No problem. Happy to help. Hope you have a great holiday.
My partner and I have lived in France for about 6 years. According to my doctor, my COPD is not une maladie de longue durée, nor is my atrial fibrillation and so treatment for those is not totally free but partially covered by the French health system and the rest by my top-up health insurance. On the other hand, my partner's Parkinson's disease and diabetes are in the list of chronic illnesses and he pays nothing towards their treatment. However, some of the medications for side effects of these maladies are not covered because they are not considered essential. For instance, some of the medication for Parkinson's makes my partner feel nauseus, but the anti-nausea pills have to be paid for out his top-up insurance. For any of this to happen if you are going to be resident in France, you need to apply for a Carte Vitale. The length of time it takes to get one of these varies enormously from area to area and I reckon from clerk to clerk. We applied for ours at the same time at the same office: mine took 9 months to arrive, mypartner's one year and four months after much wrangling about exactly what all the words on a Scottish birth certificate meant. I am over 65 and my UK state retirement pension is paid in full into my French bank account in euros. My partner is only 60 has been unemployed and on various UK disability benefits for many years. His disability allowances from the UK are still paid, but he cannot claim Income Support from the UK while living in France. So a chunk of his former income is missing. But we found all that out before we came here. However, our experience is that the treatment offered by doctors, specialists and hospitals - at least where we are in Languedoc-Roussillon - is far superior to that we used to receive when living in London. Everything happens much faster - results of X-rays, blood and other tests - appointments, and so on. Moreover, we have far more confidence in our French medics than ever we did in our British ones who made many mistakes despite the fact that we didn't see them nearly as frequently as we do their counterparts in France. I won't go into what you have to do with something called an SS1 or something like that form before you arrive so that Britain can reimburse you for health care before you get the French Carte Vitale, because some of the legislation concerning that has changed since we arrived. The DWP can give you information. French bureaucracy is a nightmare but not insurmountable. How much help you can receive for health care, or any other kind of social security, depends on many more detailed criteria than it does in the UK. It seems to me that everyone's case is different! Well, I exaggerate, but not that much. Bon courage et bonne chance!
Jacqueline, you might want to read Dr.Hyman's book mentioned above. Try his elimination diet for a few weeks and observe your body's reaction. Then you can start adding in one eliminated diet item at a time to discover exactly what foods you should be avoiding. This will allow healing of the gut, and it sounds like you probably have some serious issues there.
I used to get bronchitis once or twice a year. It would invariably evolve into pneumonia. After I discovered the nano-catalytic silver hydrosols (not colloidal silver) I have not had any infections since, going on 15 years. I was so impressed that I started a company in the states to educate and distribute these nutritional supplements. Catharine created a thread about them here at SFN, but I cannot find the link. Anyway, if you are interested you can learn about this technology at our website www.lifesilver.com/v1 If any of your problems are microbial, this will safely and effectively eliminate them.
The list of illnesses covered by ALD is on Useful Links.
I couldn't believe the wind either ! It's worst when the wind comes from the mountains, it can be bitterly cold or quite pleasant depending on when you are there. We thought about moving down to the area but were put off by the freezing winds in late autumn, winter & early spring ! I'm now looking to the Albi - Toulouse - Montauban triangle.
My husband has COPD and has lived in France with this condition for 10 years now. The medical treatment he has received has been superb. As soon as you arrive you should register with a GP and then ask to be referred to the local pneumologue who will be able to manage your illness much better than a GP. My husband has check-ups once every 3/4 months. The Doctor tests blood gases, does x-rays and checks lung function/capacity as well as routine health checks. As other people have said, and you probably already know, you should not be living at high altitudes because of the reduced oxygen levels in the air. Somewhere close to sea level and where the weather is generally warm and dry would be best. Montpellier and the surrounding areas (including towards Narbonne) would be perfect for you. My husband knows the area very well if you want some advice on places to look.
In terms of benefits and your entitlement to healthcare I am not best placed to advise. I do know it's likely to be very complex. My husband paid into the system for many years and now receives a pension and full healthcare. COPD is covered by a system called ALD (affectation longue duree) which means all costs relating to his condition are met by the state (same as in the UK).
Best of luck to you.
Hello,
I have a little information which may apply in your case. If your medical condition prevents you from working in the UK and you receive a UK benefit for some kind of incapacity, you will find it will still be paid in France. Before making any plans I would suggest you contact the International pension and benefits office in Newcastle. They will tell you what would and would not be available. You will find that some 'incapacity' benefits ( I don't know what they are now called as I have lived here 15 years) qualify you for a registration in the French system just as a state pension would if you were pension age. You may have to be prepared for a doctor to complete a medical form for you from time to time just to show your medical situation has not improved but if you are ill, I'm sure you would have no objection to that and possibly you have the same checks in the UK anyway.
As for treatment..... that would be the least of your worries. I don't know anyone who has complaints with the treatments they receive here for any illness. My husband is diabetic and he now has an insulin pump which was supplied at no cost to us and all his related medications and treatments are free too. Perhaps epilepsy comes into that group of illness' or maybe your lung condition? I am sure someone on this network will be able to give you a link to the list of illness' which can be treated free of charge.
