Personne là qui se préparent?
We’d like to meet you…
Bonjour\\\Hi
Nous sommes là\\\We are here
All of those I speak to think I am mad to prep, but I have started\\\ Tous ceux à qui je parle pensent que je suis folle de me préparer, mais j’ai commencé
Am in a rush just now, so will come back and will give you some flavor of the preps for an ordinary FrenchieGirl!\\\ Je suis pressée juste maintenant, mais je reviendrai et je vous donnerai une idée des préparations d’une fille française ordinaire
So glad to meet you! Hope there are others from France here too… we need to know what you are doing!
Moi j’habite au Canada (Ontario). La situation est pareille ici - personne ne se preparent. (bien, presque personne).
Please spread FluWIki around France…. I’d really like to hear from other europeans about their local situation… and France especially, if only because I have a special affection for french history and culture.:)
We have some readers here from Quebec too… SnowyOwl, I believe, and a couple others in Montreal, I think…. so feel free to speak french also.
Hope to see more posts from you!
D’ou en France êtes-vous?
Hi, thanks for the welcome. I have just now written my profile, I hope you can read it. I live in South-East France, near the Alps, right on the border with Switzerland, I have family also in the UK.
I’d love to spread FluWikie here in France/Switzerland, but I am afraid this is going to be a difficult task. Most people think I am crazy to prep - not that their opinion matters to me - but just trying to convince them that something is going to happen, this year, or the next or very soon, perhaps not bird flu but some other illness, anyway, something will happen during our lifetime, is an impossible task. And most French people do not have a level of English that is sufficient to read FluWkie, especially terms like “TSHTF” or “IMHO” or “prepper” or “ROFL” or “AFK” and many American/DownUnder/Kiwi expressions :)
I have tried to spread the WHO guidelines to those who speak English, and the French Government White Paper. But I don’t think most of my contacts can read the lines, never mind between the lines.
For my own prepping, I have gathered around me a small circle of friends and family, whom I will want to invite into my home when TSHTF, about 18 people, and we’ll shut the house off from the rest of the world. Each one of them has a different experience in life, age ranges between 25 and 60. Some have known civil war and massacres, others have various handyman skills, others keeping home skills, or organizational talents, yet others some medical experience, all are kind and altruist, have enormous willpower and courage and are capable of making a team for the good of the group rather than exploiting others selfishly, mature enough to get over annoying habits in their partners, and all favouring a group/commune system of surviving. Well I think all of these qualities, and if TSHTF I’ll know for sure, though in several instances in the past I was able to gather them around concrete projects and it worked fine.
Each one of them is now buying a little more than they need every week, food, drink, basic OTC medicines, domestic products. I am going to install geothermal heating this summer, free water from a well, and next year I plan to add two more flats on the property (if we still have time to do that) which will be used as “quarantine” quarters if anyone of us needs to get out. The only weakness is electricity, solar panels are too expensive, but for the rest, we should be relatively independent. It is next to impossible to get Tamiflu here, or at black market prices, too expensive, and not sure if it is the original product. I concentrate on whatever can make my property off-limits to any other than my significant others, and that’s including “passive” defence systems (since owning arms is quite complicated).
I read the news, a medical GP magazine, Internet sites wherever I can find free abstracts, pubmed, promedmail, and various other sources of information. I keep my ears open, I try to keep in tune with my intuitions, my “links” to our world (“collective unconscious…”). What I see and hear is that this bird flu is marching… or else some other illness, but the world is getting something nasty in the medium term.
I hope I get proven wrong, meanwhile, I prep!
I have no trouble writing English. If I’d had enough time, I’d have proposed to translate some of the site in French, but my life is full of buzz and I would not be reliable were it to deliver French translations.
Will post some more in the future. Please please continue your good work at FluWikie, it’s the best site for BF and community thinking. I was “starved” when you went down!
UK PREPPER
WE HAVE BEEN PREPPING FOR A YEAR AND A HALF IMAGINE HOW FOOLISH WE FELT THEN BUT TIME SO FAR IS PROOVING US RIGHT YOU CAN BE CERTAIN OF ONE THING POLITICIANS WILL ALREADY HAVE SOMEWHERE TO HIDE IF THIS THING STARTS. GOOD LUCK!
worried,
in case you didn’t know, writing in caps is the same as shouting on the internet. I’m sure you didn’t mean to shout :-)
Plus it’s hard to read.
