American reacts to Healthcare in Germany (10 fun facts!)

Thank you for watching me, a humble American, react to 10 fun facts about health care in Germany: From home remedies to house doctors | Meet the Germans

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[McGhinch]

Generally, you always greet when entering a room with people in there, not just waiting rooms. You don't have to engage in a conversation, but you greet. It is also polite to bid a "good bye" when leaving.

[CazuhLynn]

It's actually even weirder with the waiting areas at your doctor. When you enter the room, it's imperative that you greet the people waiting there, but then you are not supposed to talk to anyone, not even the people you came with. So it's basically like an uncomfortable elevator ride, but it can last up to three hours.

[HansJoachimMaier]

When coming into a room where people are already, you say "Hello." no further Smalltalk is happening.

[Punki]

Cold wraps lower your body temperature and work very well. They are still even used in hospitals and old peoples homes. In fact they work so well that it can be dangerous to use them because sometimes they lower the temperature to fast so a constant temperature check while using wraps is very important.

[NellyDiedrich]

Since most germans really don’t like taking pills until it gets „serious“ we often use natural antioxidants like onions, honey or ginger for minor issues like a cold etc.
homeopathy is a big topic right now because there are no reputable medical studies that prove it works but a lot of people swear by it and most health care providers still accept it as a medical treatment.

Oh and most doctors offices closed on wednesdays still work 😄 they just don’t have office hours and do a lot of paperwork and stuff during that time

[leobaer]

Hi Ryan, the onion thing actually works but it is a finely chopped onion, warmed up to about body temperature, wrapped in a very, very thin and tender piece of cloth, so that the moisture of the onion can reach the skin and then put on and around the ear, being covered by some warm textile or even unwashed wool, coming directly from the sheep (very smelly but compared with the onion still okay). This has to remain about 20 minutes on the ear, then removed and cover the ear again with some very warm scarf to keep it warm. There is something in the onion, which is able to penetrate the skin and helps fighting bacteria, viruses or other ill making stuff. Cheers from Switzerland, Leo

[LisaMaierLiest]

Well the onion thing is not some old tale.
The Freiburg University made a study that it actually helps especially against a cough and pain in the ear because it is anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial.
Though it is more the "juice"/ethereal oil of the onion, that should drip into your ear. Besides that, you could also make sirup for your cough.

[catyhell]

People often under-estimate the knowledge of older generations when it comes to health. Plants and vegetable a lot of plants are medicinal plant or have effect to support your health.
Onions have a anti-inflammatory effect. Thats why older generation used them for ear infections., wasp stings or sore throat ( in combination with honey). What also very useful against coughing is home made thymian syrup and tea with a shot fo rum
. Wadenwickel are there to lower fever and to.make Symptoms associated with fever, such as restlessness or headaches better. Headaches blackcoffe with 1 fresh lemon ( ot tast horrible but it work ) I had the luck to grow up with my great grandma and she got a book from her mother that was writen for generation.about plants and vegetables and there healing power. And she teaches me a lot about it. I still soem the recipes to not take so.many pills. And it works. But also go to the doctors if need it. I.think a balance between those is need it.

[sophiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiie]

Regarding your tooth doctor question - the dentist is separated in two different special doctors. the „Zahnarzt“ (literally tooth doctor) cares about your teeth in general, does fillings, sometimes mouthguards etc. Then there is the „Kieferorthopäde“, (orthodontist) who is specified in braces and almost every german teen gets their braces at the age of ~13-15 for 1-2 years. Insurance pays for that, but if you want special brackets, that are almost invisible or smaller etc, you pay around 150-800€ on top.

[sonnypro]

when we enter a room full of people we greet.. it is called respect

[josefineseyfarth]

I know "Wadenwickel' against fever, "Zwiebelsaft" (onions made into some sort of juice/ sirup with sugar) or "Heiße Zitrone" (lemon juice with boiling water and honey) against coughs, hot potatoes in a sock against a sore throat, warm milk and honey against sleeping issues and the half onion against wasp sting (you just press the onion directly on the sting. My mother always took a single onion with her when we went on summer vacation).

[andreahehn]

There's also a thing called "Zwiebelsäckchen" (onion bag) which is recommended for small babies when they have a cold. You just cut an onion, put it into a cloth, wrap it up and hang it over the crib when the baby sleeps. The onion juice helps the baby to breath for it "cleans" the stuffed nose. You just have to make sure the baby can't reach the bag, but I guess that's common sense :-)

[alexa]

Homeopathy is actually pretty frowned upon in Germany, however: my parents both work in medicine and still my mum gave me "Arnikaglobuli" when I fell down or hit my head as a kid. Arnica does work against pain and swelling, but most likely not in the sugar pills, because the concentration is next to nothing. But it helped me as a kid stop crying, because *drumroll* placebo! I thought: it's from the pharmacy, it's medicine, it'll make the pain go away. And I stopped crying and the pain was instantly gone. So, for this specific instance I absolutely understand using homeopathy, but other than that? Keep that stuff away from me! (Important note as a pharmacist in training: homeopathy doesn't equal phytotherapy, that actually works haha)

[Azurios]

The onion thing sounds stupid, but it rly helps. A few years ago is had a bad ear infection and the pain meds did not work on that. I desperately tried a lot of stuff and the stupid onions on my ear were the only thing that helped.

[monikas.]

the thing with drinking water after eating cherries (or any other fruit) is, that if you eat a lot of fruit and drink a lot of water with it, you'll get a stomach ache (or worse, diarrhea)

[simi]

it's true, it's polite to say hello when you enter and bye when you leave, but else there will be no smalltalk in between. XD

[aksileb]

I recently discovered “vinegar socks” against fever. It’s like magic. I was shocked 😮. You soak some socks in a solution of vinegar and water, wring them out, put them on, then some plastig bags over them so you don’t make your bed wet and in a few minutes the temperature drops. Works like a charm, I swear. I was gobsmacked

[twinmama]

Pretzels and cola help against diarrhea because: With diarrhea, your body doesn't only lose fluids but minerals too. Thus, your body may struggle to keep the 0.9% sodium level in your cells and blood. You may not be able to stabilize your potassium, magnesium, and calcium levels but you can at least replenish your sodium levels with pretzels as there is not only the salt on top of the pretzel that contains sodium but also the lye that created the brown surface of the pretzel itself. Cola, on the hand, contains an enzyme called pepsin (hence the name Pepsi-Cola) that your body needs to digest certain foods. Normally your body makes pepsin out of pepsinogene and chloridic acid (stomach fluids), but this process can be interrupted in patients with diarrhea. So pepsin helps to normalize digestion.
Most other remedies mentioned in the video work too. The knowledge of monks, nuns, and midwives of plants and their healing effects collected for centuries haven't lost their appeal - even for modern medicine. Just one example: Our ancestors used to chew on willow twigs to get pain relief. In the 1800s a German chemist isolated salicylic acid as the effective molecule and with some experimentation they created the first modern drug acetylic salicylic acid - Aspirine.

[jmtgjtj]

1:38 how often you greet people in germany varies depending on where you are. In villages or small towns it is considered more polite to greet people (especially older people) (even if you don't know them) if you meet them on the street.

[EllieCedar]

The cold remedy in my family is lemon ginger tea. 2-3cm of ginger, washed and sliced, pour over a liter of hot water and let steep for 10 minutes. After steeping pour in the juice of 1 lemon. Leave the ginger in the teapot and drink the whole liter, adding honey to each cup you pour. You will need more honey for the later cups as the ginger makes the tea more and more spicy