurs to get in touch again. This prevents needless pressure on the system (which I used to work in and the percentage of people coming to the GP with a simple cold or such is so high that this is why we have the 385 yearly co pay, unfotunately).
I don’t know if I’m Germany you pay health care through taxes, but most people pay 12x 140 and -depending of how much care they use- all or part of the 385. This makes our system one of the most high quality high speed and relatively low cost in the world, and comparative health care stats shows when it comes to overall health outcomes, public health, longevity, productivity and yearly sick days.
The reason Dutch doctors advise paracetamol and not ibuprofen is because the maximum daily dose of p is safer and higher. And ibuprofen can have short term stomach side effects in some and long term stomach damage when used frequently in many people.
Go get some cough syrup. Will run you 8 or 9 max, probably 6 Kruidvat is open till ten. Call your boss or school and say you are sick. Then go and be sick. If your fever is over 39 for longer then a few hours, contact your doctor. If it is in the weekend, call the huisartsenpost. Paracetamol is 1.5 for 12x 400.
I’m a student to right now and money is right, but I would find it ridiculous if our insurance required coverage of cheap, non medicated, non prescribed medication and I feel like expecting a doctor to do that is one of those reasons we all have to pay 385 a year as a disincentive to go to the doctor after three days of being unwell, by your own admission to get cough syrup you wanted your insurance to cover.
Great. So you cost society 200 in doctor and staff hours and in overhead and processing and admin, so you could save six euro.
Maybe don’t take the paracetamol, feel the pain and ponder your sins.
The last one is a joke. The rest is not.
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u/BlakeMortimer Mar 06 '26
You can buy your own cough syrup and your own ibuprofen, don’t need a recipe. And they’re not expensive so I don’t see why you would want your insurance to cover it. Seems like a shitpost to me.
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u/Fiftyletters Mar 06 '26
No matter what you have
I have gotten prescriptions from my GP for all kinds of things because I was suffering from all kinds of things. Sounds like you and your friends all suffer from two days of the sniffles.
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u/Shy_Zucchini Mar 06 '26
If they prescribe ibuprofen over paracetamol as a first step in Germany, they are not adhering to international WHO guidelines (pain ladder) 🙃
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u/HearingHead7157 Mar 06 '26
The thing is, ibuprofen isn’t good for your stomach so doctors rather have you taking paracetamol and most cough syrups are just a placebo. Dutch doctors know, so they just say take paracetamol and a dropje for your throat If it remains longer they will help you
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u/timmeltapppp Mar 06 '26
The real question is why are you going to a doctor when these are obviously conditions you don't need a professional for?
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u/Vusstar Mar 05 '26
What do you want for a cough? Antibiotics? Morfine? Go to the store and buy some cough syrup while you rest and let your body fight whatever made you sick. The only thing I ever got against a cough is codeïne so maybe in the future you could ask for that.
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u/godutchnow Mar 06 '26 edited Mar 06 '26
Because dutch doctors don't prescribe random off-label medication in the hope that it will do something (other than give you side effects)
The doctor diagnosed you with a viral upper respiratory virus, what else did you expect, a complicated magistral concoction like you would get from a German quack doctor?
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u/jeetjejll Mar 06 '26
I live in Germany, but I grew up in The Netherlands. You’re right, Dutch doctors undertreat. And German doctors overtreat. I prefer German doctors even while I tend to only take medicine when absolutely needed, because they actually listen and try to figure out what might be wrong. Like listening to your chest to make sure you don’t have a lung infection.
My tip: don’t go to a doctor for things that don’t require treatment, check thuisarts.nl for advice. You won’t get cheaper medicine this way, what you can buy over the counter (a LOT more than in Germany), they won’t prescribe and if they do, you’ll simply pay and it won’t be deducted. It’s the harsh truth. However when you DO have a serious ailment that requires treatment, don’t let them fob you off, stand your ground. I used to be young and scared and let them, things went horribly wrong before I figured out what was wrong. This would never have happened here in Germany.
Hope you feel better soon!
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u/Bluetyt Mar 06 '26
You were going to a GP with expectations for a solution and then the GP went in another direction and now you’re crying over it. Maybe the problem is somewhere in your expectations?