Good luck with your research. I think if you find you can afford to come here, you wouldn't regret your decision.
Hi Jacqueline. Have a look at the Health section of the Useful Links page (link at the top of this page). There's a lot of basic info and a special section on what is called ALD - long-term illnesses. Treatment associated to ALDs is paid for 100% by the Social Security and you would certainly qualify.
What Peter says about stress and acid reflux is very true. Back in the late 1980s I had chronic acid reflux. The California doctors had a drawer full of pharmaceutical nostrums that were totally ineffective. Finally the wife of a friend of mine, who had the same condition, called me to inform that a clerk in a health food shop had told her about probiotics, which instantly eliminated her problem. I took this advice and... Voila! My problem was also cured. Alas the condition had persisted for so long that I had damaged my esophageal sphincter and I now have achalasia, which is not fun. The "cure" is a medieval surgery that, from posts on several achalasia support forums from persons who have undergone the Heller myotomy, the cure is often worse than the condition. I have not had the surgery, and lived with the symptoms for twenty years. I discovered that dairy products had to be eliminated from my diet. That helped, but giving up cheese in France is difficult.
Regimens of antibiotics destroy the beneficial probiotics in our intestines which keep the necessary but bad bacteria in balance. We then wind up with overgrowths of organisms like candida albicans, which are the primary causal factor in many/most acid reflux cases. Supplementing with a good probiotic restores the gut flora to balance and symptoms quickly disappear. Unfortunately I learned this too late. Medical science ignores all of this in favor of dispensing their acid blockers (Prilosec, Nexium, etc.), which only aggravate the problem.
A great many chronic disease conditions originate in the gut. A very good book for learning about and treating these issues is, The Simple Diet, by Dr. Mark Hyman. Another good book by a Canadian psychologist, Dr. Gabor Maté, When the Body Says No, helped me to understand the stress/disease connections... and how best to deal with them by understanding and letting go of emotional baggage, some of which originates as far back as infancy.
Narbonne is ok, as is but bear in mind you will have to put up with strong winds. I couldn't believe it until I spent time in the area. The wind can be pleasantly warm or bitterly cold depending on the direction and the time of the year. Similar story at Perpignan but not as bad. The south-west may be a better bet where the Atlantic climate may be more of what you are used to.
Regarding acid reflux. Mine is due to a hiatus hernia diagnosed in the '70s. I suffered a lot in the UK but I found my condition improved dramatically when I settled in France in the '80s. The stress levels dropped considerably and the current treatment and checks have rendered my condition almost non-existent.
Hello, I am a COPD sufferer and also have had lung cancer and cannot thank the French system enough for the way they have looked after me. I live near the sea in the SE. Do not go live at altitude as this will make you feel far worse, I would suggest that if you can have ac installed in your bedroom so that you sleep well during the summer. When you arrive go and find a GP try and find one who has some experience with lung problems he will then point you in the right direction. re hospitals for the time being I have not been to hospital for COPD I saw enough of them with lung cancer. I have been clear for seven years now. Please contact me if you need further info re meds. etc.
Or look slightly further south - direction Perpignan - where you have the foothills of the Pyrenees but the warmth of the coast and much less humidity!!
You need to be aware that I don't think it is possible that you move here and go directly onto benefits; you need to pay into the system first. Would your benefits still be payable in the UK?
Looks like you are embarking on an extremely complicated adventure. I wish you well.
I would say be very careful. My OH worked in France for 25 years and owning a business paid monumental amounts for his social charges. They have not sorted out his retirement payment after four years and in the end we were forced to ask for help, having sold everything that was not bolted down. The whole system is a minefield with so many departments that you have to apply to, (none linked) so your files will disappear on a regular basis and the whole application process will have to start over. The place to start is the local conseil général. Local is a very loose term here unlike the UK system. I was asked to do a round trip of 100k so that they could assess my level of French, and no payment for travel.
Also you do have to pay into the system before healthcare or social security entitlement. And the benefits are not great - the expectation is that your family will look after you. There are extras available, like a payment towards electricity and others - you will never be told what they are, we once got a glance at the list but it was whipped away before I could take notes. These have to be applied for once a year and no guarantee that the payment will be approved. The whole process for RSA payment (or CPAM) took five months and we were in the French system.
I am sorry to be so negative but feel that you should go into this with huge trepidation and a suitcase to carry all of the documents you will need to produce at each and every interview. It is a hugely stressful experience and one that I am not sure that you will find beneficial to your health.
I am not sure if there is a way that you can have your UK disability allowance paid whilst living here. Might be an avenue to explore.
Wish you luck and hope you end up where you want to be.
You might be better off somewhere like the Alpes de Haute Provence than Narbonne - Languedoc Roussillon isn't considered as having a good climate for people with lung problems, certainly my mother & cousins were sent off to the mountains in the summer to get away from heat and humidity.
Other people will probably be able to tell you more about the prise en charge for chronic illnesses and other benefits but my understanding is that you don't get anything out of the health and social security systems unless you have paid into them.
Tegretol is available in France but the site I looked at didn't say whether it is prolonged release or not, just that it is carbamazepine.