monk213

If you are only drinking 1-1.5 liters a day then your kidneys might be aching from dehydration. On the other hand they can hurt as hell if you are drinking to much. I followed a diet/exercise tips and drank about 8-10 liters of fluids a day for almost 2 weeks then I got severe pain in my kidneys and was confined to the hospital for 3 days with IV before the pain was gone and my blood and urine samples were back to normal.

Now I can get a pain in my kidneys when eating to much eggs!

One other problem is that if you are constantly drinking the purified water you might get a mineral deficiency as the good minerals are filtered away together with the bad stuff. For example if you would drink distilled water you would get sick and maybe die because as it's a pure water it basically flushes out the minerals from your body. So I buy spring water for pure drinking and use filtered water for cooking, coffee and so on.

Someone mentioned soda water, drink that mixed with juice from a lime every morning if you have high blood pressure. My old boss told me that and I tried it, I got my blood pressure down from 160/100 to 140/85 without any meds! Ok it can be that I exercise and try to regulate my sodium intake too...

8-10 liters of fluids a day

Holy crap you could have killed yourself! That is how a lot of people how die from taking ecstasy die, they literally drown their brains with water.

I know of people who drank 20 beer (0.5 liter) for several days every day and maybe other non alcoholic things. They are getting problems when older but not kidney...more the liver.

hat's a different thing entirely though, this is about the amount of water/fluids within a short space of time. 10 litres in 1 day could quite easily kill someone. I have stopped alcohol now but the large bottles of Leo, I was drinking 8-12 a night at one point. Glad I stopped because that is an easy access to death right there.

If you are only drinking 1-1.5 liters a day then your kidneys might be aching from dehydration. On the other hand they can hurt as hell if you are drinking to much. I followed a diet/exercise tips and drank about 8-10 liters of fluids a day for almost 2 weeks then I got severe pain in my kidneys and was confined to the hospital for 3 days with IV before the pain was gone and my blood and urine samples were back to normal.

Now I can get a pain in my kidneys when eating to much eggs!

One other problem is that if you are constantly drinking the purified water you might get a mineral deficiency as the good minerals are filtered away together with the bad stuff. For example if you would drink distilled water you would get sick and maybe die because as it's a pure water it basically flushes out the minerals from your body. So I buy spring water for pure drinking and use filtered water for cooking, coffee and so on.

Someone mentioned soda water, drink that mixed with juice from a lime every morning if you have high blood pressure. My old boss told me that and I tried it, I got my blood pressure down from 160/100 to 140/85 without any meds! Ok it can be that I exercise and try to regulate my sodium intake too...

8-10 liters of fluids a day

Holy crap you could have killed yourself! That is how a lot of people how die from taking ecstasy die, they literally drown their brains with water.

The attached is related to Thailand is BUPA. It is an accident policy and it almost seems to good to be true, 2,200 or so baht for a year and you can get up to 100k in the chance of an accident? I could do with that right now let me tell you!

Ah this makes more sense, thee above was just for accidents, this is for all round cover I think, still pretty reasonable to be honest.

The attached is related to Thailand is BUPA. It is an accident policy and it almost seems to good to be true, 2,200 or so baht for a year and you can get up to 100k in the chance of an accident? I could do with that right now let me tell you!

monk213 --from my own personal experience, BUPA seems to be streets ahead. On paper some look the same, but it seems BUPA will pay for things it doesn't have to pay for IMO.

Had universal health care like you in most of the countries I have lived in (NZ-Oz-UK..etc) so I shied away from buying a policy for years also, l got the minimum policy when I did as I was told you have to wait 6 months before you can claim, 2 weeks after had a motor bike crash, & was flown down to facial reconstruction unit Bumrungrad. I told them I didn't have any insurance, but the wife told them the story of just joining, they phoned BUPA who agreed they would pay for everything as it was an accident not an illness, everything came to way over my policy, however they paid (most of) it. The next 2 years have been just great for the Hospitals.....operations for Tumor in the stomach , hernia, back problem, ...etc......etc

Seems to be all clear now, but I think I would have to live to about 90 before BUPA comes back into the black with my policy.

I had the same mindset as you monk--- I am a citizen of all the countries mentioned & was quite dismissive of health care insurance---but you cant always make it onto a plane, & also if its needs to be done but isn't life threatening, the queues ---waiting time--from what I am reading are horrendous.

