Doctor Wars

I've been down with a cough since Sunday, and on Monday afternoon, finally decided to visit the doctor.

So 2:30 pm, I walk down to the 12th floor of my office building, and after a 10 minute wait (which I spend reading the Feb 2000 issue of 'Stuff'), Dr. C. Lim decides I've waited enough, and calls me in. Note though, while I'm waiting, there's no other patient in the waiting room, and no one walks out of the doctor's room before she called me in. In other words, she was probably napping for a while.

But she looks fresh and alent enough though. And after a cursory examination, in which I end up diagnosing what I have (and she takes my temperature and fools around with the stethoscope), I get an MC and the following medicines:

• Augmentin (the inevitable antibiotic) 1 tab twice daily
  
• Cirrus capsule (for blocked/runny nose) 1 tab every morning
  
• Polarax (for what???) 1 tab every night
  
• Korzen (for phlegm) 2 tabs thrice daily
  
• Random cough medicine

I don't understand the Cirrus capsule though - it works for both runny as well as blocked noses? That's like an inverter? [Nose_condition = not (Nose_condition)]

Anyway, was back home early last evening - around 5 and took some rest. This morning too, I was feeling down and decided to take the day off again (the fact that I had a mid-year review with my boss had nothing to do with it, honest). So I went to another doc near my house (Raffles Medical Clinic's infamous Dr. O T Gan).

And after yet another wait, and yet another cursory examination (this time it was temperature, BP and stethoscope), he pronounced that I had a mild viral infection, and gave me the day off. He also asked me to describe my other medicines and declared that Dr C. Lim (of yesterday) had mis-diagnosed me and unnecessarily given me antibiotics.

I was to immediately stop yesterday's medicines, and take the new pills prescribed by him. Let the doctor wars begin!

But seriously, this is a pivotal moment in my hsitory with Singapore doctors - the first time a doctor has NOT prescribed me antibiotics.

But he did give me the following medicines:

• Chlorpheniramine (for runny nose) 1 tab thrice a day
  
• Paracetamol (for fever / pain, neither of which I have) 2 tabs thrice daily
  
• Bromhexine (for phlegm) 1 tab three times daily
  
• Random cough medicine

SO I have reached the following conclusion: I have a cough, a runny nose and have phlegm (both of which I can feel). Can't I diagnose this myself? Isn't it time we made these drugs available OTC, and reduced our doctor fees?

I shall ponder these, as I lie in bed this cool rainy Tuesday.