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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To find ill people who "don't do medicine" irritating?

68 replies

DryWhiteplease · 09/12/2014 22:09

My collegue has a stinking cold and horrendous cough. She's been I'll for a couple of weeks. I keep telling her to go to the Dr or go to Boots and get some cold and cough stuff. She says she's "fine" and "doesn't do medicine"!
I'm finding it hard to be sympathetic to her moaning and a bit annoyed that Shes spreading her germs all round work.
I just don't get why some people won't just take something to make them feel better.

OP posts:
RonaldMcDonald · 09/12/2014 23:37

Yy my grandmother is like this re pain meds
Doesn't like tablets ...takes 16 for heart blood pressure etc
In excruciating pain....half a paracetamol

stargirl1701 · 09/12/2014 23:39

Night Nurse works on me. It renders me unconscious for 11/12 hours so unaware that I am poorly. Bloody love that stuff. Truly amazing!

Summerisle1 · 09/12/2014 23:40

I tend to think that the majority of cold medicines are more than a comfort blanket than an effective remedy. But then if a Lemsip before you go to bed makes you feel better (DH is a great believer in them) it won't do you any harm. Even if it won't actually hasten recovery.

On the whole, I tend to let everyday ailments like colds take their course. But I'll still have a couple of paracetamol if I have a headache or feel a bit feverish because they do actually work.

My dm used to drive me bonkers with her attitude towards medication though. She'd refuse to take anything. Even if it was clearly necessary. Which is probably why her completely uncontrolled high blood pressure contributed to her death.

CooCooCachoo · 09/12/2014 23:57

Paracetomol works fine for me. If I don't take it headaches tend to linger, when I have some handy and use it, it never fails unless its a proper stinky migraine when only sleep works.

Also the cold and flu stuff with decongestant is a miracle cure for me as my sinuses seem to be the first thing to pack up when I get a cold.

I would be unsympathetic too if the sufferer contines to moan about symptoms without trying to manage them. Are some drugs more effective for some people than others?

TopazRocks · 10/12/2014 00:02

It's a difficult one you pose. If your colleague was moaning about it, it would piss me off. If she was coughing over me, it would piss me off greatly (esp. at present as I am immune-compromised and I take weeks and weeks to recover if I get a cold). But these OTC remedies are rubbish - she could take the odd Paracetamol if her head hurts. But if she's said she doesn't want to take anything, why repeat it to her? Just let her suffer in silence - and don't let her cough over you. She's an adult, let her decide and she can always change her mind.

But what really annoys me - and what I thought this thread was about - are the people who won't take medicines and have a holier than thou attitude to people who do. And especially if they recommend homeopathy instead. That really gets on my nerves.

My lovely (but deluded) MIL wouldn't take her heart meds (she didn't want to be like 'the poor old dears' she lived beside). FFS she was older than many of them - and it was only one or two tablets a day. And she did need them.

What I don't like though - and this is the opposite - is 'competitive pill taking' e.g. I have to take 10 red ones and 8 blue ones in the morning and another 5o green ones at night. I'm just about rattling. And the next person says 'I take 60 of those green ones at night ....'. Maybe I just don't like people very much ......

Bulbasaur · 10/12/2014 00:57

I stop whining before it starts. When someone says they're sick I tell them not to breath on me and walk away. If people are whining to you, it's because you listen and put up with their whining.

MultipleMama · 10/12/2014 01:11

I don't take anything unless it's prescribed or herbal. But then again, I'm Straight Edge and weird Grin

Everyone loves a good moan, I'm sure even if she did take something for ig she'd still probably moan and complain about it.

Taking a pill isn't gunna do much or anything all.

It's like Cough medicine, it stops you from coughing but you need to cough to clear the germs and help your immune system fight it. Same with colds, you need to let it take it's course to build up your immune system and snot out those germs!

So yeah, YABU Xmas Grin

NeedsAsockamnesty · 10/12/2014 01:24

Aren't most OTC cold and flu tablets just paracetamol and caffine? And do people claim they speed recovery because I always though they just made you feel less crap until nature does its thing

MultipleMama · 10/12/2014 02:03

Needs - I think they actually prolong the cold as they act more like surpressants and "block" your body from doing the natural process :)

lambsie · 10/12/2014 06:48

Paracetamol and ibuprofen won't make any difference to the length of the illness but they may make you feel better whilst you have it. Sudofed etc can prolong it.

RedButtonhole · 10/12/2014 06:55

Cold and flu remedies/ cough bottles never work on me. It sounds like I'm being a martyr, but my father and I both take the cold about ten times worse than anybody else I know and nothing we've tried has ever made a difference.

I do take paracetamol for sore heads though, but again, if it's migraine I just need to wait it out.

Bunbaker · 10/12/2014 07:12

"I don't take anything unless it's prescribed or herbal. But then again, I'm Straight Edge and weird"

There is a middle way though.
I prefer not to rely on OTC drugs, but if it is a choice between stopping a migraine in its tracks or suffering for three days I know which I prefer. I don't understand why some people insist on being martyrs to pain.

