andie.po

Hello all, I really need your help, my family and i moved to Ailcante 3 weeks ago and I need to find a doctor who can help with my diabetes, im type 1 and have been for 23 years, I asked at a hospital merimar and they can only perscribe what i need but I also need a doctor who speaks english, any info would be helpful

dmu

Hi, and welcome to the BE forum! If you post on the Spain forum, you'll have more chance of help from expats living locally to you.
Good luck!

MnB

Welcome to BE andie.po
ditto the advice given by dmu.....post your question on the 'spain' forum, the moderators or concierges over there will help you or point you in the right direction should you need it......good luck with your move & happy posting
B

Jerseygirl

Andie I am moving this thread over to our Spain forum...hopefully someone in that forum will be able to help you.

If you take a look at your original thread you will find the relevant links to help you find your way around.

Good luck.

Rosemary

Cannot help you with a doctor in your area who speaks English but can give you a little bit of info on what help diabetics get in the Valencian Province.

Insulin and test strips are prescribed by the doctor and are free.
Needles are provided by the nurse at the doctors surgery.
Lancets have to be bought.

Rosemary

Jur

There´s a free translation service, I think JDR knows the nr.to call

alig2010

Do you have private medical insurance? We used the medimar hospital recently and they have an interpreter who will interpret for you if the specialist you see doesn't speak English. We have found some of the younger doctors do speak English, but using the interpreter is great. We didn't even ask for an interpreter she just turned up as a matter of course when we asked for someone who spoke English to arrange the appointment for us (it was more complicated than just asking for a cita), she made the appointment for us and was there for it too.

I haven't got the woman's name on me at the moment, but I'll post it later for you.

If it is more urgent then ring the main Medimar number, ask if they speak English - when they say no, they will put you through to this woman and you can take it from there.

Good luck.

Sorry - back in the UK for a couple of weeks and just realised that we didn't bring her card with us so just ring the main number, ask to speak English and they'll do the rest.

andie.po

ah ok so its very different to home then, here is the thing i have an insulin pump from medtronic, the girls in the chemist had no idea what it was and said i wont be able to get these things in spain do u know if there is any truth to that? and i need some vanes leisured in the back of my eyes, i had retinal damage during pregnancy, do u think they will help me in the hospital with that? thanks

alig2010

If it is the Medimar hospital that you were in touch with, then they do laser eye surgery etc there. We found that they will do just about anything, but they might take a different approach than the UK - plus the cost or availability will depend on your level of insurance or your access to the health service here.

Are you looking at information for the public or private health service here?

andie.po

i have privet health insurance with that covers me in medimar, they seem to be quite a strange hospital, the dont have a doctor who i can see for control of my diabetes but can provide proscriptions, and trying to get help with finding other doctors for me and my baby is next to impossible.

alig2010

I see what you mean. They do have a way of 'specialising' here in Spain that means you have to go to a doctor that specialises in what you want. You don't just 'go to the doctor' as we did in the UK.

alig2010

http://www.oftalvist.es/diabetes-ocular1.aspx seem to have some knowledge of eye treatment for diabetes-related problems.

http://medcarespain.com/diabetes.php you might give these people a ring and see if they know of any other services more local to you. Benijofar seems to be just south of Alicante (near Guardamar) or you can get the tram from Alicante to Alfas/Albir where they are doing the odd clinic, and it might be worth the trip if you don't have to do it too often.

HBG

Two other private hospitals in Alicante City are Vistahermosa and Virgin Socorro, the consultant you need comes under Endocrino. That department refer diabetic patients to the eye specialists, Oftalmologo, once a year.

Both hospitals are online and you should be able to make an appointment.

If you live to the south of Alicante, I can supply local information for there.

Rosemary

Not sure whether they will know about the insulin pump here. They are good with diabetic care but as far as I know they tend to use the more "traditional" methods. So sugar would be taken out of the diet completely whereas in USA it is not and people manage their diabetis in a different more relaxed way.

As for the knock on effects of your diabetis I think you will find that they as excellent here.

Rosemary

Rosemary

OH has just looked up insulin pumps in Spain on a search engine and found that a 8 year old had one in 1999 so it shows that they definitely do have them.

Rosemary