TALKING ABOUT HEALTH PROBLEMS

The most common ways to ask about someone's health are:

 How do you feel (today)?

 How are you feeling?
 Is everything okay?

They will most likely respond:

 I'm fine. I feel sick. Not so good.

 Not very well. I don't feel well. I'm sick.

When you see (or hear) that they are not well, then you can ask:

 What's the matter? What's wrong?

If the person wants to say what is wrong, they may give the reason they feel that way:

 I have ... (+ health condition) I've got ... (+ health condition)

 I have a headache I've got a sore throat.
pain, sick, ill, sore, ache

Asking about health:

 What’s the problem?
 What are your symptoms?
 How are you feeling today?
 Are you feeling any better?
 Do you have any allergies?
 How long have you been feeling like this?
 Do you have any medicine to take?

Talking about general illness:

 I’ve got a slight headache. --> my head is slightly aching.
 I’ve got a sore throat. --> my throat is sore.
 I have a high blood pressure. --> my blood pressure is high.
 I have pain in my back. ---> my back is painful.
 I’m in a lot of pain.
 My head is spinning.
 I’m having difficulty in breathing.
 I have a stomach ache.
 I’m not sleeping very well at the moment.
 I’m not feeling very well.

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SICK AND ILL

To most people, both sick and ill more or less mean the same thing that you are not in a healthy condition.

Sick is less formal than ill and usually describes short-term ailments or diseases (like a cold or cough).

Sick can also refer to feeling nauseous. In British English, to be sick can mean to vomit.

Ill is often for more serious health problems (like cancer or pneumonia) but can also be used for short-term ones.

Illness (noun) refers to a medical condition. Sickness (noun) refers to how you feel.
 CONVERSATION

Doctor : Good morning. Please have a seat here. What´s the problem?
Patient : I have a terrible stomachache.
Doctor : Do you have diarrhea?
Patient : Yes, I do.
Doctor : Do you have any other symptoms?
Patient : Yes, I feel sick.
Doctor : You mean you feel nauseous?
Patient : That´s right. I feel like vomiting. And right now I feel dizzy, too.
Doctor : When did the symptoms start?
Patient : This morning. Yesterday evening I ate something raw.
Doctor : All right. Please take off your clothes to the waist and lie down there. Just tell me if it hurts when I do this.
Patient : It doesn´t hurt. ... Ouch. It hurts there.
Doctor : Okay. Let´s hope it´s just indigestion, but we´ll need to run some diagnostic tests to be sure.
We´ll run a blood test and we´ll also need a urine sample.
Patient : Can you give me something for now?
Doctor : Yes, I´ll give you a prescription for indigestion tablets.

GRAMMAR NOTES

When talking about health problems we can use these sentence forms:

PRESENT PERFECT CONTINUOUS

 I have been coughing recently

 I have been vomiting for the last few days

SIMPLE PRESENT

 I have a cough.
 I have a fever

The present perfect continuous is used to show that something started in the past and is still happening now.

The pattern is: I have been + V + ing

Other examples of present perfect continuous:

 I have been sneezing.

 My head has been hurting.
 I have been having headaches.
 I have been feeling tired.
 I haven't been sleeping well.

The simple present is used to focus on a situation at the present time.

We also use these patterns:

I have + noun I feel + adjective

 I have a back pain  I feel dizzy.
 I have a sore throat.  I feel sick.
 I have a fever.  I feel nauseous.