Jonathan
19-01-09, 22:31
Hi crew,
We are nearly over the January bump, the most depressing period of any year for most of us as people suffer post Christmas poverty and we in the Northern Hemisphere suffer the two worst months of weather.
Belgrade certainly delivered on the dire weather this year. Freezing temperatures and driving snow - beautiful for a day before coming lethal sidewalk ice.
Last week, in one 48 hour period, nearly 200 people were admitted into city emergency rooms after falling on ice. One elderly man died from his injuries.
There may be more snow this year. Traditionally February is quite bad. If there is more snow, be super careful out there. Do not make the same mistake member Steve H (http://www.bb-films.com) once made in Budapest when he wore leather soled shoes after a snow shower. He ended up an involuntary figure skater for a day. When he got back to Belgrade I swear his hair was still ruffled by the wings of the angel of death.
OK, onward to this week's round-up....
Meet-up
As those of you on the Facebook group (http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2390959004) have already heard, we are having a snap meet-up tomorrow after work. Here is Elliot's message:
Our next get together is scheduled for Tuesday, January 20.
The location is at the Worldwide Association of Globe-Trotters, on Bul. Despota Stefana 7/-1.
Getting there can be a bit of an adventure, so for directions:
The entrance is in an apartment building slightly past Skadarlija. There is a small sign in Serbian on the interphone. The main door should be open, if not just buzz the interphone, it's the first name.
Go inside to the end of the hall, turn right and go down at the stairs, and there you are!
The reservation should be in my name, Elliott.
We hope to see many old and new members there!:)
Any questions, feel free to call me at 064 527 9259, or Jonathan at 063 366 158.
I think we will kick off around 6pm-6.30pm. Text Elliot for details.
More damned perfume
Does perfume go off? This is an unwanted gift (from me to a picky friend) that has been around since 2006.
Roberto Cavalli, 75ml Eau De Parfume, vaporiser.
If anyone wants it, just mail or message me.
http://images42.fotki.com/v1377/photos/8/85005/436298/cavalli2-vi.jpg
PS. Aleksandra, your perfume is still waiting for you to pick-up :-)
Health Care in Belgrade
I am about to write an article/primer on healthcare in Belgrade.
I would love to hear about people's experiences and tips in both the public health system and the private hospitals.
My own experience is that local dentists are absolutely first rate and inexpensive, but you need to be careful about doctors and prescribed drugs.
The problem in the state health sector is lack of resources, in private hospitals they tend to overreact to relatively minor symptoms and for the sake of safety or profit, advise tests, biopsies or treatments that are way over the top.
One big warning I have for people using private hospitals is that they have a fundamental weakness - they have no General Practitioners.
In the West now GPs are a speciality and they specialise in diagnostic medicine. An experienced GP is one of the most valuable medical assets and generally you should try and find one for your primary healthcare.
What happens with most private hospitals here is you call up and describe your symptoms, a nurse makes a judgement about what specialist to call in for you (from their usual hospital). They pretty much just provide the premises. It is like a medical dating service.
Sound simple but this has a huge disadvantage medically. Firstly you do not develop any sort of relationship with a doctor. Even a few visits can be enough for doctors to get a feel for their patients. Good GPs take into account family history, your character and life circumstances before prescribing treatment or referring you for specialist attention. Specialists tend to revert to the tools of their speciality right away - which means they tend to want to have proof of an ailment, meaning biopsies, scans and xrays.
This is often overkill for the minor symptoms they are facing, symptoms a GP would nearly always try and manage before referral.
I have also noticed a tendency in the doctors I have dealt with here to prescribe broad spectrum antibiotics way too quickly, no doubt to "be on the safe side". The problem is that this aggravates the truly deadly problem of drug resistant bacteria. I have heard rumours - never confirmed - that local drug companies have much more power over doctors here than in the West, and this influences the drugs you end up with.
I will flesh this out in the article, but my advice is:
Find yourself a good local dentist and go regularly.
Try and find a good GP to be your first port of call for everyday medical ailments.
If that GP says you need to see a specialist, then use the private hospitals to see a specialist quickly.
With any prescribed drugs, always check with your doctor back home or MIMMS (http://www.healthcarerepublic.com/mims/) to make sure it is safe and recommended.
If specialists recommend any invasive procedures (biopsy, surgery) or battery of expensive tests, again check with your family doctor back home to make sure it is in line with what they recommend.
Finally, I should make an important point - every Serbian doctor I personally have met and seen has been superb. Medially they have erred on the side of being too careful rather than blasé and that is fundamentally a good thing.
OK, that's it for this week. See some of you tomorrow and hopefully the rest of you pretty soon too.
Jonathan Davis
Personal: Limbicnutrition.com (http://www.limbicnutrition.com/blog/) | Pro: Combatconsulting.com (http://www.combatconsulting.com/) | Belgrade: Belgradefvc.com (http://www.belgradefvc.com/forum/../)
Skype: limbic | Connect through: LinkedIn (http://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathandavis) | Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=509235286) | Twitter (http://www.twitter.com/limbic)
We are nearly over the January bump, the most depressing period of any year for most of us as people suffer post Christmas poverty and we in the Northern Hemisphere suffer the two worst months of weather.
