mstevens

Pancreas and spleen in that general area. Sounds like it is too high up for kidney. Blood tests and an ultrasound of the area would be a guess at the doc's first line of investigation. Don't worry about English being an issue with docs in Thailand. Any reasonable hospital and the docs speak great English - and I suspect many docs even in government hospitals speak perfectly decent English too.

I can tell you now that many progressive doctors would not blink at those numbers in October. HDL and Triglycerides both very good, and LDL, quite frankly, nothing to worry about. Higher than what the medical profession used to be comfortable with but hardly sky-high. In the January numbers, her Triglycerides are worse (but still fine) - they have gone from stellar, to good. The LDL is, frankly, too low! Plenty of modern doctors want to see LDL in the range of 120 - 300. Your wife went from within that range to outside that range. Sorry, this is not what you wanted to hear and I am not a medical doctor nor do I have any medical training. I do, however, follow current medical research and commentary very closely.

I don't want to take this thread in a different direction but do take some time to look in to high LDL cholesterol and statins. Conventional medicine has always considered high cholesterol a risk factor for heart attack and stroke. Increasingly, there are more in the medical field questioning this. High cholesterol may not be as significant a risk factor as previously thought (in the absence of other factors), and statins do not come without wide effects. My LDL cholesterol was 193 when I had my last check-up in November. My HDL is very high (which is considered good) and my triglycerides are very low (also considered good). Many on a ketogenic diet have a similar pattern. There is increasing evidence that high LDL is not a risk if HDL is also high and triglycerides are low. My doctor was quite comfortable with my numbers, especially as my blood pressure was good at 114/76. Statins absolutely work to lower LDL, but do take some time to look in to the research and have a think about how necessary they may be for your wife.

My understanding was that the issuing of a visa does not check to see if you are on a blacklist. When you check in for an international flight, the computer system "communicates" with the destination country and a check is run. If you're on a blacklist, it will be flagged at that point and you will be denied boarding. If there was, say, an arrest warrant in your name in Thailand, you would be allowed to board the flight and when you arrived in Thailand, there would be a welcoming party for you at the air-bridge.

Just as a thought to the OP, have you tried a stinging nettle root supplement? It's a commonly used supplement and one its many benefits anti-histamine properties so it can help with a runny nose. It has many benefits and is worth Googling to see if it might be suitable for you.

When a foreign national is deported, that means sent back to their own country. An Israeli citizen convicted in Thailand should be deported to Israel, their home country. Sending them to Russia would be extradition. For that to happen, there must be a court order following a court case to hear the request for extradition. In the absence of a court case, I don't see how they could be "deported" to Russia.

The amino acids tryptophan and glycine both help with sleep. If you're looking to go entirely natural, you might consider consuming a diet high in foods with these amino acids. Think red meat and turkey.

If you have a runny nose when / shortly after eating, look in to histamines and histamine intolerance as it may be that.

Do you consume a high-carb diet? Are you prediabetic or diabetic? These can contribute to a runny nose. As far as multivitamins go, I am of the opinion that it's worth spending a bit more on a good brand. Centrum is a big seller but not a great brand. And yes, there is a difference between different vitamins from different companies. Just because they each have similar amounts of vitamins, minerals etc does not mean they're the same. If your budget allows it, it's worth spending a bit more on a premium brand. My favourite brand of supplements is Thorne. Not cheap, but in my mind it's worth it.

Most urban Thais would not accept this at all. Decent, hard-working, middle-class Thais are as intolerant of unreasonable noises that affect their enjoyment of life as are most Westerners.

There are all sorts of theories around tinnitus, various causes and with that, various solutions. I've suffered from what I would term "low-level tinnitus" where most of the time I can't hear it and forget it's there. But when I would go to a quiet place and I think about it, it was still there. I suffered for a couple of years with a bunch of symptoms which I swore were related but doctors said were not: digestive issues, insomnia and tinnitus. After giving up on the medical profession who simply could not help me, it took a massive amount of reading online to work out what the problem was. It was my diet which was very high in oxalates that was causing all sorts of issues. I won't go in to the mechanisms of how oxalates mess your body up as it's complicated. But basically, for some people, oxalates aren't easily excreted. (Your liver does NOT detox them, rather they have to be excreted via urine or in your stool). In simple terms, when I cut right back on foods very high in oxalates (in my case I had been eating nuts in significant quantities for a long time as well as dark chocolate and other high oxalate foods), it gave my body a chance to clear the oxalates. It took a few months until, amazingly, my tinnitus got quieter and quieter and then went away completely. My insomnia went away too. In one book I read (Toxic Superfoods by Sally K Morton), a specialist who helps people tinnitus said that he had had great success treating people by using a low oxalate diet. This worked for me. I don't know if it will work for anyone else but it's worth trying.

