Getting A Cold In Thailand Worse Than In The West?

[little mary sunshine]

I haven't noticed a difference.  Here 7+ years only one cold.

[jippytum]

No i think it's the same .The hot climate makes it feel worse and the copy drugs from the pharmacy don't help recovery.

[Fookhaht]

6 minutes ago, Altalake said:

Check this out Guys - I think perchance the 5% left may be the Killer ones....:

 

http://www.askthepilot.com/questionanswers/cabin-air-quality/

Yup, I get the 5% every time.

[Fookhaht]

1 minute ago, jippytum said:

No i think it's the same .The hot climate makes it feel worse and the copy drugs from the pharmacy don't help recovery.

But they certainly are plentiful and cheap.  At least it's psychologically appealing.  I'm gonna count on the placebo effect to bring me out of it. 

Edited February 19, 2017 by Fookhaht

[laislica]

15 hours ago, chiang mai said:

I must be doing something right, I haven't had a cold in fifteen years!

 

Do you get plenty of sunshine?
We need that to make vitamin D and that it important to keep colds at bay.

I notice that many Thais seriously avoid the sun, they want to be white!
I actually got my brother-in-law to take a vitamin D supplement and that helped him cure and not catch the next (usual) cold.

I notice that when we have an immune system that is in good order, colds don't take hold, so maybe eating right and sunshine keep you in good nick?

 

Edited February 19, 2017 by laislica

[Rajab Al Zarahni]

37 minutes ago, geisha said:

I've got on numerous flights to arrive with a mega cold ! Some of these airlines are crazy pumping out freezing air for 12 hours mostly aimed at your head! Why do they do this now ?  Shopping malls are the same, too cold to take your time shopping, I always leave before I want to. Some restaurants too. Question, does the average foreigner laugh at, or call stupid, another foreigner ( me!) wearing a mask on a flight ? Another thing about catching a cold here, is that people ( mostly Thais but foreigners too, ) sneeze and cough all over the place, then touch everything , menus, handrails, money etc. Ugh.

If anything the Thai's seem to me to be obsessed with the risk of infections. How often do you see Thai's wearing surgical face masks in  shops and at reception desks ?  When members of my Thai family go to see the Dr they come away feeling cheated is he doesn't give them antibiotics. Curiously, this obsession with personal health does not extend to public health. You only need to walk down a typical street in Thailand to see litter, garbage and filth interspersed with squeaky clean houses, restaurants and hospitals.  

Edited February 19, 2017 by Rajab Al Zarahni

[Fookhaht]

5 minutes ago, Rajab Al Zarahni said:

If anything the Thai's seem to me to be obsessed with the risk of infections. How often do you see Thai's wearing surgical face masks in  shops and at reception desks ?  When members of my Thai family go to see the Dr they come away feeling cheated is he doesn't give them antibiotics. Curiously, this obsession with personal health does not extend to public health. You only need to walk down a typical street in Thailand to see litter, garbage and filth interspersed with squeaky clean houses, restaurants and hospitals.  

And it doesn't seem to extend to social situations.   Everyday I watch 4-5 Thais sharing from one dish--usually som-tam.  I watch them feed each other the tastiest morsels, using the donor's spoon.    One has a cold?  No problem!  Share away!  

P.S. Nor does it extend to the local hospital (see above post). 

Edited February 19, 2017 by Fookhaht

[elgordo38]

16 hours ago, Fookhaht said:

Yes, my colds are worse and last longer than when I had them in the West.  Right now, I'm battling a slight cough which is a hangover of a cold I caught on December 28.   This despite daily popping vitamin C's and ginger drinks.  I know it will eventually go away, as the others have;  it just takes a lot longer to do so.  

I'm chalking it up to old age.  

There is lots of room on that chalk board for a myriad of medical problems. 

[Beats56]

I don't usually get colds but my son seems to bring Alot of them home from school. All them kids in one place bound to be colds.

 

[connda]

I'm  wondering if as a westerner .. colds are harder for us to recover from here than local thais?

 

It must depend on the person.  I don't find that to be true.  Over my 10 years in Thailand, I rarely get colds, and when I do they are usually just mild nasal stuffiness.  My wife doesn't get affected any more than I do, nor are her symptoms much different.  But that's just me.  I can't speak for anyone else. 

