Why Do We Swell Up Like Balloons In Los ?

[dmax]

everytime i stay in los i swell up like a ballon,,as soon as i step off the plane my fingers swell up ,,next few days my ass and stomach,,if it is the chang beer then why can i drink 30 bottles of budweiser over a weekend in uk without swelling up like a balloon ? is it a mixture of heat and beer ? is anyone else the same ?

curious

[maahuanao]

Not me........ and I drink plenty of Heineken when I'm there!

[dmax]

yeah i try to cut out the chang and stick to sang som whiskey but i just cant resist beer chang !!

[a99az]

everytime i stay in los i swell up like a ballon,,as soon as i step off the plane my fingers swell up ,,next few days my ass and stomach,,if it is the chang beer then why can i drink 30 bottles of budweiser over a weekend in uk without swelling up like a balloon ? is it a mixture of heat and beer ? is anyone else the same ?

curious

Try drinking water insted of beer you will be most supprised.

[Bananaman]

It's called edema (or oedema) and can be indicative of something more serious including kidney and liver problems, so I'd say you'd be wise to avoid the binge drinking. Even if your liver function is fine, any doctor will tell you that alcohol is best avoided if edema is a recurring issue.

[a99az]

Add to that a jog in the early AM(so as not to upset the locals) and you could return a new man.

[smokie36]

everytime i stay in los i swell up like a ballon,,as soon as i step off the plane my fingers swell up ,,next few days my ass and stomach,,if it is the chang beer then why can i drink 30 bottles of budweiser over a weekend in uk without swelling up like a balloon ? is it a mixture of heat and beer ? is anyone else the same ?

curious

Interesting. Could be your body attempting to lower temperature by filling the exremities with blood. Best to drink lots of water the first couple of days eat well and avoid too much sunshine early on. Also avoid boozing until evenings might help.

[Stricken]

everytime i stay in los i swell up like a ballon,,as soon as i step off the plane my fingers swell up ,,next few days my ass and stomach,,if it is the chang beer then why can i drink 30 bottles of budweiser over a weekend in uk without swelling up like a balloon ? is it a mixture of heat and beer ? is anyone else the same ?

curious

With the amount you drink it might be LIVER PROBLEMS

[smokie36]

How old are you?

[surangw]

everytime i stay in los i swell up like a ballon,,as soon as i step off the plane my fingers swell up ,,next few days my ass and stomach,,if it is the chang beer then why can i drink 30 bottles of budweiser over a weekend in uk without swelling up like a balloon ? is it a mixture of heat and beer ? is anyone else the same ?

curious

are you also drinking lots of fruit juice, that seems to get to me if I over do it.

[dmax]

i am 42....liver problems ?

[smokie36]

i am 42....liver problems ?

Cut down the booze and do some exercise. If you're worried see your GP. Unlikely you have serious liver probs at 42 unless you're hitting the whisky big time.

[richm7]

everytime i stay in los i swell up like a ballon,,as soon as i step off the plane my fingers swell up ,,next few days my ass and stomach,,if it is the chang beer then why can i drink 30 bottles of budweiser over a weekend in uk without swelling up like a balloon ? is it a mixture of heat and beer ? is anyone else the same ?

curious

Clearly your problem is drinking 30 bottles of budweiser in England(!) over a weekend. Budweiser is not actually beer. It is a mildly alcoholic concoction put together in various back street but legal dens across the US and secret outposts across the world and sold to unsuspecting labourers propping up dark, dank bars in the US who believe the advertising bs they put out. Sadly, ill informed Brits and aforementioned American labourers in Britain also consume the stuff, much to the amusement and bottom line of the current owners (check next week, it might change) of the brand. Bud has taken a marketing cue from Corona, an equally poor and gassy beer consumed by sad bastards who think it is cool to jam a wedge of lime into the top of their beer bottle. At least it kills the taste of the beer. Real men drink beer out of a glass. What on earth are you thinking? Do you have taste buds (excuse the pun)? Real beer is readily available in the UK, try it. Then your body will not react to the rush of near real beer in BKK. I hesitate to call anything you can get in BKK as real (including the beer, but excepting the clap). I am particularly concerned about your arse swelling; perhaps you are visiting the wrong bars Nana Plaza too often? Most aging blokes seem to complain that, unlike their wives, as they get older their arse's shrink, not swell. I think you are suffering from severe flatulence. You need a good fart and to make sure you put the viagra in the right end. It goes down your throat, not up your jacksee.

