Don't ignore it!

[otherclive]

Two weeks ago today we drove down from Cumbria, and in a six hour journey we stopped for breaks at Stafford and Strensham. That evening my right calf was a bit achy which I put down to it being mainly in a restricted position. As it hadn't got better by Thursday this week I rang the local health centre to seek an appointment with the leg nurse. The Receptionist said I should speak to a doctor and the rest is history. Despite having just an aching calf (not really painful) and no other symptoms or lifestyle concerns my doctor decided to have blood tests and prescribe anti coagulants just in case. The test results for suspected DVT were over the roof. So I had emergency scans and tests at the regional hospital which confirmed DVT. I am now on three months anticoagulants. I was lucky as with no real symptoms had been carrying out normal activities such as gardening, deep cleaning the caravan, dog walks of five miles a day etc. I've now found out that quite high percentage of DVTs don't give any warning. So from hereon even when the medication has finished I will be wearing my compression socks for long drives. I've always used them for flights but when I look at it I can achieve more movement of my legs in an aircraft than I can in the car. Hopefully travel insurance for next summers holidays in Europe won't be too exorbitant as the EH1C should still be the first resort in an emergency; well until March 2019 this is!!

 

[Mogwyth]

Sorry to here that.

Healthcare doesn't come under the EU but the EEA, being a member of the former makes you a member of the latter but not all members of the EEA are members of the EU, wether we stay in the EEA remains to be seen, also we have reciprocal arrangements with non EEA countries, so there is reason why we couldn't with our European neighbours.

 

[Craigyoung]

Sorry to hear about that Clive hope you're doing ok .
Being a bus driver and driving 8 hours a day plus , any chance I get I'm out of the cab stretching my legs and walking a few minutes, don't want nothing like that to hapen doesn't take much for your legs to go to sleep even worse when everything is automatic and your left leg does nothing !

Craig

 

[otherclive]

Craig
Thanks. Driving an automatic I do move my left leg/ankle around as I drive. It’s my right leg that’s got the problem. Of course when towing on motorways my right foot is pretty well static as speed sits between 55-60 mph. Other than regular breaks and water I may have two options. One is use speed control for periods and take right foot off the throttle and exercise it a bit. The second option which is less attractive would be to wind the outfit up to very high speed by flooring the throttle then easing off rapidly and braking back down. Repeat ten times to get blood flowing !!! Not very acceptable methinks.

 

[Martin24]

Take care Clive, thank you for putting the post on.

 

[Dustydog]

Oh dear Clive. Sorry to hear this.
That's the trouble of ageing
EU insurance wise you will know the reciprocal arrangements are not quite as good as people think. Their NHS versions are nothing like ours and the agreement doesn't apply to the private hospitals.
Let's hope this is a one off problem and doesn't recurr.
All the Best DD

 

[otherclive]

Oh dear Clive. Sorry to hear this.
That's the trouble of ageing
EU insurance wise you will know the reciprocal arrangements are not quite as good as people think. Their NHS versions are nothing like ours and the agreement doesn't apply to the private hospitals.
Let's hope this is a one off problem and doesn't recurr.
All the Best DD

Thanks DD. My point about having an EH1C is that travel insurers generally prefer the first “port of call” to be a state hospital. That keeps their costs down. Of course I know the EH1C doesn’t cover things like additional costs of accommodation, transport, return home, or repatriation should the worst happen. I think I’d be quite prepared to accept state emergency aid in the countries we visit with the caravan. May not have a lot of say in the matter. I gather that for travel insurance DVT is one of those pre existing conditions that always have to be disclosed no matter when it happened. But I’m sure different insurers take different views of the risks. One thing I’d not be prepared to do is to exempt the condition as I’m sure any other cardio or vascular incident when abroad would be linked to the previous DVT by the insurer.

 

[Raywood]

You should get the EH1C as you might find your travel insurance only covers the costs above this in EU countries. This does not apply to all policies but I have seen the clause in one that I looked at.

 

[otherclive]

I haven't said anywhere that I would not obtain an EH1C, which I actually have anyway. My point was that travel insurers T&C will often, if not always, require you to use State medical facilities if practicable, for the clear reason that it keeps their costs down, and should in theory keep premiums down.

 

[GD485]

Nasty! DVT can have very serious complications. It seems like you did the right thing and hopefully you will soon be back to health.

Travel insurance can be a minefield and i thought if you disclosed the pre-exsisting conditions the insurance company would bump up the premium to compensate.
In 2010 I was diagnosed with having Addison’s desease. It’s quite rare ( about 1 in 100,000 of the population) and in itself is easily treated. However slight infections like a cold or the like can be very serious and at least lead to a few days in hospital or a one way trip in a black Rolls Royce.
The problem is getting insurance cover quite a few companies were happy to take me on but excepted cover resulting from complications caused by the Addisons desease. Making the policy as much good as a chocolate frying pan.
I finally found a company via the Addisons desease self help groups website that covers without exception.
So be careful with insurance cover when they seem to accept pre-exsisting conditions then exempt them from the policy cover.

 

[waffler]

Thanks for raising this topic. This makes to comments about service areas even more pertinent- we need regular breaks even just to exercise our legs.

 

[otherclive]

Thanks for raising this topic. This makes to comments about service areas even more pertinent- we need regular breaks even just to exercise our legs.

No problem. I've got an auto so the left leg gets exercised but when towing on motorways the right leg doesn't. And because of the difference when towing compared to solo I rarely have to brake on motorways. Towing on other roads still requires more braking. So on motorways I now switch into cruise control for five minutes of leg-foot waggling, as well as stops every two hours max for a five minute walk around. Bit like a F1 pit stop

 

[emmerson]

As herself is now over eighty health insurance is prohibitively expensive, so we now just wing it!
However, a few years ago Anne had a problem which required daily treatment at a doctor in Holland. As she had been to our doctor only two days before we left home, this was now a "pre-existing condition", and therefore not covered!
The Dutch doctor was amazing in his treatment methods, but after two weeks we ran up quite a large bill. We offered the EHIC, which he said he was bound to accept, but would prefer us to pay ourselves, and reclaim from NHS. The reason he gave was that it would probably take the NHS up to three years to pay up!
We paid and claimed, and the NHS paid us in about two months, but be aware that you only get around 70% of the cost back.

 

[Hutch]

Emmerson, thank you for the feed back, some of us Teens Sixty ish need to know these things,
Thanks
Hutch.

 

[Jaydug]

Emmerson wrote;
but be aware that you only get around 70% of the cost back.

Quote from NHS website. The ‘European health card’ proves that you are entitled to be treated in the same way as a resident of that country would. So, if you were in a country where its residents would normally be expected to pay 25% of their medical treatment costs, you would also be expected to pay 25%, usually upfront. This means that you will not be charged the full cost of your treatment and you will save a lot of money. But what about the money you pay upfront? Can you claim that back? Unfortunately, rules in place since 1st July 2014 mean that you can no longer receive a refund for the money you pay upfront in a European country.

 

[otherclive]

But the EH1C has distinct limitations for other than quick medical treatment. It doesn’t cover the non patients costs for accommodation, travel if required. It certainly doesn’t cover anything once you are discharged so if you require hospital treatment it won’t provide anything if you are discharged and you may still be suffering severe mobility loss. And if the worst should happen there’s nothing for repatriation of the body and associated costs. So for everyday medical conditions such as you would see your GP for its good. For more serious conditions such as an accident or health problem requiring hospital treatment it is good. The crunch comes after discharge.