France — Went to one of my two GPs for some small thing this morning and was hoping to convince him to give me antibiotics prescriptions and a pneumonia shot. I have known him for 30-odd years and he has known all of my family.
Alas, no way. I could not convince him to do any more than give me the little thing I needed for my treatment, a sick note to be away from the office.
He said not to panic, the army will step in, no need to prep, the army will deliver goods and things, the doctors’ offices will be closed and they will be taken around the houses calling for any sick on the way. Public transport will be stopped and people will be quarantined inside their own house. When I asked what would happen if 40% of the army called in sick, he said they would not have trouble to replace those. We would be told in time to stay home for one week before being allowed out. When I explained that I thought the distribution system was very weak, he said not to worry, the army will deliver food to the people. I asked, in other words, if it would be wise to start accumulating some food for a small period of time, and he replied, not at all, just count on the Army. He mentioned that a pandemic would be a non-event, that only about 155′000 people would die in France and this figure is actually just a little more than one patient per doctor, since we have 133′000 doctors in France. He showed me some posters on the subject of washing one’s hands, which he would post in his waiting room, if a pandemic started. Some brochure on guidance for doctors, unopened, still in plastic wraps.
TPTB are thinking very hard on this… says he. One should not take individual action, but only actions for the good of the community, and obey the authorities. He used the metaphor of mutiny saying that if any of the sailors was to disobey, he’d be shot, because otherwise mutiny would happen. People like me are “panicky people” - boy!!! you should see some of my colleagues panicking, I’m a little saint compared to them! So people like me are going to sabotage all efforts at the governments coherence in fighting flu, people like me, rebels, are a menace to society…
I explained that I had seen the results of a bad epidemic of flu in London, United Kingdom, at the beginning of the 1990s (just a flu a little worse than usual) and that nurses could not come to hospital because they were sick, patients were in corridors, some items in shops were unavailable and one had to queue for petrol at the service station. To which he replied that, “well, France is not UK, we are so much better organised!”
I was aghast and did not even try to pursue the subject. This is a doctor whom I have known most of my adult life, one of the few I would trust a little, who in the past used to keep up-to-date with science. A good GP who’s saved quite a few lives around me and beyond. One of those GPs whom you can say he knows “how to touch a tummy or listen to a heart” and be right and act upon whatever illness swiftly. And you wouldn’t believe this, he likes me like a sister or a cousin, his words were those he believed he should deliver to me as a “friend”, respectfully, as the daughter of his teacher (“Hippocrates Oath if you remember”). I’d hate to hear him speak of others like-minded as me but not so affectionately close!
What is the French population going to do with many GPs so much more mediocre than he! I’ll go and see my second GP in a few days, see if I get the same reaction and will let you know.
Meanwhile, any tips on where to purchase human or veterinary antibiotics and get a pneumonia vaccine in Europe will be welcome. I can’t get them on Amazon dot com because they refuse to ship it because of border/customs controls, whether I ask them for delivery in France, Switzerland or UK.
FrenchieGirl – at 14:15
Vive la France, eh?
Do you have any of the major chain pet stores in France like Petco or Petsmart?
Also perhaps in a smaller rural farming village somewhere in France, there might be shops for farmers to keep up their livestock (in the USA we call them farm and feed stores). We have a big chain here in the USA called Tractor Supply Company where you can buy veterinary medicines with no hassles (I bought vaccines for my cats there very cheaply).
Any other ideas?