As for your belly, cut back on the burgers, pies, fries, bacon, eggs and especially the ten bottles of Bud every Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Not only will you loose the swelling in your bodily areas, you will gain a swelling in your wallet and find that other more desirable swellings will be easier to achieve without the use of drugs.

Having said all that, the original post was a joke. Right?

[sanook2me]

everytime i stay in los i swell up like a ballon,,as soon as i step off the plane my fingers swell up ,,next few days my ass and stomach,,if it is the chang beer then why can i drink 30 bottles of budweiser over a weekend in uk without swelling up like a balloon ? is it a mixture of heat and beer ? is anyone else the same ?

curious

Clearly your problem is drinking 30 bottles of budweiser in England(!) over a weekend. Budweiser is not actually beer. It is a mildly alcoholic concoction put together in various back street but legal dens across the US and secret outposts across the world and sold to unsuspecting labourers propping up dark, dank bars in the US who believe the advertising bs they put out. Sadly, ill informed Brits and aforementioned American labourers in Britain also consume the stuff, much to the amusement and bottom line of the current owners (check next week, it might change) of the brand. Bud has taken a marketing cue from Corona, an equally poor and gassy beer consumed by sad bastards who think it is cool to jam a wedge of lime into the top of their beer bottle. At least it kills the taste of the beer. Real men drink beer out of a glass. What on earth are you thinking? Do you have taste buds (excuse the pun)? Real beer is readily available in the UK, try it. Then your body will not react to the rush of near real beer in BKK. I hesitate to call anything you can get in BKK as real (including the beer, but excepting the clap). I am particularly concerned about your arse swelling; perhaps you are visiting the wrong bars Nana Plaza too often? Most aging blokes seem to complain that, unlike their wives, as they get older their arse's shrink, not swell. I think you are suffering from severe flatulence. You need a good fart and to make sure you put the viagra in the right end. It goes down your throat, not up your jacksee.

As for your belly, cut back on the burgers, pies, fries, bacon, eggs and especially the ten bottles of Bud every Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Not only will you loose the swelling in your bodily areas, you will gain a swelling in your wallet and find that other more desirable swellings will be easier to achieve without the use of drugs.

Having said all that, the original post was a joke. Right?

Oy stop the Chang and switch to Heineken or Leo... Chang is rank...

You are a funny onion...in the UK you go all hi-so and drink expensive bud but in the LoS you drink the worst of the worst....

Why not drink cider proper tramps juice in the UK?

[IanForbes]

Like others have said... drink water instead of beer. I gain about 12 pounds when I'm home in Canada and lose the same amount when I return to Thailand. But, in Thailand I eat various rice dishes and only have one or two Chang beer in the evening. At home I don't drink any beer, but I eat my own cooking and love bread and pasta. I would probably lose weight in Canada as well if I exercised harder than I do. I seldom eat any more than two meals a day and supplement that with fresh fruit.

[sinbin]

I personally think that many people, once here, relax and don't think about doing too much exercise, due to the heat. They then sit about and their body fluids then gather in the lower limbs of the body due to not being expelled in sweat. This usually results in a condition called STASIS DERMATITIS. Once you have this condition it's more or less non treatable, unless you exercise. I've seen a lot of people suffer from this here, and it can be avoided with EXERCISE. I don't think any specific fluid intake is the main cause, other than not getting rid of it one way or the other. If you Google STASIS DERMATITIS and see the photo's attached then I'm sure many here can relate to having seen some farang with the condition.

