Russian versus Western Medicine

[Journeyman]

Has anyone had much experience with his RW regarding her reaction or acceptance of Western medical practice and perspectives?  After having a number of health-related conversations with my RW, I have a few concerns about how she will accept or adapt to the care provided by physicians in America.  She and I are both quite sure of the correctness of our respective medical orientations.  

I have gotten the impression that modern Russian medicine is a combination of about 1/2 standard (American) medicine, 1/4 naturopathic medicine (that is, somewhat more European), and 1/4 traditional medicine or influences (e.g., you catch a cold from cold air or drafts, rather than from a rhinovirus.  Moreover, a shot of vokda seems to be a part of many treatments.)

Do you see RW having any difficulty embracing the counsel of American medical doctors?

Journeyman

[BC]

Journeyman,

Your assessment seems quite correct.. Only forgot the occasional visit to the babushka, church, or application of an 'evil eye' that can help for some conditions. Not making fun of these practices as some indeed seem to help.

As with many things early on it does take some adjustment. Don't fight it. Once experienced with our doctors, hospitals etc, my wife did not admit that the medicine here is better than in RU but quite adequate for our needs.  Of course when something does come up the telephone call home to confirm good treatment is obligatory.

For a chest cold warm milk with a big clump of butter is tough to get down.. sends shivers up my spine just thinking about it, but for whatever reason it works

[Elen]

For a chest cold warm milk with a big clump of butter

the worst memory from my chilhood:? 

I was not such cruel with my own child and gave her a warm tea with limon, honey and raspberry home-made jam

I think the most shock for RW would be absent of ER we used here. Is it true that they don't come to your home at your first call and you should go to hospital by your own?

[Turboguy]

No Elen, it is not true.   We have ambulance services that if we dial 911 on our phone can be at our home in minutes.  It is not always perfect but it is common.

[Elen]

Do you call them at any need ( pain in abdomen, high blood pressure, heart troubles, don't-know-what-but-I-feel-bad ?? Do you have special insurance for that and how they decide what hospital they should bring you to? Does that depend on your insurance as well and how?

 

 

[Turboguy]

Some people do call them for everything.   I have never been in an ambulance in my life personally.    Many insurances will cover the cost and many ambulance companies have a memberhship plan that you pay so much a month and it covers the cost whenever they are needed.

The hospital they take you to does not usually have much to do with your insurance.  It may have something to do with the doctor you have.  Some doctors just go to certain hospitals.  It may have something to do with your problems.  Some hospitals specalize in heart problems.   Some with Cancer.  Some with woman's things.

[OhioGuyRob]

For a chest cold warm milk with a big clump of butter

the worst memory from my chilhood:? 

I was not such cruel with my own child and gave her a warm tea with limon, honey and raspberry home-made jam

I think the most shock for RW would be absent of ER we used here. Is it true that they don't come to your home at your first call and you should go to hospital by your own?
[/quote]
 This thread should be labeled the home remedies from H*LL:shock:

I can remember as a child getting home remedy cough syrup.... warm tea, lemon, honey and a shot of whiskey....  tasted so horrid that you were scared to cough anymore so that you didnt have to drink any more of it  lol

[wxman]

About 40 million Americans don't have health insurance so many of them will put off seeing any doctor until it is absolutely neccessary. Others go to the emergency room when they have a cold, and could do just as well taking over the counter medicine and staying at home. Anyone can call 911 if they think there is an emergency, they will be taken to hospital by ambulance or helicopter, and can not be refused treatment even if they do not have insurance. They also have many clinics to go to during the day, and after hour clinics during the night for non emergencies. Of course if you have no insurance, thse clinics will only take cash or credit card, and if you don't have that, they can refuse you. If you have insurance, you will get excellent treatment, if you don't, you will likely get no non emergency treatment unless you empty your wallet.    

[Turboguy]

WXMAN is about right on that.  Probably the worst situation to be in is the working poor.   The people who work at part time jobs and underpaid jobs.   Better jobs all have health coverage.  If you don't have a job or are not capable of holding a job then you usually fall into one of the catogries where you get free health care, public assistance we call it in PA.    If you are there trying to get by and trying to get a little ahead it can be a tough situation and is exaclty as described.

[Elen]

What about dantists insurances?? What kind of them do you ( not personal but in general) have there (with numbers of $$ for example, please)

[Turboguy]

Insurance that covers dental work is less common but is here.   Better jobs have coverage.   The cost of health insurance is rising so fast that many companies are cutting back on things.  

Personally the package I had used to cover any dental work up to $ 1000.00 a year.   The insurance company switched the program and it now covers more but it will only cover it if I were to use their dentists.   Even though I have a lot of dental expence I choose to pay my own to keep my familiar dentist and peridontist.  

I live in a place with a fairly low cost of living.  My dentist charges $ 60.00 for a check up and cleaning and about 120-180 if he does something.  A root canal is $ 300.00.   Probably many people pay two or three times that.   

I think in the case of a person with no money and no insurance they will not get a lot of dental care and will will be more likely to have the dentist extract a tooth that would be a root canal for someone with insurance.

