How medical advice differs in other countries. (Lighthearted but perplexing)

[KnopkaPixie]

The other day I was behind a woman in the queue at a pharmacy here in France. She had oral thrush. The pharmacist took quite a while talking to her about her treatment and the various medications she'd been given by the doctor then went into the general advice section of the lecture. The most important thing was not to eat, "Trop salé." (Too salty.)

I thought, "Pardon?" Surely it's the other way around, nothing too sugary and yeasty? It bothered me so I googled and sure enough at least in the English results - sugary and yeasty were to be avoided.

This happens all the time. I've heard an awful lot of strange medical advice in France over the years and the folk remedies of my Russian ex boyfriend for various illnesses were quite bizarre too. Putting your head over the boiling potato water to cure a cold because the vitamin c evaporated into the steam was a good one.

Have you ever been given strange medical advice abroad?

This thread is kind of inspired by the post about the Germans opening their windows all the time for "Luften"

On the other hand, if you're not a Brit, what are our bizarre medical beliefs/practices?

Stuff we actually use;

Colds/flu where you can sit up to eat/feeling crappy/post stomach bug
Chicken broth with shredded ginger, garlic, thinly sliced red chilli, peas, frozen edamame if there's some in the freezer, spring onion, quartered cherry tomato, tamari.

Colds/flu when you need fluids
Hot mango juice (doesn't sting like orange does if you have a sore throat), heated to almost boiling with bashed up ginger and slices of orange, lemon and lime.

Cold day, feeling a bit ropey but not actually ill
Hot ginger and lemon-lime tea (steeping bashed up and grated ginger, adding lemon and lime juice into a large jug then diluting with hot water and adding slices of citrus and possibly a touch of sweetness from apples, orange juice, honey or sugar)
Elderberry tincture diluted in hot water
Beetroot soup - no dairy, just stock, beetroot, potato for texture, horseradish/wasabi/pinch of lovage/caraway

Hangover/post stomach bug nausea/medication based nausea when hungry
Toasted BLT and an original Lucozade. Gives salt, protein, fat and carbs.
If feeling too rough to eat 'food', Mint infusion with a little sugar and lime juice, cold grapes and the option to pick at black olives, capers, spicy pickled garlic and a few cubes of cheese.

Post stomach bug or medication based nausea, not hungry
Fennel or caraway steeped in hot water

Feeling better but still a bit peaky
Chicken thighs roasted over rhubarb and the juices used for a broth, boiled potatoes. Works with caraway or fennel seeds.

All skin issues except burns or severe Psoriasis flares that need steroids
Emollient ointment. Whether as a soap substitute, a barrier cream, makeup remover or just to relieve dryness or itching over a spray of water, this stuff is brilliant.

Would have included coal tar bath additive as that stopped any itching or burning in its tracks, but they've withdrawn it.

Sinusitis, feeling stuffy, sore face, headache
Everything but the kitchen sink
Pseudoephedrine
Warm sterile saline rinses
Ice pack chasing the pain around the face, head and neck
4 head or Tiger Balm applied well above the browbone and never nearer than directly underneath the cheekbones
Shaped neck pillow
More ice packs to shrink the blood vessels down
Keeping the bedroom windows open so that cool air is breathed in
Vacuuming and changing bedlinen just in case there's dust making it worse

Tired and Headachey
Mug of black coffee, two paracetamol and some cold, fresh air.

I'd never say any of it cures, but some of it helps in ways that medicine isn't meant to.

We used manzanilla tea for ds.

Used it to wipe his eyes when gunky and to drink!

I am in Switzerland and was told that my hospital did not use forceps due to increased risk of tearing for the mother. They do use ventuose though.

Different cultures, again. When i had pneumonia over here - not hospitalised - I had a chest X-ray. I had a bit of a history of bronchitis aka 'chest infections' and technically had/have asthma (am on low dose of meds but no attacks for a very, very long time) so possibly more caution in my case than in others of my age but the impression I got was that an X-ray was done once pneumonia was suspected.

I am quite similar with my tub of Sudocreme to be fair! 😳

It’s partly from back in the day when the population was more likely to get worms!

I've never lived in the UK - do you not air out your house every day? Does it not get stuffy?

Of course, as an asthmatic you are at higher risk, so a CXR is reasonable. I agree "chest infection" is an odd term. It's a catch-all to use in the absence of diagnostic imaging. I assume you are talking about acute bronchitis, as opposed to chronic bronchitis, aka COPD, which is a different kettle of fish. To make it even more confusing, a patient can have acute bronchitis on a background of chronic bronchitis. It's almost as though the medical profession don't want the laypeople to understand... ;)

I phoned my local GP today..and got an appointment for.. today

No I didn't. I'd never had anything like that before. I think the mum just had it in the house. It wasn't prescribed

My favourite is from the Fens in the past, where anyone with a cold should wear a red scarf. It probably didn't do much for the cold other than perhaps feeling nicer on a sore throat, but it did warn everyone else who to stand back from!