Also, I get diarrhea related IBS so need the occasional ant-diarrhea tablet as I can't go to work otherwise.

Not taking medication for heartburn is not a good idea. OH ignored it for years and has permanently damaged his oesophagus. He ended up having to have surgery and now has to be careful about what he eats and drinks.

Jill2015 · 10/12/2014 07:16

I worked with someone who proclaimed daily...hourly...that she never took medicine. Or at least it seemed like she proclaimed it that often anyway!
It's up to each individual, I think.

It's irritating though, in an open plan office set up when someone is practically coughing their guts up, all the while announcing, with a slightly martyred air, that they are fine, and that they don't take medicine.

whattheseithakasmean · 10/12/2014 07:17

If she has a cold, going to the doctor is a selfish waste of resources & over the counter medicine is a pointless waste of her money.

My mum always says about a cold 'a week if you treat it, seven days if you don't'

Jill2015 · 10/12/2014 07:20

Aren't most OTC cold and flu tablets just paracetamol and caffine? And do people claim they speed recovery because I always though they just made you feel less crap until nature does its thing

That's what I believe as well, that they ease symptoms, such as a headache, sore throat or whatever.

wowfudge · 10/12/2014 07:23

To the pp who suffers with migraine but never takes anything for it - have you tried any of the triptans, prescribed by the doctor? I agree nothing OTC works - apart from Imigran Recovery which is sumatriptan. Sumatriptan is amazing for my migraine, although everyone is different.

Bunbaker · 10/12/2014 07:25

I find that Migraleve works for me if I take it early enough.

newrecruit · 10/12/2014 07:29

Actually your cold gets better quicker if you don't take medicine as the temperature is needed to fight infection.

She should be at home under a duvet for a day or two though.

CatCushion · 10/12/2014 07:31

I don't class cough syrups as medicine, they make me feel worse. Honey and lemon can help, but I think the best remedy is an act of kindness. That at least would help her feel better. (Telling her to run along to the chemist is not an act of kindness.)
Obviously, using clean tissues, and good general hygiene is important, especially at work.

Original poster
DryWhiteplease · 10/12/2014 08:04

Morning all!
Well, I'm not nagging her. And don't really listen too much either. I just find the martyr thing annoying.
I agree about lemon and honey, love the stuff. Also, agree with Stargirl that Nightnurse works for me.
Interesting about spicy stuff bring a cold out.

OP posts:
MultipleMama · 10/12/2014 08:33

I know there is a middle way. I get migraines due to my eye problems. They're horrible. My Doctor prescribes me indomethacin to take 3 times a day (as and when needed). I only have to take 1 or 2 and migraine disappears. I'm not one to suffer, if I'm suffering and can't plough through it, I'll try herbal/home remedies first then (from past experience most OTC don't work so I don't bother taking them).

Like other posters have said everyone is different when it comes to these things and I hate those maytyr types too! :)

KitKat1985 · 10/12/2014 08:42

On the fence here. On the one hand I strongly think that if someone just has a cold (with no complicating factors) then you shouldn't see a doctor as there's nothing they can do for viruses and so it just ends up being a wasted appointment.

On the other hand people that refuse to take paracetamol etc for their colds and don't even try and help themselves are irritating, especially when they are complaining about it the whole time. Or people who refuse to go to see a doctor when there is something genuinely wrong that a doctor could help with.

My DM has had a bad shoulder for about a year now. It's so painful it wakes her up in the night. Whenever she tells me about it I ask her if she's seen a doctor and she always says "no I don't want to waste their time, and besides they would only give me tablets and I don't like taking tablets". Definitely getting irritating now.

monkeymamma · 10/12/2014 08:45

Far worse are well people who make comments about 'not doing medicines', 'don't believe in taking pills' etc. In front of actually sick people who depend on meds. GRRR.

NCIS · 10/12/2014 08:52

Having just spent a night shift going out to people who have abdo/ shoulder/back pain and asking them 'What pain relief have you taken ?' only to hear them say oh no I don't like taking things, well wtf have you dialled 999 for then, what do you expect me to do, especially when you've had the pain for the last year.
YANBU

SANTABankWadgerHAT · 10/12/2014 08:54

Somethings are worth taking medication for and somethings aren't.

I take paracetamol for rheumatism because I wake up in agony if I don't. If I have a mild fever I take nothing because I know ultimately I'll recover faster (same with my children). If I have a high temperature I'll take paracetamol to stop it becoming dangerous (ditto my kids).

For a cold there is no point going to the Dr because antibiotics are useless. I will take something for a cough if it's persistent to the point I can't stop, but personally I find that's about the only time it's worth it.
And I don't take things like sudafed for a runny nose because it makes me hallucinate.

So in some instances I guess you could say I don't 'do' medicine. But there are definitely times I do do medicine.

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