Mister Fixit

8 hours ago, tomacht8 said:

Putin's mafia clan lied to everyone. Lies his own population with ever new lies. At first it was just a special mission against the Ukrainian Nazis. It's just a pity that the right-wing got less than 2% of the votes in the last election and aren't even represented in the parliament of Ukraine. Then he lied to his own soldiers that the whole thing was just an exercise. In truth, it is a war of conquest of the entire Ukraine. Anyone in Russia who publicly opposes the war against the so-called brother people is going to prison for 15 years. Then the perpetrator Putin becomes the victim. NATO is to blame. Although many of the Eastern European states have been NATO members since 1999 and 2004. Against this background, Putin's pseudo-argument that NATO would then stand on the Russian border in the event of Ukrainian membership is completely absurd. Then the war is now being justified with the existence of biological laboratories, except that no Antrax is being produced there, but medical research is being carried out on vaccines, etc., just like in any other country. Putin is afraid of his own people. When a bit of democracy flares up and the population asks how such a small KGB officer could become the richest man in the world and why all his 300 mafia friends are billionaires. Putin has shut down and blocked all critical media in his own country. But sooner or later,  the truth will come out and then his own people will eliminate him. With this war Putin and his mafia clan bring only misery to the people of Ukraine, Russia and to the people across Europe.

There's a name for it - 'small man syndrome'.  Think back a few hundred years.  Does the name Napoleon Bonaparte spring to mind?

On 3/7/2022 at 7:56 AM, Tropposurfer said:

e old Biblical saying about; casting ones pearls before bovines' comes to mind.

 

More like porcines ...  

On 3/12/2022 at 10:07 AM, Misterwhisper said:

Which explains why he is driving an "absolutely non-clean" fossil fuel-guzzling Porsche. Ah, the hypocrisy! 

It grows on trees here.  

10 minutes ago, Artisi said:

I've often wondered what a pureblood Thai is, has anyone ever done any DNA research, probably too hard to negate  the chinese, khmer, lao, Indian etc

 

Thailand is a mongrel country, with people from numerous neighbouring or not so neigbouring countries,  just like Britain (especially me!).  

On 3/8/2022 at 12:42 PM, Enoon said:

Britain and Russia.

 

19th century.

Britain and Russia start off as friends....because Napoleonic France  threatens all the monarchies of Europe and that of Russia.

 

Then Britain and Russia stop being friends..............because Britain feels that Russian expansion South and East threatens Britains empire.

 

Britain becomes friends with the Ottoman Empire (anti Russian) and, together with France (friendly now) and Sardinia, defeats Russia in the Crimean War.

 

Later on the Ottoman Empire starts to get friendly with the rising German Empire, so Britain makes up with Russia to counteract Germany who, it feels, is challenging it's pre-eminence.

 

20th century

A big war takes place during which Britain plays a large part in defeating the Ottoman empire, Russia fights Germany for a while but then goes "commie", and signs a treaty with Germany, and Britain, together with various other countries, invades Russia in 1918.

 

For the next 20 years Britain and Russia are no longer friends, especially when Russia helps Germany to re-arm and signs another treaty with Germany.

 

Germany and Russia invade Poland in 1939.....half each.......that was the purpose of the treaty, to grab Poland without upsetting each other.

 

Britain is now, technically, at war with Russia, due to a treaty that Britain has with Poland..........but seems to ignore it.

 

In 1941, to Stalins utter astonishment, Germany invades Russia and forces it into a war for Russias survival.

 

Britain and Russia become friends "for the duration".

 

Russia survives and grabs half of Europe.......thus half of Europe finds itself under a dictatorship not far removed from the one it thought it was being saved from.

 

Mid 20th to early 21st century

Britain and Russia cease to be friends......then they think they are again.......then they're not.

 

Sometimes Russia are the good guys......sometimes they're not.

 

Right now they're not.

 

 

Excellent synopsis.  Oh, how positions shift when they become expedient ...

