john banks

As title.

unfeasablylargegonads

iTrader: (3)

trust - based on first visit about cough and assuming only mild severity.

dpb

If they gave me antibiotics for a cough, id be suspicious

M4RKG

iTrader: (22)

Why do you think you need anti-biotics?

... just have some strepsils

dpb

If everybody took antibiotics on each and every occasion we would all be a lot less healthy , isn't that right

?

Steve vRS

What about all the antibiotics fed to animals that we then eat? How does that contribute to the resistance of bugs?

Agree, we should save the antibiotics for when they work!

Steve

Coffin Dodger

Main issue for me is that I haven't been to the doctors for probably at least the last 10 years and I'm not registered with one since moving out of the area of the last practice. There would have to be something properly wrong with me to prompt an appointment, a cough would certainly not do it

Interestingly I've had a fairly bad cough of late, I knew it was viral so no point doing much until it went, just steam inhalation and Strepsils, I happend to mention to the missus my unusual coloured phelgm and she was almost insisting I went down there Cough has all but gone now....

My Mum also had one, first trip to the doctors and was diagnosed with an infection, given anti-biotics etc. which did nothing. Went back, different doctor, siad it was viral and nothing he could do. I told her how steam inhalation helped but she didn't seem overly keen, still convinced she needed some sort of drug to sort it out.

tony de wonderful

Depends what the symptoms are.

Antibiotics are given out way too often, it is a well known problem. In 20/30 years we will be back to 1900 with no drugs to fight infection.

Hysteria1983

I'm a bit half and half n this one. I do trust that most GP's know what is best, therefore if I am told antibiotics are not needed, I am happy with that.

Personally I have only been to see my GP once in the last 5+ years for something other than women's stuff.
BUT when the children are ill, I find it more difficult to see why they would rather a child suffer and see, which is not increasingly the attitude.

Now, I understand that is possibly down to people wanting their GP to magic them better with antibiotics for a sniffle.

The bad thing is that my two both seem to have terribly ENT issues like I did as a child. Resulting in many trips to the GP only to be told, he's had antibiotics a lot this year, so let's leave it this time and see how he gets on. Unfortunately that particular time he the developed strep after it!! and was VERY poorly!!!

A similar situation with my daughter resulting in a perforated ear drum.

So I'm 50/50 between doing what they feel is best, and saving money. The attitude lately is - if they go downhill then bring them back!!
Of course, because I love sitting in a confined and overheated room full of sick people!

DoZZa

iTrader: (4)

There is a simple solution, dont use them!

Seriously, the only time I would ever consider using antibiotics is if my life was in immediate danger from an infection or similar. Antibiotics have their place, dont get me wrong.

The thing with these antibiotics, which you probably all know, is that they quickly become useless if you take them a lot. In some cases they do nothing at all even if you have never used that type of antibiotic before. Worst case is they can make you feel a lot worse while still doing nothing!

Also, they treat the symptom and not the cause!

I found this out the hard way. As a youngster I had continuing ear infections as I used to swim a hell of a lot. I stopped swimming and had several operations on my ears over the years (nice rhyme there!) to add and remove grommets, a device which is supposed to aid the draining of the ears.

I was continually on antibiotics for my ears, amoxicillin to be exact. They never did anything, all they did was make me feel ill. So I stopped them. After about a month I stopped having ear infections, but stayed out of the water as it was obvious that the swimming was causing the problem in the first place.

A few years went by without any problems, then I went swimming just one time and got water in my ears, and straight away I had an ear infection again! Only this time I did nothing about it, no antibiotics. I had the ear infection for a few months before I got fed up with it. So I searched for a natural solution to treat the cause, not the symptom.

After reading lot and lots of information online and elsewhere, I discovered that natures own, and most potent antibiotic is Garlic.

You will probably fall about laughing after reading the next sentence, but you know what I did?

I got a clove of fresh Garlic, peeled the skin off of it and stuck it in my ear and left it there for about 30 mins!

And guess what, my ear infection was gone the next day, I kid you not! You can shout B/S if you want, makes no difference to me, but I tell you it worked. In fact it has worked more than once. As recently I took my young son swimming and the little bugger managed to submerse me in the water, same thing, ear infection again, gave it maybe three days to see if it would go by itself but it didnt.

So I tried the old Garlic clove trick, and again it worked, next day ear infection gone.

I would suggest looking for an alternative natural remedy if available.

As regard to a cough, this might sound odd to you, but our bodies need to be ill sometimes. A cough is one way a body gets rid of toxins. Of course if you have a persistent cough, then yes, seek help.

All I am saying is there is sometimes a better solution than taking antibiotics.

I have read on a few occasions that some doctors get paid a commission based in which drugs they prescribe, I dont know if there is any truth behind that, but I would not be at all surprised if it was the case.