A policy at your age would not be that expensive.

Hey thanks, really appreciate the advice, I will look into BUPA then and see how much certain policies cost. I recently had a bike crash that has mashed my teeth and jaw bone up, it has been the final accident which has made me think I really should get some insurance. I know I an just Google BUPA insurance, but do you have any good links for this specific situation because I have no idea of how it works, how you pay and set it up etc.

I will follow this threat and hope it will lead somewhere. I just experienced symptoms that look quite similar for about a year and so far no hospital could give me a clue, despite exams, checks, analysis..

A strange feeling: the pain is very localized (but the location can vary a few cm from one day to another), moderate to acute but bearable, in the low right side of the torso, rather at the periphery and coming by periods of 5 to 10 days, then months without any signs.

The feeling is a little bit as if you (gently) hit your pelvic bone with a hammer head

"muscle pain".. doesn't fit with the precise but changing location

"intestine inflammation"... too peripheral

I rather start wondering if it's not a nerve somewhere else sending a wrong pain signal. Could be caused by wrong working posture...

if you want to rule out it being a trapped nerve or a nerve signal problem, why don't you go to a very respectable acupuncturist? If they are genuine and good you may be surprised at what they can find out from your body

I guess it is that difficult then, nobody here has health insurance and can offer some advice?

Quit the Viagra mate

Quit the nonsensical crud posting, mate

The best investment you could make in Thailand is to buy a machine to boil the water.

Any heavy metals present will actually be made even more toxic if boiled

why are heavy metals more toxic after boiled? It shouldn't matter to them, or?

I forget the science but I did read about it before, try looking through this link if you are interested

http://www.evenbetterhealth.com/heavy-metal-poisoning.asp

The best investment you could make in Thailand is to buy a machine to boil the water.

Any heavy metals present will actually be made even more toxic if boiled

Change the source of your water. Buy mineral water in bottles for a relevant period (if you trust it) and see what happens.

We should drink 1 to 1 1/2 lt per day of water. Even more if you perspire a lot. That is the best defense for the kidney.

I knew a friend who drank at least 3 litres a day

This is a complicated issue and even within one company there are different plans which offer different levels of coverage.

Would help to know:

- your age (many won't ensure people 60 and above, but some international companies will)

- whether it is essential for you to have direct billing (i.e. the insurance co pays the hospital directly, as opposed to reimbursing you).

- whether you need insurance only for Thailand or also for travel in other countries

- whether you are insured in your home country and, if so, whether you would want repatriation benefits in case of catastrophic illness

I am 26, the billing I am not too bothered as long as I am covered, probably just Thailand if it works out cheaper seeing as I spend 99% of my time here, and in my home country (England) we have the NHS so there was never any need to get insured. I miss the NHS

You guys referring to those roadside machines that are around 1 baht for a litre of water? me and the missus have been using them for at least 3 years now. I don't know what to trust, those or bottled water. may invest in a PH testing kit, what do you all do for drinking water?

PH doesn't tell you anything about the water quality.

it is 1 indicator, there are many factors to what makes water good or bad quality. What do you do for water, again I repeat the question. Bottled water? I don't trust huge corporations for many reasons but there is pretty much no alternative, I have drank from the tap a few times with little problems

If water has lower or higher pH it doesn't matter at all for the body. Maybe that some dirt lowers the pH or makes them higher, but I wouldn't trust that.

I go with bottled water. I don't trust the plastic around it. I wouldn't be surprised if some chemicals from the plastic goes into the water and I am sure in Thailand no one checks. As little as I like them, I trust the huge corporations more than the small one. Nestle wouldn't risk headlines around the world just to save a few Baht, so they most probably do all the services that are required and use original food grade parts. So at the end it should be OK. Happy with it: No.....

Yeah there is that whole debate about water warming up in plastic bottles and releasing carcinogens, not sure how hot it has to get or how true it is, but those bottles sure do stay out in the sun on their travels to the stores. I may start drinking ONLY soda water, glass bottles and it is meant to be slightly better for you.

About Nestle, it is funny you mention them because when I wrote the previous post that is a company I had in mind as a no go. They used to send people to Africa and offer their baby milk formula for free to mothers with new born babies, and obviously after using it for some time, the mother stops lactating, so they have to keep buying the formula. That is one dirty trick they have done, so I choose to buy nothing related to the company at all.