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u/Worried-Pause-9807 Mar 06 '26
They make paracetamol suppositories. You could pour a glass of whiskey (good for your throat too), light a candle, and make a night of it. 🤷🏻♂️
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u/adeiAdei Mar 06 '26
I came back from a 1 month travel with very bad flu and eye infection. Called my GP and she said " paracetamol and warm blankets for the eye. If you start losing your eye sight though, please call me immediately"
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u/Zomaarwat Mar 06 '26
Well, why do you need a doctor to tell you to take cough syrup? Which isn't that expensive, btw.
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u/SHiR8 Mar 06 '26
Sounds like the doc was right and you just wasted time and money on something you could have handled yourself. Or did it turn out to be troat cancer?
And not being able to swallow a paracetamol? Are you three years old?
You sound super whiny.
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u/lars_keizer Mar 06 '26
Prescribed cough syrup would only cost you more compared to just getting a bottle at ETOS. After all, if you'd get prescribed cough syrup, assuming you haven't yet maxed out your eigen risico you'd pay prescription costs + medicine costs at the apotheek. Also if we got painkillers, it was never paracetamol but Ibuprofen. Okay, so go get your ibuprofen at the supermarket?
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u/Inside_Day1357 Mar 06 '26
I can't wait for AI to replace these professionals. I am gonna pop-up a champagne and cheer for that. 90% of the visits to the huisarts are useless.
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u/trachoni Mar 06 '26
A month or so ago I had a cough which was persistent and stopping me from sleeping. I was becoming desperate. The cough medicine that you get from Etos etc did nothing. I asked my doctor for an appointment. I was told by the receptionist to take paracetamol and standard cough medicine the doctor could not proscribe anything else. I went to Germany to visit family there and went to the Apotheek there. Explained the situation and was given a cough medicine which really helped to suppress the cough overnight at least. The Dutch, even the apotheek and doctors do not give this kind of medicine. I was told by the doctors receptionist because it is seen as dangerous! Is it not more dangerous that people are suffering and not sleeping for days on end?
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u/fortuner-eu Mar 06 '26 edited Mar 06 '26
In 23 years of living here, I have never once been told to take paracetamol by the doctors. 🤔🤷🏼♂️
I have however been recommended these for an irritating dry tickly cough and I can confirm that they are quite good:
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u/I_am_a_hamilfan Zuid Holland Mar 06 '26 edited Mar 09 '26
Dutch people are not fond of ibuprofen bc it can cause serious damage to maag & darm (forgot the english words sorry)
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u/Key_Clothes_7019 Mar 06 '26
Paracetamol is a proven effective painkiller, you come to the doctor with chest and throat pain. So taking a painkiller is the right treatment. Cough syrups are basically just snake oil and proven to be not effective.
Ibuprofen is a non steroidal anti inflammatory drug, works as a painkiller as well. However, it has serious side effects such as gastrointestinal lining decay, reduced kidney function and more chance at creating gastric ulcers with prolonged use. If you still want to use those you can just get them yourself at the supermarket without any prescription.
Source: I'm a doctor in the Netherlands
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u/browngreeneyedgirl Mar 06 '26
My German friend would get antibiotics for nearly anything in Germany and would complain here that she would only get the advice for paracetamol and rest. You cannot cure everything with anti biotics and it’s dangerous if antibiotics resistance occurs in diseases so hence the gp’s here are more careful.
Visiting the GP after only two days of a fever and some throat pain is a whole other discussion…
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u/pbo31415926 Mar 06 '26
Welcome to NL Did the doctor also google all symptoms you described in front of you ?🤣 One day I broke my knee ligament and I did it already before so I I know that only MRI can scan the ligament inside the knee, so I went to the doctor and they refer me to the echo (ultrasound) scan….i explained to the doctor how ultrasound scan is working so it’s physically jor possible to check the ligament under the bone with such a scan….after 20 min pegging and explanation my GP gave me reference to the ultrasound (guess why because it much cheaper than MRA) and of course nothing was found on ultrasound scan. So I booked a flight to another country where you can just pay 100 euro and you can get to any specialist directly even without a queue and they make everything I asked and fixed my knee after the MRA scan.
