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We've all been there, you wake up in the
morning and you feel dreadful. You don't
want to get up and you certainly don't
want to go to work.
So you could say I'm unwell, I'm ill, I'm
poorly, I'm under the weather,
I'm sick. You could also say I'm feeling
unwell, or I'm not feeling well, I'm
feeling poorly, I'm feeling ill, I'm
feeling sick. Now I'm feeling sick is a
little bit different to I'm sick. If you
say I'm sick
it suggests that your poorly or
generally unwell, but if you say I'm
feeling sick that may suggest that
you're feeling nauseous and might want
to vomit or throw up
so be aware of that difference
I'm sick in general, I'm feeling sick.
If you're feeling really unwell then
you may feel that you shouldn't go to
work in which case you would have to
call in sick or phone in sick.
Hi yeah it's Anna, i'm not feeling very
well today I don't think i can come in.
Sometimes people pretend to be sick in
order to get a day off work.
This is called pulling a sickie and it's
very naughty.
I've never done it ever ever ever.
Let's talk about the symptoms of
illness so the signs that you're sick.
Firstly you might have a pain in your
head
we call this a headache or if you have a
very serious headache you call it a migraine
If you have a pain in your ear
we call that earache. If you have pain in
your teeth then we call that toothache.
Toothache and if you have toothache you
would normally see the dentist not the
doctor.
Other symptoms in your head might be a
feeling of dizziness.
So you might feel dizzy, this is when you
feel unbalanced. You might even faint which
means you'll become unconscious or lose
consciousness.
Lots of people at this time of year
suffer with a cold or the flu and a cold
has many typical symptoms like...
Has anybody got a tissue.
Oh thank you. Coughing. If when you cough
stuff comes up, out of your throat, this
is called phlegm. Phlegm, and if you go to the
doctor with a serious cough they may ask
you what color is your phlegm. If you have
the flu and you might have the shivers. I
just can't stop shaking. Some people know
their unwell because they have a high
temperature, this means that they're very
very hot, more hot than normal and if you're
running a temperature that's very high
you may have a fever, this of course can
result in sweating.
Some people feel unwell in an emotional
way, so they could have mood swings or
feel very very down. The word for feeling
down is to be depressed. If your mood
changes regularly and we might say your
mood fluctuates or you have mood swings.
If your muscles tense up really tight
and you're not trying to make them tense
then this is called cramp. So you're
getting muscle cramp and some people
talk about getting up abdominal cramps
when they get pain in the muscles in
their tummy.
Sometimes you might have a problem with
flatulence which is also known as wind
or gas.
If the gas can't escape via the mouth or
the bottom then you may have trapped
wind which can be very uncomfortable and
a similar feeling to trapped wind
to feel bloated. If your nose is blocked
up and you have a pain here this is
called congested, to be congested and
people who are congested tend to sound
like this because the air can't pass through the
nose so they sound very nasal. And
it's very hard to understand what they're
saying when they sound nasal. I'm very
congested sorry, excuse me, sorry. If an area of
your body fills with fluid you will have
swelling so if you twist a joint the
joint might swell. So you'd say to the
doctor I have a swollen joint, a swollen
knee. Many people go to the doctor
because they get some form of rash and a
rash is unusual coloring spots on the
skin sometimes they're a bit itchy , sometimes
they're very red and blotchy, sometimes
it weeps and gives off a discharge this
means that fluid comes out of it.
Talking about fluid you may have to say
that you're bleeding in some way, you
might be bleeding from your private
areas, you might be bleeding from the
noses, from the mouth, from the ears; and
when you bleed you bleed blood. One of
the most unpleasant symptoms is to have
diarrhea also known as the runs, this
is when your stools or your poo is very
runny. Sometimes it's like water it's
very very uncomfortable. The opposite to
diarrhea is constipation.
This is when you can't go to the toilet
at all maybe for days and days and days
which is very unhealthy.
So when we're ill what do we do? The first
thing we do is look for sympathy. We tell
the people around us that we're not
feeling very well and hope that they will
look after us or take care of us,
this means they will make us tea bring
us food, and in the UK we tend to bring
grapes when people off unwell, and if
you're really poorly someone might bring
you flowers to cheer you up. A phrase
that we often use when giving sympathy
is oh dear, oh dear, it's just a
sympathetic expression.
Oh dear that's not very good, oh dear
that's not very nice at all, and this is
used for everybody,
men, women and children. Oh dear I'm sorry
to hear you're not well. We would also
wish the person a speedy recovery
so we say I hope you're feeling better
soon, get well soon.
Sometimes you might send a get well card
to wish them a speedy recovery and say
that we're thinking about them, on the
other hand we could be completely
unsympathetic, particularly if someone
who is a little bit under the weather is
putting it on or laying it on thick.
These phrases mean that they're being
melodramatic, they're making out like
their illness is much worse than it
actually is.
For example one phrase that we sometimes
use when we're ill is: oh I'm dying I'm so ill
I'm dying. When in fact they only have a
cold,
I mean come on. There is also a phrase in
the UK we use when a man is being
melodramatic about his cold and that is
the phrase man flu, so if a man has a
cold, a little bit of a sniffle, which
means he's got a runny nose,
we say - you got man flu have you?
Meaning it's not nearly as bad as they're
making out. They're just being melodramatic.
No I don't think Steve's coming tonight
yeah he's got man flu.
Exactly. The next step if you're not
feeling very well is to go to the
pharmacy to buy some medicine. Now the
medicine you can buy at the pharmacy without
a prescription from your doctor is
called over-the-counter medicine and
these are things like pain killers which
include paracetamol, ibuprofen, you can
also buy anti-inflammatories and
decongestants things like that. If you need
a stronger painkillers or another
type of medicine like antibiotics to
fight off an infection then you have to see
your doctor. In the UK we have the family
doctor, the local doctor, which we call a
GP this stands for general practitioner
GP. Of course if your illness is serious
then you may have to take a trip to the
hospital. If it's a real emergency then
you may even have to dial 999 and call
an ambulance. The ambulance will take you
to A and E, this stands for accident and
emergency.
Well that concludes this video I hope
none of you are feeling unwell and if
you are then I do hope that you feel
better soon.
But while resting make the most of these
videos, also why not check out all the
really helpful resources
which i've linked to in the comments box
below these include some facebook groups
including my own, as well as The English
Nook, which is an incredible English group
and an English group run by my good
friend Karim who posts every single day
very helpful posts to help you with your
English language learning, and finally
don't forget to subscribe; to subscribe
all you have to do is press this button
here and subscribe and then i'll be very happy
and I'll start feeling better instantly.
All right take care and I'll see you
soon.