I've got a cold / a cough / a sore throat / a temperature / a stomach ache / chest pains / earache / a pain in my side / a rash on my chest / spots / a bruise on my leg / a black eye / a lump or) my arm / indigestion / diarrhoea / painful joints / blisters / sunburn.
I feel sick / dizzy / breathless / shivery / faint / particularly bad at night.
I am depressed / constipated / tired all the time.
I've lost my appetite / voice; I can't sleep, my nose itches and my leg hurts.
Β What do doctors do?
They take your temperature, listen to your chest, look in your ears, examine you, take your blood pressure, ask you some questions and weigh and measure you before sending you to the hospital for further tests.
Ρ What's the diagnosis?
You've got flu / ρΫρkεοπξυ / mumps / pneumonia / rheumatism / an ulcer / a virus / a bug
something that's going round. You've broken your wrist and sprained / dislocated your ankle. You're pregnant / a hypochondriac. He died of lung cancer / a heart attack / a brain haemorrhage / AIDS.
D What does the doctor prescribe?
a) Take one three times a day after meals.
b) Take a teaspoonful last thing at night.
c) Rub a little on before going to bed each night.
d) We'll get the nurse to put a bandage on.
e) You'll need to have some injections before you go.
f) I'll ask the surgeon when he can fit you in for an operation.
g) You'll have to have your leg put in plaster.
h) I think you should have total bed rest for a week.
E What might the doctor ask you?
What would you say if the doctor asked you the following questions?
Do you have health insurance? Are you taking any medication?
Have you ever had any operations?
Are you allergic to anything?
Exercises
48.1 Match the diseases with their symptoms.
1 flu swollen glands in front of ear, earache or pain on eating
2 pneumonia burning pain in abdomen, pain or nausea after eating
3 rheumatism rash starting on body, slightly raised temperature
4 chickenpox dry cough, high fever, chest pain, rapid breathing
6 an ulcer swollen, painful joints, stiffness, limited movement
48*2 What does the doctor or nurse use the following things for?
Example: stethoscope For listening to a patient's chest. 1 thermometer 2 scales 3 tape measure 4 scalpel
48.3 Look at statements (a) to (g) in D opposite. Which do you think the doctor said to each of
the following patients?
1 Anne with bad sunburn.
2 Jo who's broken her leg.
3 John who's off to the Tropics.
4 Paul with flu.
48.4 Complete the following table.
noun
adjective
verb
breathless
faint
shivery
dislocated
Ache
Treatment
---
swollen
5 Liz with a bad cough.
6 Sam who needs his appendix out.
7 Rose suffering from exhaustion.
8 Alf who's sprained his wrist.
48.5 What medical problems might you have if...
1 you wear shoes that rub?
2 you eat too fast?
3 you smoke a lot?
4 you play football?
5 you go ski-ing?
6 you stay too long in the sun?
7 you eat food you're allergic to?
8 you run unusually fast for a bus?
9 you eat food that is bad?
10 a mosquito bites you?
11 you get wet on a cold day?
12 you think you're ill all the time?
48.6 Think of some of the illnesses you (or members of your family or friends) have had. What were the symptoms and what did the doctor prescribe?
Follow-up: Look at the health page of a magazine or newspaper. Make a note of any new vocabulary on the theme that you find there. Look in your medicine cabinet at home, at school or work. Can you name everything that you find there?
HEALTHY AND HAPPY Active Vocabulary
Diseases
Disease, ailment, illness, sickness, malady
An allergy (to)
Appendicitis
Asthma
AIDS
Bronchitis
Cancer
A chill
A cold
Chickenpox Concussion
Diarrhoea
Diabetes
A fever
(The) flu / influenza
Food poisoning
Hay fever
A heart attack
Indigestion
Insomnia
Malaria
Malnutrition
Measles
Mumps
A nervous breakdown
To spread / to pass on / to give / to carry a disease
To catch / to pick up a disease (from smb)
Isolated cases of There is a lot of it about An outbreak of To reach epidemic proportions
Feeling unwell
To feel out of sorts / To feel a bit funny / To feel off colour / To feel under the weather;
Ant: to be as fit as a fiddle
To feel run down, Compare: To be worn out
To look faint / feel faint / be faint
To be sickening for smth
Not to feel up to doing something
Symptoms
To ache To hurt To be painful To be sore
To feel a dull ache in smth
To be in pain, Ant: To be out of pain
An acute / severe / sharp, constant, dull, steady, sudden, shooting, slight pain
To feel pain rather like pins and needles
To be aching all over / to be all aches and pains
To suffer from smth, Compare: To suffer smth (a heart attack)
To hurt / injure smth badly / seriously / severely
To cause / bring on pain
To affect (heart, lungs )
A bad / heavy / nasty cold; Ant: A slight cold
To develop / get / run a temperature / to feel feverish
To have a slight, high, constant fever
To shiver all over with cold
A bout of (the shivers) / a fit of (coughing) / an attack of asthma / a touch of (rheumatism)
To be inflamed (by / with an infection)
To be allergic to smth
To lose consciousness / pass out / faint (from hunger)
HEAD To have a (splitting) headache, To feel giddy / dizzy, To suffer from giddiness / dizziness
EYES Eyes are running, sore, swollen, itchy, inflamed;
NOSE To have a cold in the head To sneeze, The nose is running, The nose is stuffed up
THROAT To have a sore throat, It hurts to swallow, Swollen glands
CHEST To cough; To have a bad / heavy, dry, persistent cough; To suffer from chest pains, heartache, a pain in the chest; To be short of breath, Compare: To be out of breath; A fit of coughing, To cough away all night
STOMACH Stomach-ache, To lose appetite, A pain on eating, A pain in my side, Indigestion, Diarrhea, Constipation, To feel nauseous / to feel sick, To vomit / to throw up
SKIN To come out in (a rash) / To break into (sweat); Tomatoes bring me out in a rash; Spots, rash, bruises, blisters, cuts, wounds, inflammation, swelling; To itch
JOINTS Painful, stiff, hot to the touch, To swell up (Swollen joints)