Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Una malattia

I was sick today. Actually, I’ve been sick for a some days but as usual, when I stay home, the necessity of doing something productive overcomes me – I start cleaning, doing the laundry and I often try several intellectual undertakings at a time. Often I don’t finish but it’s the impulse that counts. I’ve been living my life that way for some time now...

I researched my medical predicament – of course it’s raffreddore, possibly a slight influenza, probably not of the swine kind. But I do have some words that I would like to remember.

So what’s wrong with me? These all apply to my situation.

il raffreddore – cold
l’infezione
i batteri – bacteria
il disturbo, il malanno – ailment
l’influenza
il male di gola – sore throat
la tosse – cough
non sentirsi bene
sentirsi poco bene
il sintomo – symptom
il virus
prendere, prendersi – to catch
starnutire – to sneeze
tossire – to cough
batterico – bacterial
virale – viral
ammalarsi – to become ill
il medicinale senza ricetta
la pastiglia, la pillola – pill

On the other hand, it could all be psychosomatic - È una malattia psicosomatica.
Either way, feels real enough. Let’s have some more words. People and institutions first:

la cura – care
l’epidemia
il/la farmacista
la farmacia
il medico/il dottore
il medico di base/della mutua – primary care physician
la mutua – health care coverage
il malato – sick person
il/la paziente
la sanità – health care
l’ambulatorio – walk-in clilnic
la clinica
l’ospedale

Things they help you with and do to you:

la febbre – fever
la malattia – illness
il vaccino
l’allergia
il dolore, il male (a) – pain
la diagnosi – diagnosis
il farmaco, il medicinale, la medicina – drug, medication
la ricetta, la prescrizione (medica) – prescription
il test, l’esame – test
la visita – doctor’s visit, examination
la polmonite – pneumonia

Some more verbs:
avere male a – to feel pain in
avere male di/a – to have a ...ache
far male (a); farsi male (a) – to hurt; to injure oneself
soffrire di – to suffer from
curare – to treat
guarire – to recover

And adjectives:
cronico – chronic
dolorose – painful
grave – serious
psicosomatico – psychosomatic
sano, in salute – healthy

Some sentences:
La bambina di mia sorella, Lucia, sta male. Ha raffreddore e febbre, e ha sempre sonno.
Mia madre va da un medico privato.
Dal medico della mutua c’è sempre la coda.
Sono dal dottore. Vado dal dottore.
Devi prendere dieci pillole al giorno?
Mio figlio si ammala tutti i momenti.