As for the doctor, I cant remember the last time I went to see one. I rely on natural remedies and so do the rest of my family, if its good enough for the Queen of England, then its good enough for me!

Funkii Munkii

Good post DoZZa

No good for your immune system either.

My nephews have been on and off AB's they were small and they seem to pick up everything going !!

It pee's me off that some Docs are happy just to prescribe AB's to get punters out of the surgery

Another natural cure for you, my daughter had a wart on the underside of her toe, weeks and weeks of applying this lotion and sanding it down every night did nothing, we were told to try a piece of banana skin tapped to the toe in question at night, it was gone in 2 days !!

SamUK

iTrader: (1)

I dont trust doctors..always seek another opinion..

but antibiotics for a cough? someone's having a laugh...lol

antibiotics are used for bacterial infections not viral...

ps: sorry dozza i dint have it in me to read your looooooong reply..but im sure you mean well..

J4CKO

iTrader: (1)

It would pee me off as a GP if people come in with something demanding antibiotics, I can imagine the cretins you get through the door "I want some Antibiotics for me cold, innit" who then get arsey when you wont prescribe them and wont listen when you say it wont make any difference, I have a tendency to self diagnose stuff like my Extensor Tendonitis which I got right but I was way of the mark with the Polycystic Ovaries.

I do think we should use them sparingly, they will lose their effectiveness, plu sit doesnt help when we excrete it and it goes into the water, doesnt help when cattle get pumped full of it.

I had a sore toe the other week, could have gone and got antibiotics but a bit of Savlon sorted it out, had it not had an effect I would have gone to the doctors.

I think that if we were more hygenic as a nation then we would have less reliance on anticbiotics by just controlling the spread of bacteria better, the number of pele that dont wash their hands after going to the loo astounds me, then they feel hard done by when they get the ****s.

I know a family who spend their life on Antibiotics, like Funkii Munkiis nephews, they are always sick with something and on Antibiotics. I am sure some people like to have them as a badge of illness, they get to say "No, I cant possibly drink, for I am on Antibiotics", almost like it validates their status as ill, like a mini Munchausen syndrome, goes nicely with a sick note, half of it probably avoidable via hygeine, diet and exercise.

bigsinky

and there's me thinking all this time you were a fella Jacko

john banks

Thanks for the interesting comments and very good points.

I have to remember that there are a lot of people that don't consult with their coughs and I see a self selected bunch that do. However, some that do also are people that rarely consult.

A Friday, an impending holiday (either when we're closed or people are going away), exams, antibiotics used previously in similar or different circumstances, "something must be done" are all personally relevant but poor reasons for using an antibiotic. In some people, no matter how much information you give them about your reasons, they still want them and take great offence when refused. This results in a difficult situation as there are situations where people will deteriorate after a consultation where there was nothing that could be identified to indicate they may do so. Still, more harm is done by prescribing in this situation than would be if the prescription was refused but careful advice is given to look at the signs of worsening. Blame is easily dished out after the fact.

john banks

Was Jacko being ironic?

I do have women asking me about their "prostrate".

bigsinky

do you find many women fall at your feet John

john banks

Only usually ones who've collapsed.

jef

iTrader: (13)

cant see why a gp would presribe anti-biotics unless they were of benefit to the patient,

are there gps that buckle to patient influence, just to make life easier ect?

i also havent been to my gp for myself for many years, but have for my son. shes been more than helpful and explained if we asked why she has given the advise she has.
from her explanations, it usually seemed to revolve around her justification for not prescribing antibiotics - not that we asked her, but gave me the impression she may see many patients that expect them.

bigsinky

is it the smelly feet or the good looks. sorry for the hijack. back on topic

DoZZa

iTrader: (4)

I hope thats not directed at me! I state in my post that sometimes the body needs to be ill to get rid of toxins, bacteria.

Only seek help when a cough, cold etc is persistent. Even then I would never use antibiotics. Simple home remedies are sufficient to help get rid of the majority of coughs and colds.

bigsinky

do surgeries still get paid based on patient load?

jjones

closely followed by..

"hey doc how are you checking my prostate when you have a hand on each shoulder??"

Lee247

Seriously!!!!!

bigsinky

its fookin magic

tony de wonderful

Is that to do with miking the prostate?

bigsinky

ffs tony i was being serious. if my assertion is still true then in some instances GPs may feel pressurised to give in to patients in case they leave the surgery along with 500 of their friends and relatives (unlikely I know).

tony de wonderful

In my experience patients are treated as nuisances to be fobbed off with instructions to take aspirin and who should be grateful for being treated...except for immigrants they get the red carpet and invitations for their extended families to have free everything.

tony de wonderful

That's quite funny but not that far from the mark. In Victorian society 'hysterical' women would be brought into see the Doctor and the Doctor would 'manually stimulate' them to orgasm as a medical treatment.

RobsyUK

iTrader: (2)

The only time I didn't trust a doctor is when he typed my symptoms into google!