simon43

Well, that doesn't sound correct. Why do volunteer workers in Thailand who receive no salary still need to have a work permit?

Life must be very boring if you almost have an orgasm because you think you saw Stickman.....

I watched his video on YT yesterday and immediately came to the conclusion that the man was a plonker! Why didn't he rent for a longer period and get the rental (lease) agreement secured at the land office (as is legally required). He doesn't have a legal leg to stand on. Why on earth would someone sink their life savings into a project with a 3-year lifespan and no legal right of lease renewal? Having seen the video, I cam to the conclusion that his life savings amounted to a few thousand quid....

Well, that was obviously some kind of organised hit....

In another thread, I detailed my 21 year history of lung problems, which include copious amounts of lung, throat and nasal mucus. The consensus (after numerous doctors found no underlying illness), was that these symptoms were due to an as yet unidentified allergy. For the past week I have been taking anti-histamine, which may be having a positive effect. But for the past couple of days, I have been trying a very simple medication >> gargling several times a day with salt water and snorting salt water up my nostrils. It's too early to say if this is the wonder cure, but since I started gargling with salt water the mucus in my throat has all but disappeared and I'm no longer coughing like an old 200/day smoker in my efforts to bring up the thick mucus. I suggest you try this very simple (and cheap) treatment and see if if is of benefit to you.

Absolutely. Had my prostate biopsy found cancer cells, the next step would have been referral to Preston NHS Hospital for surgery or radiation treatment. I would certainly still be in the UK until at least the Autumn.

The evidence is 'yours truly', who returned to the UK in early February for prostate cancer diagnosis/investigation and received prompt and free treatment on the NHS. I explained that I had recently returned from living in south-east Asia for 21 years, but at no time was I ever asked for proof of UK residency (eg UK bank account, electoral register etc).

Doc pushed the throat endoscope too far? ????

I don't think it is compulsory to take part...

Why is it a mysterious death? The man was 65 years old. Stroke, heart attack etc, let's see what the autopsy discovers.

I recently returned to the UK for urgent prostate cancer investigation on the NHS. I registered with a GP within a few days and stated that I had been an expat for the past 21 years, and had now returned to the UK for medical treatment. No other questions were asked and I was treated promptly and for free by the GP and local hospital urology department. Happily, no cancer was found, but had it been, all treatment would have been free of charge for me. I think it depends on your attitude. I was upfront and honest to my doctors about my residency history and no one ever raised the issue of having to pay or not qualifying for free treatment. (I suspect that my doctors made their own decisions based on the fact that I was born and lived in the UK for 43 years, and that I wasn't a 'free-loader'). Also, cancer diagnosis and treatment is fast-tracked in the NHS. For me, from GP registration through to the all-clear after tests and biopsy was about 9 weeks.

Pratumnak = Little Moscow (fine if you like that sort of thing). I see decent condos in Jomtien near to the beach for about 7,000 THB/month.

I learnt from a young age that if you 'lie' with confidence than most people will not challenge you. I used to drive a LHD Grand Jeep Cherokee in the UK that I bought from the US military. It was registered in the Principality of Andorra with impressive-looking registration plates. I used to tell traffic wardens who wanted to ticket me for illegal parking that I was a diplomat..... (Harmless Walter Mitty fun, perhaps I could have used my bare-faced cheek to defraud a bank of millions, but I never did!).

Totally off-topic, but about 45 years ago when travelling by train into communist Czechoslovakia I was asked by the Czech border official for an entry document that I did not possess. In an example of how 'bare-faced-cheek' was to become my motto in later life, I searched through the documents in my bag and presented the border official with a gas bill for my apartment in London. This was duly accepted and I was allowed to enter the country!! ????