[TallForeigner]

If you are not exaggerating, then consider that you have got a severe medical problem and you should visit a hepatologist (liver specialist) immediately. This is quite serious, so you deserve an adequately serious answer and no joking!

Swelling of hands, feet, legs and ass are indications for oedema or if these are generalized over most of the body these are called Anasarca - these could have multiple causes, but at your age they are reason for major concern!! These alone should be motivation enough to have a very careful medical check up. You might be lucky and have some some stasis dermatitis,but that shouldn't happen at your age anyways. Considering you alcohol consumption I assume more serious trouble.

What I would be really and deeply worried about most is the "ballooning" of the stomach. Since you also mention that you are drinking extreme amounts of alcohol (and 30 bottles of Budweiser is very extreme) this ballooning might show the onset of ascites caused by portal hypertension. Ascites are accumulations of fluid in the abdominal cavity during the course of of mostly liver diseases.

If you have been drinking lots of alcohol regularly and for many years you might have damaged your liver permanently and have already developed liver cirrhosis. What many people don't know is you can drink moderatley, BUT NOT daily. Daily drinking of alcohol over the course of many years, even in moderate quantities, will destroy the liver of most people and will result in liver cirrhosis. The medically well established critical amount for the development of alcohol induced liver cirrhosis is a daily alcohol intake of >60-70 g for men and >20-30 g for women over a period of at least 5 years. And by the way it doesn't matter at all what kind of beer you drink - what matters is the alcohol content and quantity. Medically there is no good or bad alcohol, it doesn't matter at all whether it comes from a good drink or from a bad drink - only the quantity is relevant.

Advanced liver cirrhosis or sometimes a severe alcohol induced fatty liver will eventually result in a restriction of blood flow in the most important blood vessel around the liver: the portal vein. This leads to a high blood pressure in the portal vein (portal hypertension). Portal hypertension is a serious problem and leads to many complications. Ascites are a very clear indicator for portal hypertension. The prognosis for alcohol induced liver cirrhosis with portal hypertension and ascites is less than 50% for the next 5 years. Cirrhosis is a permanent damage and fatty liver can be reversed by complete abstinence.

Liver cirrhosis is not always routinely detected. In up to 40% of cases, the presence of cirrhosis is only discovered at autopsy.

My Recommendation: Get yourself checked by a liver specialist immediately!! In the meantime just drink water and juices and don't go anywhere near alcohol (and off course that includes beer!). You are far too young for such kind of symptoms.

Edited October 8, 2009 by TallForeigner

[TaoNow]

Greetings Tallforeigner.

I thought that the long-term epidemiological studies in the US showed that daily moderate intake of alcohol (no more than 2 standard drinks) was not harmful to one's health. Indeed, the French, many of whom probably have consumed wine daily for decades have better average health than many other societies. So what is the scientific reference for your assertion that moderate drinking is harmful if continuous (i.e., uninterrupted by dry days)?

Regards,

TN

[TallForeigner]

Greetings Tallforeigner.

I thought that the long-term epidemiological studies in the US showed that daily moderate intake of alcohol (no more than 2 standard drinks) was not harmful to one's health. Indeed, the French, many of whom probably have consumed wine daily for decades have better average health than many other societies. So what is the scientific reference for your assertion that moderate drinking is harmful if continuous (i.e., uninterrupted by dry days)?

Regards,

TN

The induction of permament liver damage caused by a daily consumption of alcohol of more than 60-70 g per day for men and more than 20-30 g per day for women is quite well established in the medical research literature. If you are familiar with this literature here the references you are looking for:

Arico, S., Galatola, G., Tabone, M., Corrao, G.: Amount and duration

of alcoholic intake in patients with chronic liver disease: an Italian

multicentre study. Ital. J. Gastroenterol. 1994; 26: 59-65

Bode, J.C., Kruse, G., Mexas, P., Martini, G.A.: Alkoholfettleber, Alkoholhepatitis

und Alkoholzirrhose. Trinkverhalten und Häufigkeit klinischer,

klinisch-chemischer und histologischer Befunde bei 282 Patienten.

