I'm running out of antibiotics and can't get new ones in time. Is that a problem?

when you made your appointment with your GP did you let them know the situation on your antibiotics?

You’ve gotten two bottles of ten pills and told to take three a day for seven days? You should be one pill short? Doesn’t sound like a problem.

Well, you’re only missing one pill, but I don’t know anything beyond that. It would depend on what it was for, for me, and what kind of antibiotic.

Germans don’t speak English because German is the perfect language.

@sleepdoc Yes, but it was an online form and it wasn’t replied to. Do you think I should call after it?

@Snarp Oh, I forgot to mention that the second time I came back the doctor said I had to take it for ten days, so yet again seven days from then (i.e. until Friday, and it’s tuesday now. I’ll be around ten pills short).

@gemiwing It’s for a broken bone in my nose that allows air to flow into my eye’s orbit.

@Vincentt it is hard for them to help you if they don’t know what is going on with you.

@Vincentt – Ahh, gotcha. So yes, I would call them and let them know you are still short on pills. They should be able to call in the prescription.

@Vincentt Ah, I see. That is far above my ability to answer then. Seems very odd for doctors to write a prescription for less pills than you need, or for a pharmacist to give you the wrong number of pills twice. I would be seriously concerned that the language issue has created a misunderstanding and either you are taking too many pills or the pharmacist didn’t give you enough. Contact the doctor right away to get this straightened out one way or another.

You’re in germany…...you should be able to speak their language in their yard.

guten Tag, mein Freund!

@sleepdoc @gemiwing Ah, I just found out they could indeed prescribe medicine just by phone. That’s good to know, I’ll call in the morning.

@Snarp Yes, I’m afraid so too, though it might also be the case that it’s just forbidden to prescribe too many, or something. It also bugged me that when I had to come back to get the second prescription, I had to once again pay €100 intake costs. That might have something to do with it, I suppose.

@jazmina88 I’d love to be able to speak it properly (even though I have to admit I don’t really like the language), as it really was difficult. Especially considering I’m about the only Dutch person not able to make himself heard properly in German, but I’m having real trouble with the language…

Why can’t the English speak Dutch? I think it’s unfair to generalize and propagate clichés.

Stopping early is a problem, because the last remaining most resistant bacteria might proliferate again. 7 days 3 pills means 21 pills. So you got 2 times 10 instead of 21, right?

@mattbrowne Heh, the language comment was just tongue-in-cheek :)

When I came back after three days the doctor said I had to take another 7 days, so ten days in total. So I got 2 times 10 instead of 30. I went to the drug store this morning where supposedly there were new ones for me, but there weren’t. Luckily, I’m going to the GP in half an hour so I’ll ask after that and for advice on what to do now. I hope I don’t have to start the whole treatment over again…

@Vincentt – No problem ;-)

Actually here’s one possible explanation about the doctor in Berlin:

He might have grown up in East Berlin or somewhere in East Germany. They were forced to learn Russian. Their school English was very rudimentary and none of the teachers had actually been able to travel to an English-speaking country.

After the Wall came down many academics actually moved to West Berlin or somewhere in West Germany.

I also think the reason many Dutch people speak reasonably well (as in: better than I speak German) English because we use subtitles here.

Anyway, I went to the GP yesterday, and she said, after consulting an eye doctor, that I could stop taking antibiotics and eyedrops, so that at least saves me some hassle :)

@Vincentt – I’m very glad this is a happy-end story !