Ever gotten sick in a foreign land?

I fell seriously ill while travelling twice, both times insured with Coris insurance. First time it was more like false alarm, it happened in Recife (Brazil) around 2-3 weeks after coming from the Amazonas region. There was a danger of malaria, but fortunately it was everything but malaria. Doctor came 3 hours after the call to the insurance office, and he took a lot of care. I saw both the disaster of public hospital (they did malaria testing only in public ones) and the richeness of private clinic. I tested negative for malaria and after 3 days i was feeling much better (especailly as the bill for the insurance company was enormous - 500 reals, thats around 250US$, just for two "home" visits and a malaria test - fortunately i didn't have to pay a cent, as everything was covered). But, apparently my one-week disease wasn't without consequences... Two months later, after returning home, i fell ill again... lung infection, pneumonia - atypical one, and for 2-3 weeks they had problems with establishing what was wrong with me. A

The second case happened in Peru one year later... Similar symptoms as previous year (that happened after 1,5 month travelling from Ecuador to Peru). I started feeling ill in Lima/Ica, and in Arequipa it hit me again - something (again some kind of lung infection, but not pneumonia - but i was stuck in Arequipa for 14 days ). Fortunately, after 7 days i felt much better, but with one consequence - i lost my voice for nearly 3 weeks!!! Insurance guys did again their job (and they were contacted in my homeland, as in Peru they don't have a phone number) and less than a day later i was at doctor... He gave me some medications and that was it... Again, i didn't have to pay anything. Just losing my voice wasn't really nice... Actually, i had to cut my trip (didn't go as it was planned also to Bolivia and Chile, also had to avoid high altitudes, trekkings, ...) and just went to Cusco and then home...

After that... i have to knock on the wood... Always healty... including East Africa (Uganda, Kenya), India, SE Asia, ...

Lessons learned... air-con buses can be extremly dangerous for me, especially due to very low temps inside. Since then, on all long distance buses i go well dressed. If getting ill, just stick to that place for a few days (although, i couldn't stay in Lima any longer, i just had to escape the mist and cold of "winter" Lima) to get better. Get a good insurance, that also works in the country where you plan to travel. Have some medecines handy, and don't put all the medecines in your checked baggage when going to a trip... (i found that this year, as they lost my luggage in Rome for a few days, including my anti-malaria pills).
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My husband is a runner and on our last RTW trip he was determined to keep up with running as regularly as possible. About 2 weeks into the trip we were in Hanoi after overlanding from HK and he hadn't run yet. So, off he goes to that nice lake in the middle of Hanoi (forgot the name) - ah, I get some free time to myself, I think. Not more than 20 minutes goes by and he knocks at our hotel room door, opens it a crack and quietly states that he's had a problem. Mind you I can't see him yet, and am wondering why he's standing in the hall talking to me - then he enters. I was so stunned at his condition I couldn't even let out a squeak let alone a scream. His face was bloodied and he was holding his arm. He explained that he had tripped while running and held out his arm to stop the fall. He must have been going about 50mph! He sat on the edge of the bed and I felt the arm and immediately knew that he had dislocated his shoulder. My stomach sank - I felt helpless. Oh my god... what to do? We opted not to take out insurance. But I wasn't even thinking of that at the moment. I ran downstairs to the reception desk and explained what happened. The girl, who wasn't exactly the nicest person to begin with, seemed slightly miffed at being interrupted. She ordered one of the guys (brother maybe?) to walk my husband to a doctor's office down the street. Well it wasn't a doctor, more like a pharmacist, or not even that. We decided he needed a hospital - so off we went in a taxi to the local hospital. What dreary, dirty place it was. Their triage area was just a concrete block room with a table and a crew of very young student-looking people in dirty white coats. No one spoke English, and the guy who came with us only knew a few words - he was our translator. The group was uncertain why we were there, so I just moved the shirt aside to give them the visual. They ooh'd and ah'd and started the exam right away. Through some convoluted process, I had to run (with my interpreter) to various places on the hospital grounds to get meds, and to escort Tony to and from exam rooms - each place I had to shell out money for the procedure. A thousand for this, five thousand for that. And all the while the pain was starting to get to Tony - he was sort of shocky and getting a bit uncontrollable. Finally about an hour into this, a real doctor showed up. He spoke to us in French - Je ne parle Francais... Basically, it was like in the movies. The doc had him lay on a table, held up his arm, placed his foot securely in his armpit and YANKED! It was a miracle - Tony sat up in wide eyed surprise that he was fixed. Merci! What else could we say? They stitched up his head, put a fancy sling on his arm, gave him plenty of pain pills and antibiotics - and he was whole again. And guess how much all this emergency treatment & drugs cost? About $25US. Believe it. Not only that - we were never asked for papers, did not have to fill out forms (not that we could have). No questions asked - just treated and sent home, all in an hour and a half. Find that sort of healthcare in the US. Never. Of course, the next 5 months of the trip was a bit dampened by the bad shoulder - but he managed, and it got better over time. Reply to this

Whilst travelling in Oz a few years back my travelling partner was struck down with Diphtheria, probably caught en route in Thailand. Neither of us had had the vaccination (I did not even know there was one) but luckily I avoided it. She was so sick for months after and lost about 2 stone in weight. So my advice is check the vaccinations before leaving and get covered even if you only have a brief stop-over. I found this fab resource that tells you what jabs you need: http://www.travelturtle.com

Kristychama - I have a friend that did the exact same as you! Reply to this