I’ve been sick since Tuesday. Got the flu. I’ve just recovered fully today. It was pretty bad, actually. My fever was up at 39.5°C (103.1°F) and I was almost hallucinating. Bad, also because I’m not the kind of person who gets hit hard. My immune system (thank you) is like a Mongolian army from the early 1200s.

Anyway, I went to see the doctor. I’m not good with doctors in general. Rarely visits them. I like mine though - she was the one who helped me getting a shrink, which in turn, helped me a lot. But I do have this feeling about doctors that they are in the pocket of the medicinal industries, and often* they only have like five minutes per patient which in my belief often isn’t enough. Both in terms of determining what is wrong with you and to sort of getting a relationship up and going so that the conclusions derived from your visit is based in a more holistic point of view.

Okay. So I go see the doc. She gives me the two-minute’s treatment and hands me a receipt for some pills. In my haze, I go down to the pharmacist and get ten little pills in a box. The cost? 250dkkr ($41us, £23uk). 250! For ten pills! I almost dropped something intestinal! I ask the pharmacist about the high cost. Her answer: “They hold the patent.”! I went home, looked at the pills, looked them up on the net and found out that the side effects were diarrhoea and vomiting. I go back to the pharmacist and demand to get my money back.

Here’s the deal: I had pills for five days - I am over it now, four days after - ‘only’ side effects being serious headaches, shakes and a strong fever. Because of some shithead company ‘who has the patent’ and a doctor with Speedy Gonzales up her arse, I could have paid a ridiculously high price for the benefit of prolonging my sickness and even worsening it by vomiting and crapping my pants!!! What - the - fuck???

Sadly, this has strengthen my disbelief in doctors**.

* Here in Denmark, since they sort of get paid by the number of patients they manage because our medical bill is paid 100% through the taxes.
** I still have a good eye to mine though, don’t get me wrong. She’s a darling and only a victim of circumstances. I only wish the system was different.

On this day...

... in 2005: Update your links, please!
... in 2003: This is a bad entry