Feel Good Friday: NHS!

It’s that time again!

Choose a prompt and join in!

Basically, FGF is  all about being alert throughout the week for things that make you smile! And then sharing them with everyone else to make them smile, too! And getting together for a little link love!

Sound good? Then please join us! Start looking for all of the good things you can write about for next week!  Once you start looking for the “good”  you will find it everywhere!

I’ve been posting very infrequently for awhile now, mostly because I’ve been feeling guilty about doing anything that’s not directly related to job hunting. But I really missed my FGF posts, so even though I didn’t get this post in yesterday, I’m putting it up today!

We had a fabulous trip to Italy for the holidays, and as soon as we got back, I headed straight to bed with some raging sinus and chest congestion. After a couple of days in bed with homeopathy and natural remedies (plus a regular cough syrup in there), the congestion was getting better. But then I got this extreme asthma attack, for the first time in over a year. And since I haven’t had asthma in a long while, I didn’t have an inhaler. Mistake. So, after two trips to the doctor (I’ll spare you the details), I am now fully medicated (antibiotics, which I try to avoid) and a lovely blue inhaler. I can breathe again!

So this is FGF (or Saturday) because I’m feeling fabulous for the first time this week! We actually ventured out to the grocery store today to stock up. A has been cooking full time all week and taking care of everything. So I should be back to normal by Monday!

Navigating a new country’s health system is not always easy, because it’s different everywhere you go. Here, you’re supposed to sign up with a local GP as soon as you’re a permanent resident (meaning, not a tourist). I hadn’t done that yet, so we had to go first to a walk-in clinic and then to the A&E (not Arts & Entertainment; it’s what they call emergency over here). The good thing is that I have an appointment to register with a GP next week that is within walking distance from our flat. And the hospital where we went twice (for the walk-in clinic and then the A & E when I got worse) was just a quick bus ride from home. Both times, we took a cab there because I was feeling terrible and then the bus back because I was feeling better afterward.

There are a lot of doctors offices and hospitals in every area, which is convenient. NHS is the National Health Service here, which means that everything was free: consultation and medication. So it’s also FGF because I’m feeling very fortunate that we live in a country with good, accessible health care.

I also wanted to share two of the natural remedies that worked wonders this week. When something is natural and actually works, I think it’s worth sharing.

• Essential oil inhaler stick. I hate nasal spray, because they’re so violent and I always feel like I have a major highway running through my nose after I’ve used them. A picked up this inhaler stick for me at the pharmacy (another thing I like is that normal drugstores here have all the regular stuff, plus homeopathy, natural remedies, and Bach flowers). It opens everything up gently and effectively. It’s got peppermint oil, eucalyptus oil, juniper oil, limonene, caraway oil, fennel oil, linalool, and vitamin E.
• Decongestant tea. A made me a tea with hot water, honey, cayenne pepper, and ginger. This also opened up my nasal passages and loosened up chest congestion instantly. The cayenne we use is actually a blend I put together with some chile piquín, so it’s hotter than normal cayenne, which usually doesn’t seem hot to me at all. I highly recommend making up a small amount of this, and when it’s cool enough to drink, downing the whole thing. That way you get the full decongestant effect without the fire in your mouth.

A VERY happy 2011 to you all! I hope you had a happy holiday season.