I’m living in Paris and have just started prepping. I’ve passed on this site’s address as well as the WHO info on avian flu to my English speaking friends here. Most are too frightened to want to think about it. My French friends think I’m nuts, overreacting and showing my hysterical American roots. It feels very strange to be the only person I know who is preparing (thank goodness my husband is supportive!) I talked to my pharmacist today who gave me a pamphlet on washing hands and told me not to worry - there’s plenty of Tamiflu to take care of everyone. They said “if you get sick, just go to the hospital”. Our pediatrician shares my concerns which is both reassuring and worrisome. She’s very sceptical about the preparedness of doctors in private practice. For the moment, I am concentrating on medication. Pharmacies are tiny here and have tiny stock. The largest size for ibuprofen is 30 capsules and acetominophen is 16. I’ve taken to picking up a few boxes at every pharmacy I pass when I take the baby out for a walk. I’ve ordered masks and Purell and folded water containers from the States. We’re planning on going to stay with my husband’s grandmother in the country where there is a cistern for water and a propane cooking stove. Here in Paris, we’re reliant on city gas for heat and cooking, and of course, city water and electricity. I’m feeling a bit disorganised at the moment, but my initial panic reaction is finally wearing off so it should make things easier to think through. I had trouble sleeping until I went out and started to fill container. I’m really just starting. What over the counter drugs do I need besides pain killers (or more to the point - do you know, Frenchie girl, what French brand name things I should get?) I have heard that Tamiflu is made from star anise. Is it useful to have star anise on hand for infusions? Any advice is welcome!
Hi Paris!
Take a deep breath…it’s going to be okay! And welcome by the way.
Have you looked at the preparedness guides on the Wiki side of the website? There is one from Dr. Woodson that pretty much lists all the over the counter (OTC) medicines you will want to have on hand. That guide is a keeper!
Yes, I’ve even printed it out in French and put it in my container…
Okay, I’m breathing deeply!
Hi Paris - pleased to meet you - well, sort of!
Well, people around me take me for a whole nut, not just a partial one with my hobbies like it used to be! Couldn’t care less for their opinion. I’m prepping anyway and in any which way I can.
With respect to your query, I have no idea whether a star anise tea would be useful in Avian Flu, I have read the same as you, but I don’t know how I’d prepare it for such use, may be tincture or decoction? It has properties such as: Carminative, stimulant, stomachic. Use same was as anise seed to promote digestion and appetite and to relieve flatulence. A good additive to other medicines to improve their taste. Infusion: Steep 1 tsp crushed seeds in 1 cup water. Take 1 to 2 cups a day. [John Lust, Illustrated Herb Book - ISBN 0–553–17273–5]
It’s also delightful in small quantities (2 or 3 stars) in the juice of a roast. Just put whole in the bottom of the dish at the beginning of cooking, so that it roasts with the oil/fat of the roast and take away before serving (you don’t eat it).
You can get bulk (1 kg or 500 g) star anise in the Chinese Quarter in Paris, in the XIIIth arrondissement, Metro no. 7 Porte d’Ivry (check that, my memory fails me a little, and I don’t have a Paris map with me on hand here), cross the road, take the main biggest street coming out of the metro, and within 300 yards on your left, there’s a Chinese supermarket which sells everything there. It’s opposite to 2 huge “sky scrapers” and opposite also to the Geant shop. Including also Ginger preserve in sugar (excellent for nausea), green tea in boxes of 1 kg, cheap, cheap!
I do like you, everytime I pass by a chemist/pharmacist, I buy small quantities of:
- Aspirine du Rhône 500 mg (acide acétylsalicylique) box of 50, price 6.05 Euros. Be careful, some people are allergic to it, and it can do damage to the stomach. Always take with food. It also makes the blood much more fluid and is not advisable during periods. Discontinue use at least ten days before surgery. Aspirin is not just an antipyretic, it also acts as an anti-inflamatory. However, it does not damage the liver as paracetamol does.
- Doliprane 500 mg (paracetamol) box of 16, price 1.74 Euros. Antipyretic and antalgic, but can do damage to the liver of those having hepatic problems (liver cirrhosis - whether by Hepatitis C or alcoholism), or fatty liver conditions). It is sold in small quantities because some people in the past tried to suicide with it. People are generally not allergic to it.
- Ibuprofène Merck 200 mg, generic, box of 30, price 2.29 Euros. Antypretic and antalgic. Can cause stomach damage, and some people are intolerant of it. Some years ago, there was some question about its safety. Quite efficient also for period pain, strained muscles and tendons, light arthritis, tooth ache.
