Are many locals bad about following doctor's orders?
Are many locals bad about following doctor's orders?
My girlfriend is having off and on stomach pain in Phnom Penh while I'm abroad.
She went to Sunrise Hospital and they did blood tests and a physical exam and said she had gall stones.
They wanted to do an MRI or ultrasound to confirm it . . . she said no for some reason.
They give her the bag of pills with instructions to take them, including antibiotics. She promptly messages me that she's better now.
She takes these pills for two days, the off and on pain returns, so she decides they're not working.
Tonight the pain is bad and she goes to a small Khmer clinic recommended by her family for a new bag of pills. She immediately starts feeling better and swears the new pills are working and the old pills didn't.
I suggested that maybe she is temporarily feeling better because it's an off and on problem and that the new pills haven't cured her and she really needs the ultrasound of her stomach. She scoffed at that.
I suggested that maybe it took 2 days for the original antibiotics and gall stone dissolving medicine to work and that's why she feels better, not because of the new pills she took a few hours ago. She scoffed at that too.
We've been through this before, whenever she's given a course of antibiotics she'll either take it for 2 days and decide she's better and . . . stop taking the pills, or she'll decide they're not working and . . . stop taking the pills. She never takes a whole course of medicine recommended by a doctor, she either stops because she's feeling better or stops because she's not feeling better.
She went to Sunrise Hospital and they did blood tests and a physical exam and said she had gall stones.
They wanted to do an MRI or ultrasound to confirm it . . . she said no for some reason.
They give her the bag of pills with instructions to take them, including antibiotics. She promptly messages me that she's better now.
She takes these pills for two days, the off and on pain returns, so she decides they're not working.
Tonight the pain is bad and she goes to a small Khmer clinic recommended by her family for a new bag of pills. She immediately starts feeling better and swears the new pills are working and the old pills didn't.
I suggested that maybe she is temporarily feeling better because it's an off and on problem and that the new pills haven't cured her and she really needs the ultrasound of her stomach. She scoffed at that.
I suggested that maybe it took 2 days for the original antibiotics and gall stone dissolving medicine to work and that's why she feels better, not because of the new pills she took a few hours ago. She scoffed at that too.
We've been through this before, whenever she's given a course of antibiotics she'll either take it for 2 days and decide she's better and . . . stop taking the pills, or she'll decide they're not working and . . . stop taking the pills. She never takes a whole course of medicine recommended by a doctor, she either stops because she's feeling better or stops because she's not feeling better.
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Ghostwriter
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Re: Are many locals bad about following doctor's orders?
Maybe she thinks the big MRI machine will eat / hurt her ? Half-joking...seen that before.
It's not exactly a rigorous western healthcare environment without cultural and superstitious bias, as in Swiss, so to say. Critical & cartesian thinking aren't always the most favored.
Also, not always exactly the utmost straightforward communication habits between entities in play on a daily basis. The older influence the younger, and sometimes the older knows fuck all.
If you add the eventual bias between 2 cultures and shake it with care, you can get a cocktail with unanticipated reasoning flavors.
If you know little about her culture, that's another layer to take into consideration.
That leaves quite some room for imagination, but i'm sure someone will add some comments based on more specific examples.
Right guys ?
Stand your western health thinking ground because you know better, and try to make her explain and justify her decisions, on a friendly tone, see where it goes ? I hope you won't have to stay afar longer than needed, so you can debrief this soon. Bad / weird habits die hard.
It's not exactly a rigorous western healthcare environment without cultural and superstitious bias, as in Swiss, so to say. Critical & cartesian thinking aren't always the most favored.
Also, not always exactly the utmost straightforward communication habits between entities in play on a daily basis. The older influence the younger, and sometimes the older knows fuck all.
If you add the eventual bias between 2 cultures and shake it with care, you can get a cocktail with unanticipated reasoning flavors.
If you know little about her culture, that's another layer to take into consideration.
That leaves quite some room for imagination, but i'm sure someone will add some comments based on more specific examples.
Right guys ?
Stand your western health thinking ground because you know better, and try to make her explain and justify her decisions, on a friendly tone, see where it goes ? I hope you won't have to stay afar longer than needed, so you can debrief this soon. Bad / weird habits die hard.
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Bitte_Kein_Lexus
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Re: Are many locals bad about following doctor's orders?
