Senior Player

Travel firms in the UK are selling package holidays to countries caught in Middle East crossfire for as little as £100. Some airlines are even offering £15 flights to drum up enthusiasm. So what does Thai Airways do instead? That’s right, increase their airfares by 10-15%... genius!!

No burning prior to peeing, no. I was pretty much just like the OP, getting up perhaps twice/thrice nightly for a pee before that fateful night. Basically, there was no prior warning to indicate that the blockage would suddenly occur. I'd used Prostasan before then, which is a traditional herbal medicine, primarily containing saw palmetto berry extract, used by men over 18 to relieve lower urinary tract symptoms caused by an enlarged prostate (BPH). Now I have a catheter fitted until further notice.

I'm not in Thailand but I'm currently experiencing an enlarged prostate problem here in the UK. Long story short, I was rushed to hospital with urinary retention (being unable to pee for 2 days straight) whereby I've had to have a catheter fitted to drain away the urine. Due to my kidneys taking a severe pounding I was admitted over Christmas Eve, Day, and Boxing Day with constant antibiotics pumped into my body via a cannula and drip. Trust me, you don't want to let it get this far as my situation is now extremely uncomfortable. I'm still awaiting a Transrectal Ultrasound (TRUS) to have my prostate measured and tested for cancer. This will be the first step in getting properly treated. So far I've had the finger probe where it was established I didn't have any nodules on my prostate (apparently a good sign). My UK hospital has spoken about having a Transurethral Resection of the Prostate (TURP), which is a common surgery to remove excess prostate tissue blocking the urethra (pee tube), treating symptoms of an enlarged prostate (BPH) or prostate cancer blockage, using a resectoscope passed through the urethra to cut away tissue with an electric current. A TURP is one of those last recourse treatments. I'm hoping that after my biopsy that I'm offered GreenLight Laser PVP (Photoselective Vaporization of the Prostate) which is a minimally invasive laser procedure to treat an enlarged prostate with quicker healing times, etc. I don't want to get ahead of myself with wishful thinking, but that's the outcome I would prefer. If it's any consolation, the NHS is extremely slow in treating this despite me being placed at the top of some urgent NHS waiting list. Nevertheless, as soon as I have my biopsy/diagnosis I'm going private here in the UK. The drugs I have been given in the meantime consist of Contiflo XL 400 mg (taken once daily) and Ciprofloxacin 500mg (twice daily). The only reason I'm telling you this is don't let this problem manifest like I did. Because one night you just might find you can't pee either and have to undergo what I'm presently undergoing, and I wouldn't wish that on anyone. I wish you luck.

What's happened to this site? Once upon a time, there used to be page-after-page of forum members speculating on the nationality of the perp and main cause of the drama. But I go away for just a few months and come back to find it now a barren wasteland. Is this mostly due to the awful new format whereby regional news has been removed and replaced by one large muddled and assorted thread the main cause? I gotta say, I'm not liking the new format, people. I much preferred the previous news threads filed under "Pattaya News, Chiang Mai News, Bangkok News," etc. That said, I was hoping to find a forum "investigator" who had uncovered the real nationality of the "street fighter" yet I find just 2 paltry comments on the subject!! Standards are really slipping around here.

Cue the unforgiving and repressively puritanical looking down their nose at drunken behaviour in Pattaya because they are so above it themselves. Perhaps this forum should be retitled Prissy Now.

Do I detect an element of sarcasm in you response? Doesn't matter. Like it or not, Pattaya, or Thailand for that matter, attracts an unsavory crowd that likes to cause trouble when out drinking or frequenting these kinds of establishments. I've seen it with my own eyes many times before. And it's not specifically Brits that are doing it either. It just happens to be our turn for the spotlight this particular moment in time. Does that mean I side with the security guards? Absolutely not, as I made it abundantly clear that I thought their response was disproportionate. If it makes you feel any better, I will add that I think the "soccer guy" who kicked the Brit on the floor in the head, should be prosecuted and face more than a small fine and a simple wai.

By all accounts, it looks like the 3 tattooed thugs went out looking for trouble and found it. Was the response from the security guards disproportionate? Yes, but hopefully the 3 tattooed thugs will think twice next time before starting any trouble.

You're correct. The Thaiger has followed up the original report with its own investigation and there's a lot more to the story than we were first led to believe... https://thethaiger.com/news/national/ex-con-brit-arrested-for-fatal-punch-to-russian-in-thailand So the Brit is an ex-con whose daughter is still in South Wales and not in Thailand. So, who is the 15-year-old that the Welshman—known locally as Flash Harry—is trying to pass off as his own?

You keep pushing the notion that the victim, Igor Yasilyev, 36, was chatting up the Brit's girlfriend (wife) when the actual reported story is he was making lude advances to his 15-year-old daughter. Whether you believe a 15-year-old should be out at a midnight party is irrelevant as it's not against the law. Besides, she was with her father who also happens to look like he knows how to handle himself. She was not galavanting around Pattaya's seedy nightspots, unlike a lot of the holier-than-thou commentators here in the chat.

I don't mean anything, that's your assumption. But the Russian DID overstep social norms, like it or not. Or perhaps you think it's normal to proposition another man's daughter when your own wife is at the same party? And as far as I'm aware, there is no law that says a 15-year-old (probably going on 16) must not attend a pool party when abroad on holiday with her father, irrespective of the time of night. If there is some unwritten law, it must be from the early 19th century.