On 3/8/2022 at 10:49 AM, crazykopite said:

I agree with everything you say and yes I feel for those Russians who are holed up around the world unable to get funds or use there credit/debit cards due to the actions of a madman. The Russian citizens are the only people who can remove this evil by going onto the streets in there millions even if Putin is defeated in this invasion / war as long as he is in power as President the sanctions will remain and the only people who will suffer are the citizens of Russia . Putin will still have a warm place to sleep , and plenty of food this guy has stolen billions from his own people it’s time for them to have an uprising and get rid of him 

And the oloigarchs (many in the UK) who helped him get there, knowing their nests would be well feathered as a reward.  

22 hours ago, harada said:

Just going by the saying, it’s all in the eyes, from what I’ve seen of Putin lately, I think he might be heading for Siberia in a straight jacket before long. 

More like in a coffin, if the speculation about his health is correct.  

22 hours ago, Henryford said:

Who do you think are killing Ukranian women and children. Not the Russian Government it's Russian people.

Spot on, and not always under duress either.  

@mokwit  @MarkyM3

Many thanks for your technical contributions, chaps and when I've re-read them about 6 more times I will respond!  ????

I have tried half a dozen times or more to get my free testosterone checked in Thailand and have been told the same number of times that they don't test for it here, only total testosterone.   I read something above about calculating it from total test, but I speed-read both posts and only got the gist.

The thing is, I am due to see the andropause doc again on Tuesday next week, the 31st, so I would like to get some ducks in a row beforehand.  

What's a 'must test for' that I haven't already had?  (It's probably been mentioned in one of your posts, but could we make a list of what else to check?

The other interesting thing is the mention of bone density because I was told about 11 or 12 years ago that I have osteopenia, and take 1500 mgs calcium and Vit D twice daily.

I had a back X-ray the other week and that has deteriorated since the last one 3 years ago, but that's mainly cartilage thinning - but even I immediately noticed my spine was now not straight and has started to curve to the right slightly.  I did have the L5 vertebra slightly misplaced 3 years ago but that has now expended to the L4 and the L2 and L3 are going too.
I don't have a lot of back pain though.  A twinge here and there, but then again I've lost a total of about 55 kgs in the last 4 years which must have helped, at least somewhat.

Let me digest all the stuff you've sent and thanks again for your help.  

On 8/20/2021 at 9:02 AM, rott said:

I would imagine that instead of devoting 90% of his spare time to doing good works amongst the deserving poor he will increase that to 100%.

 

I would make so bold as to suggest that he assists me in a few projects such as giving cello lessons to the disadvantaged and to long term prisoners. Also teaching expats that there is no apostrophe in a plural and that could of and should of should be could have and should have. 

When one door closes in life, another opens. 

Time for my pill. 

I just carry on doing my bits of part time teaching English and hence assist Thais in bettering their life.  

If I could play the cello, maybe I would help you with that too.

2 hours ago, worgeordie said:

What are you going to do , when all of these things

no longer work ,it will happen.will you be able to accept it.

regards Worgeordie

Nowt really te dee wi' ye, is it, wor kid?  

It's been gannin' alang for a geet few months noo, marra, 'n' Aa've pretty well accepted what's gannin' on by noo.  

Just is lang as Aa kin get a bit uh legower once a week, Aa'm happy.  Ye canna change gettin' owld, but ye kin at least try t' slow things doon.  

Just now, rott said:

I do beg your pardon it was the Sidegra that caught my attention, they are the ones that came from a hospital pharmacy. 

No problem.  ????

Yes, Sidegra are 250 baht at the Nana pharmacy I use, but at the hospital they were only something like 152 baht.  They worked well too!  ????

On 8/16/2021 at 5:03 AM, MarkyM3 said:

Hi Misterfixit....

 

I have been on TRT in the UK for the last 3 years so have some experience of the highs and lows of it.  I am currently using Nebido (have also done gels, which are a PITA ultimately and gave me skin problems). Fortunately, it's laid on free via the UK NHS (public health service) though I pay plenty of taxes so quid pro quo! 