[JSixpack]

1 hour ago, geisha said:

I've got on numerous flights to arrive with a mega cold ! Some of these airlines are crazy pumping out freezing air for 12 hours mostly aimed at your head! Why do they do this now ? 

 

1. Take along a jacket, sweater, or sweatshirt (w/ hoodie--better skip the ski mask)

2. Close the nozzle

 

Sorted! So many difficulties on our forum.

 

The idea of a germ-ridden, recycled, in-flight air supply is one of the most widely propagated urban myths about airline sanitation out there.

       --https://io9.gizmodo.com/why-you-really-get-sick-on-planes-and-how-to-prevent-1471880458

 

Surfaces, esp. the toilet, are however the issue. See the link for suggestions.

 

But to answer the OP,  no, colds aren't more severe here or more frequent. I haven't had a cold in years--I take care of myself--whereas my friends in the States get them every winter. Friend o' mine just recovered from a really bad cold. Keep tellin' him to move to Pattaya, even sent him the recent Sex Capital article, but he's culture bound. Well, there is the family too.

 

Another myth propagated here (farangs are just as bad as Thais in their own way) is that medicines lessen the severity of a cold or speed your recovery. Make you feel it less, help you sleep, yes. In the West, you're not gettin' no codeine over the counter either. The antihistamines here--same stuff. Hit the Atarax, man. They don't just have paracetamol. A Thai doc can certainly drug you up and the hospitals have the really good stuff. Yeah, skip the antibiotics.

 

Great thread for our germaphobes and hypochondriacs.

 

Edited February 19, 2017 by JSixpack

[connda]

2 hours ago, Fookhaht said:

Same with me exactly.  I had three or more colds a year back in North America (cold climate area), and maybe once a year here on the average--but oh, do they hang on!   I wonder if it has anything to do with the more humid/warm climate that favors incubating germs/viruses?  Just my uneducated guess   

Probably has to do more with the amount of sunlight you get in the Northern latitudes as opposed to Thailand.  Sunlight = Vitamin D3.  There are correlations to the amount of vitamin D3 in your system and your susceptibility to colds and flu. 

 

[khunPer]

A real man-flu is bad everywhere, but I believe it's worse in Thailand – however other colds don't seem worse, and Thai's often use Tiffy or similar pills to relieve some of the symptoms; it actually help when one's "nose is running". A healthy strong immune-system is probably the best protection against the ever changing  rhinoviruses – Vitamin-C seem to be quite good supplement, either natural og from tablets – I have less colds after moving to Thailand, not even one a year, probably because I'm having time to a little more relaxed and probably heathier life-style, and I also take a multivitamin-with-minerals (Centrum) three times a week, and Vitamin-C daily; the last not only for cold protection, but because it's presumed generally good and probably also some level of cancer-protection, and it cannot harm you, if you don't intake massive amounts (more than 3 gram a day)...

Edited February 19, 2017 by khunPer

[Sheryl]

Different viral strains mean that you initially have no or less immunity thatn the locals. It is usual whenever one moves to a different region of the world to suffer a lot from colds in the  first few years. Same thing happens to Thais when they go to the west.

 

I had this problem for mayeb the first 5 years or so  living here but no longer, it does ease up for long-timers, but that easing is achieved the hard way. through antibodies formed each time you get sick.

 

Knock on wood, I normally get less than one cold every 2-3 years here. BUT the reverse process has occurred; now that I have spend decades in this part of the world, I no longer have up to date immunity to the bugs in the West and often get sick when i go back to farangland.

 

 

[tropo]

11 hours ago, starky said:

No it's not worse, the problem is the availability and access to proper effective medicine. The codeine based cough syrups and pseudoephedrine based cold and flu tablets are extremely effective when you are really sick. Also lacking are any proper decongestant or anti histamines.I am sorry to say that phenylepherine, tiffy, paracetamol and the other crap they fob off does <deleted> all when you are truly sick. Which is why when ever friends and family come to visit I make sure they bring supplies from Western pharmacies so I know if I get sick I will be able to shake it in a couple days.

 

I miss the days we could just walk into any pharmacy and buy decent strength pseudoephedrine... about 5 years ago? That knocks a cold for a six and you don't feel sleepy.