All through my pregnancy in a Spanish country I saw a gynae consultant.

He even was the one who delivered ds my EMSC and made the decision he was to be born that way.

I had scans every 4-6 weeks too. Last one being 37 weeks where my consultant said he expected to see me in a week or so for delivery.

He delivered ds by emsc 4 weeks later 😂

You have to ask (well, insist) for the generic brand Norman.1euro 99 for 30 tabs. Got some yesterday.

Otherwise you are fobbed off with 11euro Nurofen extra for 12 tabs.

Why weird? Wouldn’t you rather have a full check up annually than have things grow undetected? Less squeamishness about internal examinations would really help.

I once was part of a conversation between some women from Austria and some from Iran, who were delighted to find they had the same remedy for a cold - chop an onion and leave it in a cup for a number of hours (possibly with some sugar, can't remember) then drink the juice that comes out and you'll be cured!

Yes, when my DD was a baby and toddler, analgetic suppositories were great. You know all of it will go in and will not be vomited out. In fact, in many continental European countries there are analgetic suppositories in baby, child and adult strengths, it's great that the option exists.

Funnily enough there is something similar in Russia.

It’s green though, but it’s used very much the same way. Liberally and everywhere.

I live in Switzerland so I do, as I have triple glazing, underfloor heating and an air circulation system. It can get stuffy, and it's good to keep the moisture levels down.

In the UK my apartment had two airbricks in the walls and an Expelair, so not regularly, no.

I love this threat, in particular as there are so many comments on my birth country, Germany!

I moved to the UK 21 years ago. This sparked my mum to write me an open letter about the awful UK health system and how she was worried about me. Bearing in mind that, at the time, the NHS was in a much better place than it is now!

Over time, I really started to like many aspects of the NHS. Evidence led medicine (no homeopathy)! Cervical smears done by a nurse rather than a fully fledged gynaecologist - and why not! I was a bit puzzled though when, one morning, I threw a cup of almost boiling water over my foot and rocked up at my GP surgery, just to be told to go to A&E. In Germany, that sort of thing would be treated by a GP.

Obviously now, the NHS is in a bit of a state - but waiting times are high in Germany, too, if you are not private. I am still in a state of disbelief though when I hear my German friend running to her paediatrician whenever her 5 year old has the first signs of a cough....

In a crisis the NHS is still good - I was recently referred on a two week pathway and the NHS duly kicked into gear and I was seen within two weeks. On the other hand, my son has a chronic health condition that has not got much of a lobby and care is pretty shoddy.

My mum also couldn't believe that, when giving birth to my two kids, I was in a six bed ward room (well, 12 beds if you count the babies) and not in a private room.

Dentistry - my teeth have improved since coming to the UK! In Germany, I had some treatment at every single check up - cavity filled etc. In the UK, nothing at all since I arrived 20 years ago. In Germany they wanted to exchange my crown when it was 5 years old. Here, it is still going strong after 25 years. NHS dentist says why change it if still works! I honestly think in Germany there is a culture of overtreatment.

I have lots of other stories, too that have already been mentioned. German weaning advice 11 years ago when I weaned my first - very precise instructions on what to give when and in what order and in what quantity. All fully organic of course. British advice? Avoid giving too much salt but otherwise... relax! I followed the British advice.

Oh, last thing. After my first was born, my dad kept bugging me about the Elektrosmog apparently emitted by the baby monitor. He only shut up when I told him, in my slightly fuddled overtired state that it is the best in the market, having done no research on it whatsoever... sorry dad!

Well, I can understand your réticence. What goes in, must come out, after all. Does it magically dissolve and you have no after effects? In what is, essentially, an expulsion tubé?

My Dad used to do the boilomg potato water thing, thanks for explaining why @EducatingArti that's really interesting

Yes this. ‘It’s just a virus, take some paracetamol.’ That’s all. Here in Canada you get throat swabs to rule out strep throat and also to figure out which (if any) antibiotic is the most appropriate for the bacterial strain you have.
I’m also always shocked at people relying on medical advice from Mumsnet and other Internet sites rather than going to a doctor for diagnosis and treatment. I used to live in the UK 10 years ago and it feels like the healthcare has seriously deteriorated since then.

But did you still eat the potatoes?

When my children were young the general advice was four months but our GP recommended starting weaning with baby rice at an earlier age. A friend from a different culture started weaning her baby at 5 weeks with liquidised adult food 😳

Houses should have in built ventilation, so you don't need to open windows. Ours doesn't have enough ventilation so we're planning on getting more vents installed, so in the meantime we have to air it out regularly. But that's not a long term solution.