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Former Member
Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
So, I moved to the UK for university.
When I moved, I basically got "erased" from the Danish healthcare system and got a form saying that I am on the same term as British people in the NHS.
Fair enough.
Thing is, that this has done nothing but worsen my health. I have 3 conditions. And it's only after 2½ months that I was able to get on top of the waitinglist for both the dermatologist and the rheumatologist.
I need dermatologic treatment 3 times a week, and need to be able to see the rheumatologist at all times, as my arthritis goes through faces where it's either really good or really bad to the point where I can't get out of bed. The most the GP has been able to do for me is giving me painkillers, as the medicine I actually need can only be given by the rheumatologist as it's considered too strong.
Now, I get a weekly dose of methtraxate. I went to the GP yesterday and asked for a dosage that would cover the christmas vacation when I go home, and basically she told me that she can't give me that.
And it just left me feeling so helpless - I mean, I can't get by without this. I'll feel as if I'll break down.
It's hard enough moving to a new country, but having health issues on top of this just makes it all harder.
I am seriously thinking about quitting university here and transfering back home, as I simply can't compromise on my health. I've been crying all day yesterday and this morning. It's just too much.
I don't know, this is basically just a rant. But does anybody know how I could go about this?
I am seeing the rheumatologist on thursday, and will naturally raise this issue there, but what do people do with their medication if they go travelling? Surely I can't be the only person in this situation.
*sigh*
When I moved, I basically got "erased" from the Danish healthcare system and got a form saying that I am on the same term as British people in the NHS.
Fair enough.
Thing is, that this has done nothing but worsen my health. I have 3 conditions. And it's only after 2½ months that I was able to get on top of the waitinglist for both the dermatologist and the rheumatologist.
I need dermatologic treatment 3 times a week, and need to be able to see the rheumatologist at all times, as my arthritis goes through faces where it's either really good or really bad to the point where I can't get out of bed. The most the GP has been able to do for me is giving me painkillers, as the medicine I actually need can only be given by the rheumatologist as it's considered too strong.
Now, I get a weekly dose of methtraxate. I went to the GP yesterday and asked for a dosage that would cover the christmas vacation when I go home, and basically she told me that she can't give me that.
And it just left me feeling so helpless - I mean, I can't get by without this. I'll feel as if I'll break down.
It's hard enough moving to a new country, but having health issues on top of this just makes it all harder.
I am seriously thinking about quitting university here and transfering back home, as I simply can't compromise on my health. I've been crying all day yesterday and this morning. It's just too much.
I don't know, this is basically just a rant. But does anybody know how I could go about this?
I am seeing the rheumatologist on thursday, and will naturally raise this issue there, but what do people do with their medication if they go travelling? Surely I can't be the only person in this situation.
*sigh*
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Comments
Exept a sore bum and a headache from waiting...
i don't know what the situation is like in sheffield, but here the department is SERIOUSLY overloaded to the point where it can take 2 weeks to get an emergency appointment and 4 months to get an averagely urgent one. they do the best they can, but there are just too many patients.
it's a pain in the arse for all involved.
especially the queues at the dri :P
Hospital services are of variable quality for rheumatology and dermatology departments have notoriously long waiting lists. A lot of routine care happens in general practice and your GP should be able to help for most things.
I also don't understand specifically what the problem is...is there more to your decision to go back home than the health service?
However when you go back home you are entitiled to still recieve healthcare under the danish health system as long as you have the right form from the post office (it used to be an e111 and you can get them online) - what i would suggest you do about the christmas holiday thing is to ask your doctor to write a letter to your danish doctor and then you can get your prescription repeated when your in denmark - I imagine you just have to hand the letter in and pick up the prescription from them.
I think this might explain why so many people have private health insurance in the UK - but be thankful your not in france where you have to pay to stay overnight in a hospital bed
xx
Wow, good thinking Batman.
I think you should rephrase that to say that the NHS is the greatest free healthcare system in the world - you can nearly always get better service (but not neccesaraily expertise) elsewhere if your willing to pay for it.
That's the thing.
Sorry if the initial post didn't make sense. Had been crying all morning.
I am now completely under the British system - on equal grounds as the British people. This means that I am now longer entitled to medical care in Denmark, unless I as a tourist get really sick and therefore have to seek a doctor.
