Just prescribe the damn meds!

[morgana]

It went just great! Got everything I wanted!

[BlaqueKatt]

One time my regular doctor's office was closed so I went to another one with the sole purpose of getting antibiotics and he tried to tell me it was a virus. He had no way of knowing that scientifically without a culture. He made me miss work, the jerk.

and not to be rude, but your regular doctor has no way of knowing it's bacterial without a culture, but that's ok because he's giving you what you want. Bacterial bronchitis does not exist, an opportunistic bacterial infection on top of viral bronchitis occurs in less than 10% of patients*. The new doctor is more concerned with antibiotic misuse, and your regular doctor is more concerned with "customer service", and giving you what you ask for to keep you happy.(hint they mayo clinic says antibiotics are NOT appropriate for bronchitis)
NIH fact sheet bronchitis

Acute bronchitis almost always follows a cold or flu-like infection. The infection is caused by a virus. At first, it affects your nose, sinuses, and throat. Then it spreads to the airways leading to your lungs.

Sometimes, bacteria also infect the airways. This is called a secondary infection.
Symptoms usually go away in 7 to 10 days if you do not have a lung disorder.

*source

As someone that's been colonized by MRSA(it lives happily in my nasal cavity, for now, not bothering me thank goodness), I get very upset about antibiotic misuse. I contracted it when my mom was in the hospital, and I was there 14 hours a day for a week, it will never go away, and if I get sick enough it will take advantage of my weakened immune system.

[Sapphire Silk]

As someone that's been colonized by MRSA(it lives happily in my nasal cavity, for now, not bothering me thank goodness), I get very upset about antibiotic misuse. I contracted it when my mom was in the hospital, and I was there 14 hours a day for a week, it will never go away, and if I get sick enough it will take advantage of my weakened immune system.

There are two types of MRSA patients.

Those who have it.

Those who are gonna get it.

I've had so many sucky patients in the ER who insist antibiotcs "cure" their colds.

No they don't, dammit! You were just already getting better when you got them.

[morgana]

Just to play devil's advocate here . . . If I go to the doctor with a snotty nose and a cough, I *DO* need antibiotics.

I don't get colds. I do, however, get sinus infections. No, they are not viral. Yes, they are bacterial. No, they don't get better if I try to 'wait it out'. If I let it go for ten days or two weeks so that my 'cold' will go away (because the doctor is concerned with antibiotic misuse), I wind up in the hospital, where they have to give me antibiotics anyway.

And yes, I've argued with doctors about it. I've changed doctors over it. Sometimes they don't get it until I mention that the ENT says I have what's called a 'retention cyst'. English translation: I have what amounts to a boil inside my sinuses.

I do not doubt that antibiotic misuse is a big problem. But sometimes the patient does know her own body.

[BlaqueKatt]

I do not doubt that antibiotic misuse is a big problem. But sometimes the patient does know her own body.

yes but that's not saying "dr. x gives me antibiotics without a culture to determine if it's bacterial or viral, dr y won't and so he's stupid" which is what was being referenced, not rare medical issues.

[morgana]

yes but that's not saying "dr. x gives me antibiotics without a culture to determine if it's bacterial or viral, dr y won't and so he's stupid" which is what was being referenced, not rare medical issues.

Odd. I thought RubyStars said pretty much what I did. That she already knew what her problem was because she'd had it numerous times before, and that having a doctor tell her she didn't know how her own body works is dismaying.

I thought that was pretty much what the OP was saying, too. I guess I misunderstood.

[BlaqueKatt]

Odd. I thought RubyStars said pretty much what I did. That she already knew what her problem was because she'd had it numerous times before, and that having a doctor tell her she didn't know how her own body works is dismaying.

No she said "regular Dr always gives antibiotics for bronchitis", new Dr. said "it's viral", she complained because he "couldn't know that without a culture", yet regular doctor never gives a culture, just the antibiotics, when according to the links I provided, bronchitis is always viral. (new dr "should do a culture to prove virus", but reg dr doesn't ever have to prove anything because he writes a script, holding new doctor to a standard that reg dr doesn't have)

It's the same as an SC demanding "manager X" because they'll do what I want them to without question, and manager y is mean because they say no. And yes I've witnessed a patient screaming at a doctor because their child had an ear infection(which are 99.9% viral), and her normal doctor always gives antibiotics, the new doctor was apparently, a fraud, of questionable parentage andhaving sexual relations with his mother. All because her regular doctor didn't want to deal with her rage, so he wrote an unnecessary script every time, and any other doctor got the tirade, because "not giving script=bad doctor."