I know two agents for whom one month per year was the norm. It may or may not be representative of the wider industry. Each was foreign-owned. Here is one: https://amazingproperties.org/ A quick search for the other and I cannot find a website for.

Several years ago, an agent I once knew received one month's rent as their commission. I understand that this was a fairly common commission. I also understand that this was one month per year. So if, for example, an agent finds a condo for someone to rent and that person rents it for five years, the agent gets paid a commission each year of the equivalent of one month's rent.

I find YouTube Premium well worth the very small monthly subs.

This guy Tom sounds like a real sack of <deleted>!

This is my favourite thread on the entire AseanNow platform. I've taken on board a lot recommendations from posts in this thread and have enjoyed many TV series and movies because of it. Thanks to everyone who contributes to this thread!

Looked at the trailer and it looks good. Searching for it now but can't find it anywhere. EDITED - ok, just found it!

I am not aware of the Red Cross offering comprehensive blood test packages. They do offer STD / HIV testing. Why not go to one of the many labs and get a bunch of blood tests done? There are some incredible package deals with all of the main blood tests for less than 1,500 baht. The tests have a range and any tests which come back outside of range are marked. If you any are outside of range, you could take the blood test results to a hospital / specialist to look over for their thoughts and possible treatment plans.

Your wife invited the Russian over when you were out and he logged in to your TV amongst other things he put his log in to!

This is what they do with work permits so it certainly would not be a surprise to see them do it with retirement visas too.

Good to hear your diet has produced good results. I have the complete opposite diet (high fat, medium protein, relatively low carbs) and my nubmers are also very good. It just goes to show that different diets can work well for different people!

I used to be like you and was reluctant to get blood tests. And like you, it was largely due to concerns about the medical industry and the way so many doctors throw pills at a problem to address the symptoms without identifying and addressing the route cause. I figured why should I get blood tests done if it is simply going to result in me taking pills when I am doing ok without those pills! But what I found was that when I started getting blood tests done, it sort of became addictive as I adjusted my diet and lifestyle to improve my numbers. Taking zinc, for example, caused by PSA to drop from mid-range normal to low-range normal (which is better). Eating a medium protein, high fat diet and reducing carbs to less than 100 grams / day caused my cholesterol numbers to go from very good to superb with very, very high HDL and very, very low triglycerides (which is exactly what you want). My LDL is quite high but as a lean mass hyper responder, that is of zero concern. I went from getting no blood tests done for a very long time to getting a range of blood tests done regularly and, like I say, it's enjoyable to see the results of lifestyle changes. And the great thing about Thailand is that you can get blood tests done very easily and very affordably!

I am with you - 16-inch M1 Macbook Pro owner here and it's the perfect machine! My feeling is that for existing M1 or M2 MacBook Pros, the new machines, while nice, aren't sufficiently different / better from what we already have to justify an upgrade. I used my 2014 i7 Macbook Pro for 7 years before I upgraded to my current machine. I don't know if I will wait quite that long to upgrade, but am guessing by the time M6 MacBook Pros comes around, i might be ready to upgrade. Apple nailed it with the M-series MacBook Pros and whether you have an M1, M2 or M3, you have a sweet machine!

Constant Glucose Monitors are a great tool for those who wish to see how they react to different types of foods, irrespective of whether they're diabetic or not. There are different types of carbs and sugars. Some people may react badly to fructose (commonly found in fruit and honey amongst other things), for example, with their blood sugar surging while others can eat the same thing and don't react quite the same. If you are really keen to understand how the different foods you eat affect your blood sugar and thus your body overall, and have the money to buy one, CGMs can be a very useful tool indeed to see what you react to.

Good one, that looks like a great meal. Keep eating like that and you'll get close to 100!