[MandM]

My family is very much into alternative medicine. I used to hate hot milk with butter but I must admit it works. That's why I now force my step-daughter to drink it. I put just a little butter but lots of honey and she seems to like it and asks for it when she is ill. Another popular thing in my family is drinking hot beer. It tastes pretty disgusting but consumed as soon as you get a sore throat, it works wonders. My dad regularly has his lower back stung by bees to help his bad back. You should have seen Mark's face when my dad decided to demonstrate him this procedure! I wouldn't even want to mention some of the things they do, otherwise it would freak you out! Every time I go to Russia I bring back bags of 'cannabis', syringes and vitamin C. Every time Mark or myself go down with something, we have vitamin C injections.

And what about 'banki'? Has anyone experienced that? Gwyneth Paltrow has recently appeared with signs of it on her back and it freaked everyone out. The procedure is to place a flame inside a little glass jar and then place it on your back. The vacuum sucks in your skin and apparently toxins. Very good for colds, coughs, back pain and allegedly for detox. But you can't show your back for a week or so because it is covered in bruises.

I had a cough recently and my mum, in a casual voice, recommended me to smoke..... stinging nettles!

[wxman]

[user=300]M&M[/user] wrote:

 Every time I go to Russia I bring back bags of 'cannabis', syringes and vitamin C. Every time Mark or myself go down with something, we have vitamin C injections.

Bringing cannabis into UK must be legal. In the US the drug sniffing dogs would find you and off to prison you would go, where they have a much different health system.

[BC]

wxman,

baggies full of herbs and spices.. not the smoking kind. Customs has raised a few eyebrows here also when dogs did not 'alert'

[Donna_Pedro]

 After my last year's experience "embracing" american medicine I prefer to stay away from it unless  I absolutely need to. When I walked into the emergency room all scared and in pain at 3 am with nobody but my child with me, the first thing they asked me was  how I was going to pay, if my insurance card was with me, and was not even looked at by the doctor untill  had I signed  at least 10 different papers. 4 hours in emegency room, during which I had to scream to attract  doctor's attention to myself costed around $1600.   I have brought a lot of russian medicine from my trip to Moscow last year, mostly herbs, but also antibiotics as I can not buy them here unless his majesty doctor all mighty prescribes. My husband  drinks those herb teas and likes them. When he has a bad cold I give him that terrible mixture of whiskey, lemon juice, hot tea and honey.

[OhioGuyRob]

What about dantists insurances?? What kind of them do you ( not personal but in general) have there (with numbers of $$ for example, please)

Most dental insurance is no where near as comprhensive as health insurance.  Most plans allow for routine examinations and cleaning.  They will cover a portion of major dental work.  My dental plan at work is one of the better plans I think I pay roughly $35 per month.  

[OhioGuyRob]

[user=115]Donna_Pedro[/user] wrote:

  My husband  drinks those herb teas and likes them. When he has a bad cold I give him that terrible mixture of whiskey, lemon juice, hot tea and honey.

I had that stuff when I was a child.... ITS EVIL... lol

[BC]

Donna,

Yes, healthcare is a 'quality of life' issue. Here healthcare is still socialized and free for all except for perscriptions that cost 2 EUR each.. Can't complain about any care that was provided to us, and the hospital folks seem to really care especially when kids are involved.

Like in RU a doctor here won't normally give you an injection either, will just give you a perscription and you can buy the syringes at the pharmacy or grocery store.

I much prefer my wife giving me injections.. She has a lot of experience acquired in RU. She always has a big smile when I have to bend over

[Donna_Pedro]

She always has a big smile when I have to bend over

 

:cool:;)

[wxman]

Donna,

What American city hospital was that? I have never had an experience like that. If I need to see my doctor during the day,  I call his clinic and I will be able to see him later that day. As far as emergency rooms go, if you make it there by yourself, they generally assume it is not life threatening and you will have to wait your turn like everyone else. Sometimes the wait can be quite long especially if several life threatening cases occur, such as heart attacks, car accidents, etc. The other factor that creates long waits is people who do go to emergency rooms for non life threatening maladies like a cold or the flu. You obviously were in a lot of pain and should have been treated much sooner, but your long wait was caused most likely by those that should not have been in an "emergency" room trying to get treatment. We always have just enough "stupid" Americans who seem to screw up a good system by abusing it.  It's not the health care system that is bad, but those that abuse it.    In general, city run hospitals are much worse than privately run hospitals. If you have insurance, the private hospitals will give excellent treatment.  

[MandM]

Wxman, you are funny. You do make me laugh. I loved the advice you gave me on my topic 'Is this the unluckiest guy on the panet?' Very good.

[MandM]

No, it's not legal to bring cannabis to the UK either. It was indeed harmless mixture of various herbs.

[wxman]

By the way, how is the unluckiest guy doing? Seems he was doing quite well in life with all that bad luck, so it would be cruel to wish him good luck.

[wxman]

Many of the herbs that people have been using forever are the basis for most of modern medicine.  Amazing after decades of being brainwashed to believe that modern medicine has all the answers, that they are now finding out that the simple solutions are many times the best.

[MandM]

wxman, I agree with you (though I wouldn't go as far as smoking stinging nettles!)

As for the lucky guy, he has not showed up on Monday after his alleged trip to Spain. We were so worried that his plane crashed on the way back that we sent someone to check on him. His wife (who didn't look depressed at all) said that 'he is working in his father's business today.' So all this time he had a second job! Needless to say he didn't have the guts to show up here again and resigned the next day. What a relief! (apart from me being now over worked and not being able to spend as much time on this forum!)


Belated happy birthday to you!:dude: