Bless you!

Today I had my first official "run-in" with the French healthcare system. According to most of the western world (and the French), they have one of the best in the world. Indeed, they do get to take advantage of a lot of perks. Like everyone has a doctor and you don't pay for ANYTHING (not prescription meds, not the dentist, not specialty care...the list goes on.) Aside from the fact that I initially had to fill out a ridiculous mountain of paperwork just to get basic social security which covers 70% of all healthcare and then the additional "mutuelle" which you can opt into that covers the other 30%, it's all pretty straightforward after that. Visit doctor, present health card (or in my case, shuffle through the mountain of papers you've received to find the right healthcare number because, I'm quite certain, my card will never arrive this century), pay doctor at end of visit, doctor gives you a "proof of care" form, you send it off to the health insurance company, and they (hopefully, some month) pay you back.

The French take their health and their healthcare system very seriously. Just walk around any part of the country and you're bound to come across at least 1 or 2 pharmacies on every street corner. And they very much like exercising their right to free healthcare. The French are, in a nutshell, a nation of hypochondriacs. More prescription meds are doled out in this country than any other European country, especially antibiotics. The French fully expect that when they walk into the doctor's office with an issue, they will walk out with a few prescriptions. They go to the doctor for anything and everything. Sneezed once? Could be pneumonia, better see the doc! Seriously though, this is the only country in the world that has an ailment by the name of "heavy legs syndrome" (jambes lourdes). It only comes in the summer and essentially, you're legs are tired and "heavy". It affects some 15 million French a year, who run quickly (or lazily drag?) themselves to the doctor and pharmacy for various meds and treatments. It is denounced in the rest of the world as a sign of hypochondriosis. In France it is a bona fide medical condition. Look it up on google.com or google.ca and you'll find almost nothing except a Wikipedia article explaining this ridiculous "illness" that only exists in France. Check it out on google.fr and you'll find articles and articles on how to treat it, causes, etc. No joke. You can read a very good article that pokes fun a bit at the French and their health in this BBC new article.

Which brings me to my own experience. I generally avoid the doctors office, mainly because I never get sick, (aside from one or two mild colds a year and perhaps a migraine or two), and even if I were to get sick, by the time you wait 2 weeks for an appointment you're already better. I even avoided going when I lived in Toulouse, despite having one of the worst coughs I had ever had (for fear they'd diagnose me with pneumonia or lung cancer or something...and because I couldn't be bothered. It was hard to not catch something in that city...) Anyways, at the moment, here in Nancy EVERYONE is sick. All the teacher's are off with colds and flus, half the students are missing, my roommate is sick, everyone at my trapeze class was coughing and sniffling, my tandems are sick, and I just received a text message yesterday from the sister of the student I tutor, informing me that he was seriously ill with a high fever and she was worried that he had passed it onto me (I tutored him Saturday morning). So when I started to feel a tickle in my throat about a week ago, I knew what was coming. Yet still, even after a couple days, my nose wasn't running and despite my throat, I felt 100%. What was bizarre, was my throat hurt only on the left side and itched as well. After consuming multitudes of Strepsils, Ricolas and tea, (and scaring myself by googling "sore throat on the left side") I decided a trip to the doctor wouldn't be such a terrible idea. After all, if it turned out to be "serious" and I could catch it in time, I could spare myself days off in bed or, worse, a trip to the hospital. So this morning I wandered down to my "medecin traitant", a very nice general practitioner who had signed all my initial insurance forms stating I had chosen a doctor. No appointments necessary in this country, you just walk in. Which, you'd think, would make for massive wait times like walk-in clinics back home, but as mentioned above, since everyone has a doctor, I only waited 20 minutes before being ushered into her office. 20 minutes! I wait longer than that back home even with an appointment! Doctors offices are much different here, more like actual offices than clinics. No receptionist, no hand sanitizing dispensers and warning signs upon entry, no white clinical floors and walls. Just a nicely decorated room with some nice chairs and a coffee table with magazines, more like you were waiting in a salon to get your hair done. And when you enter the "examining" room, it's more like you're walking in for psychotherapy. Aside from an examination bed off to one side, there is nothing in there to suggest it is a family doctors clinic. Dr. Emmanuelle's office was large and bright with paintings on the wall, a fireplace and a few organizational cabinets behind her large wooden desk, which she sat down behind and offered me a seat on one of her two black leather chairs faching it. Business first (health card...again, don't have one, so my paper copy with my health number was sufficient.) And then "je vous écoute" (I'm listening!) So I explained the situation, she sat me down on the examination bed, looked down my throat, took a swab, listened to my heart and lungs, asked a few questions, and sat by her desk again while we waited for the bacterial results test. I was apprehensive...my friend Julia had gone to the doctor a few days ago with a bad cough, she was diagnosed with bronchitis, given an "arrete de travail" (stop-work permit) and was sent home with 7 antibiotics. I'm not sure how many antibiotics they would give you back home, but 7 sounds like a lot to me. Anyways, my test negative, she said my throat was just inflammed, and handed me a prescription for Ibuprofen and Thiovalone, a type of throat spray. (Both would be found over the counter back home, but here you have to ask the pharmacist for everything.) And yes, I had a prescription for Ibuprofen. Which would be covered by insurance, but considering I already own a large bottle (and would never take it for a sore throat anyways) I asked the pharmacist just for the latter. (Which wasn't covered...go figure!) So I thanked her, paid my 23 euros (which will be reimbursed) and left.

So there you go, my first (and hopefully last) trip to the doctor in France! Now I eagerly await next week's medical adventure...stayed tuned for when I go to...THE DENTIST