How often do you get sick here compared to back home?

[simoh1490]

In the UK I would catch a cold or some sort of similar bug about twice a year, here, nothing, not once in 16 years.

[Denim]

8 hours ago, sirineou said:

 When I was younger back home, I use to never get sick, 61 years old now , and in Thailand, and I seem to get sick more, what's worse is I get body aches and the litle general don't want to go to war sometimes.

Freaking Thailand!!! Grrrrrr

 

That is an exact description of myself in every detail. I got the little general back on the warpath by drinking less booze and taking zinc supplements.

 

As for the body aches ...luckily only in the morning, same as the arthritis.

[wwest5829]

First two months in Thailand after retiring it was either chest cold or stomach issues. After that, only occasional intestine cleaning out. But then, its a bit more involved. Retired = no job stress weakening the immune system. Hmm, come to think of it, I do believe my immune system is stronger now. 

[mercman24]

every 2 months i go down with flu like symptoms, just liked to be left alone, (bear with sore head) i wake up in the morning and BANG there it is, was never ever sick in the UK. here i  get sore throat, nose pissing water, headache, 4 years now and no better cant track it down to anything, but the good news is my wonky knee joint doesnt play up any more, (ex England international footballer) (who writes this crap lol.)  ( 3 ops) still no good, went back to the UK last year , second day knee fired up, dam painful, so i can live with this annoying bug i get , but i have got 2 good knees ha ha

[1FinickyOne]

rarely get sick here... 

[murraynz]

i think the think those of you that only occasionaly

On 6/10/2018 at 9:36 AM, sanemax said:

Could be the aircon causing you to get headaches and fever?

this is the biggest problem, for those of you who eat healthy...

in nz i used to get winter colds and aches in knees,,fingers etc from athritis..

none of this in thailand..i dont eat meat or s treet foods,plenty of fruit and veg..no smoking-drink one night pw.

just a few hours with aircond on, will ensure a cold for 1 week...

 

[Laza 45]

9 hours ago, punchandjudy said:

2. Headache/bad fever, I guess due to the hot weather and the rainy season

That doesn't sound good.. perhaps get checked for Dengue..   I rarely get sick here.. in my 12th year now..  occasionally I get an upset stomach but it usually passes quite quickly..  My wife works at a school and sometimes brings home colds but more often than not I don't get them. I do get a flu shot each year and haven't had the flu for many years.. by and large I am better off here than in Australia..

 

For hot weather drink lots of water.. a couple of liters a day.  Lots of showers to cool down.  Itchy heat rash is a common problem from hot humid weather.. a cortisone cream will usually clear it up reasonably quickly.. follow instructions.  Snake Brand powder helps too.

[Ling Kae]

I get less sick here. I eat Thai food and rarely use air con. Occasionally I might get the runs but that happens at home too so I'm better off here generally.

[impulse]

Being allergic to mold, mildew and everything else that grows in the tropics, I don't recall having a time in BKK where I could clear my ears.  And the drainage occasionally gets down into my chest and causes a cough and other respiratory problems. 

 

But I had the same problems every time I visited my folks in Houston, who (like a lot of old folks) didn't run the A/C to dehumidify the house.  When traveling in LOS, I look for hotels that run the A/C on low even when they have no occupant.  Or the rooms have great natural ventilation.  That keeps the humidity down and the mold and mildew with it.  Sadly, they're few and far between in high rise buildings.

 

The one thing working in my favor in SEA is lack of carpeting and the ease of laundering -with bleach- everything from pillows to curtains to towels.  I don't know that I'd survive BKK if my place was carpeted.

 

With food, I get a minor case of the rumble tummy about once a month and a bad case of genuine food poisoning about once a year.  Not hard to figure that one out when I see so many restaurants with no running water and a lady washing the dishes in a big tub out back.

 

Edited June 11, 2018 by impulse

[itsallmine68]

9 hours ago, sanemax said:

Could be the aircon causing you to get headaches and fever

First how does one get ill/headaches from an air conditioner ?

