I ran into a similar situation at work some years ago. I told them that I refused to waste my doctor’s time, and the health system’s money, by visiting a doctor because they thought some people were lying whem they said they were sick.
I did a quick informal poll at work and 100% of the many people I asked agreed that they had visited a doctor, at some time, to get a certificate for no other reason than to placate HR. Some even said thet they always got a certificate. So I wrote to the health minister suggesting that millions of dollars could be saved by making it illegal for employers to discriminate on sick leave based on whether a doctor approved it. The practice is simply a cost shifting exercise for HR regimes to assist in their compliance efforts. If they think people are cheating on their sick leave entitlements - they should deal with it.
I didn’t get a reply but, having sent a copy to HR, I was left alone at work after that.
Yes. Bombard it with antibiotics. That’s what everybody in my family has always done whenever any of us gets the sniffles. Or any type of sickness, actually. It just makes sense.
If it’s just a cold, which is what you asked in the OP, a Dr can’t do anything, as it’s a virus.
I’ve been taking 1000 mg of vitamin C daily for as long as I can remember, and the only time I had a cold in years was when I didn’t take it for a few days.
C’mon people, when you get a common cold, the place for you is not a doctor’s office but your local emergency room, where your sniffling and sneezing take precedence over trauma victims and heart attack patients.
The latest Cochrane Review evaluating clinical trials on this subject indicates that while there may be limited benefit in certain populations relating to reduced length of colds* and less severe symptoms (and even these benefits are contradicted by therapeutic trials), the bottom line is that if you take high-dose C to prevent colds, you’re wasting your money.
“The failure of vitamin C supplementation to reduce the incidence of colds in the general population indicates that routine vitamin C supplementation is not justified”
*average reduction of the length of colds over some trials was a whopping 8%. So if your colds normally last 7 days, they might only last 6 1/2 days if you chug down enough vitamin C. And even that benefit is debatable.
I actually did go to a doctor for the common cold three weeks ago. It’s about 38 miles away one-way, but the doctor seems excellent. The cost was only $5 or so including meds. I did learn something new: that doctor considers pseudephedrine to be contraindicated for older people, especially those with heart problems.
Even though I was 75% certain it was just a common cold, I went because I feel fragile and wanted it treated properly before it complicated – I often develop sinusitis or bronchitis. In fact, about a week later I caught a sort of flu, attended to it (with a different doctor), and am now feeling much better.
I need rest, water, etc, and especially coolth. It is unbearably hot right now where I live in Thailand and I’m spending most of my time in our air-conditioned room, the thing, I think, saving me from fatigue and poor health.
There is one reason I visit my doctor for a bad common cold: to obtain a doctor’s note for sick leave. (my employer wants one for absence of more than one day; is’s mandatory in Germany for sick leave of more than two days). My doctor and I agree on rest being the only effective cure, and rest is what I obtain at the doctor’s.
My post specifically referred to evidence of limited benefit of high-dose vitamin C on duration and severity of colds, noting that effects on duration were nothing to write home about, and that therapeutic trials did not back up these findings.
The quote you’re objecting to was the study’s bottom line on using vitamin C for cold prevention, for which “routine vitamin C supplementation is not justified”.
“Selective quoting” my ass.
That’s why the Giant Pharma Lizards pay me the big bucks.
I chose the “complications” option, although I can see the point of view that says if you have “complications,” you’re not just seeing the doctor for a cold.
If I had to produce a doctor’s note to miss work, I’d probably go if my cold was bad enough. As it is, although I have excellent health insurance with a low co-pay, I don’t make unplanned visits to the doctor unless I think my life or long-term health is in danger. If I feel like crap, I’d rather stay in bed with my OTC remedies and my humidifier than get up, get dressed, and drag myself out to sit in a waiting room with other sick people for half the day.
I’m surprised more people aren’t going in for the good cough syrup. I will go to the docor for the common cold if I have a cough that keeps me up at night. Isn’t it fairly well established that OTC cough syrups don’t really work?
I’ve never, not ever, found a doctor who would give us “the good cough syrup”. This past winter, even, my daughter literally did not sleep more than 5 minutes at a time for a week, running 102+ fevers with a constant, and I mean constant cough. We were in the ER twice in three days I was so worried about her, and I am usually hospital averse. The best they would finally do, after the second visit and much pleading from myself (registered nurse) and my husband (retired paramedic), was to give her a single dose of Lortab syrup just as we were walking out the ER to take her home. That did a beautiful job of knocking out the cough overnight so she could get a solid night’s sleep, which broke the cycle and allowed her body to heal. But to take home? Oh, *hell *no. You’d have thought I was trying to score morphine.
Now, maybe that was ‘cause she’s a kid, and we’re terrible about researching kid’s colds, so we’re not entirely sure if giving them cough syrup is a good idea in the first place. But as an adult, I’ve not been offered “the good cough syrup” as an option for my own illnesses, and I’ve never seen it in my patients’ medicine lists, either.
US. I would see a doctor is a high fever or severe symptoms presented for longer than 5 days or so. In that case, it would more than likely not be a common cold. I’ve also had a common cold turn into pneumonia…But for a case of sinus pressure, aches and sniffles, no I would not see a doctor.
It would cost me to attend my GP, but that’s not the reason. Why would I spend time sitting in a waiting room to see someone who can’t do anything to help me?
Cold and flu tablets from the pharmacy, maybe cough lollies and if crook enough to stay home from work go to bed with Vicks Vaporub on the chest and a mug of hot milk, whiskey and honey.
I have. As it stretched into a fourth week, I went in case it was something more than just a cold, desperate for a remedy. I thought perhaps it was a chest infection that antibiotics could help. Alas, it was just a cold and I had to suffer on.
