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mint
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Does your CPAM send for you to have one of these, un bilan de santé?

For the first time ever, I have been invited to have one so I wonder whether these are offered to all and sundry or only to people with known medical problems.

These are some of the things they are looking at:
weight and height, blood pressure, eye and ear test, dental check-up, blood and urine tests (overnight fast), electocardiogram, lung function, gynaecological exam (maybe male equivalent of this but it wasn't on my list!), tests for HIV, and hepatitis B and C.

Needless to say, I am now feeling a bit nervous[:)]  VSL coming for me at 8.00 tomorrow[:-))]

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mint wrote : Does your CPAM send for you to have one of these, un bilan de santé?

Not me/us here in Morbihan but I know that Chancer/Démerdeur has been for one of these.

He was most impressed.

If you don't receive a reply from him or someone else who has, then send him a p.m.
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Oh, Sue, would you believe it, I am now fussing about looking at the weather forecast and wondering what to wear.  Boiling hot on Sunday, then terrific storm last night, coolish today with almost incessant rain and tomorrow......?  Well, clouds and rain but sunshine also.

Engaging my brain, I thought, whatever I wear will have to be OK for warmth and cold, so some layering; something with short sleeves or sleeveless for the prise du sang and the blood pressure, only sensible hmmm, hmmm...Oh, better something that is easily removed and put back on again as I don't know which parts of my body they are likely to want to auscultate, prod, pull, push, squeeze and generally "handle".

Better be trousers, a shirt and a jumper then......except, I don't want to look my age and I want to look reasonably soignée.  Can't have people thinking I can't look after myself, do I?[:P]

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Apparently you can ask for a bilan de santé .. not sure who you ask but the centres are few and far between .. I believe we in Morbihan go to Lanester.

Quote :

Un assuré social a le droit de faire un bilan de santé tous les cinq ans. Les personnes les plus vulnérables peuvent en faire un par an. Il y a plus de facteurs de risque, notamment pour les maladies cardiovasculaires, le diabète, liés aux modes de vie (alimentation, sédentarité, tabagisme...).

Anyone can ask but people who don't have a médecin traitant .. or don't go and see him/her .. or people who, like mint, have been in a bad way with cancer etc are offered the option of benefitting from a free, comprehensive examination.
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People who work see a 'médecin de travail' once a year normally. That was the last time I did one of these just before I retired in France.

On the other hand while what Sue has posted is interesting there remains the question of who organises this.
As I said above I have not been offered this by my CPAM and my MT has certainly never mentioned it.

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[quote user="suein56"]Apparently you can ask for a bilan de santé .. not sure who you ask but the centres are few and far between ..[/quote]

My wife's best friend, (French), told her about this service about 5 years ago having used it herself.  There is a facility local for us and my wife called up for an appointment and was duly seen within the month.

I suggest you call your MT or local CPAM to check what may be available where you live.

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I thought it was a national thing. Here in Lot-et-Garonne my wife was sent a letter when she hit 70.

At the examination I was asked if I wanted one too and when I said I wasn't 70 yet they told me anyone could have the check-up.

It was very thorough - included hearing, eyes, teeth, cardiogram, assorted urine and blood test etc etc followed by a long chat about the results with a doctor. In my case very helpful as they discovered I was borderline Type 2 diabetic and overweight (of course). They provided a pretty details guide to diet etc and then followed up with blood tests 3 and 6 months later. Good news is that I managed to get blood to 'normal' in 3 months and have stayed there.

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It may be supposed to be available nationally, but  the invitation to have one is not. As I said above despite my long list of problems including 3 cancers strokes pulmonary embolisms etc  the only time I had anything like it was the mandatory one that is done by the 'médecin de travail' while I was still working.

Votre caisse d'assurance maladier, à son initiative, peut vous invite à vous inscrire à un examen de prévention en santé.

Vous

pouvez aussi la contacter vous-même pour demander à en bénéficier. La

caisse vous enverra tout d'abord une demande d'inscription à remplir,

puis une convocation précisant la date, le lieu et l'heure de l'examen.

Un

questionnaire médical est joint à la convocation et doit être apporté

le jour de l'examen. Vous devez le remplir avec soin, car il permet

d'orienter les examens que vous allez passer et éventuellement de

déclencher des examens complémentaires.

In other words some CPAMs issue an invitation but  with others you  have to contect them

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I thought it only fair to come back and recount how yesterday "déroulé" as there seems some interest and to pick up on some points mentioned by others (whilst everything is still fresh in my mind!)

Yes, there was a 4 page questionnaire sent with the convocation plus another paper that asked you to rate yourself on your day-to-day physical activity. There was also a detailed paragraph listing all the paperwork you needed to bring:  last blood test results, vaccination card, recent x-rays etc.

In Périgueux, all the tests take place in a large, dedicated building with a big open reception area, large waiting room and more than a dozen consulting rooms variously equipped for the different tests.

Nice, friendly reception to start you off feeling reassured.  Everyone was issued with a blue folder which you took with you and got filled in by the different professionals as you went through the tests  Without going through everything in minute detail, I will just describe the various processes.  First up, the dentist who took detailed records and asked questions.  Then blood test and a request for previous results which were put in your folder.  Request for wee and shown the lav with sensitive discretion! 

Next, taken for height measurement and weighed.  I'd lost 1 cm but also 4 kilos so obviously developing "little old lady" syndrome"[:-))]  Blood pressure very high (which I suspected because both my doctor and the pharmacist had already tested me).  Lovely person covered me up warmly and dimmed the lights and went out to leave me to calm down before re-taking it twice. Still high so a halt was called to the proceedings but not before she had done an ECG.