As for getting ill I personally have not had any colds flu for over 18 months I eat Thai, drink the water, overweight, drink everyday, don't exercise, almost 65 years old  

[4MyEgo]

I used to be the same.

 

Don't eat street food, find places that you eat at that you never get sick from the food they dish out and stick with them unless you like to cook or have a partner that can cook for you. I am spoilt, my Mrs cook for me and knows how delicate my stomach is from the Thai bacteria.

 

Depending on your age would also suggest a good multi-vitamin and drink lots of bottled water, throw in some electrolytes powder into your bottled water or buy some drinks with electrolytes in them and you will notice the huge difference.

 

Best of luck, for me its usually the yearly chest infection, bronchial which I fight for as long as possible, i.e. around 3 weeks and then its antibiotics because I cannot seem to beat it ?

[Black arab]

I tend to get small injurues in the 2yrs i have been here, also had a bad chest infection and recently got a bit of gout , that can be painful.Cycle as much as possible.When working i rarely got sick or injured.

[transam]

The heat agrees with me as I am seldom ill. I do not eat street food and only eat in places that we know make an effort regarding cleanliness..

 

I never touch anything in a Thai toilet, even after going to Tesco and use their basket the first thing I do when l get home is wash my hands.

 

In the UK I was always getting a bug of some sort..

[Zenwind]

I am 68 and have lived here 12 years.  I rarely get sick anymore.  Whereas in the northern USA I used to get a bad cold twice a year and the flu once every couple of years, and I think being a schoolteacher there was a big reason for that, sharing germs, etc.  Caveat:  I am now quite a hermit and only meet up with groups of friends in Bangkok about twice a month, so I’m not exposed to many germs.  My wife rarely gets sick even though she works in an office. 

 

A couple of years ago I visited my family in the USA for several months.  During early winter when their house was tightly closed up and the furnace on, I got the nastiest head cold in memory. 

 

Here I live in the old house where my wife grew up, and although it is quite clean we have no hot water system.  So it took me a full three years after moving here for my digestive system to adapt and stop the frequent cases of the runs.  We finally got A/C in our room a year ago, and so now I am relieved of constant heat rash. 

 

I am careful about what I eat, and I exercise regularly.  I have a good treadmill at home, which I rigged with a platform to hold a Kindle or a book.  I take long walks in the neighborhood two or three times a week, even in the heat, though I’m careful to wear a broad-brimmed hat and shades.  The relative lack of stress for me here has helped me feel healthy.  I have no intention of ever living in the West again. 

[PerkinsCuthbert]

There's a long-blocked-up klong out back of me, full of evil black water on which floats plastic of every shape and form, and in which is dumped every old mattress, fridge, bicycle and dead soi dog for miles around, not to mention the effluent that pours and seeps into it from surrounding houses. An old Thai gentleman occasionally is swimming in this soup when I pass by, and I have once seem him with his pants around his ankles, anus overhanging, taking a dump in the self-same water. He appears to be at least a hundred years old, which could be in part due to his eccentric lifestyle, but I am not tempted to imitate it for the sake of experimentation.

 

I suppose my point is that people can and do survive very well, often very healthily, when their immune systems are allowed to develop unfettered resistance to local germs, and are not undermined by constant medical ministrations at the first sign of a sniffle. There is clearly a place for modern medicine, but over-sanitisation and medication of modern life is increasingly recognised as counter-productive.

[shaunoro]

As for upset stomach, blocked up or rather loose.

My remedy is Thai pork noodles, (Bah mee moo dang.)

Just add 3 teaspoons of dried chilli flakes and make sure you are near a decent toilet.

You generally have a 15 minute window.

We call this a Thai pull through.

 

As for point 2, i agree with others. Clean your aircon and drink more bottled water.

