Lacessit

Most prescription medicines here are based on what is cheapest for the government hospitals to give to Thai patients. That does not necessarily mean they are inferior. You can always go to a private hospital for initial assessment, although hospital pharmacies are more expensive. Generic blood pressure medications are usually available without prescription over the counter. A doctor at a provincial hospital prescribed Losartan for me in place of the Co-Diovan I was taking in Australia. A lot cheaper, and just as effective. That was before I discovered I seldom needed BP medication at all, via diet and exercise.

I used to work in north-west Australia, where anyone could gather fresh oysters from miles of reefs when the tide was out. Perhaps you have not heard of the antipodean sport of farnarkling.

My first priority would be fine-tuning my health to nip any potential problems in the bud, and give me maximized quality of life. The second would be setting up those near and dear to me, so they never need concern themselves with their finances for the rest of their lives. After that, I would become a nomad chasing the sun. I would attend all the great sporting events at their hallowed venues, in a private box. I would dine at the finest restaurants, tour the history of the world, sit in the front row of performances. I would also no longer bite my tongue when I encounter morons. As Bobby Axelrod said, what's the point of having <deleted> you money unless I can say <deleted> you.

It only takes a couple of scratches on vinyl to convert any music to garbage. It happens every time the needle is lowered. As for live performances in a concert hall, they are expensive even when sitting in the back rows. I can do just as well for free, with my desktop for visuals, and smartphone combined with Bluetooth earbuds for audio. If you enjoy spending good money on traditional systems, your choice. It's a bit like those people who prefer driving 1960's death-trap sports cars over modern vehicles that are safer, quicker, more reliable and more comfortable. I stopped taking anti-depressant meds more than 10 years ago, and I find advances in technology exhilarating. Duc, sequi, aut ad via decede.

I know I am not going to die in my 70's.

That nice new shiny hard cover book is probably emitting chemicals such as formaldehyde for you to breathe. And costing you a bundle compared to the digital version. As for the internet, it is obvious you have not looked. I can go on YouTube and watch Miah Persson singing Mozart's Kyrie Eleison, or listen to Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D minor. Or see Mikhail Baryshnikov dancing in his prime. There are thousands if not hundreds of thousands of excellent interpretations of the classics. Destroyed culture? IMO the internet has put culture within the reach of everyone.

Via diet and exercise, I went from 160 mg of Valsartan to zero. Very occasionally, I will take 1 or 2 days worth of Losartan, 25 mg, if my systole gets above 130. Modern medications create other problems. Almost every medication in the pharmacopoeia puts a burden on the kidneys and liver. What was your last eGFR result? Not hocus-pocus, just simple common sense. I got off my backside, retreated from prediabetic, improved my eGFR from 54 to 81. Chronic kidney disease kills about 53% of all elderly people. Everyone can do it, perseverance is all that is needed.

Like everything else, there are positives and negatives. I have lived in a golden age, where there was full employment, and a Protestant work ethic was rewarded. The disparity between the older rich and the impoverished young could not be starker nowadays. We live in an age of greed. We have become conditioned to accepting all our politicians are liars. I can certainly do without getting up three or four times a night to pee, which I never had to do until I hit 70. OTOH, technology has improved our lives in so many ways. Where I once had bookshelves crammed to bursting, I can now carry around 2000 books on a device which goes in my pocket. Visual entertainment is mind-boggling in its diversity. The days of traipsing down to a theatre for the Saturday matinee have gone the way of bustles and button-up boots. Medical technology has improved our lifespans. The only answer to cancer used to be surgery, which was like tossing a coin with a 50% success rate. Now, many cancers can be defeated with immunotherapy, monoclonal antibodies and targeted inhibitors. Radiation and chemotherapy have become blunt tools. I don't know if not getting a morning woody anymore is good or bad. A satisfactory defecation takes priority. You must have been athletically precocious, most kids don't start running until age 5, let alone chase squirrels. Squirrelly is a derivative word, you see where I am going with this? Si jeunesse savait, si vieillesse pouvait.

Apparently Mick was hung like the proverbial stallion, which may explain why he scored well with the ladies. It certainly wasn't his good looks, ugly as a hatful of bums.