 

Some of the indicators your endo should be monitoring are not on that list. For example, to calculate free testosterone (i.e. available to bind to androgen receptors), it's done using raw testosterone plus SHBG and Albumin figures iirc. Can't see either of the latter 2 on there. 

 

E2 (oestrogen),  PSA (possible indicator of prostrate issues ahead) and haematocrit ratio (blood thickness), are important and can see those there. If E2 gets too high, Anastrozole can be introduced to lower it (but can cause problems). Prolactin should be on there but isn't. 

 

Your figures are all in imperial measurements so I'd need to translate to the reference ranges I see when I do my bloods.

 

Also - not sure of your age and this may not matter but be prepared to see your balls shrink and ejaculate reduce. This apparently can be counteracted by HGC but isn't offered in the UK NHS. Am thinking of using a private doctor to get this looked at because I'm 50, unmarried and still might want to have kids in the next couple of years. 

 

Shoot me a PM if you like and I can fish out my previous results to see if there's anything else to mention.

Sorry for the delay in replying to your post and PM.  There's been too much going on.

Not too sure about them being Imperial measurements, which are UK.  Thai hospitals tend to use US measurements.  But I'm not familiar enough yet with all of them to be 100% sure of what's what.

I don't have a range for the E2 so I don't know if what is in that report above is high, low or average.  It just says 46.90 pg/mL (which suggests a metric measurement).  Do you know what the range should be?  I have read conflicting reports. 

How did you find the Nebido injections?  I have heard they take up to 4 minutes to do!  ????

And I'm 72.   I'll reply to your PM later.   Maybe better to keep it that way because I've asked about this quite a lot over the last few months and I'm probably boring people by now!  ????

2 hours ago, rott said:

Which hospital pharmacy sells these magical Cialis as described in the OP.? 

I didn't buy the Cialis from there, I got them from a small pharmacy near Nana.  I said that in the OP.  

But Phramongkutklao, the Army hospital near Victory Monument have them but they cost 472 baht each and as you can buy them at pharmacies around Nana for 2,000 baht for a strip of 4, so just go there.  Much easier.

I doubt you'd get in to the Army hospital.  I was wangled in by an old girlfriend, an Army nurse there about 11 years ago.  Then a few years later, an old student who happened to be a nurse there heard my ancient knees cracking and got her husband, also a doctor there, to refer me to the orthopaedics department.  I am very happy with my treatment there in all  the departments I have been to. 

On 8/14/2021 at 3:56 PM, mikecha said:

where can you buy this

Any pharmacy, maybe even 7/11.  

On 8/14/2021 at 3:42 PM, spidermike007 said:

Walked away from the big pharma poison pills years ago. Since then used either Bali Mojo, or Gracku. The latter is amazing. Please do not start with the FDA warnings. They are total nonsense. The FDA is one of the most corrupt organizations in the world, and one of their sole purposes is to support the drug companies and deny the benefits of anything natural. They are basically a drug company mafia, as we have seen with the Covid vaccines.

 

 

 

 

Tried this once, complete rubbish for me.  All it did was give me indigestion which put me off sex.

Also I would say it didn't give me a full erection, maybe a 75% to 80%-er and it didn't last long.

@WaveHunter @rcuthbert @jackdd 

Just wondered if you guys have any comments on my figures above, seeing how you helped out so much in the past?

On 8/10/2021 at 6:15 PM, ezzra said:

I go my the true and tried motto that says: W*ank, W*ank keep the money in the bank...

I am married, don't need to w@nk

On 8/11/2021 at 2:01 PM, KannikaP said:

Anyone with knowledge of nutrition will know that a BALANCED diet consisting of fruit, nuts, meat, fish, pie & chips, water, barley, yeast & hops are necessary for good health.

 

Unless you want to lose weight, in which case only a reduction in intake will work.