So after being here half a decade and without any health or travel insurance whatsoever, and after many hospital visits I think it is time to look into getting some insurance. Can anybody suggest some good companies and or plans and what i will be covered for please? Personal experience of course, this is why I have not just gone to Google on this one.

You guys referring to those roadside machines that are around 1 baht for a litre of water? me and the missus have been using them for at least 3 years now. I don't know what to trust, those or bottled water. may invest in a PH testing kit, what do you all do for drinking water?

PH doesn't tell you anything about the water quality.

it is 1 indicator, there are many factors to what makes water good or bad quality. What do you do for water, again I repeat the question. Bottled water? I don't trust huge corporations for many reasons but there is pretty much no alternative, I have drank from the tap a few times with little problems

You guys referring to those roadside machines that are around 1 baht for a litre of water? me and the missus have been using them for at least 3 years now. I don't know what to trust, those or bottled water. may invest in a PH testing kit, what do you all do for drinking water?

It should be fine - expect will do RCT (that is normally several visits) and then install PIN (old tooth not strong enough to support by itself was the meaning that they have to go). Then will make a three crown fixed bridge. This will be very natural feeling and should last a long time if you take care to prevent decay of what remains of you teeth. Dental xray is really very little using todays equipment and really needs to be done for this kind of work. I would be more concerned with valium (had mother hooked on that junk for many years - and one time I was prescribed tiny amount first pill knocked my into never-never land and never took again.

I am tapering valium as we speak, once you are physically addicted to it you cannot just stop taking it like heroin for example because you can have seizures and all kinds of unpleasant side effects. I was taking up to 400mg a day (40 blues) when I was abusing them a few years ago, now I just use them for day to day things, to be able to actually go out (I have had a long history of anxiety going back many years). But now I feel I have gained the tools to deal with life without this crutch and so I am tapering off of them slowly. They are more dangerous and life destroying than 90% of illegal drugs I would suggest, maybe the worst decision I ever made was to use them as a medicine.

Anyway back to topic, I really appreciate your input, this entire situation has been quite tormenting, painful and to be honest, scary. It may seem fairly trivial to some but when you hit your face that hard and totally smash your teeth in, you get quite a shock to the system. It has made me think a lot more about how I conduct myself that is for sure.

Yeah he said that the 2 on the right were not strong enough and I kind of knew this before I went just by touching them, and when he spoke about the 3rd one he was saying something along the lines of 'we can rebuild it but because of damage below the gumline and bacteria from saliva, you will get better results from a full bridge) - major paraphrase there.

Can I ask your advice, or anybodies for that matter, on what material to choose for the crowns if I want them to last. I don't drink soda and I very rarely eat candy, so my diet is pretty good for my teeth, I guess I will just have to be extra careful with them when I eventually get them and invest in a full face helmet. The inside of my visa was red from where my mouth exploded in it.

Are you sure he intends to extract all three? Or keep the two on side with root canal and pin to hold fixed bridge and just extract center? 40k seems low if they have to place implants on the two sides and then attach bridge to them - but perhaps material price has come down.

I am on painkillers and my daily dose of valium so my memory has evaded somewhat, but I think he meant that he will drill into the root system of the 2 on either side, pin them and then make a bridge. he mention a bridge for sure though, and he said 40-50k. i also guess it depends on the quality of material I want, I just hope seeing as it is a government hospital that they don't fall out in a year or something. Anyway have to wait until next week for my bones within the gums to heel up. I am not too keen on getting more xrays, not really a fan of radiation!

Sounds like a good price. I just paid 22k for replacement crown today at a rather expensive Bangkok dental facility. 12,750 seems to be for the crown and 8+ for work. Admit was in chair for more than an hour first visit today and did require a lot of restoration work to prepare for new crown after removal of leaking old one. Good luck.

I just had a root canal, and new crown, at my local government hospital, 4 appointments, all about an hour, except the last one, about 30 minute. Total cost ฿7,000, the only disadvantage is the appointments are one month apart. A very competent dentist. Next month she is going to start the work capping two teeth, with an attached artificial tooth between them. Four to five appointments total cost about ฿10,000, I had the same thing done with different teeth in Canada, over 25 years ago and the cost was over ฿30,000.

Just returned from my place, it is also a government hospital and also the dentist / surgeon is very competent, speaks fluent English even though I was wanting to speak Thai we just laughed and decided to go with English.