Dtsch. Med. Wschr. 1984; 109: 1516-1521

Lelbach, W.K.: Cirrhosis in the alcoholic and its relation to the volume

of alcohol abuse. Ann. NY Acad. Sci. 1975; 252: 85-105

Norton, R., Batey, R., Dwyer, T., MacMahon, St.: Alcohol consumption

and the risk of alcohol-related cirrhosis in women. Brit. Med. J.

1987; 295: 80-82

Pequignot, G., Chabet, C., Eydoux, H., Courcoul, M.A.: Augmentation

du risque de cirrhose en fonction de la ration d’alcohol. Rev. Alcohol.

1974; 20: 192-201

Volpi, E., Lucidi, P., Cruciani, G., Monacchia, F., Santoni, S., Reboldi,

G., Brunetti, P., Bolli, G.B., de Feo, P.: Moderate and large doses of

ethanol differentially affect hepatic protein metabolism in humans. J.

Nutr. 1998; 128: 198-203

If you are interested in the liver and its diseases I can recommend the following excellet book: "Hepatology - Principles and Practice - E. Kuntz, H. Kuntz (Springer, 2006)"

Now it's up to you to show me literature, references and data that contradict these findings.

Edited October 8, 2009 by TallForeigner

[carmine]

Add to that a jog in the early AM(so as not to upset the locals) and you could return a new man.

I do agree with both of your posts, but how is an early morning jog going to upset the locals?!

[TaoNow]

Thanks TallForeigner. You seem like you have studied this matter quite carefully. But I note that your references are a bit dated. The studies I was referring to were published in this decade. I'll dig up the references and send them to you by PM (personal message).

Regards,

TN

[rabcbroon]

yeah i try to cut out the chang and stick to sang som whiskey but i just cant resist beer chang !!

Try some decent beer as opposed to economy Chang - and real whiskey, not gut rot Sang Som

[TallForeigner]

Greetings Tallforeigner.

I thought that the long-term epidemiological studies in the US showed that daily moderate intake of alcohol (no more than 2 standard drinks) was not harmful to one's health. Indeed, the French, many of whom probably have consumed wine daily for decades have better average health than many other societies. So what is the scientific reference for your assertion that moderate drinking is harmful if continuous (i.e., uninterrupted by dry days)?

Regards,

TN

Hello TaoNow,

I know that these references are not the latest but as far as I know the findings are still valid.

I studied a fair degree of medicine 25 years ago - but Now I am not practising medicine. I'm into pharmaceuticals....that's much more lucrative...

Take care,

TF

Edited October 8, 2009 by TallForeigner

[Neeranam]

Did you know that Khon Kaen has the highest rate of liver disease in the world.

Dmax - are you overweight anyway?

I'd suggest a LFT(liver function test).

[MJo]

everytime i stay in los i swell up like a ballon,,as soon as i step off the plane my fingers swell up ,,next few days my ass and stomach,,if it is the chang beer then why can i drink 30 bottles of budweiser over a weekend in uk without swelling up like a balloon ? is it a mixture of heat and beer ? is anyone else the same ?

curious

Try drinking water insted of beer you will be most supprised.

He is, back in uk i mean. You have a point !

[bkkmick]

Amazing liver disease described by the doctors here.

It appears when he arrives in Thailand and clears up when he goes home! Maybe people that are really suffering from liver disease should come to Thailand and go home to be cured.

[bonobo]

Thanks TallForeigner. You seem like you have studied this matter quite carefully. But I note that your references are a bit dated. The studies I was referring to were published in this decade. I'll dig up the references and send them to you by PM (personal message).