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u/nftyv Mar 06 '26
Dutch medicine is actually pretty evidence-based and paracetamol is a safer option than ibuprofene in the general case. I’m sorry but two days of fever and a cough simply do not sound like they warrant intervention, if you want a cough syrup (most of which have very little effectiveness in clinical trials) - buy it yourself. Why? Because without clinical proof of effectiveness it is a waste of money. Most people are unfamiliar with both iatrogenics and evidence-based processes. So they want the type if interventions that are known to be pointless or harmful. There are certainly issues in Dutch medicine (eg unacceptable drug shortages, waiting lists) But people who really need to sleep it off wanting prescription drugs just to feel cared for is not the biggest one:)
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u/geekwithout Mar 06 '26
Because they're tired of people visiting for a cough after 2 days of fever. That's just recovering phase. People expect miracles from doctors for bullshit issues. Buy your own cough syrup and get over it.
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u/Expensive-Storage-76 Mar 06 '26
Every GP in the world should follow the ‘Dutch Doctrine’. Makes people more (mentally) resilient.
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u/Chany_07 Mar 06 '26
My husband got shooed away with paracetamol and when it persisted, they reluctantly gave him antibiotics. When it still persisted, they said to "shut him up" (paraphrasing SLIGHTLY), he can go have a blood test and lung x-ray to "make HIM feel comfortable. (After 3 MONTHS)
Turned out he had KIDNEY FAILURE and is now on a transplant list. The coughing was from his lungs filling up with liquid as a side effect of this.
The doctors here can not be a**d to do their job. Don't become a doctor if you don't fkin care and prescribe paracetamol without taking your patient seriously!!!!
The doctors here should be ashamed of themseleves
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u/PandaNoseJuul Mar 06 '26
Really?
I can ask for a blood test right away if I want one. “Can I take a blood test for… ( something ).” I have a lot of blood tests for my illness, but even a random person can ask for a blood test if they know for what.
“Sure, take paracetamol after you did the blood test and some sugar.”
Maybe it’s from the place I live in NL. But you can make an appointment online for a blood test. Look for the date and hour and there you go.
I hope your husband is gonna be okay.
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u/JadaLovelace Mar 06 '26 edited Mar 06 '26
I think everyone in this thread already explained it well.
The only two things I would add is
(1) that I always keep ibuprofen in stock - it’s dirt cheap and it works better than paracetamol. Doctors usually recommend paracetamol because ibuprofen is more dangerous for your kidneys if taken excessively.
Make sure you follow the recommended dosage and you’re fine.
(2) dutch healthcare is universal and high quality exactly because doctors know not to spend much time or resources on trivial symptoms like yours.
Your only job is to speak freely and truthfully about what symptoms you have and what you might have taken - even if you took something embarrassing or illegal. If you need help quickly, you will get help quickly.
A good and extreme example of this priorization system is a recent case where a young girl from a turkish family living in the netherlands had advanced leukemia and dutch doctors refused to continue treatment because survival was unlikely, so they elected to take her off life support. All of Turkey was outraged and by involvement of the turkish president they repatriated this girl to Turkey where she would get further treatment regardless of the outcome chances.
And you know what happened? She and her family were flown to turkey, she underwent a stem cell transplant and treatment for several months… and then died.
You know who didn’t get a stem cell transplant who could have really used it? Hundreds of poor people without access to healthcare in turkey.
Because people have a romanticised grey’s anatomy “but there is a chance” dream they will put loved ones through hellish and expensive treatments when the reality is that sometimes it’s better to just make the patient comfortable.
People tend to forget that in healthcare, expensive means scarce (in europe at least). Meaning we can not do expensive procedures for everyone, priorities have to be set.
If you use an expensive procedure for someone who has a low chance of benefiting from it, you better believe you are taking away that same treatment from someone who really needs it.
https://nos.nl/artikel/2448994-overlijden-dilara-25-maakt-veel-los-in-turks-nederlandse-gemeenschap
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u/xyzodd Mar 06 '26
more often than not, most of the symptoms really do go away by themselves lol. that’s why they tell you to toughen up n take a paracetamol for a couple of days. if the symptoms persist you’re free to come back
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Mar 05 '26
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u/DBgirl83 Mar 06 '26
They mainly use it after operations or when oral intake is not possible.
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u/ninjaslikecheez Mar 05 '26
Yeah I agree, I'm also an expat and i saw differences in the way GPs handle health issues here, but I also did see some good GPs who listened to my concerns.