It's as if you guys would go on holiday to some country. You wouldn't be able to get an appointment with a GP or specialist just for a check-up - you'd have to become sick or have complications and therefore need to see a doctor.
My main problem now is that I am going home over christmas and my GP wouldn't prescribe me more than a weeks worth of pills at a time. When explaining her the situation I was told that it was my "own problem" and that she hadn't done anything to remove my rights from the Danish healthcare system.
It was one thing that she couldn't prescribe me pills to take with me. It was another to be spoken to so harshly, when I tried to be nice about the whole thing, explaining my situation, and in no way bringing in the British healthcare system into it. If I can't raise medical issues with my doctor, who can I go to then?
Again, it just makes me cry. Cause I feel as if there's no rational thing I can do.
I know I sound spoilt. But these are genuine medical concerns. And I really can't see myself functioning without those pills. For now my mom is trying to see if she can arrange something as home, and I'll raise the issue with the doctor at the rheumatology department, hoping that it'll be of more help than my GP has been.
Kentish, I appericiate your opinion, though after having tried differently I'll challenge you and say that the Danish Healthcare system far exceeds the NHS. I am sorry. But after having tried both - there's no doubt in my mind.
Miffy - they wouldnt' give my husband extra medication for when we went on our honeymoon which was only 2 weeks long!! - they viewed it as his fault for going on holiday - so he bought the same drugs off the internet from India - which i know is highly inadviseable but what on earth did they expect him to do - go and see a random doctor in a developing country and say i've got asthma can i have an inhaler please.
Ohh and I knew that it wasn't called an E111 i just didnt' know the new name - sorry - I think they are pretty liberal on what is an emergency though - you can still get a GP appointment if you have the flu.
I find it absolutely incomprehensible a. that you have to get your prescriptions weekly rather than say, monthly, and b. that doctors are refusing to prescribe enough medication for holiday periods.
Is there another doctor at the surgery you go to? Because you can see any of them where you're registered, not just the one you're registered with. Sounds like this one has some issues. I'd try seeing a different one if possible.
If not try contacting these people. I've contacted them once (here in Coventry) and they were very helpful. Can't promise you the same, obviously, but it can't hurt to try if you can't see another G.P. or you get no joy from them.
it's true. it's like any profession - there are good eggs and bad eggs. it's really worth hunting around for a good one.
why do so many doctors think that their patients are inventing symptoms? that's always puzzled me.
Obviously we're all malingering layabouts. This despite the fact that being ill is driving him crazy and about all he wants in the world is to get better and go back to work.
Mind you, this is the same G.P. who also repeatedly told Mr M's dad that his, by then inoperable, bowel cancer was all in his head too. :no:
niiiiiice.
i think it's more than the malingering layabout theory, cause they thought i was making up symptoms until quite recently, and i have had about 3 days off work this year, if that. i even have to take my hospital appointments as holiday from work, so it's not like i'm skiving. most curious.
:yes: our doctor told my dad it was all in his head when, in fact, it was cancer.
i find it odd they won't give you enough to cover you when you're back home as you've explained to them that you're no longer entitled to medical care there. what exactly do they expect you to do?! i'd try and see someone else and see if they can do anything to help you.
Let me get it straight - you currently take methotrexate and get the prescription each week from your GP. The methotrexate is prescribed by the GP, under the supervision of the consultant rheumatologist. You want to take a supply of methotrexate home to cover the Christmas holidays but your GP isn't willing to give you that many tablets in one prescription. Is that right? If you're seeing the reheumtologist this week, I'm sure he'll be able to sort something out for you. If you need the drugs, they will prescribe them for you. It's so good that they've stopped you from using it because you temporarily live abroad? How much do you pay to see a doctor in Denmark?
1. I'd want to see a doctor cause I don't find the service here to cover my needs.
2. Yes, it's right. My GP will only prescribe me methotraxate for a week at a time.
3. I don't agree with them doing that, but I can say that the service is faster and better.
Don't pay anything in Denmark.
If the Danish system chucks you out for living abroad, it sounds pretty shit.
because they don't generally pay you for sitting on your arse for two hours in a waiting room. unless you've the most generous employers in the world. and the hospital don't let you choose your appointment times.
This time last year, I'd been told 3 times my glandular fever was 'all in my head'.....
Gave up and threw myself into mock exams....
Spent January in hospital.
I too have lost faith in some docotrs :yes: heehee.