dblaisde

Sorry for the confusing title. For the first time in my life here, I bought a DTAC 3G/4G 12GB/mo plan with EDGE speeds (384kb/sec) after you reach the 3G/4G 12GB data cap. I'm wondering if I can pick and choose between the two, like use EDGE speeds for surfing and email, and (by flipping some software switch) go to 3G/4G when I have to upload 500mb files to Dropbox. I'd like to save the 12GB 3G allowance for when I really need the speed.

Thanks in advance

Many thanks to all. My friend is a newb, and a cheap newb at that, so he doesn't want to spring for an external adaptor, and I tried an Alfa wifi adaptor of mine on his machine and his didn't recognize it, though my windows 8.1 does, as did windows 10, and my Linux boot. I tried update on the driver and windows sucked down something different, after which no connection points showed at all (same as the Asus latest). I also tried the 8.1 driver on the Asus site to no avail. Didn't try just glowing away the Broadcom driver and letting Windows choose one on boot, since if it chooses a bad one there's no fallback. It's not my machine, thank God, and even Linux is struggle with it (crashes on suspend, no audio driver for the driver chip yet). Cute little thing though. Light as a feather and 500GB, $200 and strong enough to run Win 10.

Sorry for such a boring topic.

A friend's wifi driver doesn't work on Win 10, but will on 8.1, so he needs a reliable (and hopefully cheap) shop to install it. The machine is an Asus x205t. I've tried installing the latest Broadcom Win 10 wifi driver from the Asus site, and also let Win 10 do an upgrade on its own from the Device Manager. No dice. He has spotty connectivity now from what must be an earlier Broadcom driver, but it locks him out for long intervals, hence then need to downgrade to Win 8.1.

We live in Banglampoo (Khao San area), but can of course travel.

Thanks in advance.

It's easy to distinguish between short courses and an actual residency of Fellowship, the latter being what you want. A residency or fellowship has duration of not less than a full year, hard to get into and demanding to complete.

It will usually say specifically Residency of Fellowship, and indicate appropriate duration. In addition, if it was done in the US there will usually be traces in google listing that doctor as working in the US.

CVs full of short courses/certificate courses are indeed often just trying to look good.

Again, thanks for the pro tip, Sheryl. I never knew how to distinguish between all those qualification names. This will help for my next search on the Bummy site. Cheers!

There are more than 20 different GI specialists at Bumrungrad.

I've found "Bummy" (as I call it) to be a lottery. There are some excellent doctors and some clueless ones. It's always a lottery. I even have a doctor I consult with there just to steer me to a good doctor for whatever problem I have at the moment. Random assignment by the hospital usually doesn't usually work out.

Letting the hospital decide whom to send you to is always a very, very bad idea.

What they will do is simply look in the schedule to see which of the requested specialist type is least busy on the day requested. This is usually not a good sign. They will most certainly not take any specific needs of yours into account. And should you make the mistake of trying to lay out the specifics of your situation/needs, not only will you not get directed to the best person, you may well get booked with not even the right type of specialist.

One of the best things about Bumrungrad though is an excellent website with detailed CVs of all doctors, well organized by specialty (as opposed to many other places. Bangkok Hospital just "revised" its website such that GI specialists and other key sub-specialties are all swallowed up under "Internal Medicine" -- making it almost useless).

Make use of it to personally select your doctor in advance. Look at the clinical focus (relevance to your particular problem) and look for fellowships done in a western country and if possible Board certification/equivalent in a western country. Also look at the dates, if trained in the west but decades ago may not be up to date. And if the title is "Professor" or "assistant Professor" that is also a plus.

Because Bumrungrad has the best website (at this point, thanks to various "revisions" by other hospitals' webmasters, all for the worse, it is in fact the only decent hospital website for doctor searches) I sometimes use it to find someone and then fish around with Google to see if they work anywhere else

Doctors do indeed set their own fees in private hospitals. They are not hospital employees. They are independent contractors. No salary; the doctor fee goes directly to them. Which is why the hospitals tack on a separate hospital charge. Pretty much all of them now do this through the amounts vary.

Thanks for the insider tips Sheryl (cute emoticon). I agree about Bumrungrad's website. It is actually *useful*, and I'll sometimes do a google domain search on it, so I can use the "power of google" to search on just bumrungrad.com. It's nice they list certifications and education in western countries, though I've heard some try to beef up their CVs by taking a pass/fail summer course at some hospital in the West. Thinking about what you said (getting the hospital to schedule you with "our next available doctor"), I see the error of my ways. Could be "the next available doctor" is *always* available because nobody wants to see him. I think the washup I saw was the same guy another person on this thread described. Their whole Gastro dept seems very inept. The doctor was 40 minutes late. Reception didn't phone me when he got back, as they said they would (I went down to grab a bite to eat), and they even took me to the wrong doctor! The nurse led me in and the doctor said "What can I do for you today, Mr Swensen?". Well, I'm not Mr Swensen, not even close, and my picture is on my forms so I'm easy to identify. Just watching them bumping into each other behind reception is like a Keystone Cops movie.

