It’s useful to know some simple words and phrases to help you get by when visiting the doctor’s surgery or chemist while you are in Spain. Sign language and pointing is often enough, but it’s nice to have a few handy words and expressions up your sleeve just in case you get some minor ailment while you are on holiday.

When you are ill you tell everyone ‘Me encuentro mal’ – I feel ill or ‘Estoy enfermo/a’ – I’m ill. Depending on how poorly you feel you can choose to go along to the chemist’s shop (la farmácia) and get some advice from the chemist (el farmacéutico) or if you feel you need some more expert advice you can make an appointment (una cita) with the doctor (el médico) at the health centre (centro de salud). If it’s an emergency then you can go straight to the accident and emergency department, called ‘Urgencias’ at the local hospital. Then it is just a question of telling the doctor or nurse (enfermera) what is wrong with you. 
In Spanish parts of the body are usually referred to without possessive adjectives, i.e. ‘the nose’ instead of ‘my nose’ – la nariz or ‘the eyes’ – ‘los ojos’. To say which part of your body is causing trouble you can use the verb ‘doler’ – to hurt. The form of the verb will change according to whether one bit of you is hurting (me duele la cabeza – my head hurts), or two or more (me duelen las piernas – my legs hurt).
Practice saying these parts of your body hurt. If something hurts you a lot you can add in the word ‘mucho’ as in ‘Me duele mucho la barriga’ – My tummy hurts a lot.

Example: cuello – neck – Me duele el cuello – My neck hurts.
La lengua – tongue
Los oídos – inner ears
Los brazos – arms
La espalda – back
El pecho – chest
Los hombros – shoulders
El tobillo – ankle
Rodilla - knee

Another useful verb in these situations is ‘tener’ or ‘to have got’. The first person singular, tengo – is what you need to tell the doctor ‘tengo tos’ – I’ve got a cough, or ‘tengo fiebre’ – I’ve got a temperature. Now practice saying you have the following conditions using ‘tengo’. (For example ‘dolor de muela’ – toothache = Tengo dolor de muela)

Otitis – earache
Diarrea – diarrhoea
Vomitos – vomiting
Mareaos -  dizziness
Hormigeos – pins and
needles
Calambres - cramps

If you want to explain about another person’s illness then you will need to learn to conjugate the whole verb.
Tengo – I’ve got
Tienes – You’ve got
Tiene – He’s got/She’s got/It’s got
Tenemos – We’ve got
Teneis – You (plural) have got
Tienen – They’ve got

Now you have made it clear what’s hurting you can ask for some medicine (medicina) to make it better. If you have a cough (la tos) you can ask for some cough mixture (un jarabe para la tos). If you have a migraine (una migraña) you can ask for some tablets to make it go away (unas pastillas para la migraña), or some cream (pomada or crema) to put on your sunburn (quemadura del sol).
One Spanish word that often gets misinterpreted is ‘constipado’. When your neighbour says to you ‘estoy constipado’, she is not telling you something you did not wish to share with her. It just means ‘I’ve got a cold’. If you do suffer from the ‘other’ affliction, you can either eat a lot of prunes or go to the chemist and say ‘Estoy estreñido’. Likewise if your neighbour shares with you the fact that she is embarazada, she isn’t embarassed, she is pregnant and the correct response would be
enhorabuena.
 If you have been to the health centre for a vaccination then you may well escape catching the flu (la gripe) but if not, you may well have to go and buy something to make the symptoms less unpleasant (un antigripal).

More useful words and expressions
Una tirita – a sticky plaster
Una loción – a lotion
Unas tijeras – some scissors
Una crema antiséptica – antiseptic cream
Un analgésico – an analgesic
Un antibiótico – an antibiotic
Un espray – a spray
Una venda – a bandage
Un termómetro – a thermometer
Una jeringuilla – a syringe
Algodón – cotton wool