- Bion 3, vitamin mix (3 probiotics, 12 vitamins, 8 oligo-elements), box of 30 (one a day), price 12.90 Euros (yes, that’s expensive, but it’s one of the best formulas on the market here). Warning, it contains iron, so if you are otherwise taking other vitamin mixes, make sure you don’t take too much iron altogether.
- Micropur for sterilising water, silver ions, box of 50, (one tab for one liter of water), price 10.60 Euros.
- Lyo-Bifidus powder, box of 6, probiotics for diaorrhea, price 3.34 Euros. Of all probiotics I have ever tried, this one was the best. I recommend it to all I know. You need to order it (without prescription) and most chemists/pharmacists will tell you they don’t stock it, or lie and say it’s out of stock. You must insist. There is only one firm that markets them, and they are little known. Our pharmacists nowadays are little more than shop dispensers and won’t go to any trouble for you.
- Gyno-Canestène (vagina ovules of clotrimazole) for candida infections which tend to happen after you have taken antibiotics, but also you can get it just anyhow. I get it in Switzerland or the UK. It’s quite expensive, but the price is not on the box I have on hand. Don’t know if you can get it in France. The French alternative is Gyno-Pevaryl, box of 3. You could always complain to your doctor of a rash on your vulva (scratch it a bit to make it look like it), say you have a whitish discharge and the chance is that he won’t even order a lab test and straight away will make you the prescription for Gyno-Pevaryl.
- Mucomyst, 200 mg, box of 30, (N-)-acétylcystéine, powder to dissolve in water. Makes the bronchial mucus more liquid and helps to cough with less pain. As a secondary effect it is very good for the liver (it’s a sulfur donor for one of the chains of amino-acids if I recall correctly - you might want to check this in a chemistry book).
- Voltarene 1% gel, for sprains or muscle pains or tendinitis (diclofenac). Price 3.05 Euros.
- Ketum, 2,5% gel, also for sprains, arthritis, various body pains (ketoprofene). Price not marked on the box.
- Combur Test, box of 50 bands for testing urine for infection, sugar, etc. Available in Switzerland. Very expensive, I think a similar product exists in France.
- I get essential oils and herbs, not just brand names, but also “en vrac”. At some point, I’ll complete the thread I started on alternative medicines on this forum and give you some more details.
- When I get to my 2nd doctor, I’ll complain of cystitis and he’ll give a box of Noroxin or Oroken or Cipro. And I’ll do it again in a month, because relapses are common. I’ll let him believe I’m not very hygienic… I know he won’t even recommend a lab test anyway. It’s easy to fake, just say it burns terribly when you urinate, and has done so for the last few hours, can’t retain a drop inside and it makes you cry it’s so painful.
Gotta go now. Will come back. Best of the best to you and yours.
Sorry, CORRECTION. Chinese shop — 300 yards on your RIGHT, not left (repeat NOT left)!
By the way, the cystitis trick does NOT work for men! Their urethra is much longer than women’s and as a result, cystistis in a men is as rare in a man as it is frequent in women. So you guys, don’t try the trick, ask DW or GF to do it for you!
Frenchie, lots of long posts, I didn’t read them all.Your 18-community sounds interesting. You are almost a little village. But all in one house ? I had no problem in Germany to get antibiotics and the pneumovax-shot. Just try some doctors and ask them. Some do prescribe, some won’t. The only thing which I couldn’t get was Amantadine (because of side-effects)- and I had thought that was the easiest to get ! France is way ahead in Europe, much Tamiflu, lots of masks, planning . The doctors are only planning for a mild pandemic a severe one is just not on the list. Well, when everyone is isolating like your gang, then it can hardly become severe, but I’m worried for the big cities. Maybe central Europe is just too crowded. Maybe you can go to Switzerland, I heard they are prepping even without pandemic threat. Someone said most of them have a bunker, guns, food etc. just in case of (nuclear) war or such. Don’t know why Switzerland should be a target for nukes though, well, maybe the WHO-headquarter ;-)
Thank you Frenchie Girl - that is so helpful! I’ll probably just go to Belleville for the Chinese things since that’s closer to the house. Just a couple of questions for you…
How much of the Lyo-bifidus powder should I have on hand per person? how much Mucomyst?
