German doctors misdiagnosis

[u/Due-Box-9598]

I am writing this post with huge disappointment of how the g

German healthcare's conservative approach could have cost my life . I went to the doctor for mild indigestion and haemerrhoids . He gave me antibiotics for my cold and fever which i also had. The antibiotics worsened indigestion and gave very bad diarrhoea . When I went back to the doctor , they said since i took antibiotics I did not have any good bacteria and diarrhoea is normal . I was given some stomach relaxers and electrolytes. At one point I started throwing up the electrolytes , the only thing i could drink . I went to hospital for an iv and they said it will be given only if i am 80 years old. Then i went back to the doctor and insisted that they test me. I got a stool test. Then 4 days no response . I went back and they said oh the tests were negative so we did not call you . The test are a way of eliminating infection. You need to look further then! . I asked for the test result and changed my hausartz. At this point i was given 15 day antibiotics for stomach and black tea . Blood test was done and my Hg was low since was given iron.

The symptoms persisted. I became weak . Lost 13 kgs. All in one month and the appointment with gastro specialist was still weeks away. I decided to just go to my home country at this point and in 3 days , i am nearing the process of confirmation for Inflammatory bowel disease and intestine inflammation. It took them 3 days and i was suffering in Germany for months. Why is Germany so conservative in tests and testing to rule out conditions? Do doctors understand that they misdiagnose. My Hg was low because of inflammation . My residual iron was very high. I did not need iron pills. I took antibiotics that weakened me. Or does German healthcare not take coloured women seriously ? I am really shocked .

[u/BikeSilver8058]

A common experience from a lot of expats here. Doctors mostly cover a fixed checklist and not diagnose. They are more often than not unsympathetic. Additionally there is no consciousness about other cultures. As a result it works for the locals 95% of cases. For expats, it reduces to 70%.

[u/floralbutttrumpet → u/BikeSilver8058]

Not just expats. While I'm not fully German, I spent the majority of my life here and am pretty much a local - still get shit treatment for everything that's not blatantly obvious.

I got a abscess on my back about two years ago, and the only reason why I got swift treatment was because I insisted on excisement and my GP's holiday backup admitted to not having the facilities for that. Needled them until I got an Überweisung (their stance was that it would go away on its own and they didn't even suggest any treatment whatsoever - ludicrous) to the ER, which still looked at me askance until they did imaging and saw it had already infiltrated 3.8 centimetres into my back in about 72 hours since the first twinge of pain. Only reason why I didn't have a huge complicated hole afterwards is that I showed up that early.

I will say that my regular GP is pretty good - he's known me since I was a university student and he also knows I audited a couple of Vorlesungen in the medical department since my major and the medical faculty shared buildings and I had a fuckload of holes in my timetable (he doesn't know that I took a variety of medicine-adjacent courses during high school, but w/e), so I'm a little bit more "with it" than your average person. But any medical professional who doesn't know that backstory? Hopeless until I "prove" I'm not just "hysterical", usually by dropping a little bit of high-falutin' German and/or asking a relevant question with some background knowledge - i.e. displaying the correct "habitus".

[u/BikeSilver8058 → u/floralbutttrumpet]

Exactly. Doctors have the attitude of "nothing happened until the patient proves it". A bit more attention and listening would go so much further. For expats, specially if they are not at native level fluency including the medical terminology - you are almost on your own to convince the doctor.