After three years since I last saw a doctor, this morning I woke up with vertigo.
I tried not to have to go, but with our impending trip to Italy next week, I thought I should get checked out. After all, if I see the leaning tower of Pisa and it isn’t leaning, or I’m leaning more than it, I might feel cheated.
So Jon bundled me in the car to the local GPs house.
It’s like going back many years in the UK. You wander into what appears to be someone’s house (and actually, it is) and take a seat, having of course exchanged ‘bonjours’ with anyone else who happens to be in there. Eventually it will be your turn.
Monsieur le docteur, wearing jeans and looking like an ex-rugby prop, greets you at his door, shakes hands and leads you in to his surgery which is the untidiest room I have seen since our girls grew up and left home.
After a few preliminaries, filling in a form to register, I explained what was wrong and he led me to his examination room which, although cluttered, was a little tidier. He checked my blood pressure which was deemed to be OK then checked my eyes. He then grabbed me by the shoulders and threw me onto the couch.
‘It’s a good job Jon is just the other side of that partition wall’, I thought, wondering if this was normal practice for a French GP.
Monsieur le docteur sat me up again and looked carefully at my eyes. After a while the room stopped spinning. He then explained that he was going to do the same thing but turning my head to the side this time. I braced myself and ooooh, off the world went again, leaving me behind. He then went back into his surgery telling me to follow when the world was back to normal again.
He then relieved me of 22 Euros and sent me to the pharmacy with my prescription.
The pharmacy then relieved me of a further 26 Euros and gave me three different types of pill. I suppose the theory is that one of them will stop the giddiness eventually.
Now we need to work out how to get our money back from the French health service and our insurers.
Meanwhile, if you hear a strange rattling noise next week anywhere between here and Italy, it’s probably me having taken all those pills.
August 28, 2009 at 2:45 pm
You always need a carrier bag for your pills in France- good news is they usually do work. Hope you’re feeling better soon and have a great time in Italy.
August 28, 2009 at 5:36 pm
Did he actually tell you what was wrong, or just give you the prescription? Not that you need to say it on this public forum — I’m just curious if you got any diagnosis, or just meds!
August 28, 2009 at 5:47 pm
Thanks Enid, yes, I am learning!
Betty, to be honest I couldn’t really take it all in, I was having trouble keeping upright and he’s a bit of a gabbler, but he did say that if the pills don’t clear it up he will send me to an ear specialist.
August 28, 2009 at 5:48 pm
Actually it isn’t three years – it’s two. I saw the ER people at Gourdon when I cut my toe open. (Sorry to mislead!)
August 28, 2009 at 8:34 pm
How weird is that? I had vertigo too a couple of weeks ago, for the first (and I hope only!) time in my life, and spent a fun (not) Saturday evening crawling about on hands and kneese because I was frightened of falling downstairs. Do you think you can catch it on the interwebs?
And I got the same treatment from the doctor (home visit, no way was I going to attempt to get to the surgery) — plus a request to walk in a straight line with my eyes closed, which I failed. He reckoned it was some kind of inner ear problem. I only got 2 sorts of pills though! (you can see why pharmacies in France are so palatial!).
Do you have a Carte Vitale? If so, you should get reimbursed automatically.
August 29, 2009 at 2:00 pm
Totally sympathise Sue, I suffer with vertigo and have done for years, and apparently when they flip you off the bed and then look at your eyes they can tell what sort of vertigo it is,I have great results from acupuncture if I have a bout of vertigo xx
September 2, 2009 at 5:20 pm
Very odd – last week I met a lady who was also suffering from vertigo. Do hope that you recover swiftly, Sue, and when you do make sure you pop back to the doctor for another swift go on the couch.
Enjoy your holiday very much.