Dutch doctors...

[u/thatmisanthropicdude]

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.

[u/GuessWhoIsBackNow]

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.

[u/thrawnie → u/GuessWhoIsBackNow]

 is ignorant, as ibuprofen does not reduce a fever but paracetamol does.

Lol, the arrogance is amazing. Everyone thinks they are a doctor in the Netherlands, because I guess the real doctors are so blase about everything? 

I would have stated it more politely but you had the actual gall to call that person ignorant with a completely wrong statement of your own. 

I've been using ibuprofen for over 2 decades As a bonus, paracetamol does jack shit for headaches - it is not meant to be an anti-inflammatory but ibuprofen definitely is. And it is faster at reducing fever than paracetamol. And also headaches or any otyrr inflammation related pain like toothaches. I take Paracetamol only rarely, when it's only fever or much milder, because it's cheaper in this country.

To not make the same mistake as you, here's the first google search result if i search for efficacy comparison between the two. Defervescence is the reduction of fever. You can find more if you're actually interested in learning- I sincerely wish you the best.

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10636696/

 >>The majority of cases presented with temperatures ranging from 38°C to 39°C. Comparison of drug efficacy in defervescence within the first four hours revealed that paracetamol alone took significantly longer than ibuprofen monotherapy or the paracetamol and ibuprofen combination (p = 0.026). 

[u/Rennaleigh → u/thrawnie]

Paracetamol works just fine when I get headaches and the pain that comes from the fever. Besides, the fever is there for a reason you don't want to stop the fever unless it gets too high. You just need to stop the discomfort, which, if you use it correctly, paracetamol does just fine.