Is the cystitus trick just to get antibiotics prescribed? What about echinacea?
How about levure de biere instead of Gyno-canestene?
We’re going to see our homeopath on Wednesday. Will let you know if he has anything interesting to say.
Thanks again et à +
Thanks Anonymous — teach me to write concisely :-D. Yes, I do have a very big house and a really big shed at the bottom of the garden. There’s already 8 of us living full-time here and most of us used to living a sort of “commune”. Well it’s not a real commune, but it’s not independent living. There are 4 big flats with some entrances inside each others’s place, a little like a big family with grown-up teenagers having semi-separate quarters, except they’re all adults. Lots of room for more, even if we put mattresses on the floors!
OK, I’ll try the Swiss doctors (who are sooooo expensive) and will ask around for Germany.
Yes Switzerland had made it compulsory during the Cold War for each house and building to have bunkers underneath large enough to sustain three months living, with lists of food to always have, and men always having their guns with them, training in the army every two years. Switzerland being a neutral country, it was really afraid that nukes would shell down on its neighbours (France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Austria, Italy…).
Please don’t shell the WHO headquarters with anything else than words, cos’ I work not far from them ;-)
anonymous – at 14:25
No, I already tried the agricultural cooperatives, but no way, you need a prescription for antibiotics. And we don’t have major pet chains either, not that they could sell me any.
Paris — at 16:40
- How much of the Lyo-bifidus powder should I have on hand per person? how much Mucomyst?
In case of sickness with bird flu, I’d say the minima are:
Lyo-bifidus — one box 6 packs at 2 a day for bad diarrhea, per one person, that’s a 3-day treatment. With avian flu and possibly difficult sanitary conditions, I don’t know. Maybe plan for 10 days per person?
Mucomyst — box of 30, that’s 10 days treatment at 3 per day, per one person. You might want to plan for 15 days per person?
- Is the cystitus trick just to get antibiotics prescribed? What about echinacea?
Yes, just that, and you save it for later, because these three antibiotics are also good for pneumonia, which could be a complication of bird flu\\\
For real cystitis, it would depend whether it is bacterial (usually a germ called Escherichia Coli) or simply an irritation cystitis. If its bacterial, the best way to get rid of it are antibiotics. Echinacea and other herbs would help better in the long term if its only an irritation of the urethra/bladder. The thing is it’s very difficult without lab tests to differentiate between the two.
How about levure de biere instead of Gyno-canestene?
I have never tried levure de bière, but I would think it depends on whether a Candida infection is light or heavy. Gyno-Canestene is convenient, it does get rid of the fungal infection quickly and is not too messy. In addition, I find it is more efficient than Gyno-pevaryl. Probably because it (clotrimazole) is not (or was not) on sale in France and the bugs weren’t used to it. Gyno-pevaryl is another something’zole fungicide which is widely used.
Take care.
à +
Frenchie, can’t you install a bug in the WHO-headquarter and give us
some insider info ? Or maybe when you walk in they have a CD lying
around with all the sequences… I read Klaus Stoehr is also
biking to work each day from France. Is he one of your 18 ?
Imagine when WHO is ruling the world during pandemic with Tamiflu
Quarantines, drug-recommendations, press releases and directives …
I’ve always been dreaming of a world’s government.
Yeah, Brave New World, says she grinning. Tough luck, can’t spy on them, though I could try to grab a lunch at the cafeteria at WHO and keep my ears open! And Stoehr is not scheduled to enter my gang of very nice people! Let him bike, it’s all uphill from whence he comes in in the morning. That’ll let him exercise his lungs… I wonder which sialic acid receptors he’s got in the upper respiratory track - alpha-3 or alpha-6 ?
Is anyone translating http://www.fluwikie.com/pmwiki.php?n=Main.PressRelease and http://www.fluwikie.com/pmwiki.php?n=Main.PressReleaseUK into French?
and yes, there’s spam above this posting :-)
Sorry, I don’t have time today to figure out the new forum. Just wanted to let anyone living in France know that there is a documentary on France 5 television starting at 4:55pm followed by a discussion panel. Viewers can e-mail questions through the France5 web site.