Cambodia is why there are bacterial infections which are resistant to antibiotics. The "pharmacists" who prescribe garbage courses are also to blame. I'd say she was likely scared of the MRI or something (or the cost), or had heard some bullshit story from someone else about some weird superstition related to it. You'll need to babysit your girlfriend through the process I guess, but it'll be very hard from abroad.
Ex Bitteeinbit/LexusSchmexus
Re: Are many locals bad about following doctor's orders?
She seems a little obsessed with taking medicine generally.
As to the MRI, I think she thinks it requires her to go through COVID testing protocols at the hospital and she's afraid of that.
As to the MRI, I think she thinks it requires her to go through COVID testing protocols at the hospital and she's afraid of that.
Re: Are many locals bad about following doctor's orders?
Gall stones have to be confirmed by an ultrasound. An ultrasound is a painless way to diagnose, but she has to show her bare belly.Manscaped wrote: ↑Tue Aug 16, 2022 1:33 am My girlfriend is having off and on stomach pain in Phnom Penh while I'm abroad.
She went to Sunrise Hospital and they did blood tests and a physical exam and said she had gall stones.
They wanted to do an MRI or ultrasound to confirm it . . . she said no for some reason.
They give her the bag of pills with instructions to take them, including antibiotics. She promptly messages me that she's better now.
She takes these pills for two days, the off and on pain returns, so she decides they're not working.
Tonight the pain is bad and she goes to a small Khmer clinic recommended by her family for a new bag of pills. She immediately starts feeling better and swears the new pills are working and the old pills didn't.
I suggested that maybe she is temporarily feeling better because it's an off and on problem and that the new pills haven't cured her and she really needs the ultrasound of her stomach. She scoffed at that.
I suggested that maybe it took 2 days for the original antibiotics and gall stone dissolving medicine to work and that's why she feels better, not because of the new pills she took a few hours ago. She scoffed at that too.
We've been through this before, whenever she's given a course of antibiotics she'll either take it for 2 days and decide she's better and . . . stop taking the pills, or she'll decide they're not working and . . . stop taking the pills. She never takes a whole course of medicine recommended by a doctor, she either stops because she's feeling better or stops because she's not feeling better.
If the hospital is right medication won't work, but it might also be an inflammation of the skin of the gallbladder or another thousand things. Only way forward is doing the ultrasound. MRI sounds like over-diagnosing at this stage.
Placebo effect of medication has been well researched and is real.
Re: Are many locals bad about following doctor's orders?
I think the problem is that the locals are very good about following their doctor's orders - the problem is 99% of their doctors don't have a Scooby Doo what they're doing..
Meum est propositum in taberna mori,
ut sint Guinness proxima morientis ori.
tunc cantabunt letius angelorum chori:
"Sit Deus propitius huic potatori."
ut sint Guinness proxima morientis ori.
tunc cantabunt letius angelorum chori:
"Sit Deus propitius huic potatori."
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Username Taken
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Re: Are many locals bad about following doctor's orders?
Exactly! That's why we always give Yeay a call out in the province to run to the monks to get a remote diagnosis.
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hanno
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Re: Are many locals bad about following doctor's orders?
I always tell the missus to send me photos of any prescriptions she gets as she is willing to take anything the doctor ordered. Something like 3 kinds of antibiotics for the kid that has a common cold......
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Chad Sexington
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Re: Are many locals bad about following doctor's orders?
Standard form seems to be that sick folk go to a “pharmacy” and describe their symptoms, the “pharmacist” promptly cobbles together a number of packets of mixed ‘mystery’ pills. The patient is then told to take 1 packet, 3 times daily, for 2 or 3 days.
That maybe explains why the lady in the OP is reluctant to take medication over an extended period.
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Clutch Cargo
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Re: Are many locals bad about following doctor's orders?
I feel for you OP reading your story. Have heard similar things with Mrs Cargo, her friends and relatives. It's a real conundrum sometimes.
There's obviously money to be made selling pills.
The hospital, even tho they recommend further testing to be sure
The pharmacist..not a doctor..say no more, $$
The doctor, not knowing for sure without further testing, making a best likelihood diagnosis and hence prescribing associated medicines. And many of them have their own inhouse dispensary, hence more $$
There's obviously money to be made selling pills.
The hospital, even tho they recommend further testing to be sure
The pharmacist..not a doctor..say no more, $$
The doctor, not knowing for sure without further testing, making a best likelihood diagnosis and hence prescribing associated medicines. And many of them have their own inhouse dispensary, hence more $$
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