Need to vent... Not having such a great time

Well I came here to give it an extended test run to see if I want to move here permanently. It is very disheartening because this may be the only chance I get to "live" here -- but my boyfriend's (soon to be husband) works in a field where we could live here one day because his work is in high demand in England.

Trust me, I will never forget the pain of my ankle or the way no one offered to help and people couldn't even move over 4 inches on the sidewalk. It was horrible. I also won't forget the horrible treatment from the NHS... haha, wow. And on a sprained ankle you can't really just walk away with 2 suitcases full of stuff. I dread the thought of moving again and renting a room from someone else. It will just be another set of problems.. I've been here 2 months and unfortunately it hasn't been a positive one. I do try to be optimistic, but this is my experience and I won't feel ashamed for saying that that's what I've experienced here so far. I think when people say "this is your life and you have choices that only you can make", it tends to come across a little condescending and you're not pointing out anything I don't already know. This is a forum and like the title of my post stated, I was venting.

Well I believe you Seaside.....

First of all, are you sure your foot isn't broken/cracked....did they take x-rays? Or was it just a case of some harried person moving it around a bit and prescribing two aspirins?

I love the NHS, but sometimes if they can get you up and out with an ace bandage and a bread bag with some ice cubes in it....

Well I came here to give it an extended test run to see if I want to move here permanently. It is very disheartening because this may be the only chance I get to "live" here -- but my boyfriend's (soon to be husband) works in a field where we could live here one day because his work is in high demand in England.

Trust me, I will never forget the pain of my ankle or the way no one offered to help and people couldn't even move over 4 inches on the sidewalk. It was horrible. I also won't forget the horrible treatment from the NHS... haha, wow. And on a sprained ankle you can't really just walk away with 2 suitcases full of stuff. I dread the thought of moving again and renting a room from someone else. It will just be another set of problems.. I've been here 2 months and unfortunately it hasn't been a positive one. I do try to be optimistic, but this is my experience and I won't feel ashamed for saying that that's what I've experienced here so far. I think when people say "this is your life and you have choices that only you can make", it tends to come across a little condescending and you're not pointing out anything I don't already know. This is a forum and like the title of my post stated, I was venting.

Hi there,
I am so sorry to hear that you've been having such a rough time. I know how difficult it is to get around an a sprained ankle. I'm going to have to side with sonofasailor here. If it's been as long as it's been and you are still having a similar pain level as when you were injured, you should go back. What does your doctor dad have to say about it?

And, in defense of your British friends, they may not realise what a rough time you're having if you haven't out and out told them. If someone told me they have a sprained ankle, I would assume they were only mildly inconvenienced and that it didn't affect their day to day life too much.

It's extremely difficult when anything negative happens when your entire safety net (family, friends, your boyfriend) are all thousands of miles away. I've had it happen to me and I had my husband, outside of his work hours, around. I can only imagine it's even more difficult when you are on your own.

(edit This bit was meant for a different post: to be fair, you can't get a NINo if you don't have the proper visa or citizenship requirements)

With all due respect, lyonaria, if you yourself have had a sprained ankle before, it surprises me that you would assume that it's a "minor" inconvenience to anyone. That is ridiculous to me and I find it hard to believe you've had a sprained ankle before. You literally are supposed to stay off of it for at least a full week for even the most mild cases, which mine wasn't.

So let's break this down.
Sprained ankle + can't walk *ANY* long distances for 6 weeks + no car + foreigner = SOL
And my British friends know all of this. I'm not coming here to say "poor me." But if it were me and this happened to one of my friends, foreign or not, you can bet your bum I'd be there by their side. But that's me. Also, 3 housemates knew this was the situation as well. Not one offered to see if I needed anything - not ONCE.

I'm getting annoyed at the last 2 responses. In defense of my British friends? Trust me, they definitely knew how bad it was. They knew that I can't walk anywhere. They saw pictures of it. They knew I couldn't get around. I already said what my parent has to say about this - and basically he disagreed with everything the NHS doctor told me. Really, all of that is besides the point and *SOME* of the replies are just feeling annoying at this point. I come from a medical family and a third degree sprained ankle is painful, will continue to be painful during the healing process, and takes time to heal. It doesn't take one week. I wouldn't go back to the NHS unless I absolutely had to. They gave me the wrong information and bad advice. If I had taken their advice, my ankle would be inflamed and further away from healing right now.  And a patient shouldn't be being told to walk from room to room and down a long hallway on a newly sprained ankle -- PERIOD. Anyway, this wasn't even the point of my original post. Some of you could use a little compassion before replying to a post like this. It would have helped and made me feel a little better instead of the argumentative and condescending replies. I appreciate the ones that were nice and tried to make feel less alone.

I dont even know what a NINo is. What is the point of saying this at the end of your post anyway? 

I don't know who hasn't been helpful or sympathetic, and I'm sure all of us have been in situations that seem hopeless at one time or another. The natural response is to try and help anyone who posts that they're having a bad time. Please don't throw it back in our faces.

As to the medical aspects your situation I suggest you consult whatever travel insurance you have, and make an appointment to see whatever level of care you need - be it GP or specialist, get x rays, painkillers, crutches, walking boot etc.

I'm sorry to hear you're having a hard time, especially with a sprained ankle too .

I do think it would be worth going back to a GP about your ankle; as Fruitgum suggested, check your travel/health insurance and make sure you get the care you need. Just be aware that you do need to pay for any treatment you get, even on the NHS (not paying can affect future visa applications, because if you have more than £1,000 in unpaid NHS debt, it's an automatic visa refusal).

I dont even know what a NINo is. What is the point of saying this at the end of your post anyway? 

I'm a little confused about that too, since a NiNo has nothing to do with NHS treatment and had not be mentioned in the thread previously.

