I'd been warned by a friend who is a medical chemist before moving to Ireland that I could expect to get sick a lot. It was an understatement--for the first half dozen years I lurched from one cold or other illness to the next. My general explanation: riding Dublin Bus to work, packed into the vehicle with others like sardines, hearing the hacking and coughing surrounding me as we hurtled along.
But there was another dimension beyond the microbial environment: the medical system. One might say it meant getting well acquainted with the work of general practitioners and hospitals and the different ways they function in a new jurisdiction. But another had to do with quality of care: I lived several years with a recurrent illness characterised by intense pain and fever, at one point losing two months of work because of it. And it was only diagnosed properly after I consulted with a relative who practices medicine in the U.S.
Now living in France, I find the diagnostic processes much more robust that what I experienced in Ireland ... but I think that it's worth mentioning that part of the adaptation to a new environment is also coming to understand and function within a different culture--one that inevitably supports different healthcare practices.
Thanks for sharing your experience, John. It’s true that the healthcare side of moving abroad can be surprisingly complicated. You’re not only dealing with new germs and a new climate, but also learning a whole new way of doing things with doctors, specialists, and the system overall.
I'm glad you eventually got the right diagnosis, even if it took going through a lot to get to that point. The process here in France can feel much more thorough once you understand how it works. It just takes time to adjust :)
God, it's like it told a bit about my move to Austria! In the beginning, when I had to travel between Austria and Bulgaria, my immune system was always in a total collapse. As for the emotional one - I won't comment, I think it's clear what all the stress does. I admit that I hadn't thought about the fact that this collapse could actually come from the stress and all the tension.
It really does take a toll, doesn’t it...the moving, the stress, the constant “in-between” feeling…it's like your body feels it as much as your mind. It’s crazy how much our system absorbs during big transitions.
thanks so much for sharing this! moving abroad can be a real shock to the system
... in more ways than one 😅 Thankfully it doesn't last forever!
I'd been warned by a friend who is a medical chemist before moving to Ireland that I could expect to get sick a lot. It was an understatement--for the first half dozen years I lurched from one cold or other illness to the next. My general explanation: riding Dublin Bus to work, packed into the vehicle with others like sardines, hearing the hacking and coughing surrounding me as we hurtled along.
But there was another dimension beyond the microbial environment: the medical system. One might say it meant getting well acquainted with the work of general practitioners and hospitals and the different ways they function in a new jurisdiction. But another had to do with quality of care: I lived several years with a recurrent illness characterised by intense pain and fever, at one point losing two months of work because of it. And it was only diagnosed properly after I consulted with a relative who practices medicine in the U.S.
Now living in France, I find the diagnostic processes much more robust that what I experienced in Ireland ... but I think that it's worth mentioning that part of the adaptation to a new environment is also coming to understand and function within a different culture--one that inevitably supports different healthcare practices.
Thanks for sharing your experience, John. It’s true that the healthcare side of moving abroad can be surprisingly complicated. You’re not only dealing with new germs and a new climate, but also learning a whole new way of doing things with doctors, specialists, and the system overall.
I'm glad you eventually got the right diagnosis, even if it took going through a lot to get to that point. The process here in France can feel much more thorough once you understand how it works. It just takes time to adjust :)
God, it's like it told a bit about my move to Austria! In the beginning, when I had to travel between Austria and Bulgaria, my immune system was always in a total collapse. As for the emotional one - I won't comment, I think it's clear what all the stress does. I admit that I hadn't thought about the fact that this collapse could actually come from the stress and all the tension.
It really does take a toll, doesn’t it...the moving, the stress, the constant “in-between” feeling…it's like your body feels it as much as your mind. It’s crazy how much our system absorbs during big transitions.