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From: Ron ronh8semail@netscape,net
Date: 09/08/01
Time: 10:19 PM
Hi Linda,
I do understand the problems associated with antibiotic resistance but there are some doctors who will prescribe them empirically (sp) in cases where lab tests are inconclusive, but past experience says that they might work. You are mainly referring to resistance to antibiotics that can be life savers such as penicillin. Doxycycline and Cipro (and other similar meds) would rarely be used in a life threatening situation.
In the sixties and seventies it was common to write a prescription every time a patient visited the office with a common cold and penicillin was often the med prescribed. Doctors are still under pressure to try to help the patient with "something" or risk the wrath of a lawsuit for doing nothing.
It is no wonder that thousands of dollars are now spent on tests to cover the doctor's butt lest he misses something serious.
My "pushing" of antibiotics as you call it, will never convince a doctor to do something that the patient suggests, so why treat me as if I was supplying the meds without a prescription.
If you have a serious infection such as a "Vancomycin Resistant Enterococcus" which is causing you a great discomfort, do not deny the others who may have a more treatable condition, the right to suggest something debateable to their doctors. This is how doctors sometimes learn of a new treatment when a patient forces the doc to read up on some new procedure that he was not taught about 20 years earlier in med school. Remember that doctors used to suggest that the patient "take two aspirin and call me in the morning" when a patient called on the phone. Aspirin is now a known cause of ulcers, so doctors are more cautious.
Sorry that you are having such difficulties. I wish that you could explain, just to see if I could suggest anything.
Take care....
Ron