 

[tropo]

2 hours ago, Ks45672 said:

2 hours ago, gk10002000 said:

The only thing that I have noticed on 11/12 of my trips was within a few days of arrival I get sore throat, hurts when I swallow, fever etc.  Some bug.  A few days on arithromycin or whatever and all is back to normal.  I average being in country twice a year, never stayed more than 2 months continuous in country

That would probably caused by sharing the air in the plane with other sick people 

It's just a basic cold virus. You'll get them all over town if your immunity is low. Elevators, malls, bars... anywhere. Of course with all the international visitors, viruses are being brought in and spread around.

 

[jkcjag]

I get sick far less here than in England or Australia, in particular for flu type symptoms. If you work in a classroom or travel in packed busses or trains a lot then of course you would be more susceptible, but that's no different than in any country.

To avoid stomach bugs anywhere, common sense dictates that you should avoid any food that you suspect may not have been prepared hygienically, and of course the more street food there is (a lot more here than in western countries, and the environment is hot and polluted), the more chance of a problem. If you are not living and working in an airconditioned environment, drink a lot of water to avoid dehydration, which can cause heatstroke as your internal organs dry up, and headaches as your brain dries up. When I am away from Bangkok and living mostly outside at weekends rather than being in my office all week, I always lose between half and one kilogram in weight due to water loss from the body, despite continually drinking many litres of water to compensate. I didn't used to compensate with water, and at the end of every weekend used to feel generally awful with body-aches and headaches. I didn't realise just how much dehydration can affect you. Now I feel great at the end of the weekend.

I doubt that aircon causes sickness, unless there is something seriously wrong with the unit...perhaps mold inside??...just have it cleaned regularly. Note that typical aircon is set around 25deg...similar to a hot summers' day in colder climates, a time when sicknesses there are typically less.

[tropo]

28 minutes ago, PerkinsCuthbert said:

 I suppose my point is that people can and do survive very well, often very healthily, when their immune systems are allowed to develop unfettered resistance to local germs, and are not undermined by constant medical ministrations at the first sign of a sniffle. There is clearly a place for modern medicine, but over-sanitisation and medication of modern life is increasingly recognised as counter-productive.

4

We hear this a lot. I doubt people who take care where they eat and what they drink in Thailand are over-sanitized. There's plenty of pathogens around town without having to expose oneself to more in the hope it will make one stronger. Locals who always eat dirty food get sick plenty too. Overmedication is probably more the culprit than eating clean food. Antibiotics will weaken the immune system as they interfere with gut health.

Edited June 11, 2018 by tropo

[The Theory]

Keep yourself away direct AC,

dont eat uncooked street-food,

no food by none-refrigerated eggs in hot season,

1000 Vit C. everyday,  +D

you will see the difference.

 

 

[essox essox]

Plenty of vitamin C is a means to stopping/helping many ailments here in Thailand....

[Nickymaster]

Drink more!  Hot weather and aircos will dry out your body.  Many people are dehydrated without realizing. I drink at least 4 liters mineral water a day . At least...

[55Jay]

Seem to get communicable viruses less here than elsewhere.  The few noteworthy times we have been sick, it was a nasty strain that hangs on for a week, and just when you think it's diminishing, it comes back for a second round. 

 

Another thing is sinus problems.  Never had a problem with this until we moved here.  No issues first 2 years or so, but in the last 3, get splitting sinus headaches, typically in the morning with bedroom a/c still on.  Seems to be worse in rain season, thought maybe mildew, etc. 

[The Fugitive]

6 hours ago, Damrongsak said:

In 3 years in Thailand, I rarely got sick.  No problem with food, but being vegetarian probably helped.  Had the clap once.  First time I ever got the flu was there.  OMG!  I collapsed in the span of 10 minutes, thought I had Dengue Fever.  Was down for days.  But I was in my early 20's then. 

 

Toward the end, I had a bout with Colonitis (more commonly referred to as colitis).  Not fun.  Don't remember the details of the treatment 40 years ago.

Colitis is excruciatingly painful. I had it once and cried with the pain every time I had to eat anything. Doctor gave me anti - spasmodic tablets.

