Prescribing Common Sense

Actually had a good experience at the student health clinic today.  That's probably not a normal thing to say after having been to a doctor's office.  I haven't gotten over the flu 100% that I got at Christmas and my ears were starting to hurt. Went in today and the NP confirmed that I have an upper respiratory infection.

Then she said, "I don't want to freak you out but I'm not going to prescribe any antibiotics if that's what you came here for."  I told her I actually hadn't come in earlier because I was afraid that was what they were going to do.  She said new research coming out of Europe is showing that antibiotics aren't that effective in this sort of case.

She recommended a nasal steriod to help the inflammation go down so my sinuses can start draining and using my neti pot.  I couldn't believe it.  She knew what a neti pot was?  And was advocating it?  Then she said I was dehydrated and needed 3L of water today.  She said that was a lot and for the third liter I needed electrolytes.  She recommended gatorade and I told her I wouldn't drink the stuff because of all the other garbage in it.  She said she understood and to just drink chicken broth instead or add some sea salt to water and have a banana.

I was completely blown away that she didn't want to cram me full of antibiotics and send me on my way. What a relief!  And she actually listened to what I had to say, asked intelligent questions, and I felt like my treatment options were within the realm of what I was comfortable with.

Going to the doctor's office is never going to be on my list of fun things to do, however, next time, I'm not going to wait so long!  It also gave me hope that some practitioners of Western medicine are realizing that pumping people full of drugs is not always the answer.  

 Anyone else have a Doctor prescribing common sense lately?