[IAMHERE]

8 hours ago, daveAustin said:

I would be careful bringing codeine and pseudo in.

I had my doctor write a prescription for pseudo so I wouldn't get busted by customs at Suvarhnabuhmi. Didn't know about codeine; will get some next trip. Oh, the pseudo cost twice as much as the over the counter pseudo but was prescribed so worth it in the long ruln.

[tropo]

1 hour ago, connda said:

Probably has to do more with the amount of sunlight you get in the Northern latitudes as opposed to Thailand.  Sunlight = Vitamin D3.  There are correlations to the amount of vitamin D3 in your system and your susceptibility to colds and flu. 

 

 

I get much less sun in Thailand than back at home in Australia. In the tropics, one tends to stay out of it because it's just not enjoyable to be roasting in it, and it's certainly not good for your skin. To have crocodile skin from baking in the sun or D3 deficiency - that's the choice.

 

To get sufficient D3 from sun exposure takes quite a while, and if you're tanned it takes longer. There's a difference between getting enough D3 to eliminate the symptoms of deficiency and obtaining the optimum amount for optimum health. You're not going to get that much unless you spend quite a bit of time in the sun with a fair bit of you skin exposed, and not in the late afternoon or early morning. That's going to wrinkle and ruin your skin prematurely.

 

The situation is even worse for my fair skinned Asian wife. She will not go anywhere near the sun.

 

I believe most people should be supplementing with D3. I put my wife on it 6 months ago and she transformed into the "energizer bunny". That's how profound the difference was. I haven't seen pure D3 capsules here. I get them on iHerb and a year's supply for the 2 of us is about $10.

[earlinclaifornia]

Thanks johng as I have wondered the same question. Yes I do believe that these virus are not same as in the USA. I had one in eighteen years back in CA. I have had four here each taking forever to leave. 1 from last February from motorcycling in the rain. 2 last April from airports, 3 from my 4 year old day care and again 4 year old but exasperated by NYE 2017 drinking excessively. I'm in my late 60's and believe old age is contributing. Liked the responses.

 

[canarysun]

Dear viewers...

The easiest way to try and prevent yourself from catching a cold is to quite simple avoid these hideous places with " air con ". In the five years of living in Thailand i never once caught a cold.In your condo use a fan only!

Good advice!

Greetings x

[johng]

Welcome back canarysun you might have noticed that a lot of places you go in Thailand have aircon its quite difficult to not encounter it. except at the beach and on the the 3rd classs train :D

[chiang mai]

21 hours ago, Fookhaht said:

Have you traveled by air much in 15 years?   That's where I usually catch my "bugs."  All that recirculated air, sharing the viruses of everyone on that flight.  When I came back from the holidays, everyone on the international flight seemed to be hacking, coughing, and snotting.   Ergo:  24 hours later, I was coming down with it.  First cold I had since the previous trip!   If I could only hold my breath for 14 hours...

I've made one international flight per year during that time, mostly to the UK which has typically been in the winter time, still  no cold.

[chiang mai]

5 hours ago, laislica said:

 

Do you get plenty of sunshine?
We need that to make vitamin D and that it important to keep colds at bay.

I notice that many Thais seriously avoid the sun, they want to be white!
I actually got my brother-in-law to take a vitamin D supplement and that helped him cure and not catch the next (usual) cold.

I notice that when we have an immune system that is in good order, colds don't take hold, so maybe eating right and sunshine keep you in good nick?

 

I do get plenty of sun plus I take B complex daily and still no cold. Mrs CM on the other hand eats poorly by comparison and refuses to take any supplements and she has a cold every two years or so, maybe that's the answer and the difference.

[ocddave]

I've been sick for two weeks, but so has my Thai wife and our daughter, but its still lingering, not much fun thats for sure!

[madusa]

I believe that if during your childhood you had lived in an environment that was quite sterile then as an adult you are more likely to have a lot of problem with your immune system.

If you care to find out read a book called "An epidemic of Absence".(author- Moises Velasquez-Manoff ). It is a book about your immune system not being able to function at its best because as a child your immune system never had a chance to do battle with bacteria or virus. Your mum wiped everything down with anti-septic liquid or spray.

Your immune system should be able to ward off a cold because once the bacteria or virus come in contact with your body the immune system recognizes it and starts to take action immediately.