[Berkshire]

7 minutes ago, essox essox said:

Plenty of vitamin C is a means to stopping/helping many ailments here in Thailand....

I take 500 mg every day and although I'm uncertain as to the correlation, I rarely get sick.  I think body adaptation and a strong immune system does play a role.  I rarely get sick from the food, but many visitors get sick eating the same food.  Exercising regularly also helps to build up your immune system.  Lastly....I wonder if being with many, many women have helped my immune system adapt as well....? 

[robblok]

10 hours ago, tropo said:

My health has improved immensely since never touching anything cooked on the street, and avoiding unhygienic Thai restaurants... you know the ones - usually near markets and infested with cats, mice, and cockroaches. My wife used to be plagued by canker sores when she ate food from the street, but she never gets any now that she avoids street food.

 

Yeah, I know... now there's going to be uptien posts from guys bragging that they never get food poisoning and they always eat street food. Yes, I believe you but I prefer not to take the chance. Then there's going to be some people trying to convince us that we should expose ourselves to more pathogens in order to build up immunity. I'm not buying it. Stay clean - stay healthy... and as a side bonus you'll be missing out on all that cheap, rancid palm oil and other cheap oils they use to cook Thai food.

I can use Thai street food if I want, but won't buy it from all shops. But in general it just does not fit in my diet so I don't eat it. When I do go out to diner it would be in the big chain restaurants like Oishi Buffet or those other hot pot (not MK) with beef or BBQ beef. Plenty of selection where I live if I want to go out for food. Again its not a regular occurrence but it happens but i trust food in those big branches a bit more then street food. Though you can never be sure of course.

 

About exposing yourself to more pathogen, maybe it works maybe it does not no idea, but I don't like the idea of getting sick on purpose. Still i do think you can get accustomed to certain stuff.  

[Rarebear]

2 hours ago, impulse said:

Being allergic to mold, mildew and everything else that grows in the tropics, I don't recall having a time in BKK where I could clear my ears.  And the drainage occasionally gets down into my chest and causes a cough and other respiratory problems. 

 

But I had the same problems every time I visited my folks in Houston, who (like a lot of old folks) didn't run the A/C to dehumidify the house.  When traveling in LOS, I look for hotels that run the A/C on low even when they have no occupant.  Or the rooms have great natural ventilation.  That keeps the humidity down and the mold and mildew with it.  Sadly, they're few and far between in high rise buildings.

 

The one thing working in my favor in SEA is lack of carpeting and the ease of laundering -with bleach- everything from pillows to curtains to towels.  I don't know that I'd survive BKK if my place was carpeted.

 

With food, I get a minor case of the rumble tummy about once a month and a bad case of genuine food poisoning about once a year.  Not hard to figure that one out when I see so many restaurants with no running water and a lady washing the dishes in a big tub out back.

 

Cost 2000 baht to get allergy's tested pin prick in arm and then they make you a vaccine.  12 to 24 months the allergy is gone.  

[Jeremia Juxtaposed]

14 minutes ago, The Fugitive said:

Colitis is excruciatingly painful. I had it once and cried with the pain every time

Yup. I once used a piece of sandpaper with a girl's Colitis and she said the same thing...

[Rarebear]

21 minutes ago, The Theory said:

Keep yourself away direct AC,

dont eat uncooked street-food,

no food by none-refrigerated eggs in hot season,

1000 Vit C. everyday,  +D

you will see the difference.

My ac is cleaned every 6 months and I use filtrete.  Why should I stay away from AC?  Where can you buy refrigerated eggs in Thailand?  I eat two oranges daily and walk in the sun why would I need Vit C and D?

[transam]

1 minute ago, Rarebear said:

My ac is cleaned every 6 months and I use filtrete.  Why should I stay away from AC?  Where can you buy refrigerated eggs in Thailand?  I eat two oranges daily and walk in the sun why would I need Vit C and D?

A/C gets a fungus build up, it is there, that's why you get yours cleaned...