1st visit to Doctor

[Iceni]

Just thought I would post about my first visit to the local doctor in France.

First - his plaque is by his surgery door, up a long drive, so I asked at the pharmacy where he was and found him and was seen almost immediately. No appointment and he is open every morning.

He was very nice and was horrifed at the level of drugs I was on. Gave me the prescription for a repeat (Celebrex maximum dose twice a day) and told me to cut down as soon as the pain eased off. He also told me to take all exercise carefully and to take care when gardening - first anyone told me that, I was actually advised to do the opposite and Iused to put up with the pain afterwards. He took a family history of arthritis and we are both sure that is why I suffer.

He also told me that the drug upped the blood pressure and was bad for the stomach - my UK GP had not told me but I found this out on the net. He had taken blood pressure and also listened to my heart. He was rather horrifed to find I had not had any Xrays or blood tests for the arthritis, just a diagnosis and is thinking about further tests but not while it is acute - I have had this for 15+ years.

He also told me to ensure I wore a hat when outside in the sun (when it returned) as I had delicate skin - I told him I wore a sun factor cream all the year and he was pleased - he kept on about the hat and I said I wore one.

All the above was in his very limited English and my very limited French. Impressed - yes, did he try to give me extra medication and there is loads out there for arthritis - no, and I was very pleased. In fact he seemed to be doing the opposite, which I was also pleased about.

The only downside, he asked if my husband was waiting in the car for me and seem very impressed to find I had made it on my own...

Di
http://www.iceni-it.co.uk

[Val_2]

Well done! After using french doctors I would never ever trust an english one again, they are so thorough here and there is no time limit either. A good friend who recently died through another illness, kept being fobbed off by his british GP that his stomach pains were just wind and over eating. On arrival here he went for a visit, they took a blood test and X-rays and discovered he had Prostate cancer and a hernia and both were not recent. He was in two minds to sue the english doctor but thought it not worth the bother now he had left the country.

[Jsensiba]

Diane;

Are you sure you don't have what is called Fibromyalgia? Enter in browser and see what comes up.

Julia