Regards,

TN

From what I have read (and I don't have references handy), any alcohol starts to damage the liver and other organs.  However, at small amounts, this damage is very limited, and there is quite a bit of data which supports that drinking wine has an advantageous effect on the circulatory system.

The damage caused by alcohol gets progressively worse the more you drink, and this is not a straight-line calculation.  Whereas one drink might cause minimal liver damage, for example, four drinks do not cause four times the damage, but maybe eight times (I am pulling that number out of the air.) 

This has led may researchers to suggest that 2 drinks per day is the optimum amount.  This maximizes the benefits while still keeping the damage to very minimal and reasonable levels.

At least that is how I understood what I was reading.

[bonobo]

To the OP, I don't know about your stomach and butt, but it is fairly normal for people to have slight to moderate swelling in the fingers and toes after long flights.  This has to do with the lower pressure in the plane cabins coupled with inactivity.  It could be indicative of a more serious condition, or it could be an innocuous symptom. 

[TallForeigner]

@bonobo

You are right, even small amounts of alcohol do some damages to the liver - the more you drink the more damage and you are also right that this relationship is not linear.

However our liver is an absolutely amazing organ - it's another miracle of nature! No other organ in our body can heal as quickly and as completely as our liver. Unfortunately this healing still takes some time - can take a day for little damage but can take up to 4 days or more for a severe fatty liver after extreme drinking. Even a fatty liver that can have up to 4 times the normal weight can heal completely - BUT only if you are absolutely abstinent for a couple of days.

The problem starts if you don't give the liver the time it needs to heal completely. If you drink while the liver has not completely recovered then you risk doing some permanent damage. This damage might be tiny, hardly visible scars at first. If you keep drinking these scars add up and over many years (at least 5 years) daily drinking you run the risk of developing a liver cirrhosis.

The problem is that even what some people might call modest drinking, like 30-60 g of alcohol per day will eventually cause permanent damage and is definitely not safe. 30-60 g alcohol is about 0.75 to 1.5 liters of beer or 0.35 to 0.7 liters of wine. That is the reason why especially in the UK it is being discussed that the recommendations about "safe drinking" need to be revised. Amounts that don't do permanent damage to your liver when consumed 2-3 times per week can be several times higher than the amounts consumed on a daily basis. However you can drink much more without risking permanent liver damage if you don't drink more than 2-3 times a week.

Here a good discussion about this topic: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8172982.stm

You are also right about some potential health benefits of stuff that is in the wine. Wine contains some anti oxidants that can have some beneficial effects to your health. However if you consume more than 0.35 to 0.7 liters of wine daily then the ill effects from the alcohol will by far outweigh the benefits of the antioxidants. Some recent studies have shown that if you want to drink enough wine to get enough of these antioxidants you have to drink quantities that are not considered as safe. There are many myths about the health benefits of wine and surely some people want to believe that wine is healthier than it really is.

This is actually still a very controversial topic and there are actually no well researched studies available yet that clearly prove the health benefits of wine. Here a nice discussion on this topic: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8079816.stm

"It's an absolute myth that red wine is good for you," says Professor Valerie Beral from the University of Oxford and lead author of the Million Women study. "The evidence is not there."

Edited October 8, 2009 by TallForeigner

[sassienie]

everytime i stay in los i swell up like a ballon,,as soon as i step off the plane my fingers swell up ,,next few days my ass and stomach,,if it is the chang beer then why can i drink 30 bottles of budweiser over a weekend in uk without swelling up like a balloon ? is it a mixture of heat and beer ? is anyone else the same ?

curious

It`s a conspiracy by the Thai government.

They put a drug into the drinks served on the airlines that causes acute inflammation of the body.

So when we arrive in Thailand, we don’t look out of place or any different from all the other fat gross ugly old Farangs that are already living here.