Anyway, I have lost 55 kilos overall and maintained the loss after starting strict keto 4 years ago.  Best thing I ever did.  You can stick your balanced diets because  if I eat almost any fruit or vegetable, my weight zooms up - I have a high sensitivity to carbs from those and proved it time after time.

On 8/8/2021 at 10:18 PM, Sheryl said:

Elevated LDH can be due to diet/lifestyle or genetic. Hers is high enough to warrant attention. Avoiding processed carbs (or at least minimizing them - note that this includes white rice) and more exercise might do the trick if she is willing. 

 

The FSH result does nto suggest menopause but a single FSH reading is not too reliable at her age.

 

Very slight MPV elevation with a normal platlet count is of no significance

 

LH, estradial etc, cannot tell anything when unknown where she was in her cycle. Anyhow I question the need for those tests (and in fact most of what was done).  As it is now clear she is not menopausal there is no reason for her to attend an andropause clinic.

 

I think with your wife the issue is: is this PMDD (which as nothing to do with "period pain" AKA menstrual cramps) or is it generalized anxiety/depression? And that answer can only be determined by charting her moods relative to her cycle over time. If it is PMDD, natural progesterone may help. As I said before, the hallmark of PMDD s tat the mood issues occur in the 2 weeks prior to menstruation and improve dramatically when the period arrives.

 

Do not expect an andropause clinic to know anything about PMDD.

Yes, I think you are right in your penultimate paragraph.  I initially took my wife because the doc had  suggested it, so that she could discuss MY ED problems with the doc and her perception of how things were, and perhaps by speaking in Thai together she could tell him better what had been going on.  Also, to speak to him about the problems she had been having with her periods, whether or not she has started the menopausal process. 

Instead, she seems to have discussed her, what do seem to me the anxiety/depression problems that you hit on, with him and that's why she ended up with venlafaxine.  I had no idea of any of this - she had never said a word, although I could see she was moody and quiet at times.  Whenever I asked her why, she just fobbed me off.  Last week she told me she didn't want to worry me with her problems due to the 'greng jai' concept (which I disagree with).  How can I help if I am not told what's going on?  And like a typical middle-aged traditional Thai woman, she was reluctant to voice her feelings anyway.  

She now tells me that since taking the meds, all the pain and  tension in  her neck, shoulders and upper back has gone and she no longer has whirling thoughts in a whizzing brain, so that's all good.   I am happy for her to continue, now that I know what was going on.

She takes them about 6 pm and is usually asleep between 9 and 10 pm as they make her drowsy.  It's hard to say how she is during the day at the moment as she can't open her traditional Thai massage shop so just mooches about cooking or watching TV.  I work part time and tend to sit at my computer in another room for the rest of the time.

Generally though, after a bit of zombie-like behaviour for the first week, she seems to have settled down with the meds.  

We just need to be sure that the meds are managed well and when she decides to come off, that the withdrawal is well managed.   

As to the lipids, yes, I know that eating a lot of white rice is a problem for many Thais, and why so many have high cholesterol and are often diabetic, as well as adding all that unnecessary sugar to their food.  She tends to mix white rice and that 'rice berry' black rice but not always.  She never adds sugar to food, but she does eat a few sugary things, mainly fruit, rarely chocolate or biscuits.

About 3 months ago, before we went to the hospital, she started exercising for about 30 minutes every evening, mainly hula-hoop and stretching and bending exercises using the hula-hoop as a prop.

We're due another appointment at the end of the month so I think it's best to leave things to develop and see what the doc has to say then.

I have written about this in a number of previous threads but I wanted to update people with how things have been going at the Andropause clinic I have been attending.

Readers of previous threads will know I had been having testosterone shots every 3 weeks since 2015 and after a visit to the endocrine clinic, they referred me to the andropause clinic.  At the same time, I started fortnightly shots of 250 grams of testosterone enanthate – here are the dates so far.

7 May              Saw endocrine doc, started fortnightly shots

20 May            13 days

4 June              15 days

17 June            13 days

1 July              14 days

16 July            15 days

29 July            13 days

Next shot should be 12 August.