I was having gastro problems and I think I saw the same guy at Bumrungrad and was there for ten days. Could be described as a bit of an old plodder. Luckily I was seeing another doctor at the same hospital not her speciality but she put me right. For some reason I had to have two doctors see to me every day (that soon racks up the bill).The gastro expert was rubbish but the lady doctor was spot on.The bill for ten days was huge. I was sorted out but will go to another hospital in future.

B. used to be good when it was smaller. Better doctors and much cheaper, but now it seems set up to vacuum the money from your pockets. Like the 350 (approx) baht "facility fee", and they've added another fee "nursing staff" or something of 150B, and I saw a doctor there and his fee was 1500B. I've heard the docs can decide what they're going to charge. And lots of young doctors who aren't very experienced, which is pretty easy to discover if you do any homework before you arrive. I found one who didn't even know how to use the computer in his office. I had to show him how to do a google search because I wanted to point something out to him that he didn't know.

There are more than 20 different GI specialists at Bumrungrad.

I've found "Bummy" (as I call it) to be a lottery. There are some excellent doctors and some clueless ones. It's always a lottery. I even have a doctor I consult with there just to steer me to a good doctor for whatever problem I have at the moment. Random assignment by the hospital usually doesn't usually work out.

Prof. RUNGSUN RERKNIMITR

He is on faculty at Chula. US trained and US board certified. H has private hours at Samitivej Saturdays only https://www.samitivejhospitals.com/en/doctors/rungsun-rerknimitr/

He is also at Bangkok Hospital but they have revised their website such that cannot tell hours without actually trying to book an appointment. Bets to call and ask for their GI Clinic.

Thanks Sheryl. You come through as usual. He's probably cheaper if I can see him at Chula, otherwise I'll try one of the other two you mentioned.

Thanks again!

I've been on and off this forum for the last 6 months due to (basically) a nasy bellyache which puts me in bed 20 hours a day for weeks at a time. Can't solve the thing despite numerous trips to Bumrungrad and a few other places. I won't bore you with the symptoms or what's already been tried. But I think my Gastroenterologist at Bumrungrad is, to put it kindly, incompetent.

So, can anyone recommend a good Gastroenterologist?

Thanks in advance!

your symptoms sound like lactose intolerance.

But wouldn't I have to be consuming dairy products for that? (I don't).

Basement of Zeer Rangsit. There is a big electronic shop that sell all the tools you may need.

Battery replacement I believe I have seen a shop selling them in Laksi plaza but need to be confirmed. Zeer Rangsit has also a lot of shop selling second hand computer parts

Thanks! My knowledge of that part of the city is very vague. Is there a convenient way to get there, like an MRT or BTS stop nearby?

PS: I just thought I should add that I'm not in business in any way. This is just to help out my friends and myself.

The symptoms described do not (in my opinion) indicate "clear evidence" of allergy to anything !

However , testing is available here

https://www.samitivejhospitals.com/en/centers/allergy-center/

I should have added also that I'm allergic to many other things, including dogs, cats, mold, pollens (and these aren't simple allergies but cause a life threatening 'allergy induced asthma')...but I've never had food allergies and I'm 69 so I'd think I wouldn't now. But it *is* possible to develop new allergies through exposure. (In fact it takes time in any allergy for one's body to become sensitive and develop a reaction.)

Thanks for the link. Bumrungrad has an allergy center too, but I'd like to know a place that tests for food allergies specifically. I've taken many "complete" allergen tests in my past (including Bumrungrad's) but they never included food substances.

EDIT: My apologies. The web page you link to *does* say they test food allergies.

Hi All,

I've got clear evidence of allergies to Thai food, especially from places that serve mostly to Thais. It may be oyster sauce, MSG, who knows? The symptoms are lack of energy, nausea, and belly pains, but *not* diarrhea. When I'm this way, all I feel like doing is lying in bed. I've had prolonged bouts of this (months with these symptoms), before I realized the problem. One or two days of farang food, and I felt like a million again. And this isn't limited to one particular restaurant.

So, are there good doctors, hospitals or clinics for this type of testing? I'd like to isolate the allergen additive so I can select the right foods and also tell the restaurant not to use such-and-such in preparing my food.

Thanks in advance

Hi all,

In general, I need a good parts and tools place for someone wanting to repair laptops. I've got a few old ones of my own and have friends in need. I've torn down many back home but lack the tools here.

At the moment I need compressed air to try to clean out a keyboard, electrical contact spray for intermittent USB connectors, and a reliable source for reasonable laptop battery replacements. All I know is Fortune Town and Panthip, and neither seems specialized enough.

Many thanks in advance!

Thanks to all who've replied. Sometimes I feel like Banglampoo is a little village somewhere. No Tops, Makro, Tesco, Foodland, etc. Usually I like that feeling, but sometimes...

