Hi everyone this is my first post. Age 66 after several A&E emergency visits here in Portugal, have been diagnosed with AF arrhythmia. Also taking Bisoprolol. Atorvastatina, Candesarten, Frusemide all are Portuguese equivalents of other drugs mentioned here in this forum. The drugs relate to cholesterol, high BP, Arrythmia, blood thinner etc.
I am trying to sell my property in Portugal to come back to the UK. I pay a subsidized charge of 28 euros for the Lixiana, per month, full price is 68 euros per month for that drug alone. Do you think I can get this and the other drugs on the NHS when I get home? I am British by the way.
By the way health service here is excellent, but scary if you don't speak Portuguese
I have apixaban- similar to endoxaban- we don't pay- I don't know how it works if you have lived abroad for a long time but if you are British you should be OK
Thanks for that only been abroad 3 years and am British through and through LOL. I just wanted to know if they actually prescribe this medication, it's scary to think I couldn't get it again. From these 2 replies looks like NHS will prescribe this so thanks.
Thanks for that only been abroad 3 years and am British through and through LOL. I just wanted to know if they actually prescribe this medication, it's scary to think I couldn't get it again. From these 2 replies looks like NHS will prescribe this so thanks.
At your age all prescriptions are free under NHS. Younger people who are not on income support do have to pay a fixed charge per drug altouihg you can buy an annual discount card.
Thanks for the reply BobD. We used to live in Scotland before we came away and all prescriptions for everyone were free, but I wasn't sure about England. We are English, so want to settle there now. Let's just hope we don't come back to be killed by Covid-19! Portugal has been handling this crisis very well up to now with only 1,218 deaths due to this foul disease versus 34,466 in the U.K.. I guess I'll still be shielding when we get home. When all is said and done there's no place like home.
Presumably the problem was that you had not learnt to speak Portuguese before going there. Why is it that British expats expect others to speak English? How many British doctors could deal with foreign patients in their own language? My GP does speak some English but I have always communicated with him in French. This is France and the language is not English. My experience of other expats here is that the Brits are just lazy when it comes to learning foreign languages and expect people to speak English. Unlike the Dutch who live here.
I also used to live in France for 8 years and learned the language and speak it fluently, Then we moved to Spain and I tried to pick that up, but getting older made it a little more difficult, finally we moved to Portugal and whilst I speak enough to be pleasant to my neighbours, I don't have technical medical language skills. I'm 66 years of age and doing my best! We didn't stay in France, sadly because the health system is far too expensive for us. I'm just saying, maybe you shouldn't judge me until you know a little more.
My reply was not to you but to Palpman for remarking that his doctor did not speak a word of English. I got the impression ( maybe wrongly) that he expected him too. I would find it harder to learn Spanish or Portuguese ( at 68) than I did to become fluent in French but having become fluent in one Romance language might help a little. But then I would not wish to move from here.
Pray tell where we could possibly have learned Portuguese before relocating there? Especially being 65 years old. Did you younger guys not know that elderly people have difficulty learning a new language?
Portuguese is an extremely difficult language to learn due to pronunciation and one word can have different meanings.
Did you not know that English is the undeclared second language internationally and is widely understood.
Maybe it is but I think it is rude to expect people to make the effort to speak English if you have not made the effort to learn the language of the country you are intending to live in. Age should not be an excuse. If one is retired there is more time to study. Are there no online courses for learning Portuguse? At 68 I do not consider myself to be young and if I was considering relocating to another European country ( which as a French citizen I would be entitled to do despite Brexit) I would buckle down to learning the language. My efforts would probably not be as successful as they were in becoming fluent in French but I would try.
That is indeed unfortunate. But you did try and I apologise for assuming from your earlier post that you had not. Was it of no use at all ? One of our strategies for improving our ancient school French before moving here was to get French tv on Sky. This is a channel for the Francophonie and many of the programs were made in Canada with Canadian French. The pronunciation was definitely different from French spoken in France but then the regional accents in the south here are very different to the French equivalent of BBC English. But it was helpful to listen to different speakers. It made the French French easier to understand!