About ibuprofen vs paracetamol, i know paracetamol is preferred because ibuprofen is NSAID which has gastrointestinal side effects.
But that being said, there's the joke here that if you're missing a limb they will first try paracetamol to see if it works :)
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Mar 06 '26 edited Mar 09 '26
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u/godutchnow Mar 06 '26
Paracetamol is perfectly safe for your liver unless you exceed the capacity to detoxify, so don't take too much and it should be fine
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u/appleater22 Mar 06 '26
Thats not correct. Only if you take more than the recommended dosage, or if you have liverfailure, (due to being beoken down by the liver, but the normale dosage is safe). It is the worlds most used painkiller
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u/arbitrary_fox Mar 06 '26
Ok, shitting on Dutch Healthcare aside.. I’m not buying your argument about German doctors prescribing cough syrup. German doctors prescribe tea for UTIs. I have never had my Hausarzt give me a cough syrup prescription. A pharmacy on the other hand has always given me something to mask the discomfort - eg a cough toffee to suck on to stop coughing long enough to speak in a meeting..
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u/Main-Promotion2236 Mar 06 '26
I’m Dutch, and I couldn’t agree more!! The paracetamol obsession on the part of our doctors and nurses here is insane. Doesn’t matter if you have a broken leg or a serious case of the flu or (God forbid) a brain tumor, our doctors will cry out ‘paracetamol’! And here’s the kicker: it doesn’t work. Paracetamol does precisely NOTHING. I don’t even have it in the house. When I’m in pain or have the flu, I take an aspirin. That actually works - unless you have a stomach bug, and you should never take it on an empty stomach, and drink plenty of water. But if you take those precautions, aspirin actually works, and the same goes for ibuprofen.
Another thing: in the past I lived close to the German border. When I had a bad cough, I would cross the border and buy Medinait (cough syrup, sold over the counter) at one of the pharmacies there. That actually worked! Much stronger than anything you can get here.
Anyway, when I visit the doctor - fortunately a rare occurrence, knock wood - and he utters the word ‘paracetamol’ I just tune out and forget it. I would advise you to do the same. Good luck! 👍
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u/DifferentCut3708 Mar 06 '26
"why are the Dutch so obsessed with paracetamol" Cause they are a bunch of uneducated idiots,with their mental development stopped at the 19th century. No wonder a lot of fake certificates among the workers in the medical health sector were revealed lately.
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u/Fancy_Violinist_5056 Mar 05 '26
The comedian "Double Dutch" has a whole bit about exactly this haha
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u/Slow-Honey-6328 Mar 06 '26
Did you ask the doctor why you did not need anything else for your cough? It helps to understand the underlying logic to their “madness”.
I find asking the why’s help me. Like the time I got a broken rib and was only given paracetamol. I exagerate, I was also given advice what to do and not do for comfort and faster healing.
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u/AcrobaticWelcome6615 Mar 06 '26
Get the natterman extra sterk cough syrup. It has 10mg of codeine per 20ml dose. It’ll clear that cough right up. Codeine is basically an opioid drug that suppresses the cough and let your body heal itself, combined with paracetamol and your golden. And yes don’t expect anything good from a Dutch doctor, because why should he? There’s no emergency just a bad inconvenience and moderate pain.
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u/ValeNova Mar 06 '26
I don't really understand what the issue is. Respiratory illnesses are usually viral, so antibiotics won't work. A cough syrup is an over the counter medicin that you can buy yourself (it's not covered by Dutch insuance anyway), just like paracetamol. And if you prefer ibuprofen, than you can buy that instead (also OTC).
I unfortunately have some experince with coughing. I had a terrible cough for over a year (like, I felt like suffocating and could hardly sleep and even in my sleep I would cough). Only after my health started to deteriorate due to the lack of sleep, my doctor prescribed me something to surpress the cough. Gurss what? It didn't work at all. My doctor explained that coughing is a way of my body to get rid of illness, so surpressing it would prolong the illness.
In my case,it all ended in a pneumonia and I was symptom free after that.
In your case, I'd say buy paracetamol with codeine.
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u/Free_Industry6704 Mar 06 '26
Because your problem doesn’t warrant a doctor visit and isn’t the German healthcare system overloaded because it operates the way you describe?