Perhaps I should have specified private hospitals. I agree public hospitals in Australia leave a lot to be desired. Maybe one or two experienced doctors with dozens of inexperienced interns, hoping they don't make a mistake. The reason I am putting Australia ahead of Thailand is twofold. I am having treatment with a medication which is simply not available in Thailand. The second reason is expertise. I have a urologist at Bangkok Hospital in Chiang Mai, who is competent, with a degree from Chiang Mai University. He is OK for routine checks. OTOH, my urologist in Melbourne has the acronyms FRCS, FRACS after his name, which means he would be streets ahead of the Thai doctor in terms of experience and qualifications for any serious surgery.

Australia.

I have a Thai and Australian will. They both say the same, all assets in Thailand go to my Thai GF, all assets in Australia go to my son. The OP is under no obligation to make a will in Thailand, or leave his GF anything in a defacto relationship. My choice is based on giving my GF enough to live on for the rest of her life after I am gone.

Trump is milking his base for millions in "campaign contributions" which seem to turn up in other quarters, such as funding his legal battles. O the irony. Perhaps his constituency is too dumb to see Trump's lawyers are demanding payment for legal services, before they set foot in a courtroom. Said lawyers no doubt trust him much less than his contributors, with good reason. It's funny, I ask pro -Trump posters whether they have contributed to Trump's campaign yet, or bought one of his NFT cards. I have yet to get an affirmative answer, which indicates either they don't want to put their money where their mouth is, OR they don't want to admit to being stupid.

IIRC the bar was up some stairs close to or in the Night Market. If it is the same person, could not be faulted for his smile and playing. He obviously enjoyed what he did. RIP.

You may be right, I keep 500K in a separate account for medical issues anyway. Touch wood, I have not needed it yet.

As I understand it, the 800K baht on deposit is intended as insurance for medical events.

Thailand is actually highly conservative, although tolerant. Getting gay marriage legally recognized is on a par with legalizing prostitution, no offense meant by the comparison. My GF is quite a safe driver, only because I have superimposed my own defensive driving training on the pitiful standard of Thai instruction. Perhaps you might consider doing the same with your BF.

I doubt a new government would be going after retirees directly, we are popular with Thai women for a reason. OTOH, if the new government manages to increase the minimum wage and age pensions, that would indirectly affect retirees via the cost of living. We will just have to wait and see, not that it particularly concerns me. If my money runs out at age 99 instead of age 105, I doubt I'll still be here anyway. In Australia, people are having to make the choice between paying their rent, or buying food. Even forgoing female hygiene products. Thailand is a long way off from that.

You are getting the truth from other posters, maybe you can't handle it. Speaking of truth, permit me to doubt you are a democrat.

There is nothing far-fetched about a President who played golf at his own resorts all the way through his tenure, then billed the American taxpayer about $800,000 each time, for the Secret Service detail obliged to guard him. Fact. There is nothing far-fetched about a President being on record as saying he did not regard the COVID pandemic as a test of leadership. If those two facts don't tell you what kind of person Trump is, I give up.

The fact you even posted the question is an indication of how little you understand.

She had connections with Australia. Her "Simply the Best" commercial for Rugby League became its anthem, and she gave a memorable acting performance in "Mad Max - Beyond Thunderdome " as Auntie Entity. RIP a great lady.

Based on previous responses, the Chiang Rai Condotel referred to is at 72 Auttarakit Road.

Not surprising, they are somewhat deprived of that phenomenon back home.

When my Thai GF goes to the government hospital, she usually comes back with 5 or 6 different medications. When I search the names on the internet for what they are treating, and their side effects, I sometimes find what is prescribed is unrelated to the condition she has, or has dangerous side effects. When I go to a doctor in Australia, or a hospital, there is an exhaustive examination of my previous medical history. Only then will a doctor change or prescribe medication. With a hospital, it is 5 or 6 pages of information they seek, even down to whether I or a relative have had CJD. IME that has only happened once in Thailand, with a urologist. None of the other doctors I have seen have bothered to ask. Doctors in Thailand are treated like gods by the average Thai. They are very uncomfortable with being questioned. You may be right in some cases about patient expectations. An alternative explanation is doctors in Thailand are incentivized by the pharmaceutical industry to prescribe whatever is remotely related to the ailment. The average layman is blissfully unaware almost all medications place a burden on the kidneys and liver. It may partially explain why 17.5% of the Thai population has chronic kidney disease ( CKD ).