I have noticed quite a difference in 3 months – my beard is much stronger (I could get away with not shaving daily, but not now), my pubic hair has grown thicker (but I trim it short it for hygiene reasons - in the past I have been prone to bouts of tinea cruris - jock or dhobi itch), my short term memory is somewhat better and I have managed to have sex successfully at least once a week (although still using an ED med).

So we have managed.  Sex can be temperamental – I still find that erections can fade away and return, sometimes 3 or even 4 times, but we always end up with an orgasm one way or another.  Twice we have had a real good old ding dong session without any fading away.  When it does fade away and we can’t be bothered to keep trying, we have developed a technique where we can still satisfy each other.

I first went there on 15^th June after I had started on the fortnightly testosterone shots.  The very nice doc there said too high a dose could affect haematocrit so he ordered blood tests.  I went back 2 weeks later on the 29^th and haemoglobin and haematocrit were both fine, a touch low perhaps. 

Then he bought in a colleague and they had a long confab, resulting in them suggesting that I try Nebido at 6,300 baht a pop every 3 months! AND there will need to be a series of shots while they titrate the dosage. 

At the time, I still had about 12 or more testosterone enanthate ampoules at home, so we left it that I would use those up first and then talk again.  I have 7 left so at one every 2 weeks will take 14 weeks so we still have 3½ months to get organised. 

Then we returned 2 weeks later and he finally tested my oestradiol after I’d asked him previously.  Having this tested had been mentioned by a few people in previous threads.  I attach a copy of the report.  I am pleased to see that my PSA still remains well below 4.  My testosterone was  OK at 9.36 with an upper limit of 14.90 ng/mL.  That seems fine to me and he thought so too. 

In terms of the oestradiol, it says 46.90 pg/mL, but there is no range mentioned.  I have Googled and had conflicting results – Healthline says 10-40 pg/ml so mine is somewhat high. 

Then I read a study abstract here https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/7614406/ which said 10-82 pg/ml was normal – quite a difference! 

Then I read on a website that levels were ‘Normal total estradiol levels in men are somewhere between 20–55 pg/mL (2.0–5.5 ng/dL) and 10-40 pg/mL (1.0-4.0 ng/dL), depending on whom you ask.’  https://tctmed.com/estrogen-in-men/

So, which is it?  Does my figure look normal or too high?

Another thing I have learnt.  I am now starting to believe that the pharmacy where I get my ED meds are selling, not necessarily fakes, but not true potency. 

I used to use Sidegra but found it wasn’t as potent as Kamagra which I had always used before.  I stopped the Sidegra and moved back on to Kamagra but found I was having to increase the dose to 1.5 tablets (or a 100 ml gel and half a 100 mg tablet which seems to work better) to get anything like a decent lasting erection, but even they were patchy.

I even bought a pack of supposedly ‘genuine’ Cialis from there, but the first one I took wasn’t much good, but the second was amazing.  Really worked well and no problems.  So I wonder if there are QC issues with what they sell or something. 

Even more interesting was the doc suggesting I try Sidegra.  I told him it had stopped being as effective and I’d stopped 18-24 months ago, but he suggested I tried again and got it from the hospital pharmacy so it will be authentic.  I did and that night – wow!  We were at it for getting on an hour and not a hint of a droop until about 45-50 minutes in. 

Any comments on attached test results?

Late to the party, but Strattera (atomoxetine) IS available in Thailand.  

It costs an arm and a leg though.  I asked for some at Sritanya, the Government mental health hospital in Nonthaburi at the Ministry of Public Health.  It was about 4,500 baht for a month's supply so I decided not to because it can take up to a month for results to be seen.  

If it didn't work for me, what a waste of money - I can get 4 months worth of Ritalin for about the same amount.

However, if it works for you and the amount is OK for you, then try Sritanya (there's an MRT stop there on the Purple Line) and take a Thai with you because although the doctors all speak some English, most of the staff at registration etc don't.