Whereas in your case the virus merrily go round and live for weeks in your body before the immune system failed to recognize the bacteria or virus.

[starky]

6 hours ago, tropo said:

I get much less sun in Thailand than back at home in Australia. In the tropics, one tends to stay out of it because it's just not enjoyable to be roasting in it, and it's certainly not good for your skin. To have crocodile skin from baking in the sun or D3 deficiency - that's the choice.

 

To get sufficient D3 from sun exposure takes quite a while, and if you're tanned it takes longer. There's a difference between getting enough D3 to eliminate the symptoms of deficiency and obtaining the optimum amount for optimum health. You're not going to get that much unless you spend quite a bit of time in the sun with a fair bit of you skin exposed, and not in the late afternoon or early morning. That's going to wrinkle and ruin your skin prematurely.

 

The situation is even worse for my fair skinned Asian wife. She will not go anywhere near the sun.

 

I believe most people should be supplementing with D3. I put my wife on it 6 months ago and she transformed into the "energizer bunny". That's how profound the difference was. I haven't seen pure D3 capsules here. I get them on iHerb and a year's supply for the 2 of us is about $10.

I thought iherb was stopped from delivering to Thailand? I used to but truck loads of supplements from them but last I tried they told me they can no longer deliver here and also there was some issue with the import of supplements and vitamins now as they would be treated as medicines? 

[starky]

9 hours ago, JSixpack said:

 

1. Take along a jacket, sweater, or sweatshirt (w/ hoodie--better skip the ski mask)

2. Close the nozzle

 

Sorted! So many difficulties on our forum.

 

The idea of a germ-ridden, recycled, in-flight air supply is one of the most widely propagated urban myths about airline sanitation out there.

       --https://io9.gizmodo.com/why-you-really-get-sick-on-planes-and-how-to-prevent-1471880458

 

Surfaces, esp. the toilet, are however the issue. See the link for suggestions.

 

But to answer the OP,  no, colds aren't more severe here or more frequent. I haven't had a cold in years--I take care of myself--whereas my friends in the States get them every winter. Friend o' mine just recovered from a really bad cold. Keep tellin' him to move to Pattaya, even sent him the recent Sex Capital article, but he's culture bound. Well, there is the family too.

 

Another myth propagated here (farangs are just as bad as Thais in their own way) is that medicines lessen the severity of a cold or speed your recovery. Make you feel it less, help you sleep, yes. In the West, you're not gettin' no codeine over the counter either. The antihistamines here--same stuff. Hit the Atarax, man. They don't just have paracetamol. A Thai doc can certainly drug you up and the hospitals have the really good stuff. Yeah, skip the antibiotics.

 

Great thread for our germaphobes and hypochondriacs.

 

Drawing with a wide brush there mate absolutely no problem getting codeine over the counter in Oz, besides having to show ID :) Also without being a smart arse wouldn't you say that making you feel it less and helping you sleep better does lessen the severity of a cold? Finally why should I have to go to a hospital to diagnose something that I am fully aware of and pay exorbitant prices for something that should be cheaply and readily available over the counter? Off topic but it's a pet peeve of mine that there is less availability to helpful medicines because <deleted> junkies misuse them. Once again punishing normal people by pandering to <deleted> that have zero self control.

Edited February 19, 2017 by starky

[tropo]

21 minutes ago, starky said:

I thought iherb was stopped from delivering to Thailand? I used to but truck loads of supplements from them but last I tried they told me they can no longer deliver here and also there was some issue with the import of supplements and vitamins now as they would be treated as medicines? 

 

I've had no problem with iHerb shipping here. I've had quite a few packages delivered over the last 6 months.

 

I don't know where I'd be without them. You can't buy straight D3 in Thailand as far as I know... you can get it combined with other stuff I don't want, and I wanted the 10,000 IU strength.

[Mangkhut]

I have also had many of these really long lasting colds/flus while travelling and staying in Thailand and other asian countries. It stuck with me often for 2-3 weeks. Although not very sick, just a bit of cough (could be quite bad cough actually) and "tight chest" and a bit of general not wellbeing feel, fatigue etc - still not very bad. And I thought it was nothing to be done other than symptomatical treatments as of cough, fever etc.

