Raoul's China Saloon (V5.0) Beta
Da Woiks: Links, Library, News and Other Stuff More Useful Than You Are => Le Laowai Liberation League Labor & Lifestyle Lending Library (ON-TOPIC) => Topic started by: AMonk on June 26, 2008, 01:27:03 AM
-
Chickenpox
This was mentioned in another place, and it got me to thinking. We have a veritable wealth of info and knowledge on any number of "common" illnesses.
First of all, it isn't always a child's minor ailment. Chicken pox comes in 3 stages of severity. Generally, when the pox is passed along, the next victim will get the next (lesser) severity.
The first stage/level can be extremely bad. "Pox" outbreaks all over the body, including scalp and palms and soles and genitals. In the worst cases, it can even be found inside aoaoaoaoao the body: ears, nose, mouth and as far down as the throat (or occasionally the lungs).
The second level is the one we are most used to thinking about when we hear the words "chicken pox". This is when we have splotches of the pox on our faces, upper body, back and arms. Most kids seem to show this level/stage, when they contract it.
The third level is so mild that there may only be a light sprinkling of pox bumps (or even only hidden on the scalp) and a slight rise in temperature.
Children appear to weather this disease a lot more easily than adults. Adults are much more prone to the complications, too.
Treatment is for each syptom, as needed. See your doctor for extra advice, medicine.
Wear loose clothing, and apply calamine lotion or baking soda paste to the affected areas.
Warm baths in baking soda-laced water. PAT dry, do NOT rub.
Try not to scratch. Take an antihistamine for relief of the itching. Aspirin/Tylenol/Advil for any fever.
'Shroomy...what did I miss?
-
From what I know, chickenpox can also develop into shingles, which is a rather painful skin disorder, I think.
-
Yes.
You (almost) never have a recurrence of the pox. But the virus does get into the lymph nodes and can hide there for many, many moons. THEN it re-appears as shingles....which can come back again and again. Nasty Bugger! asasasasas
-
Yup, I've had shingles twice. But a long time ago, stress will bring on an attack so never get stressed ahahahahah
-
Technically, the virus lives in the spinal ganglia, not the lymph nodes. It's not exactly a skin disease, as chicken pox is actually part of the herpes family - herpes zoster. Shingles are like having cold sores on your torso, only bigger and more painful.
If you are having an outbreak of Shingles, you are at risk of giving chicken pox to anyone who hasn't had it, too, but only by contact with the fluids from the sores, not so easily as the Chicken pox.
-
I see an unusually high proportion of Irritable Bowel Syndrome among expats in China. They seem uncertain as to what causes this....stress, weird diet, many things are considered possibilities. Might wanna be sure you keep some fiber in your diet, don't overdo the chili peppers and fried stuff, wash the food you eat,...and try to stay relaxed. Liberal application of tequila helps with this immensely. bfbfbfbfbf
Not all the ailments common here are physical.
Stress is surprisingly high and common. You may only teach a few hours a week, but you're foreign and funny-looking 24/7.
Depression is also a concern...isolation, loneliness, baggage from Old Country...a lot of things can take their toll in this environment.
-
PUBIC LICE
Cute little fellows living on pubic hair, mostly. I found a few, took a close look and found many hanging on to me. Itchy too. Annoying but harmless insects parasitic on humans only. Feed by inserting mouthparts into host and sucking a bit of blood. Not known to transmit diseases. To confirm diagnosis, never had them before, i went to the local chinese male hospital and was greeted by many female nurses and techs and finally saw the man doc. he said yes i did have the lice and would i like a complete male checkup on all my parts, internal and external, while i was there. i passed on most of the tests, took the sex transmitted disease blood tests, all ok and was glad. then came the really bad part: the prescription to eliminate the little devils. high cost, unreadable packages and 'return in 2 weeks for more'. i bought the stuff and later learned all was useless against the insects. in america we use an insecticide shampoo specially prepared for the job. kills the insects, repeat after a week to get the next brood. i wanted them gone so bought a can of aerosol insecticide containing pyrethrins. not expensive compared to doc's drugs. sprayed some on old underpants, protected my penis with a condom, then wore the pants for half hour. no problem; bugs gone. repeat in a week. all clear. certainly a home remedy, useful in a developing country, that works. BTW, possibly these lice are easily gotten from 'working girls'. curuously, later i found some lurcking on my chest hairs!! the chinese men never get the chest hair lice and no girls get them either.
-
ting, agagagagag for a truly creative and resourceful way of solving a problem.