Belgrade certainly delivered on the dire weather this year. Freezing temperatures and driving snow - beautiful for a day before coming lethal sidewalk ice.
Last week, in one 48 hour period, nearly 200 people were admitted into city emergency rooms after falling on ice. One elderly man died from his injuries.
There may be more snow this year. Traditionally February is quite bad. If there is more snow, be super careful out there. Do not make the same mistake member Steve H (http://www.bb-films.com) once made in Budapest when he wore leather soled shoes after a snow shower. He ended up an involuntary figure skater for a day. When he got back to Belgrade I swear his hair was still ruffled by the wings of the angel of death.
OK, onward to this week's round-up....
Meet-up
As those of you on the Facebook group (http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2390959004) have already heard, we are having a snap meet-up tomorrow after work. Here is Elliot's message:
Our next get together is scheduled for Tuesday, January 20.
The location is at the Worldwide Association of Globe-Trotters, on Bul. Despota Stefana 7/-1.
Getting there can be a bit of an adventure, so for directions:
The entrance is in an apartment building slightly past Skadarlija. There is a small sign in Serbian on the interphone. The main door should be open, if not just buzz the interphone, it's the first name.
Go inside to the end of the hall, turn right and go down at the stairs, and there you are!
The reservation should be in my name, Elliott.
We hope to see many old and new members there!:)
Any questions, feel free to call me at 064 527 9259, or Jonathan at 063 366 158.
I think we will kick off around 6pm-6.30pm. Text Elliot for details.
More damned perfume
Does perfume go off? This is an unwanted gift (from me to a picky friend) that has been around since 2006.
Roberto Cavalli, 75ml Eau De Parfume, vaporiser.
If anyone wants it, just mail or message me.
http://images42.fotki.com/v1377/photos/8/85005/436298/cavalli2-vi.jpg
PS. Aleksandra, your perfume is still waiting for you to pick-up :-)
Health Care in Belgrade
I am about to write an article/primer on healthcare in Belgrade.
I would love to hear about people's experiences and tips in both the public health system and the private hospitals.
My own experience is that local dentists are absolutely first rate and inexpensive, but you need to be careful about doctors and prescribed drugs.
The problem in the state health sector is lack of resources, in private hospitals they tend to overreact to relatively minor symptoms and for the sake of safety or profit, advise tests, biopsies or treatments that are way over the top.
One big warning I have for people using private hospitals is that they have a fundamental weakness - they have no General Practitioners.
In the West now GPs are a speciality and they specialise in diagnostic medicine. An experienced GP is one of the most valuable medical assets and generally you should try and find one for your primary healthcare.
What happens with most private hospitals here is you call up and describe your symptoms, a nurse makes a judgement about what specialist to call in for you (from their usual hospital). They pretty much just provide the premises. It is like a medical dating service.
Sound simple but this has a huge disadvantage medically. Firstly you do not develop any sort of relationship with a doctor. Even a few visits can be enough for doctors to get a feel for their patients. Good GPs take into account family history, your character and life circumstances before prescribing treatment or referring you for specialist attention. Specialists tend to revert to the tools of their speciality right away - which means they tend to want to have proof of an ailment, meaning biopsies, scans and xrays.
This is often overkill for the minor symptoms they are facing, symptoms a GP would nearly always try and manage before referral.
I have also noticed a tendency in the doctors I have dealt with here to prescribe broad spectrum antibiotics way too quickly, no doubt to "be on the safe side". The problem is that this aggravates the truly deadly problem of drug resistant bacteria. I have heard rumours - never confirmed - that local drug companies have much more power over doctors here than in the West, and this influences the drugs you end up with.
I will flesh this out in the article, but my advice is:
Find yourself a good local dentist and go regularly.
Try and find a good GP to be your first port of call for everyday medical ailments.
If that GP says you need to see a specialist, then use the private hospitals to see a specialist quickly.
With any prescribed drugs, always check with your doctor back home or MIMMS (http://www.healthcarerepublic.com/mims/) to make sure it is safe and recommended.
If specialists recommend any invasive procedures (biopsy, surgery) or battery of expensive tests, again check with your family doctor back home to make sure it is in line with what they recommend.
Finally, I should make an important point - every Serbian doctor I personally have met and seen has been superb. Medially they have erred on the side of being too careful rather than blasé and that is fundamentally a good thing.
OK, that's it for this week. See some of you tomorrow and hopefully the rest of you pretty soon too.
Jonathan Davis
Personal: Limbicnutrition.com (http://www.limbicnutrition.com/blog/) | Pro: Combatconsulting.com (http://www.combatconsulting.com/) | Belgrade: Belgradefvc.com (http://www.belgradefvc.com/forum/../)
Skype: limbic | Connect through: LinkedIn (http://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathandavis) | Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=509235286) | Twitter (http://www.twitter.com/limbic)