Then taken aside into yet another room and a code for the Ameli site was offered.  Great, as I hadn't done anything about that.  Then taken to a nice area with tables and seating and offered something to eat as I couldn't have breakfast before leaving home on account of the fasting blood test.

Back to the waiting area until called for the hearing test.  This consisted of me being put in a sound-proof booth with headphones and an operator buzzing different pitched sounds and me hitting a button whenever I could hear a sound.  As expected, my left ear was completely duff (had been blocked and "popping" for days.  The right ear performed way above the norm (she showed me the graph) and I think that could be because I'd trained my ears to listen to lots and lots of music!  I thought of poor old Beethoven and wished he could have had this test and could have had something done for his hearing!!

A rudimentary "equilibrium" test consisted of asking me if I had had any falls in the past year and to stand on one leg whilst she counted to 5.

Lastly, a long, detailed consultation with a doctor who asked lots of questions and thoroughly auscultated and pressed and prodded.  Told me I had to see my own doctor asap and have my blood pressure seen to and my ears unblocked.

Went home exhausted......had been there for well over 2 hours plus the trip there and back home.

PS there was a nutritionist there to talk to people who wanted that and someone to talk to smokers and drinkers if they needed help to quit or reduce consumption.

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I sent a message via my online ameli account to ask how to get an appointment:
This is the reply which shows how far from the situation  that others have described we are in the Hérault:

Bonjour,

En réponse à votre demande du 17.10.2019, je vous informe que les bilans

de santé sont gérés par le Centre d'Examens de santé. Ils sont proposés

en fonction de votre situation et adaptés à votre état de santé.

Pour savoir si vous pouvez en bénéficier, je vous invite à contacter

directement le centre d'examens de santé au 04 xx xx xx xx

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Oh mince! But it is a public service which they are supposed to run efficiently!

I know you had been concerned in the past that no one had an overview of your medical problems and I was going to email you and suggest that this was a good way to get joined up dots and have something ressembling a whole picture of your overall health onto the one dossier.

You probably have no choice other than to ring up the centre d'examens and plead your case but I think that it is grossly unfair. 

For my part, I was immensely glad everyone was so warm and kind and patient and it might have actually helped me medically.  I was not due to see my MT for 6 months and, in all likelihood, ignored the elevated blood pressure.  As it is, because the doctor at the Centre was so insistent that it was both a serious and urgent matter, I have today made an appt to see my toubib.

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Wools, I have only seen this doc once, having changed from my previous one for the very reason that I thought she wasn't doing the job quite as she might.

The new chap said to get it checked next time I went to the pharmacie.  They checked it twice there and it was high.  As I had the MOT date, I thought I'd wait to see if it was indeed high or that the previous readings were some sort of blip.

Anyway, I have now had a warning so I will just go and see what is proposed.  I suspect that it is high because of my persistent insomnia, having googled and read that insomnia can and does cause high blood pressure.

Ugghhh.....I am beginning to sound like some pathetic hypochrondriac .......

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Wools, just as one swallow does not make a summer, so one high reading does not make you a contender for high blood pressure.

I will get one of those gadgets if the high readings persist.  TBH, I don't particularly want to be monitoring my BP, as well as everything else[:-))]

GG, I enjoyed your comment[:D]  I'm due to meet my friends at a nordic walk this afternoon, so I will go on a bit about this and see what their reactions are!!! If they join in and start talking about THEIR high blood pressure, I'd know that you are right and that I have somehow adopted this aspect of French life with some enthusiasiam[:P]

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Once I had finally gt into the French health system via PUMA I was invited to my first annual one in January, pretty much as mint has described it with some variations, a group presentation on nutrition, wellbeing, healthy living etc then the person asked various questions of the attendees to create discussion, this was done mainly to avoid people falling asleep in the waiting room and was quite a good idea.

They didn't do my eyetest which was a dissapointment, dentist said I need treatment for gigivitus and sympathised that I could not get a RDV anywhere, said that I should travel to Paris for dentistry and opthalmogists as she does.

Audilogist found I had bouchons de céremone - now sorted with a hot water Karcher.

 

Blood tests revealed very worrying liver enzyme levels, had follow up tests and its resolved itself, I was training for the Lille Marathon and going to the gym on non running days, had been overtraining.

 

ECG fine and showed that the abnormally high heart rates when i am training were not erroneous but correct for me, - I can hold 180bpm average for over an hour peaking to 200 whereas my theoretical 100% is 160bpm, advised to have further épreuve d'effort and VO2 max tests.

 

Very pleased with the examination, it picked up things I would never have known about and the results were transmitted to my MT for follow up, also did a SIDA test.

 

Relieved that I will have one every year and they will contact me so I wont let it slip.

 

A very good system.

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Well  I now have an appointment for Friday.
I rang the number that the CPAM sent me and half-way through  I was told that it was the number for the centre in Nimes....so not only don't they tell us about these 'bilans' but they  give us the wrong number  to call...
However  the very helpful lady gave me the 'secret' one for Bézier so I  called this morning and got an appointment for Friday!
I'm not surprised they have one available given how difficult it was to find out about[:D]

They have emailed me a questionnaire and a map and it all looks very  sensible and thorough.

Many thanks to those of you  (Especially mint) who  brought this to our attention and shared their experiences[B]

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