Hey friends! I have had an increasingly more annoying ear infection lately and finally went to see an ear, nose and throat doc about it. After examining three patients in front of me and not washing his hands or disinfecting anything between shoving his hands into potentially sick people’s ears and mouths, it was my turn.
I was hardly polite in asking him to wash his hands before coming near me, and was even less polite when he splashed some water on them and then dried them off with a paper towel before trying to come towards me again. His response to “你不用用肥皂嗎?” Was “不用” and his response to “為什麼” was “因為不用”.
Besides clearly never being taught about germ theory in medical school or any care about common beyond common sense during a pandemic, I was given a drug that is listed as “HPS 650 mg” on the prescription sheet.
As I’ve been given a lot of WTF shit from docs before, from blood thickeners to counteract the blood thinners they gave me for a cold to acid reducers with road rash, I looked up what “HPS” was, and the only thing I could find said “FOR VETERINARY USE ONLY” (“in healthy swine”). Which has me wondering where the hell any doctor’s office would be getting said drugs or what other drug this HPS 650 mg might be that is somehow special for Taiwan.
I did call them (the doc office) and ask what HPS is and they basically told me to shut up and take the drugs or don’t. Hardly boosting my trust.
Anyone know what this “HPS 650 mg” might be? It’s a long green tablet with a sort of cursive “R” looking thing.
There seem many things that abbreviate to HPS in medical field. You need to figure out the full name of the drug from your doctor / you may also ask another doctor about it.
I find it concerning that doctors just hand out a mix of tablets without full medication package inserts that detail dose recommendations and adverse effects.
You have no idea if an adverse effect is being caused by your medication until you make your way to the doctor again.
But hey, doctors must be efficient and affordable in Taiwan. Taiwanese tend to just swallow those dozen pills, plus some more traditional medicine.
I mean, I know doctors outside (and even in Taipei) do, but they can’t at least write what each drug does on the prescription paper? side effects? It seems really irresponsible and makes me question the legitimacy of their medical licenses. They don’t even ask if there’s certain drugs you’re allergic to!
I was prescribed an antihistamine (makes sense-ish for my situation; could be ear pain caused by allergies) this “HPS”, and something for “emergency abdominal pain”. Which leads me to believe this HPS thing could cause stomach pain. Is it an antibiotic? Why would I need a drug for “emergency abdominal pain” (that’s a google translate from a Chinese website explaining the drug) when I have an ear ache?
I guess I’ll just stick with the Sudafed I brought back from the States. I don’t want to dip into my “emergency” drug supply in the middle of a pandemic where who knows the next time I’ll be back to replenish, but at least I know what that’ll do to me, while this mysterious pill could do anything…
That might be good. Problem is the doc just said “your ear is infected”, but didn’t take a swab or anything. Would amoxicillin work on an ear infection?
I wonder if I took it to a pharmacy and asked them what this is?
Edit: at this point I just want to know what my 掛號費 was paying for, besides worthless captain obvious the non handwasher’s diagnosis of an ear infection