I'll admit this before I begin, I've never gone to see a doctor for influenza in America. When you get the flu, you sleep it off.
They take things pretty seriously here though, (way to seriously, I've had to talk to 4 people and report it to the university administration that I was sick) and so, in connection with the Swine flu scare, I was asked to go visit the doctor a few days back. Boyoh, what an experience.
I asked for an English speaking doctor, but a large majority of the procedure and explanation was done in Japanese. We're talking everything but two or three sentences. Regardless of the doctor's English speaking ability, all of the nurses knew little to no English, and so my attempt for English security quickly flew out the window. To be fair... I knew enough Japanese to get by, as long as they tried to explain and perhaps show any words I didn't know. I'm sorry, I don't know what Antibiotic or Lymph Node is in Japanese, that's complex. (Apparently they are 抗生物質 or "Kouseibusshitsu" and リンパ節 or "Rinpasetsu" respectively... go figure. I am too curious sometimes).
Anyways, so first they shove a rod up your nose.
Wait wait what?
Yessssss, if there is any possibility of having influenza, to test for it, they take a small stem like rod and gently slide it up about 4-5 inches into your nose. Yikes.
I mean c'mon it LOOKS scary.Er... yes it hurts. Badly. Burns even after that sucker is long gone. Despite the test coming back negative, the doctor noticed (as did I earlier) that my symptoms matched influenza, and I had swelling lymph nodes on my neck.
She then told me I would be on a drip to reduce the lymph node swelling, and then they'd give me some medication. Already I am stoked. Lymph node drip? What? Nifty.
So then I pass out for a nap with a drip on me, wake up, and they explain how to take the medication. This is all done in Japanese. I don't know why I remember any of those words.
Um... there is mad medication to take. I have a total of four. Four. If you include the drip they gave me, 5.
I will now briefly explain the medication. Because it is completely different than anything I have ever taken before.
Also the names are kind of funny.
The most prominent in my mind are "Cravit" (クレビット) and Relenza (リレンザ)
Relenza is apparently a powdered form of "Zanamivir", which you take with this insane nifty inhaler.
Click the picture for much more detail than I'm willing to squeeze onto this pageCravit, or Kurabitto as it's called here, is perhaps the most odd, in that the drug of which it is composed of, Levofloxacin, it is highly criticized in America for it's potential to cause tendinitis, as well as other "life threatening" side effects.
But I'm not a doctor... I don't feel like questioning my Japanese one.
Oh dear what do they have me taking?
The other two drugs I'm on are called Loxoprofen (ロキソニン) an anti inflammatory (like Tylenol or Motrin or something), and -I'm not totally sure why I even have to take this, but- Famotidine (ファもチジン) a stomach acid inhibitor. It's an ingredient in Pepcid.
Holy junk nuts that is a lot of pills.
Sounds expensive right?
Well for two days of service the total was around 50 USD. Including two influenza tests. That sounds remarkably cheap to me, maybe I'm missing something.
The reason I had two tests, and thus went to the doctor twice, mind you, is because, as I mentioned earlier, the first test came up as inconclusive. They wanted to re-check, as it's possible I did the test too early.
This doctor was spot on. When I went in for the second test (which for some reason they did the test orally, not through the nasal cavity) they found out I had Type A influenza.
Not swine flu.
Thank god that would be embarrassing.
All of this amazing nice health care for 50 bones. WOW.
Dramatic Question: Why is it so cheap???
Answer: Japan has national health insurance, and I have, by law, National Health Insurance (Kokumin-Kenkō-Hoken 国民健康保険). Normally the cost of the bill would have been around 190 dollars, but I pay 30%. National Health Insurance in Japan covers ALL medical expenses.
So... well... this is confounding. This seems contrary to the free marketing idea that government run health care would lead to rationing or poorer service. I got lovely service.
In fact, let's talk about the service. GOODNESS those nurses were nice. I've never seen such attentive staff. They literally run when a patient calls for a question. All wearing clean uniforms and masks, so professional. I was gobsmacked.
Perhaps it's just a cultural difference eh?
Dang I hate when I have to rely on that excuse.
