Topical Vocabulary and Exercises

1. Health: healthy; to be in good health; to be in poor/ ill/ bad health; to feel well; to be fine/ all right; to be in good shape/fit; to be in a bad shape; a patient, an in-patient, an out-patient; to be sick; to be ill/ feel ill (with); to be out of order; to be in a bad (poor) shape; to go/be down with; to fall ill/be taken ill/become ill/ to be laid up with; to catch a disease; to be in a bad state; to take a turn for the worse; not last more than; to get better; to be on the mend (coll.);to recover; marked improvement in one’s condition; to be out of danger; severely (very, critically, desperately, gravely, really, seriously, dangerously) ill; a life-threatening/life-limiting condition.

2. Complaints: ache; a dull ache; aches and pains; allergic; headache/toothache/stomachache/earache/backache; stomach upset; to have a sore throat/eye/finger/back; a bullet wound, a knife wound; pain (n); to feel pain; to suffer from pain; to have a sharp (intense, searing, severe, stabbing, terrible, acute, chronic, unbearable, dull) pain; to twist one’s ankle; the pain was gone; to have a pain in the stomach/in the neck; to ease/relieve/cause/endure/experience/ pain; painless; painful; to feel sick at heart; to be violently sick; to get/fall (become) sick; to make yourself sick; sore (adj.); to hurt (v); sleep disorder; liver disorder; disturbance; visual disturbance; fever; to have a fever; high temperature; to be running high temperature; high blood pressure; rash; itch; spots; sneezing; runny nose/cold in the head; to catch a cold; cough/bad cough; fits of coughing; nausea; vomiting; to shiver; to feel shivery; to faint; fainting; to lose consciousness; come to oneself; dizziness; numbness; tiredness; to feel limp; to feel stiff; anxiety; fatigue; to be low; to be run down; a bout/an attack; a bout of depression; sweat; miserable; to be short of breath; to get dim; to feel out of sorts; to eat something that has disagreed with me; to feel somebody’s head swim; to feel rotten; to feel seedy; to feel dizzy; to feel feverish; to have a stiff neck; one’s nose is blocked/bunged up; to keep going to the toilet; an allergic reaction to; to be sensitive to, tic.

3. Diseases: a sickness(illness, disease, malady, ailment, virus, bug, disorder); (in)curable; catching; contagious; epidemic; an inherited sickness; an attack; a heart attack/failure; pain in appendicitis; bronchitis; cancer; skin cancer; lung cancer; breast cancer; lump/swelling; chicken pox; small pox; measles; hepatitis; whooping-cough; mumps; typhoid fever; scarlet fever; yellow fever; flu (influenza; grippe); jaundice; tuberculosis or TB; diabetes; AIDS; inborn disturbance; blind/blindness; dumb/dumbness; deaf/deafness; pneumonia; plague; to burn; to cut; to graze; to hurt; to be out of joint; to sprain; to twist; to limp; bad digestion; constipation; to boil; bleeding; a mild case; a fatal illness; a hurt; an injury; a wound; a splinter; a bruise; a gash; cramp; eczema; a black eye cripple; a blister; a corn; a bodily injury; flushed by the fever; cholera; insomnia; diphtheria; indigestion; deformity; to have an accident; to have a nervous breakdown; a heart attack; a stomach ulcer; stomach cramps; a bilious attack; to have a swollen knee; to have a shock; to contract/ combat/ cause/ conquer/ control/ cure/ detect/ develop/ diagnose/ fight/ get/ prevent from/ suffer from/ treat a disease; to be asthmatic, to have the sty in the eye.

4. Diagnosing and Treatment: to take one’s temperature; to feel one's pulse; to make tests; to take (measure) one's blood pressure; to check/examine; to check/examine one's heart (liver); to examine (sound) one's lungs; to make a diagnosis; to diagnose the case as (flu); to go to the doctor’s; to consult a doctor; to complain of smth; to trouble (bother; disturb); to have the symptoms of; to treat for; to cure smb of smth; cure for (n) (treatment); to take a treatment for; to die of; to do good; to do harm; to give direction/recommendation; to relieve the pain; to operate (on); to undergo an operation/surgery; to be operated on/for; to have smth removed; to have after-effects/ complications; to write out a prescription; to write out a sick leave; to be on sick leave; to get sick leave; to make a note (notes) of smth; to make out a medical certificate; to prescribe a diet; to be restricted to a diet; to keep to a diet (of…)/ to be on (go on)/follow a diet; to stay in bed; to gargle; to heal; to sit quiet; to breathe in (out) deeply; to strip to the waist; to bare one’s arm; to follow the doctor’s direction; to feel sick and giddy; to have, get (give) an injection (a needle); an inhaler; a dropper;; an anti-inflammatory; to call a doctor in; to send for a doctor; a wonderful bedside manner; to neglect a disease; to detect; to sting; to do the stitches; disease prevention; to nip a disease in its bud; to inoculate; to be subject to; to paralyse, to have something made up; a hearing aid; a walking stick; glasses; a pressure pad; an incontinence pad; to blow one’s nose; to get over a disease; a tumour (benign; malignant), a wheelchair, in a sling; to be for an eye test/ to undergo a test, to remove tonsils.

