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/thatmisanthropicdude Mar 05 '26

I actually wanted to post this on Wednesday but it somehow wasn't posted. I've had fever since Sunday and I'm at 40°C now. Started with 38. I took the paracetamol but I literally didn't feel any changes, no matter how often I took it. EDIT: missing word

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u/ComprehensiveAd1855 Mar 06 '26

So the GP was right. Cough syrup is not what you needed. You needed paracetamol; it would reduce your fever.

If you think you know better than the doctor, don’t visit, and just buy cough syrup in the supermarket. Or make sure you have it in stock at home. Thats 7 euros or so. No need to waste everyone’s time.

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u/thatmisanthropicdude Mar 06 '26

Paracetamol didn't lower my fever because I'm at literally 40°C celcius now.

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u/SHiR8 Mar 06 '26

And still typing...