I lived in 3 different areas of France and they all spoke a different patois. I was lucky enough to pick them all up whilst I was there. I have always been good at picking up languages. But here, they are deeply into their countryside patois and they actually sound Russian to me. I can read and understand the subtitles under English films, but none of this is helpful when they are speaking about my health, in a technical way and in an emergency situation. It's more scary than I can handle. It's bad enough in English. I. Would prefer to live in France, I am a Francofile through and through, I just can't afford the healthcare there. So, I will be leaving Portugal to go back to the miserable but safe weather of the U.K. and the uncertainty of the Covid 19 virus there which is 5 times more virulent than here, so that I can communicate in my own language in my sunset years. Thanks for the apology, I have tried very hard to learn many languages, but hands up, I give in.
It must be awful having to return to the UK when you would prefer to live somewhere else. I would hate to go back and avoid even visiting. We are lucky in that we can afford a decent complémentaire and since my husband reached 65 UK pays for the state part. There is always the possibility that with Brexit that may end and if we have to go back to paying URSAFF again as we did between 2003 and 2009 that will take a much bigger chunk out of our income. Our gardener is of Portuguese origin. He has lived in France for more than 60 years but he is still hard to understand due to his accent!
When we were in France we were working and the employer paid 70%, our complémentaire was 685€ pcm which he also paid! Not willing or able to pay that. now. Goodness knows what the full bill would be? Anyway, we enjoyed France, it was the second time I've lived there and now resolved to go back to Blighty and keep france in my heart forever.
Yes we pay €4.50 per visit plus extra at every clinic appointment depending on what it's for. No such charges in the NHS (yet!) I am pleased to say. However here in Portugal my cost for monthly drugs in total, even subsidised by health service comes to €34.72 pcm. I know that it's a poor country, but drugs are much more expensive than the U.K. public realises. The full cost is closer to €100 pcm as my drugs are rather expensive. Thanks for your reply.
My friend lives in Spain and although she speaks some Spanish, when she has a hospital appointment, she always uses an interpreter. It really doesn't cost a lot and she leaves the hospital with all the relevant (and crucial) details from the consultation.
No we don’t pay. I am on many of the tablets you take (apixaban not edoxaban) and prescriptions are free for over 60’s I believe. Good luck with selling your house - do you really want to exchange sun for English drizzle????? All anti-coagulants are available here and all free. I only take apixaban because I was recommended by the EP that it was the safest for brain and stomach
Much as I LOVE the sun, it doesn't seem to like us. I have air conditioning, but still it means we spend as much time indoors as we would in the UK. When we were younger, I was a lizard spending all day under the trees outside, but these days (like right now!) I have to come inside as it's too hot. It's a shame and you'd think we'd prefer to stay here, but the fact is, I'm just getting too old for this kind of heat. I'm sure I'll regret it soon enough in the UK. Heyho, age never comes alone.
Oooh heaven especially if you don’t have to go to work. Lockdown does have some little advantages maybe!!!! Believe it or not it’s actually quite nice Here. Bit cool in the shade, but lovely sunshine. Try not to worry about anything and wishing you well. Pity you had to join "the club" but I’m sure you will be fine.
My wife and I are in our 60's so found learning Portuguese far too difficult so we left after 3 years.
The 2 countries least proficient in English is Portugal and Hungary.
Where we lived hardly anyone our age understood English.
The Emergency Ambulance doctor spoke excellent English, but he swore at me all the way to the hospital, because it took them 2 ambulances and 50 minutes to find our house half way up a mountain. He was only light heartedly saying he couldn't be expected to save my life if I lived in the back and beyond where the postcode isn't recognised by GPS, added to which the hospital is 45 minutes away. He certainly knew the English "F" word. Hence we are selling our house and coming back to England!
After a successful cryo ablation over 5 years ago, I now seem to have the odd annual dramatic outburst!
2 weeks ago, A and E initiated a dose of Edoxaban 60mg, and my Cardiologist has decided that I should continue with this until review in 6 months.
So, an NHS hospital prescribed it initially and only yesterday I confirmed with a GP that it will be prescribed. As I am over 60 it will be FOC. You should be fine!
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