Incoherent Scribblings

Today’s entry, “Take Two Aspirin…,” is brought to you by Expatica.com!

For the last few days I have been battling a chest cold. It’s nothing that I won’t get over on my own in a few days time, but ever since I started sniffling A. has been threatening to send me to the doctor. In fact, whenever either one of us has a little cough, a slight fever, or a runny nose, A. is very adamant that if we don’t get over it in 48 hours time we should go to the doctor.

Even when we were still living in the States A. had this point of view. At the time, even though we both had jobs and health insurance I found this attitude rather odd. As most Americans will tell you, even with health insurance, we just don’t go to the doctor for every little scrape or sniffle.

Americans are masters of over-the-counter medication. Fever? No problem. Just go to Wal-Mart and pick up some aspirin or Tylenol. Runny nose? Stock up on Kleenex and decongestant. Scraped knee? Clean it up with peroxide and slap a Band-aid on it. It isn’t until we have had an affliction for at least a couple of weeks that we break down and see the doctor… and only because you can’t get antibiotics without a prescription.

However, things in Germany are different. Germany is a land with a national health care system. Everyone here is required to have health insurance and the people aren’t afraid to use it.

As an American with a natural skepticism of doctors, the idea of running to the doctor with every little ache or pain has taken some getting used to. It just seems silly to visit the doctor because I have a virus that he or she really can’t do anything about anyway. Honestly, I am not sure I will ever be able to casually make an appointment with a doctor just because I have a cold; it just seems like a waste of my time.

I must confess though, that in some ways it is nice. Dental care and yearly eye examinations are not treated as separate entities here, but as part of one’s regular health care. I haven’t seen so clearly in years and since my arrival in Germany, my teeth have never been so pearly white.

However, in other ways it is quite troublesome. Everything related to pharmaceuticals must be purchased at the pharmacy, and though over-the-counter medication exists here, even something as simple as aspirin is only sold to you upon request. Many more things require a doctor’s prescription and since there are no 24 hour pharmacies, you better hope that when you get a headache and discover you have no aspirin that it isn’t Saturday evening.

It just so happened that it was Sunday evening when A. hugged me and realized I had a fever. From his ingrained German health care point of view, this warranted rushing me to the emergency room so that I could immediately see a doctor. However, my American sensibilities won out when I suggested that I just take a couple of aspirin and go to bed. I agreed that if my fever hadn’t broken by morning I would go see the doctor.

Luckily for me, on Monday morning my fever had subsided. Once again I managed to avoid visiting the general practitioner’s office where, instead of leaving with a miracle cure, I’m sure I just would have picked up more germs than I had to start with.

Posted on Wednesday 11 May 2005 at 16:19 under expatica blog, germany.
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