There appears to be confusion amongst many of you in the chat. The wife WASN'T propositioned, it was his 15-year-old daughter. The wife had already left the party by the time the perp had delivered a single punch to the Russian for propositioning his daughter. The wife says so in another story featured in the DM. It says: his Thai wife, 28, said she had also attended the party but left early to go to work. At around 3am, she claimed she received a text from her husband saying he wanted to go home. She said: 'I returned to the villa and found him walking along the street, so I took him back inside. 'When I asked him what happened, he told me that while they were drinking, the Russian man started to sexually harass our daughter, even though his own wife was also there at the party. The harassment escalated until the man finally propositioned our daughter. This angered my husband so he punched him once and knocked him out.' An acquaintance of the Russian who died said both men met each other for the first time at the party. She said: 'They were drinking together normally until a row broke out. I didn't know what nationality the man was, but he punched (the Russian man), who hit his head on the ground. I was so shocked because there was a lot of blood.' The father, reportedly from Wales, was arrested on Monday afternoon at his home in the Sattahip district, around 10 miles from the pool villa. He told police: 'I did not think my punch would lead to the man's death. I regret my actions.' The headline in the DM is also rather salacious as it implies the Russian was a pedo when the so-called child is 15-years-old and looks much older than her years. Could it be that the Russian thought she was older too? Who really knows what was going on in the Russian's head, but he clearly overstepped social norms and got a slap for his offensive behaviour. Unfortunately, he cracked his head on concrete and died as a result. I hope that helps clear up any confusion.

Not in 2016 when I needed the ointment, it wasn't. I tried online and couldn't find it anywhere, also visiting countless pharmacies in Pattaya to be told the exact same thing. And yes, the steroid cream can now be bought without a doctor's prescription in the UK and most likely in Thailand too in 2024. Not that it's of any consequence as I've already had the operation. My main point was that sometimes you have to swallow the treatment cost if you want to be restored back to health—something the OP was more concerned about.

Indeed. Mine were first brought on by drinking alcohol in excess coupled with a poor diet when I was roughly 27-years old. Getting the condition made me immediately cut down on my booze, especially after my GP visit. As I previously pointed out, I was prescribed Proctosedyl Ointment which could only be prescribed by a doctor and not bought over-the-counter in the UK. The tube used to be quite large and would last me roughly 1 year before it expired. My condition would only recur every once in a blue moon, sometimes not coming back for a couple of years. Thing was when they did come back, no over-the-counter ointment would ever work, only the one with hydrocortisone, a steroid, and cinchocaine hydrochloride, a local anaesthetic. Despite their infrequency, as I got older the haemorrhoids could reappear over any type of straining, even heavy lifting or untightening a difficult bolt with a spanner could bring them on! What I'm trying to say is even a healthy diet wouldn't ward them off indefinitely. That's why it was such a relief to get the surgery done in Thailand when I was staying there for 6 months. Now I no longer have to think about them. The cost has obviously now gone up due to inflation, which is another reason that I'm glad I got it done in LOS when I did.

A friend of mine in Pattaya had a similar treatment for enlarged prostate as you describe. He appears to be fully recovered now. You make a very good point about the pricing. I recall being taken to the finance department of the hospital to discuss payment options. As soon as I said my health insurance wouldn't cover it as it was an already pre-existing condition that I hadn't thought to notify the insurance company about, they changed the price and lowered it. I recall the price was quite reasonable which included a 2-day stay in the hospital, especially as the room felt like a 4-star luxury hotel. Also, I was in extreme discomfort and wanted the operation to go ahead without any further delay, so agreeing to the fee was a necessity as far as I was concerned. Sometimes you just have to swallow the cost if you want to overcome your problem straight away.

I had an operation for haemorrhoid removal at Bangkok Hospital Pattaya in 2016. Can't remember the exact cost (think it was roughly 80k) but it was well worth the money as I've never had an issue since then. Before that I used to rely on Proctosedyl Ointment (with steroids) which was the only cream that worked for me. Unfortunately, Proctosedyl Ointment is not freely available in Thailand so I had to take myself off to the hospital where I was offered surgical removal or some other technique whereby he inserted rags doused in some chemical solution up the rectum to reduce the swelling. Not fancying the insertion treatment, I decided to opt for surgery. As I hadn't eaten the previous evening (or in the morning before my hospital visit) I was admitted straight away for the operation. The cost included a 2-day stay in the hospital where I was looked after by nurses in my own private room with TV and toilet. The room even had a panoramic view of the Pattaya coastline from my large window. The operation was pretty much as you describe: I was given a spinal anesthetic and was fully conscious throughout. I was basically on all fours with my posterior raised in the direction of the surgeon, where he did his removal of said haemorrhoids and a long vein. During the removal I was being constantly talked to by the anesthetist, who made sure I couldn't feel anything. The whole procedure took something like maybe 30 minutes, before I was then rolled back onto my trolley bed and taken to my private room to recuperate. As I stated previously, the operation was a huge success as I've never had a problem since. The only downsides were that the spinal anesthetic took a long time to wear off after and for me to regain any feeling back from below the waist, plus the healing process with dissolving stitches took approximately 4 weeks before I was able to feel fully back to normal again. Basically, I had to be careful how I went to the toilet as it was still very sore down there.