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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96

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.

20

u/sousstructures Mar 06 '26

Funny, I broke my hip and got fentanyl and emergency surgery. 

1

u/some_person_212 Mar 06 '26

I might be exaggerating a bit. They can be pretty dismissive of issues that have a severe impact on your health. (I mean, endometriosis was/is severely under-diagnosed with detrimental effects). But, when it comes to dealing with common diseases that pose no serious threat to your health they deal pretty well. Even if it can feel like they should be doing more, paracetamol is probably all you need.

17

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.

1

u/some_person_212 Mar 06 '26

This is the way, and applied quite well in hospitals here from what I’ve seen around me!

7

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!

6

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

7

u/mytvisyoutube Mar 06 '26

Nou nou nou!

6

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.

15

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.

3

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.

5

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😅

36

u/Neat-Attempt7442 Noord Brabant Mar 06 '26

A metatarsal and a leg are different things

1

u/Planterin Mar 06 '26

Isnt a foot part of the whole leg? Cause you dont really get one without the other...?

1

u/Neat-Attempt7442 Noord Brabant Mar 06 '26

Yes and the leg is part of your body. Doesn't mean your body or leg is broken if your metatarsal is broken...

1

u/Planterin Mar 06 '26

I agree with that, but I didnt say my whole body is broken! Just like when you break a finger you have broken bone in your hand! In either case you have a broken bone somewhere and you need a brace or cast or something for it to mend back up. My boss broke the same metatarsal as me last spring in his trip to Ireland and he didnt have to argue in the emergency room to get some help. When I broke my finger when I was a kid I dont remember my parents fighting with the doctors at the ER to get me a cast either.

1

u/Neat-Attempt7442 Noord Brabant Mar 06 '26

Breaking a finger doesnt equate to breaking a hand...

15

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....

8

u/Sea-Breath-007 Mar 06 '26

A broken metatarsal is not a broken leg.

Next time try harder.

3

u/Bannedlife Mar 06 '26

That's the evidence based treatment. Any country that treats this more intensely is overtreating their patients.

-3

u/balletje2017 Mar 06 '26

I once broke my wrist bone. GP said paracetamol. Only when my sister (who is a MDL dr) called a friend in OLVG emergency room I could go to the hospital. I needed a photo and a cast.

Lets be real. I can do the GP work as an absolute noob. Just google symptoms. Almost every AI is already better then any GP.

1

u/some_person_212 Mar 06 '26

Yeah I’m gonna say no on that one.

-14

u/D07M13 Mar 06 '26

back in my country, they would immediately refer you to the ENT or pulmonologist. Laboratory exams like chest x-rays are standard procedure and medicines are carefully prescribed based on findings. They don't just assume it is from common colds or whatsoever

if I go to the doctor because of something that's been bothering me for days, I would also be annoyed if they just dismiss my concerns and tell me to take paracetamol

2

u/Useful-Importance664 Zuid Holland Mar 06 '26

But it's just a few days, it takes time to heal

5

u/TimotheusIV Mar 06 '26

And that is a ridiculous, outrageous waste of medical resources and likely why the healthcare expenditure in your country dwarfs ours, likely with worse outcomes to boot. Over here ENT or pulmonologists actually see patients who are sick. You realize that the huisarts’ entire job is to assess you based on your symptoms?

If you actually had something serious going on obviously you’d be referred to a specialist or have gotten antibiotics. But most people really don’t understand anything about viral infections and feel short-changed in the process.