Re-activating this thread ???? I used to self-inject Rotexmedica that I obtained after a consultation with Maximum Performance Clinic. I did this for a few years and the effects were very positive for my libido (not that important for me), clear-thinking, general feeling of good health etc. I paused use of testosterone after a prostate cancer' scare' in Autumn 2022 when suspicious growths in my prostate in a MRI scan. Testosterone does not cause prostate cancer cells but can encourage such cells to multiply. Luckily, after an extensive prostate biopsy, no cancer cells were found, the growths are benign calcium stones. Now I was free of cancer, but I was feeling the effects of getting older >> aching bones after jogging etc (I'm 63). So I popped over to Dr Olivier (my usual doctor when I'm in Thailand) and purchased 20 ampoules of Rotexmedica for 6,000 baht = 300 baht per ampoule which seems very reasonable. Just 2 days after my first injection, the aches are all but disappeared and I'm feeling very lucid. One box of 20 ampoules will last a year (1 ampoule every 3 weeks as per the doc's recommendation). I have to go back to Myanmar, so will take an extra box with me and the medical prescription from both Dr Olivier and Maximum Performance Clinic, just in case the Burmese Customs department asks questions!

Right now I have started taking 'Glyf' mucus thinner and an antihystamine tablet daily, plus no nuts. I decided that to avoid all foods with sulphides is nearly impossible unless I survive on a diet of only fresh fruit and vegetables. Yesterday and today I have less mucus congestion in my lungs, which is encouraging. I have my usual throat cough, but cough lozenges 'smooth' that out. I'll keep with the antihystamine to see if that solves the problem.

When I was in the UK a few months ago, I ordered a Wise debit card for my bank account, having changed the registered address on my Wise account to my new UK address. Wise promptly sent out an UNLOCKED card which was physically stolen before it reached me and 100 quid of Grab food charged to the card... Stunned, I contacted Wise who were very apologetic, refunded the 100 quid to my account, and then sent out a new UNLOCKED card yet again. Yet again, that card never got to me, being stolen on the way. Luckily, I had frozen the card so that no charges could be made to my account. The bank records show that the thief tried on a number of occasions to charge Grab food to my card. Trust me, you don't want a Wise debit card when their lack of security concerns is as bad as this.

I remember chasing an elephant down the sois in Patong (in the days when elephants were brought into the city in the evening for bananas). I was a tourist police volunteer and said elephant had just sat on a car!

Yes, I bought a humidifier when I was in England. It certainly helped with the dry air in my hotel room, but I ended up with loads of black mold growing up the walls lol. I brought this humidifier back to Thailand and will take it to Myanmar.

Thanks, but I try to avoid processed foods wherever possible. Maybe it is in the fruit juice that I drink daily. I need to check the ingredients labels....

Concerning a possible food allergy, I do know that drinking red wine worsens my cough, (which is very annoying since I like red wine!). I suspect that it is the sulphite in the wine that is causing this problem. So could it be suphites are present in other foods that I eat regularly?

Yes indeed. I always thought that my lung problems might be down to aspergillosis fungal infection. But no other staff working in the office became ill. Additionally, my understanding of aspergillosis is that x-rays would show shadows or fungal balls in my lungs. But the x-rays are always clear... I used to take anti-fungal medication (intraconozole), but it never improved my lung condition.

My lungs seem unaffected by the air quality. I lived in Luang Prabang for 2 years and in the burning season my lungs were the same as any other time = congested but not worse with the air pollution. I lived on Samui, Phuket, Phangan, all with relatively clean air. My lung condition was the same...

I jog 5 km every day, plus maybe another 5km walking. I don't have time to jog 20km because I have to teach. When I jog, I don't get out of breath but it's tired leg muscles that cause me to end my exercise ????

It's difficult to say if that would help. Although my sinuses were streaming like a waterfall in the cold UK weather, they are normally clear in south-east Asia. The phlegm doesn't come from my nose but is coughed up from my lungs. The thick white phlegm comes from deep in my lungs and thinner green/yellow phlegm from the upper part of my lungs. I have been on antibiotics for several months now (UTIs), and haven't had bronchitis for at least a month now (I had bronchitis again whilst in the UK).