> "We don't throw antibiotics at every person with a fever. We tell them to hang on, wait and see, and we give them a Tylenol to feel better," says Haug.
I wish more of us would follow this approach and learn to accept being 'sick' for a few days (or even a week) every now and then.
I know I am painting with a broad brush and with a sample of 30 or so acquaintances from both sides of the "pond" here, but it was my impression so far.
Also, I've noticed that some of my fellow Generation Y'ers have arrived at similar opinions by observing the issues that come with the over-medication of their parents/grand parents into old age. Doctors love to prescribe stuff, and sometimes the interactions between drugs is so bad that it can be pretty scary. Observing this as a third party can be enough to make you wary about over-using medication. It's also expensive and our health insurance situation over here is awful.
tl;dr, Yes, that's a huge generalization. I think a lot of younger Americans are starting to bend back the other way towards only medicating when necessary after seeing how much a can of worms it can be when used as a crutch.
As usual, accusing huge groups of hypocrisy is not well-founded unless you can establish that the hypocritical attitudes really are held by the same people.
We walked to the office without umbrellas, in light clothes, and hardly got wet. It was well over 20 degrees celsius, and a pleasant enough 15 minute walk despite the light drizzle.
We got into the office to find people in what looked like full survival mode, with raincoats, and hairdryers to get dry and warm. These were people who had driven right up to the office door.
When they saw us they were horrified and worried we'd get pneumonia and wondered how we could have chosen to walk 15 minutes through the "storm". Of course it did rain slightly more some other places - causing mud slides that closed a couple of roads and cut off the gas supply for a couple of days. But for us it was all terribly amusing.
After we went swimming in "only" something like 22 degrees in the water the following weekend, they got equally shocked (some of them asked if we'd used wet suits). I pointed out the coldest water I've been swimming in was 12 degrees, but I'm not sure they believed me.
I only take medicine (even supplements) if a medic convince me it is absolutely necessary, or if I have a issue that is unbearable (like so much pain that make me want to suicide)
People here think I am crazy. :(