Anyway he said that 2 of my 3 teeth are total right offs and will need extracting, the 3rd can be rebuilt but he said there are better results if you extract and then form a 2 pin bridge. he checked my jaw line and tapped on my teeth and sai dthat he could do no nothing for at least a week because I have hit the ground so hard the bone inside my mouth is damaged and needs to heal! All of this was for free as well which was pretty good.

I then asked him how long it would all take an dhow much, he said 3-4 visits over 4-6 months and around 40k, not complaining to be honest, he seemed very booked up on his field of practice.

@Kitsune sorry I was in a bad mood like I said, pinch of salt and all that

I had injections today (upper) and only hurt was the bitter taste of last drops - but quickly washed mouth out. There really is not more than a pin prick for injections these days - remember this tiny hurt is going to be a lot less than your fall - or trying to do without pain killer. Am sure they will know what they are doing - and likely will not have to do much more than smoothing and place caps if you are not in pain now (from teeth - know you are in pain)...

To be fair the last oral injections I had was probably back when I was around 12 years old. I am in pain now yes but that is mainly from my bottom lip having bits of teeth stuck in it which hurts like hell. The broken ones feel slightly weak but don't really hurt, I can swirl cold water around in my mouth and it doesn't hurt them for example. i wish they had gas, that would be be the best. Anyway I am off to bed as I have an early start, night all

two stump & crowns @ 15k each.

Don't get the cheapest for the front cos it'll show.

1 bridge @ 30K (or 15k if they can crown it)

Around 60kbht.

Full face helmet costs a lot less!

Well I got quoted today as saying it wouldn't be anymore than around 30-35k, so whatever you say US dude. You may have experience or whatever but I was told that by the people who will be working on me today.. I have never seen a crown for 15k, I have seen them for 7-8k at clinics but this is a hospital.

Sounds like a good price. I just paid 22k for replacement crown today at a rather expensive Bangkok dental facility. 12,750 seems to be for the crown and 8+ for work. Admit was in chair for more than an hour first visit today and did require a lot of restoration work to prepare for new crown after removal of leaking old one. Good luck.

I hope they are competent, I have no idea what I need doing in dental terminology but I have been told 3 crowns.. But like I mentioned first I need to get the shards removed from my lower lip which I am getting done tomorrow. I am not scared of dentists as such, just oral injections. I have had them before and I just remember they hurt a lot, especially in the upper mouth which is where my teeth are that need work doing. Thanks for the kind words and I hope it goes well also.

What I really want to know is how it happened

Thanks for the advice and or compassion. Also if you were less lazy and more competent you would have already read how it happened as I have posted that. I was riding on a dark road at night, no lights on the road and with a helmet that has a visa, the kind that makes things dimmer. I missed a corner, slid out and the first thing to make contact with the ground was my teeth/jaw. To say it is painful and a problem is an understatement. I have cried several times since and that has been more times than I have in the past 3 or so years.

Wow

Thank you for your kindness.

Happy new year to you too.

It was only some banter, and I guess so is this. But yeah I was in kind of a bad mood as you can expect.

Anyway went to get the xray today and thankfully no broken jaw bone, I went back to HH hospital but this time instructed that I was shown to the dental section and not just carried around and sold drugs. They guessed around 30-35k so kudos to you who guessed 30k. Now I just need to start the process and hope they are competent.

Also for a broken jaw do they need to give you a local or general anesthetic? I have never been under before so it will an experience and to be honest better than injections straight the mouth which I hate.

I have to go to the immigration before the 20th and speak as well hahahaha, wow that is going to be a laugh. Me with one messed up mouth speaking in Thai (which I can), well at least for now unless I have all of my teeth removed

https://www.gov.uk/government/world/organisations/british-embassy-bangkok

https://www.gov.uk/living-in-thailand

Doesn't look like the British Embassy is going to provide much advice, aside from telling you to go see a dentist.

The U.S. Consulate Chiang Mai has a list of suggested health care providers, at least. I couldn't find anything similar on the U.K. Embassy website.

I don't see anything about there being a British Consulate in Hua Hin on the embassy's website.

Thanks for the info, it is just my mother is intent on me calling them as she thinks they are saviour, and I know they can't really do anything more than I already know what to do. They certainly can't lend out money for surgeries as loans either.