 

But at one stage I got so stuck with one of these - what I belived was colds/flus and the sickness just didnt go away even one week after I had returned home. And since Im a nurse myself and have access to medicines in my job I had treated myself with general antibiotics (benzylpenicillin) but with no cure for my illness - so I went to my GP and I had also done some research myself. And I explained my case to the GP and told him from my research this could be an infection caused by what is called atypical bacterias - the mycoplasma pneumoniae - and that gives whats called an atypical pneumonia also called walking pneumonia in english I belive. It has lighter symptoms than other pneumonias and you often think its a cold or a flu and even goes to work with it. And the GP agreed with me and said that seems very true.

 

So I was given the right antibiotics  - which is Erytromycin or Doxycillin and I got better in 1-2 days and 100 % well after 3-4 days.

 

And after that - if I get something similar cold/flu symptoms thats lasts more than a week and I cough a lot and have a general fatigue etc I have been getting and taking those right antibiotics - and wham-bang better in no time.

 

So if you get cold/flu symptoms thats lasts long and gives you bad cough, fatigue, sore throat, tight chest etc - consider that it can be a atypical pneumonia/walking pneumonia and see a doctor and tell him that. The right antibiotics will cure it very quickly.

I have got atypical pneumonia in Thailand and other asian countries several times and never back home in Europe so I think the mycoplasma pneumonia is more common in Asia.

 

http://www.m.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/walking-pneumonia

 

 

 

[Bonefish]

10 hours ago, starky said:

I thought iherb was stopped from delivering to Thailand? I used to but truck loads of supplements from them but last I tried they told me they can no longer deliver here and also there was some issue with the import of supplements and vitamins now as they would be treated as medicines? 

Of course iHerb delivers to Thailand. Just got a box full of good stuff. Just be careful to order for US$ 40 or more (free shipping) but less than US$ 80, because then the parcel will be delivered to your home with no additional charges. All you pay is the very low US price, the cheapest in the world. And they have more than 35,000 products to chose from.

[Rajab Al Zarahni]

58 minutes ago, Mangkhut said:

I have also had many of these really long lasting colds/flus while travelling and staying in Thailand and other asian countries. It stuck with me often for 2-3 weeks. Although not very sick, just a bit of cough (could be quite bad cough actually) and "tight chest" and a bit of general not wellbeing feel, fatigue etc - still not very bad. And I thought it was nothing to be done other than symptomatical treatments as of cough, fever etc.

 

But at one stage I got so stuck with one of these - what I belived was colds/flus and the sickness just didnt go away even one week after I had returned home. And since Im a nurse myself and have access to medicines in my job I had treated myself with general antibiotics (benzylpenicillin) but with no cure for my illness - so I went to my GP and I had also done some research myself. And I explained my case to the GP and told him from my research this could be an infection caused by what is called atypical bacterias - the mycoplasma pneumoniae - and that gives whats called an atypical pneumonia also called walking pneumonia in english I belive. It has lighter symptoms than other pneumonias and you often think its a cold or a flu and even goes to work with it. And the GP agreed with me and said that seems very true.

 

So I was given the right antibiotics  - which is Erytromycin or Doxycillin and I got better in 1-2 days and 100 % well after 3-4 days.

 

And after that - if I get something similar cold/flu symptoms thats lasts more than a week and I cough a lot and have a general fatigue etc I have been getting and taking those right antibiotics - and wham-bang better in no time.

 

So if you get cold/flu symptoms thats lasts long and gives you bad cough, fatigue, sore throat, tight chest etc - consider that it can be a atypical pneumonia/walking pneumonia and see a doctor and tell him that. The right antibiotics will cure it very quickly.

I have got atypical pneumonia in Thailand and other asian countries several times and never back home in Europe so I think the mycoplasma pneumonia is more common in Asia.

 

http://www.m.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/walking-pneumonia

 

 

 

So the moral of the story is that even if you are a qualified nurse it would be most unwise to take non- prescribed antibiotics from your employers pharmacy and indulge in a process of trial and error treatment. Firstly, the treatment might not work, secondly you will probably extend the duration of your infection and thirdly, you will have contributed to the overall problem of antibiotic resistance through your misuse. I wonder if you have also considered that your employer might take a dim view of a nurse dipping into the pharmacy store to treat him/herself.