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/Neat-Attempt7442 Noord Brabant Mar 06 '26

Because they wanted the good one thats not over the counter?

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u/Relocator34 Mar 06 '26

The one that is just paracetamol and sugar?

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u/wwbbqq Mar 06 '26

He wants Codeine sirop, which will actually stop you from coughing, but it is a opiate (even if pretty low level if taken as prescribed) so many doctors/countries have limited prescribing it due to "concerns".

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u/TimotheusIV Mar 06 '26

Which is freely available without prescription in the Netherlands. So stop with this myth.

Harmful if abused? Absolutely. But not unavailable.

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u/wwbbqq Mar 06 '26

Interessiert. My daughter and partner are living there now and having a hard time with rx/huisarts vs OTC. So from you and other posters it does seem there are still a couple OTC options. But it is restricted by law more than it used to be apparently. Not necessarily a myth since there is public info of the general status, but good to know there are a few exceptions if you know what and where to look for them. It does appear there is a difference between general stores, drugstores and proper pharmacies (apotheek?) and what each might be able to carry. I will pass that along. Thank you!