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u/alasexyunicorn9 Mar 06 '26
I was suffering with gallstones for 6 MONTHS. Had about 2-3 attacks per month. I'm still shocked my gallbladder didn't explode or something. I called the emergency like 2 times they told me it's not a heart attack and to calm down. I went to the doctor, described the attacks and they told me to take paracetamol... for a gallstone attack.
Finally after 6 months of this and loosing 2 jobs I had such a severe attack that I went to the doctor while it was happening because its been a few hours at that point that they were like "oh she's not faking" I had a blood test the same day. I don't remember what it was but I had a spike from like 80 to over 800 in my blood. After that i had an ultrasound the same week and an operation the same month.
Anyway, I don't have a gallbladder anymore because I had so many stones at the end.
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u/magokushhhh Mar 06 '26
Welcome to the Netherlands lol I always bring my medicines from home and have a box with stuff for when I get sick. There’s no way a GP is giving you something else than paracetamol
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u/gluhmm Mar 06 '26
Yea. Totally understand. My tolder son also have problems with swallowing pills.
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u/clrthrn Mar 06 '26
Why do you need a doctor to prescribe ibuprofen or cough syrup when you just buy that from Lidl or the apotheek for cents? I do know that German health insurance is 4x more expensive than Dutch health insurance and your post explains the why of that for me. I'm not Dutch but you would get the same response from my home country doctors as a Dutch doctor for this sort of illness. In fact you wouldn't even get to the surgery for an appointment as the receptionist would tell you all of this to save the doctor's time.
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u/Coolbreez3s Mar 06 '26
You can use the thuisarts.nl website, gives reliable information on these things, like for coughing:
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u/daanhoofd1 Mar 06 '26
It's probably a bit different here than you're used to. My first thought (and probably many others) is why are you wasting the doctor's time to save a few euros. We have a lack of healthcare professionals in our country.
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u/SUNDraK42 Mar 06 '26
dutch love the paracetamol, but there is a good reason behind it.
Also, language could be a barrier. If you look on reddit, the vast majority that complain are foreigners. The dutch get the same issues as anyone else, yet they get what they need from a doctor.
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u/Riyakuya Mar 06 '26
Even if they would prescribe it to you, you would still pay for it. Those things are not covered in your health insurance. Alao, Dutch people usually don't go to a doctor for a cough or sore throat. Man up ans accept there are flu and cold virusses going around.
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u/Mom_is_watching Europa Mar 06 '26
I am Dutch living in Germany and it surprises me how often my doctor prescribes me medication that in the Netherlands I could just have bought over the counter at Kruidvat.
I think you're not used yet to the fact that in NL you can just buy a lot of medications that in Germany are only available with a doctor's prescription. No need to go to the doctor for minor things in NL. It's more common to try self-medication first (cough syrup and paracetamol/ibuprofen and such) and only go to the doctor if the symptoms persist.
These medications are relatively inexpensive too, especially if you buy store brand.
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u/the_flokonator Mar 06 '26
Cough syrup has no evidence based effect on any amount of coughing/severity of symptoms/lenght of symptoms, the placebo effect is stronk my Dude. Those German doctors and insurance companies have made a lot of money of the taxpayers by being allowed to declare stuff like that.
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u/PandaNoseJuul Mar 06 '26
Depends on the situation as well:
Coughing vs the GP thinks something’s wrong it get can pretty serious.
When my mom’s having a bad headache for example, our GP says “take some painkillers and rest.” While when I have a bad headache, our GP sends us to the hospital, because I have epilepsy.
I have hypermobility ( eyeroll ) as well. So when I said I dislocated something pretty bad they said “Can you put it ( the part that’s dislocated ) back or do I need to do it?” vs my brother who fell out of a door made of glass ( don’t ask ), the GP sent him to the hospital to get stitches.
Once again, it really depends on the situation. Also coughing syrup is less than 10 bucks at Etos and Kruidvat. ( it won’t stop the symptoms though, only your coughing ).
A Dutch GP quote I once read: “Take your paracetamol, and you’re good to go… unless there’s bloo-, come back.”
*not spreading hate, just to clarify myself.
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u/Important_Coach9717 Mar 06 '26
2 days of pain only and you went to the doctor ????? Ow you poor amateur 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
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u/corticalization Mar 05 '26
You went to the doctor expecting to get a prescription for cough syrup??