5. Medicines: to make up a medicine/drug; to take a medicine (for); mixture; pills; powders; drops; a tablespoonful of smth; a teaspoonful of smth; three times a day; every two hours; after/before meals; on an empty stomach; pain reliever (killer); pain relief, for soothing the pain; for reducing the temperature; an antibiotic; a stimulant; an antidepressant; a supplement; to take … for a headache/ cough/a cold; to apply a mustard plaster; to apply a medicine; to put a dressing; to remove the bandage; to give a shot (injection, needle); to be inoculated against; to put a hot-water bottle (to); to bring down the fever; tonic; remedy; over-the counter medicines; antiseptic; purgative; vaccination; side effects; to go to the chemist’s/ drugstore/dispensary/pharmacy; to go through necessary analyses; to put a tight bandage on it; to make him/her sick; to put a cast on it; to give artificial respiration, ointment, to put a compress on.

6. Doctors: specialists; a physician; a general practitioner (GP); a dentist; a surgeon; an oncologist; a neurologist; an ophthalmologist; a nurse; a chiropodist; a pediatrician; a gynecologist; an obstetrician; a neurologist; an urologist; an orthodontist; a veterinarian; an anesthetist; an internist; a psychiatrist, a cardiologist, a consultant, a lab technician, a midwife, a paramedic, a pharmacist, a physiotherapist, a radiologist/ a radiographer.

7. Hospital: to be laid up with;; to be taken ill(to fall ill); to take to the hospital; general practice; a waiting room; a consulting room; a policlinic; a casual department; an emergency; an emergency case; a medical insurance; a health insurance certificate; a ward; patients with appointments; a reception; patient's file; a medical record (a medical card); appointments book; to take care; to look after; psychotherapy; physiotherapy; to be admitted to a hospital; be discharged from a hospital; an urgent call; to call an ambulance; stretcher; an instrument table; an operating table; crutches; a syringe; scales, sliding-weight scales; health-resort; to do the wards, pathology, cardiology, physiotherapy, renal unit, pharmacy, orthopedics, neurology, pediatrics, dermatology, hematology, obstetrics, surgery, a hospital receptionist.

8. At the dentist’s: to make an appointment with; a dentist; for a check-up; for a dental care; an instrument tray; a drill; a seat; a bridge (dental bridge); a crown; a porcelain tooth; extraction forceps; to have one's tooth treated; to be loose; to fit on a crown/bridge; to pull out (remove, extract) a tooth/to have one’s tooth pulled out (taken out) extracted; to have one's tooth stopped/filled; to fill smb’s tooth; to have a filling; to be sensitive to heat and cold; an acute pain; a cavity (a hole); a temporary/permanent filling; to spit, a wisdom tooth, to apply an anaesthetic to deaden the pain, to rinse, a false tooth, a dental mechanic; teeth(wisdom; milk; rotten).

Idiomatic Expressions:

1. Take a turn for the better/worse –means a course of an illness has become better/worse.

2. A man’s health is failing – his condition is becoming worse.

3. A man’s health is picking up – his condition is improving.

4. He is doing well=he is on the mend=he is over the worst.

5. Get over the/an illness-to recover from it completely.

6. To ruin one’s health.

7. Feel/be/look worn out=exhausted, very tired.

Feel/look/be washed out=pale and tired.

Feel/be/look run down=weak and tired because of illness, overwork.

8. Run/ be running a temperature.

9. Fall ill (with a disease) go down with/be down with a disease.

10. Catch a disease.

11. Be laid up (with a disease)

12. Pass away = to depart this life – to die

13. Die a natural death

14. Die of heart attack

15. To commit suicide.

16. Fit as a fiddle.

WHAT DO DOCTORS DO?

to cure/to treat/to heal/to ease/to relieve/to get over

to cure- to make someone who has a sickness completely well again especially by means of medical treatment

e.g. The drug is used to cure heart diseases.

• to cure smb of smth

to treat — to give someone the treatment that cures a particular sickness or medical problem, especially when this is the usual way of curing.

e.g. Some US hospitals refuse to treat people who don't have medical insurance.

to heal - to make completely better, restore to health.

e.g. this cream is used for healing cuts and bruises.

to ease - to give medicine, for example, to try to make symptoms getaway

e.g. If I can ease one life the aching, I shall not live in vain.

to relieve - to free from pain

e.g. The passengers swallow to relieve the pressure on their ear drums.

to get over — to become better with or without help from a doctor /from medicine

e.g. She's just got over mumps.

• to carry out/conduct/perform sur­gery

to examine the patient, to feel smb's pulse, tolisten to smb's chest (lungs, heart) to look in smb's ears, to make a diagnosis, to measure smb, to prescribe some medicine, to take smb's temperature/ blood pressure/a blood sample for a test, to weigh smb; to clean a cavity; to fill/stop/to extract/pull out smb's tooth.

What does the Doctor Prescribe or Advise?

• to be on sick leave

• to be operated on for (appendicitis)

• to be tested for the AIDS antibody

• to bring down the fever

• to fit smb in for an operation

• to put a bandage on

• to follow/keep to a diet/stay on a diet

• to follow the directions

• to have smb's leg put in a cast

• to take one pill three times a day after meals

• to rub on a little ointment

• to stay in bed

• to take a teaspoonful of medicine

• to have some shots (AmE)f injections (BrE)

• to have one's blood (blood pressure) tested

• to have the prescription prepared (AmE)/made up (BrE)

• to have smb's chest/lungs X-rayed

• to have total bed rest

What Might the Doctor Ask You?

• Are you taking any medication? • Do you have any allergies?

• Do you have health insurance? • Have you ever had any operations?