Home > Focus on Japan 2006 > Up to 6 Now

Up to 6 Now

September 6th, 2006

A year and a half ago I blogged on how doctors in Japan tend to over-prescribe through reflex, and how they would almost impulsively give you a pill, a capsule, and a powder for almost any ailment. Well, they seem to have graduated from three medicines to six. Just the other day a coworker of mine complained that she had been given six different nostrums by her doctor, which seemed excessive to her. And today I just got hit by the same outcome.

I went to see the doctor about stomach pains and other related ailments, and was diagnosed with gastritis and a cold. The prescription? One capsule, two kinds of pills, and three kinds of powders–one of the powders being a mix of three different medicines, actually. I’m hardly a doctor, but that seems way excessive to me. They include an antibiotic, two medicines for fever and pain (of which I only have slight indications), two stomach medicines, and one for general symptoms apparently. I’m tempted to just leave the whole thing behind and simply live out the illness naturally.

And I hate the powders. Gotta put them in your mouth dry, then wash them down with water, and they almost always leave a residue in your mouth that the water can’t wash away, and it tastes horrible.

Categories: Focus on Japan 2006 Tags: by
  1. September 6th, 2006 at 13:55 | #1

    It could be far worse than powders that leave a bad taste in the mouth. It could include a suppository. 😉

  2. ykw
    September 6th, 2006 at 16:34 | #2

    I’ve had stomach problems in the past and found that acidopholis, FOS, and l-glutamine to be the cure, for my case. I needed to take them aggressively (lots of capsules often) for approx 6wks for a full recovery.

Comments are closed.