I also often find Yolida in Tesco Lotus...not all of them, but many. And almost always in Tops and Foodlands.

At 7-11, the Bulgaria brand also has live culture and the navy blue ones are unsweetened. I know the culture is live because I am able to successfully make my own yogurt with just a spoonful of it as a starter.

Ah ha! I saw the Bulgaria brand at the local 7/11 and wondered about it. And read the label for anything that said "Live Cultures" but didn't see it. If your making more yogurt from it, that's the "proof in the pudding".

I'm recovering from a nasty antibiotics session that kills everything in your gut, and wanted some Yolida yogurt (because it contains *live* cultures, which make it effective as a "probiotic".). All other yogurts I've seen don't contain live cultures.

I searched in my neighborhood for it and came up empty--nothing in 3 7-11s or the local large supermarket. (I live near Phra Athit Rd near Khao San Rd).

Where do I get this stuff. It's made in Thailand after all. Is there a chain store that sells it? (since I could find a location near me).

thanks in advance.

It is not an issue of which hospital but of which doctor.

I suggest either of these if you are not satisfied with the doctor who originally diagnosed and treated you:

Samitivej Hospital: https://www.samitivejhospitals.com/en/doctors/rungsun-rerknimitr/ (he is also at Bkk Hospital but I think by special appointment only)

Bangkok Hospital: https://www.bangkokhospital.com/en/doctors/?DrID=812

As you already took a course of treatment which did not improve sympotims, the first step needs to be a repeat stool test to see if the Blastocystosis is still there - it does not infrequently happen that the presence of B. Hominis is just an incidental finding and not what was causing the symptoms.

If it is still present, given that you already took tinidazole and are allergic to flagyl, next option would usually be Co-trimoxazole (sulfamethoxazole & trimethoprim -- well known as Bactrim in the west) double strength twice a day for 7 days (assuming you are not allergic to sulfa drugs).

If it is no longer present then a search for other cause is indicated.

In either case, would be well to take some probiotics such as unsweetened plain yogurt. Lalida brand can be found in most supermarkets.

Still not sure but I think the Bactrim treatment might have worked; my fingers are crossed. I may be allergic to the drug though. In the last 2 days of treatment my temperature went up to 104F (approx 40C). Could be just a coincidence, and I know I was supposed to phone my doc but I was almost at the end of the meds and so took the last 2 and eventually moderated the fever with paracetamol. (figuring that running a high fever for a few days might help kill off the parasite as well, and the fever (at 104) was still out of the critical zone).

For possible future use of Bactrim against this common parasite, I've read that the Sulfa part of the drug isn't even active against this particular parasite, so I was thinking I could take Trimethoprim instead if it's the sulfa part I'm allergic too. (if I even *am* allergic)

Right after the Bactrim (actually about a week later) the parasite symptoms came back again, but even worse (and qualitatively different than previously). I had to hop a flight in 2 days back here, so took the last Tinidazole set I had (3 tablets, couldn't find the fourth) to get me through the 24 hour plane ride and deal with the parasite on return, but...it's over a week since the Tinidazole and no return. Perhaps I killed off the B Hominis and acquired something else in its place (opportunistic parasite??) which was in turned killed off by Tinidazole. Anyway, this is all anecdotal speculation and doesn't crave a reply.

The Faculty of Tropical Medicine, Mahidol University 420/6 Rajvithi Road is by far the best bet. This faculty teaches in English so the Staff can communicate very well. As far a parasitic infections they are the best in Thailand and ranked with the best world wide.

They have an outpatient clinic as well as a hospital on site.

Fred Gallaher, BSc, MSc Tropical Medicine, retire Director of Laboratories Kaiser Permanente Sacramento

Thanks Fred. I got a referral just yesterday from a person who went there.

Feel sorry for the guys having to get hard for those two trouts

Thank God the Thai ladies who service farangs have never felt that way about us!

When the testosterone levels drop (as in old(er) age, so does the interest in women, giving rise to the oft repeated "If you take away sex, most women aren't very interesting." It's true at the other end of the age spectrum too. How many men are interested in girls at the age of 10. They're playing their silly hopscotch games and have their gossip and little girl talk...boooring. Boys are climbing trees, having adventures with nature and sports. But all of a sudden testosterone cuts in an girls are interesting, vitally so. Boys don't grow interested in girls, they grow interested in sex, which are two completely different things.

Vagus

Unattached women *do* take sex vacations, though it gets almost zero press, vs men who do the same. Popular destinations for this are Bali (and the "Kuta Cowboys", and places like the Dominican Republic. Basically go to poor countries and find yourself a vacation boyfriend to romance you in exchange for money. (and perhaps the hope of getting a marriage visa for the local). I've talked to many middle aged women about this. It's real.

Nothing wrong with it, in my opinion as when men do it, but men get charged with exploitation (frequently by women back whom who feel ignored I supposed).

Ko Samet traditionally has the least amount of rain annually in Thailand.