Eileen - help needed please!!

I think eveyone who has being going to France for a long time would say something similar. Mind you, the prices have escalated everywhere. However - many places here still have the price in lira on the receipts! And it is stil possible to find amazingly cheap and good food.

Retirement - go for it! We jumped as soon as himself was convinced there was enough to pay for the basics and we live way above that! Our savings have even increased over the last 2 years - but he does a bit of consultancy and I still translate but that has never been full time. Life as retirees is much cheaper than going out to work for all sorts of reasons but the other rewards are multiple. No more having to holiday along with everyone else (and out of season is so much cheaper and cooler and crowded). And you feel so much better :D 8) :wink:

My PMR is mild compared to others too - just there are bits that don't match with PMR but do match GCA. I can't walk long distances but other than that I'd say I was in fairly good nick all things considered. Or maybe I now look at it so differently. David had cancer 18 years ago and we know that that could have an effect on his later years - not the cancer but the treatment and its late effects. He is deaf and getting worse as he won't use his aids or learn lipreading but prefers to deny everything and blame everyone else for not speaking clearly :roll: on the lines of we are all out of step with him. Whatever...

And yes - if the PMR is more towards a generalised GCA then if the arteries around the chest area are affected it could have all sorts of effects - which is what I'm questioning in my case as you don't necessarily get severe PMR symptoms in that scenario. Allergies can cause all sorts of strange secretions depending on what they are and if that gets infected it can cause all sorts of longterm damage. David's lungs (well, all one and a bit) have to be looked after and an antibiotic is used any time he gets the wrong sort of chest infection. That's due to fibrosis from radiotherapy. But if a sensible patient complains it should be investigated and not just put down to hysteria. That was written about me by a jumped up little house officer (I read well upside down) when my younger daughter had a possible appendix presentation - about an hour later she was being used as a teaching aid for a group including him by the consultant as to what this might be :lol: and how it should be investigated. He did seem a bit uneasy...

Eileen

Hi

Im with you on french food Beev For years we drifted around France on holiday and can very rarely remember a bad meal Of late it has been different The first time we encountered it was about 10 years ago when we went back to Vannes where we had stayed a few times before and all the nice fish restaurants and Bistros had been replaced by Italian Restaurants !!!!!!!!!!!! unheard of before Since then we have had mixed results Have to have a really good look rather than just dive in

One of the worst was when we were in a hurry because of Eurotunnel being late ( again !!!!) and went to one near a Hypermarket which had been a really safe fresh fish Restaurant and was now a help yourself to as much as you like of everything except your main course The most upsetting thing was no french bread only ciabatta !!!!!! i was amazed at the piled up plates of the french there !! They are not retaining their slim figures nowadays !

we are going over in October and have found what is supposed to be a good one in Boulogne and will indulge in an expensive lunch in a tried and tested place in Calais

Best wishes

Rosemary

Hi Mrs G

I hope you have a lovely trip to France in October. We used to go on holiday to Wissant when the children were little, which is between Calais and Boulogne (discovered by accident as we were travelling back to Germany from the ferry when we lived there). There was a lovely hotel/restaurant in Wimereux - wish I could recall the name(!) - down a side street near the front - think it was a 2 star - yes - just found it \"Le Speranza\". It used to be our favourite for lovely seafood menus and reasonably priced. Can't guarantee what it's like now though.......!

It was an unlikely part of the French coast but the kids loved the sandy beach and sand dunes and it was so uncrowded. In those days you could rely on lovely weather throughout the summer too.

Ah - I must be getting old, reminiscing like this.

