Gruntle Enterprise

After a trip to the neighbourhood clinic recently to be treated for a knee injury, I found out that I have dangerously high blood pressure, or hypertension as it is more commonly known here. The first readings were so high that the nurse pulled a face and gave me a look like, "that can't be right."  After two other readings, she was looking at me like I was a walking corpse.  I do not remember all of the readings, but the one that sticks out for me was 240 over 155.  Not having any knowledge of what is normal, I asked her if that was bad and she said, "Es scandaloso".  They would not allow me to leave the clinic until the levels had lowered some, so they gave me two rounds of mediations.  After the first pill, I relaxed and read for an hour until a nurse returned to check my blood pressure again.  It was still quite high, so they gave me another and I chillaxed with my book for about 45 minutes.  When the nurse took a reading at that time, the levels had dropped enough but were still very high.

The doctor recommended a strict diet of no salt or fat, no processed foods, and plenty of exercise.  As a good Mediterranean, she mentioned that a little wine once a week would be fine, but certainly no hard alcohol or beer or cava, since the carbonation affects your blood pressure. which means carbonated water is out as well (not that I drank it much in the first place, if only to mix with a table wine at lunch).  They lent me a monitor to keep track of my blood pressure readings over the coming weeks, at which time they would see if I should require medication to reduce the levels to something more manageable.  During that time, I bought an Omron MX2 from an online pharmacy based in England.  Very nice device, by the way.  It came out to 30€ with tax and shipping, whereas they are selling for around 60€ in the pharmacies around town.  (Props go out to Superliving Pharmacy who use ZenCart as their eCommerice solution.)

With my knee problem, I was not able to do much cardiovascular exercise, but in terms of diet, I went vegan, with the exception of honey, which I love and cannot seem to do without.  After two weeks, I had an average of 214 over 109 and upon reporting back my doctor said that I would have to go on medication for the next month or so.  She prescribed an angiotensin converting enzyme or ACE inhibitor called Enalapril-Hydrochlorothiazide.  I was to take two tablets a day in the morning that contained 20 milligrams of enalapril and 12.5 milligrams of hydrochlorothiniazide.

Now here is the kicker.  I went to the pharmacy to retrieve my medication, not knowing how much money it would cost, but I had my credit card just in case it ran over 50 bucks.  A month supply of those pills set me back 4 euros.  I was ecstatic.  I had no frame of reference in terms of the cost I would have to pay in the States, but I knew it would be far more, so I googled the name of the medication.  On drugstore.com they charge 23 bucks for 30 pills.  I paid 4 euros for 56, so with shipping and tax and the currency converstion rate, it is almost 12 times more expensive in the States.

The health care system in Spain is not a Utopian success story, as I have found out while dealing with my knee injury.  Things take time and you must be patient.  My knee injury is not life threatening and I can manage during the time it takes to go from doctor to doctor, hospital to hospital, and follow the bureaucracy inherent in the system.  You cannot simply schedule an appointment to see a traumatologist or receive an MRI scan.  You see your doctor and she recommends you for xrays.  You go to another hosptital for xrays.  They give you the results to take back to your doctor, who then decides if you should see a traumatologist, at which time he then has to decide if you need an MRI, and so it goes. 

It takes time but the quality of care is amazing and you do not pay for anything, aside from a nominal fee for medication and extra perks like a blood pressure monitor.  I could go to the pharamacy, where they will take my readings for free, but I wanted to take readings serveral times a week, and two times a day: three readings in the morning and three readings in the evening.  And 30 bucks was nothing compared to the hastle of going to the pharamacy repeatedly.

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