#137: Going to the Doctor in English

Have you ever need to go to a doctor in an English speaking country, but felt worried about communicating your health problems in English.

In this episode we are going to help your feel more confident when visiting the doctor, preparing you with all the necessary vocabulary needed to explain common symptoms, aches, pains, and strange rashes.

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Words You’ll Learn:

  • Sterile – clean and free from bacteria
  • Under the knife – expression meaning ‘to have surgery’
  • To get ripped off – get sold something for a very expensive price
  • Sweat shop – a factory or workshop where workers are paid very poorly
  • Blow your mind – impress you in an unbelievable way
  • Paint a picture – create a visual premise for a story or question
  • God/heaven forbid – expression meaning ‘I hope this will never happen’
  • Appointment – a scheduled time you have dedicated to visit a doctor
  • Swollen – when an injured part of your body gets bigger
  • Sprain – to over extend a joint or ligament
  • At hand – relevant, happening at this moment
  • Bandage up – to wrap a wound in a material to stabilize or cover the wound
  • Slim pickings – expression used to describe something as being very scarce and hard to find
  • Up shit creek without a paddle – expression meaning you are in a very difficult situation
  • Misdiagnose – when a doctor says you have something wrong with you but it’s not accurate
  • Chicken pox – a disease that causes itchy blisters over your body
  • Itch – the irritating reacting in your skin that makes you want to scratch
  • Ache – a pulsating pain that persists for longer times
  • IV – stands for ‘intervenes’
  • Flemmy – to have a build up of mucous in your throat or chest
  • Bed ridden – to be so sick you can’t leave your bed
  • Fever – to have a high body temperature
  • Bandage – piece of material used to cover wounds
  • Wound – a general injury, or an open cut on your body
  • Xray – a photograph taken to see your bones
  • Cat scan – a photograph taken to see your brain
  • Concussion – a head trauma which can leave you
  • Rash – a skin allergy which gets red and itchy
  • Outbreak – when a disease first strikes and spreads all over your body
  • Drowsiness – a tired feeling, often the side effect of many medicines
  • Side effects – other things that happen to you when taking medicine

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Song: KISS – Calling Doctor Love