Recomendations for English speaking out patient clinic in Hcmc

Family Medical Practice, an international clinic, rear entrance of Diamond Plaza. I only went to doctor once in VN, and this clinic as modern as any in US. Canadian doctor, Dr Gillis Grant, laid back guy from Nova Scotia, diagnosed my dengue, not easy bc lots of strange symptoms. There is another doctor, French I think.  I will go back there (but I'm sure I'll never get sick again). It was $several hundred bc all the tests.

Thanks for the quick reply Gabot( got it right this time)
I think I have a water infection so need antibiotics...will call along there this morning
Goroth!

gobot wrote:

Dr Gillis Grant, laid back guy from Nova Scotia, diagnosed my dengue, not easy bc lots of strange symptoms.

My sympathies to you for having contracted Dengue.  I understand it is very painful for all, but particularly for those of us who are shall we say in our later years.  With Malaria on the downside, except in the Mekong area, people in Vietnam may loose some vigilance toward mosquitoes.  Dengue is a serious disease.  We have it in Hawaii too and there is no vaccine yet; only ameliorative treatment but  no real cure.

I am curious where you think you were when you contracted the disease.

Been to the clinic recommended by Gabot and it is a infection in the....may I say it...testacles ,had a  ultrasound,nothing found....so I have now antibiotics to take.....I had the same thing just over 6 months ago in the Uk.
Looked into Dengue this morning on the net and as of 2015 there is an vaccine but reading the passage I don,t think it is approved in the US as yet

Gareth Uk wrote:

Looked into Dengue this morning on the net and as of 2015 there is an vaccine but reading the passage I don,t think it is approved in the US as yet

Good to know.  Sadly still, another example of the way the US medical system is built around artificial scarcity.

Been reading again,going off the topic,that as of April 2016 a Dengue Fever vaccine was being trialed  in Vietnam as per Tuoitrenews
Also as per Medicinenet.com for the same date a vaccine was being trialed in "affected areas", Medicinenet being I think a Us website but I might be corrected on that
Surely if a vaccine is available here then it's available in the US
Also thanks to Gabot ( got it right again) for your help this morning

Gareth Uk wrote:

Been reading again,going off the topic,that as of April 2016 a Dengue Fever vaccine was being trialed  in Vietnam as per Tuoitrenews
Also as per Medicinenet.com for the same date a vaccine was being trialed in "affected areas", Medicinenet being I think a Us website but I might be corrected on that
Surely if a vaccine is available here then it's available in the US
Also thanks to Gabot ( got it right again) for your help this morning

I just found that the Vietnam trials are being monitored by the US National Institute of Health.  At first glance this may seem like the rich country tagging on the efforts of the poor one but I suspect that there is insufficient disease pressure to test in the US with only Hawaii and a few spots in south Texas having occasional outbreaks.  When all results are in, the US will probably only recommend it for travelers which will include Vietnam.  Thank to Gareth for the info.  In an ironic sense thanks to Gobot for his misfortune.

My dengue symptoms were many, and didn't help the doctor to diagnose. After he gave me a blood test, he noticed the low blood platelet count that is an indicator for dengue. There is no cure though, it took another week for the symptoms to subside.

Migrane-type headache for 4 days, then improved, then resumed and I went to doctor
Eye aches along with headache so can't read
No fever for me, surprisingly!
No energy, or desire to do anything
Tired and unsteady on feet
Sleeping a lot, and naps too
Low strength so that it was even difficult to cut pizza with fork
No appetite, food has no taste, pizza = cardboard
Ice cream good but made me nauseous after.
Viet food smelled really bad, water and cookies I could manage
Went outside and got chills a couple times
Dry mouth, brown spit. Red patches on legs, dry skin on feet, maybe from dehydration...

I was taking tylenol for the headache, because that is the only thing that normally cures it for me. Luckily I wasn't taking ibuprofen, because it works by reducing platelets, and the worry is that dengue + ibuprofen leave you with minimal platelets for effective clotting, so you are vulnerable to internal bleeding and stroke.

I don't know where the mosquito came from, possibly an outdoor cafe we went to the previous weekend. My wife's family lives in D8 and have never gotten it, maybe locals are more immune.

Only recently  I have become aware of Dengue
I have travelled to Vietnam for the last 10 years while working in the Uk ,so retired and living here now.I was bitten numerous times while visiting, while my Vietnamese wife and her daughter were ignored by the little blighters
To  Gabot,are the locals less tasty to the mossies ?.....I probably agree with you....were you bitten during the rainy season?
Now I am aware of it I must admit it frightens me so going to buy some mosquito repellent spray and if I can find one,a electricity driven vapour repellent.
For  the latter does anyone know where I can buy one and is there anything else that can be done to deter the mossies?

Gareth Uk wrote:

To  Gabot,are the locals less tasty to the mossies ?

Yeah, it's Gobot, see above! 

Gareth Uk wrote:

..were you bitten during the rainy season?

Early December, not raining much then.
The thing is, here, I rarely see them coming. One would think in the tropics there would be lots of bugs. But in 2 years in SGN, I might see/hear one cruise by in the house on a rare day. Outdoors, never. Compare to Florida,  Virginia, or Massachusetts in summer: you have swarms after you starting one minute after sundown.

Apologies again...very sorry
I wear glasses for driving...now need them for reading I suppose!
Goroth

If you are looking fora decent hospital in the future, try Benh Vien dai hoc y Duoc in D5. It's the university hospital and the out patients is very good.

Thanks Colin....do they speak English there?
I hope though I don,t need to go there

Yes they do, that's why I mentioned it.

I looked it up on Google maps and checked out the photos.  All the signs are bilingual.  Also it has the endorsement of the Tây guy in this photo entering through the right side of the entrance with his local wife.  https://www.google.com/maps/place/Unive … !1e1?hl=en  Maybe that's Colin. 

Thanks guys!

Victoria Clinic in Dien Bien Phu in Da Kao Q.1 is ok.

How much was the consultation fee?

Some months ago now so not completely sure of the cost but I think around  £200 including the tests.....which I feel is expensive but  FMP is not shy of putting the patient in a situation where you are more or less obliged to take the tests.
I took the medication which they prescribed....which gave me Tendonitus ( which I am still having pain now) .The initial tablet dose that was prescribed was way over the limit for a person of my weight....I checked the dosage(on the  internet) against my weight....so I did not take 1 tablet.I also  could not walk for about 3 weeks because the tablets gave me extremely bad leg pain.
After finishing the medication I found the problem had not gone...went back to FMP and thy refused to treat me pointing me to FV so after more medication and another £200 at FV...the problem is nearly gone but not completely.
I had a similar problem before I left the Uk...went to the local doc...explained that I think I had a water infection...asked for mild antibiotics ....took them for 3 days and the problem disappeared
After this I am extremely wary of anything medical here...doctors or the medication they prescribe.....here it is money first and if the problem does not go away  the doctors thought is " come back,I take some more money out of your pocket!"
Just having a rant...I know others have had b ther experiences

Avons skin-so-soft works great. They now make it in a pump spray. It was initially made as a skin lotion for the ladies. But they soon realized mosquitos do not like it. I order it from Amazon. Gets her in a couple of weeks via trans-shipment.

A few questions for Garreth UK:

Were you positively diagnosed with Dengue?

What was the medication that you say gave you tendonitis? 

As tendonitis is usually the secondary effect of a physical injury, I wonder how it could be caused by a medication.  Have you considered that the medication maybe did not cause the tendonitis but perhaps simply failed to alleviate your symptoms?

What is "water infection?"