Beev

Hello Beev

Yes we used to travel down that coast too !! Used to go to a Restaurant at Cap Gris Nez with fabulous view and when that closed we tried all the little villages down there but the Sangatte camp put us off so we started to go on an inland to Boulogne and avoided Calais altogether as we had friends who were robbed there It seemed to have changed last time we went there

Because of our horses we cant just take off now so at a later date hopefully we will

Hope you are feeling OK

Rosemary

This is amazing - although we lived in the north (Scotland) I can identify with all those places around Calais! Sangatte never really put us off except for shopping at Calais supermarkets and we just swapped to Boulogne. We've stayed at a little village down the coast road several times - you go down into it and there is also a campsite there, can't remember the name but it had 2 decent resataurants and the one on the campsite which was basic but fine (best sort!). When living in Durham we were at a restaurant with rooms in Calais, just at the Sangatte road, and met someone else from Durham!!!!! Went there a few times as the rooms were decent and a reasonable price - but stopped when the restaurant prices just got stupid! Greed! Now have found a good bargain in Bourgburg by Gravelines - only downside is the stairs to the bedrooms on the 2nd floor, spiral and almost vertical! But the restaurant is basic good and it is run by the 3rd generation of the family - must be good, the plumbing is traditional artistic French, if you know what I mean :roll: First time we went there I asked about the menu to make sure there was something I could eat and he got someone to fetch me mussels specially - lovely man! They have a tris of brulees on the puddings - makes the stairs worth it and the rooms are about 42 euros! Pas de Calais is worth a mouch around - still bargains to be had.

The accidental finds are such fun and often so surprising!

Eileen

I've been driving backwards and forwards to Spain since 1984 and used to have some of the best food ever on the French leg of the journey. Duck Confit in Cahors. Wild Boar followed by Tart Tatin in Hompes. I'm salivating at the very memory. But now, huh! Most of the food has become very mediocre. On our way back this time we stayed in Tarbes (convenient stop for Lourdes - of Lord how I wish we hadn't bothered with that detour!!) We arrived on a Sunday, late afternoon, looking forward to Gizzards followed by Cassoulet in the local restaurant having eaten there on the way to Spain :chef: . [b:6c52e15150]SHUT [/b:6c52e15150]on Sundays. The restaurant next door :chef: . [b:6c52e15150]SHUT[/b:6c52e15150] on Sundays. So we reluctently drove into the town - and the whole place was [b:6c52e15150]SHUT[/b:6c52e15150] on Sundays!! Never before in the history of man had we been unable to eat in France on any day of the week. At this point even a McDonalds would have seemed edible having driven 550 miles that day!! We finished up eating the remains of our travel food, sat on the bed balancing our picnic on a plastic chair. :cry: Chicken drum sticks, tortilla, cherry tomatoes, choizo, hard boiled eggs and 5 seed bread - actually, thinking back that doesn't seem so bad, but at the time, compared with what we had been looking forward to, it wasn't our best 'French' meal ever :redwine: So now we have to add: don't travel through Tarbes on a Sunday to the already over long list (avoid the Tour de France, avoid the first and last weekends in August, avoid arriving back in the UK during the Friday rush hour etc. etc.)

Love from Lizzie xxx

We had a similar experience the other side of Nice from here on a Sunday. We'd been out into the hinterland for a drive and had stopped for lunch - had to wait ages as a load had arrived just before us but we were warned and were perfectly satisfied to do so as long as we had a drink (eau in my case - driving :cry: ), David was insistent he just wanted a snack - I'd have had a main meal there, really looked good. However - we got back to the B&B motel which was about 800 yds walk from a trio of places, noting that there was a biker rally going on as we passed them and it appeared to be breaking up.

So we had a glass of rose and then wandered up the road in great heat - you know where I'm going don't you? Yup - all either closed or closing except one. We stood looking at the menu outside (hardly exciting but hey ho) and a waitress came up and told us very rudely that they had no food left. Enquiry as to alternative elicited only a wave of the hand at the other 2 hostelries which were quite obviously NOT in business. There was a board mentioning another place but it was really not clear where. However, round the corner was a pizza and salad takeaway place - no seats but we went in and asked and they explained how to find this wonderful restaurant that was definitely open. It was - the super place I described in an earlier post. David's tiny handmade ravioli with truffles was definitely worth itching for (I helped him LOTS, they were wasted on him :roll: ) and my meal was a dream. Not cheap - but for what we had worth every centime. The takeaway people and this place revived my opinion and I would attempt to go back. I knew it was a bad move not having lunch and picnicking if needed at night - I'll stick to the courage of my convictions next time. There were lovely places up in the mountains - and that's where the local people were, in droves. If I have eaten proper lunch I really don't need anything else - just a glass or 3 of something :wink:

Lourdes - I've seen stuff from there. Madonnas with revolving lights, that sort of thing :oops: :roll: . NOTHING would induce me to make a detour there.