A NiNo is a National Insurance Number, which you would only need if you are working in the UK - it's like a SSN (but is assigned to UK citizens at age 16, not birth) and it determines whether you are paying the correct amount of income tax on your earnings.

Perhaps lyonaria meant an NHS number, which is an identification number assigned to your medical records in the NHS system... an NHS number should be automatically assigned to you if you register with an GP, so it's not something you would need to apply for anyway.

With all due respect, lyonaria, if you yourself have had a sprained ankle before, it surprises me that you would assume that it's a "minor" inconvenience to anyone. That is ridiculous to me and I find it hard to believe you've had a sprained ankle before. You literally are supposed to stay off of it for at least a full week for even the most mild cases, which mine wasn't.

So let's break this down.
Sprained ankle + can't walk *ANY* long distances for 6 weeks + no car + foreigner = SOL
And my British friends know all of this. I'm not coming here to say "poor me." But if it were me and this happened to one of my friends, foreign or not, you can bet your bum I'd be there by their side. But that's me. Also, 3 housemates knew this was the situation as well. Not one offered to see if I needed anything - not ONCE.

I'm getting annoyed at the last 2 responses. In defense of my British friends? Trust me, they definitely knew how bad it was. They knew that I can't walk anywhere. They saw pictures of it. They knew I couldn't get around. I already said what my parent has to say about this - and basically he disagreed with everything the NHS doctor told me. Really, all of that is besides the point and *SOME* of the replies are just feeling annoying at this point. I come from a medical family and a third degree sprained ankle is painful, will continue to be painful during the healing process, and takes time to heal. It doesn't take one week. I wouldn't go back to the NHS unless I absolutely had to. They gave me the wrong information and bad advice. If I had taken their advice, my ankle would be inflamed and further away from healing right now.  And a patient shouldn't be being told to walk from room to room and down a long hallway on a newly sprained ankle -- PERIOD. Anyway, this wasn't even the point of my original post. Some of you could use a little compassion before replying to a post like this. It would have helped and made me feel a little better instead of the argumentative and condescending replies. I appreciate the ones that were nice and tried to make feel less alone.

I dont even know what a NINo is. What is the point of saying this at the end of your post anyway? 

The edit on the bottom of my post here was meant to go on a different one, I'm sorry I wasn't paying as close attention as I usually do and mis-edited my post. I've just been out on errands and walking the dog so I didn't know it went wrong until now. That's what I get for using the back button.

And yeah, level two sprain carrying two cases of water down some stairs and there was one more step left than I thought there was. Horrible pain, it popped up in my knee, bruising along the entire outside of my foot and my ankle swelled up to the size of a grapefruit. I had to keep it wrapped in an ace bandage for weeks and use borrowed crutches to get around at work and home. My bedroom was up a flight of stairs too. It took more than 3 months to heal, probably because I was on my feet more than I was supposed to be at work. But hey, a girl only a year out of college has to work to pay the all the bills and her student loans.

I read this entire thread. Nowhere did you say you had a level three sprain and that your dad completely disagreed with everything that you were told by the NHS and I just reread it again to make sure I hadn't missed anything you said. You said that the Austrian crazy lady told you you needed to walk around more and that one of your parents is a doctor (my apologies for assuming it was your dad) and you know what you need to do to help your body heal.

I'm not sure how I was supposed to read between the lines to get your degree of injury from your post. There are sprains and there are SPRAINS. A level one sprain is a minor inconvenience. It's annoying, but it doesn't disrupt your life too much just makes it annoyingly difficult. A level three is a major injury, mine was a level 2. Since you're saying your friends have actually seen what happened and they haven't offered any kind of help, that's rude.

I am sorry you're having a painful, terrible time here in England and I hope you do whatever it is you need to.

I'm afraid I'll be the bad guy here.......you seem to be easily insulted and are looking for ways that people are not being nice to you. The posts have not been insulting.....yet you took it that way. It doesn't seem you "want" to be happy here.

There are many types of sprains/tears that can happen to the ankle area. I've had a couple of minor ones over the years and all they did was make my ankle a bit sore (my ankle is somewhat indestructible) and I just kept up my running/working schedule. You can go to the other extreme and really zap the tendons/ligaments......the bad ones can be worse than a break for healing. All sprains are not equal.

I'm afraid I'll be the bad guy here.......

This part of the forum is called The Airing Cupboard, and as I understand it there's not supposed to be a "bad guy" here. If the OP just wants to complain in order to get it off her chest, that's ok.

South Africa... Sounds amazing right about now. Just saying. No offence to the fine people of Whitstable, especially the beer makers, but there are much better places to weather the English winter if you are not too attached to the area. Sounds like you can do with a change as soon as you can manage it.

I was actually trying to be positive and help give you a perspective that may help your negative experience in the long run; not be condescending.  If I sound condescending in my language, I truly apologize. It was the last emotion I was feeling.  Maybe a pep talk or that type of thing isn't what you are looking for and just a little sympathy.  Completely fine! I really just wanted to help.  I was attracted to your post because I have moved my whole life here in December (not on a 6 month vacation but my WHOLE life) and I can't tell you the number of times I've been in the dumps, especially with some of the changes in culture.  I haven't sprained my ankle in severe pain and am all alone in some strange house with a Austrian Tarot reader giving me the stink eye...but yeah, I've felt at times the similar emotion of "not having such a great time".  I was hoping to give you a fresh perspective, one that has been helping me from going off the deep end.  I could be pissed off at the world or could embrace the change I'm in and challenge myself.  I choose the latter. That's my story.  I'm very sorry for upsetting you in any way.  I wish for you to feel better soon.  I'm truly sorry.


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