Places seem to have bizarre closing days now - when would you expect to find a hotel and restaurant closed on a Saturday? Happens here - and we've found Sunday evenings a veritable desert in some areas. How the world has changed :wink: And with that, I'll stagger to my bath chair :lol:

Eileen

I'm used to being able to eat 24 hours a day (I wish!) around our place in Spain so it came as a shock to go hungry in France. It appears that most inland French eat a very late lunch on a Sunday and the restaurants then close. Lourdes was the tackiest place on this earth, I just hated it. The Rosary Paradise Supermarket probably took the biscuit (and apologies to any of our religeous friends, trust me, you would have hated it too). At least I'll stop whining about going there everytime we pass within 50 kms!

Lizzie xxx

Aha - are we seeing a common theme here??!! :wink:

Could we have uncovered a new cause of PMR??? - food and wine?? - or too much of it?

Beev

Probably Beev :D !!!

Lizzie xxx

No - it's a lack of the real stuff that is the problem, not too much of it :wink:

Eileen

I know what it is - too much good taste. :wink: Maybe PMR is very discerning and only visits people with superior taste - hence more women than men!! (Sorry for the sexist comment to you few men on here!)

Beev

beev

You wrote \"and possibly acid reflux?\"

I don't know the answer to that one, but MrsO's remedy for acid reflux works.

Take one lemon (it in microwave for 30secs) squeexe juice, divide into three and take with water three times a day.

The acid in the lemon turns to alkali and it stops the acid reflux.

Better than stomach tablets either prescribed or OTC.

Mrs K

Thanks for that but I already knew about that remedy. I haven't used it because I was already on Omeprazole 20mg for acid reflux before I started with PMR. It was then continued as stomach protection because of the steroids.

The recent problem has been because of all this mucus in my airways which kicked off after I had taken some uncoated 1mg Pred back in October. It seemed worse after the New Year and Easter, when I had been entertaining and eating higher fat food, so I have often felt it's food related. My GP wondered if it might be caused by reflux (although I didnt have any of the usual symptoms of it). As I was already on 20mg, he suggested I take 40mg for a month to see if it made a difference.

So, I don't think the lemon juice thing is relevant at the moment.

Thanks anyway.

Beev

Well, for those who have been following my recent problems, I saw specialist on Friday and she was very good - listened well and really took time with me.

I do have bronchiectasis - 1 mild bit in lower lobe of right lung and 2 extremely mild bits in lower lobe of left lung. She assured me it was the kind that is not likely to get worse and I suppose I must believe her.

I have to take a mucolytic (like expectorant) to thin the mucus and will get an appointment with a lung physio to learn \"huffing\" techniques to do everyday to make sure the mucus doesn't pool.

I have to have a gastroscopy (lovely! - had one 2 years ago) as acid reflux is a possible cause. That concerns me as I worry it could be a chronic cause which could then result in worsening bronch.. I get chest tightenings after I eat despite being on 40mg Omeprazole. I will also see a gastroenterologist and want to try to get a 24 hr ph test.

I now think the expectorant tablets capsules (Carbocisteine) are giving me indigestion which the French medicine of the same name didn't (Eileen??).

Not ecstatic about having this lovely disease on top of the PMR but at least it's not the big C which I had started worrying about and it's not severe.

I'm down to less than 1mg a day Pred now and ESR last week was 7 - lowest ever! So that's one good thing.

Just want the gastro stuff to get sorted. In 6 cases out of 10 they never find a cause for Bronchiectasis apparently.The blood tests were all ok but 2 of them not back yet.

Beev