-
Well instead of gasing the old fellow wth chemicals, try mayonnaise. Slather yourself in it and the little beasties can't move. Can't breed nor lay eggs. Of course you smell like a cross between an old sandwich and a decaying forest but it works.
Never had pubic lice but caught hair lice teaching. Awful hell. But I believe one of our dearest members had a chapter of his life devoted to these irritable infesations so you might want to refer to his experience if you have further developments.
-
So, Ting. Do you burn your bedding and/ or your girlfriend?? aoaoaoaoao
-
An old remedy for pubic lice is simply kerosene. And no, it doesn't hurt you.
-
I truncated some posts in this thread.
This is the Library, for Pete's sake. llllllllll
-
One common ailment I found, particularly in Northern China around spring time is dysentery. Nasty thing, the first couple of times you get it but your body does build up some immunity to it after a time. Feels like a nasty case of the flu; body aches, sniffling, sneezing, fever but also with diarrhea. Can be deadly if not treated. The treatment is usually a few days or more of daily drip injections of antibiotics. After you've had it a few times it just seems like a nasty case of diarrhea that won't go away. Pop down to the drug store pick up some Amoxycillin, take a double dose for about a week to ten days and it clears up nicely. Any doctors out there may think I'm treating this very cavalierly but sometimes the local docs are not so good at giving good diagnoses and often just want to do many tests so they can make more money off of us while doing little to actually treat us.
-
I remember being a young'n back in Oz with an unfortunate case of head lice when I was in grade 2 aoaoaoaoao. Sent home in disgust, dumped in the bath and my father poured kero all over me qqqqqqqqqq, while praying he wouldn't light up!! Bastard.....
Anyway, having a not so nice case of sinus probs atm which I get regularly. If anyone's had it here, you will know the immense pain I speak of! Started not long after bed last night (bout 11), took a couple of ibprufen to break some of it up. Got sporadic sleep, took more this morning. Am feeling a tad better (after some good forceful sneezing) and just glad I'm on hols atm!
-
Guys may care to skip over this one (but you won't will ya? Nah you'll read it and then bitch that I wrote it afafafafaf)
I have known several women/girls to get a vaginal infection. I've had it a few times. The doctor couldn't tell me what caused it (perhaps the water) but Chinese friends of mine have had trouble with it too. It goes between an itch and a slight burning. It is not a yeast infection. If you go the pharmacy, they have suppositories that take care of it in a few days. Do not ignore systems! If it is untreated then the systoms get much worse and the pain is beyond terrible.
-
Babs, you're fine here...
Some recent posts with questions on a specific current personal ailment have been moved to a new topic, "Good Fer What Ails Ya", in the Bar, where they belong.
I've had to whack out a number of irrelevant or topic-deviating posts. For the second time in this one thread. llllllllll
Every time we try dealing with the Library, I'm always gratified and encouraged by the blank looks...the total lack of comprehension. bfbfbfbfbf
Let's try again, shall we?
1) Despite many, many signs stating that the Library is on-topic, it REALLY IS ON-TOPIC. No...really.
2) The Library is only for the posting of hard, fact-like information that would be useful to a general audience of current or future foreign residents of China. It's not for the posting of idle commentary on the other posts that does not contribute to the topic. It's not for asking questions, except maybe in some cases where they clarify or logically expand the topic. It's not for boasting about your incredible idyllic luck in achieving a situation other people can't possibly reasonably hope to find when they come here. And it's not for posting things that kinda share some keywords with the topic, but otherwise take it down completely different paths.
The WHOLE IDEA OF THE LIBRARY is that people can come here and get good information on a very specific topic within a reasonable amount of time and effort, without having to wade through a pile of idle commentary on the other posts that does not contribute to the topic, topics that start as questions, details of special cases that probably won't apply to them, or threads that wander through a labyrinth of sorta-kinda-connected sub-topics.
Please, guys, work with me on this one. We have to have at least ONE PLACE on here where you can just come and get some @$^#%#$$ straight information. I know it's only been five years now, but I remain confident we can get the hang of it. agagagagag
If we can't, I'll reluctantly make this entire area read-only, with all submissions through a Moderator. And I don't want to do that, because I really want people to benefit from your truly vast knowledge and experience....
-
Oh...a reminder:
THE TOPIC OF THIS THREAD IS INFO ON COMMON DISEASES AND AILMENTS THAT PEOPLE COMING TO CHINA MIGHT ENCOUNTER AND SHOULD BE AWARE OF.
-
Another one I have had problems with is Pellagra which is lack of Vitamin B. I had an issue where my tongue changed colour and looked like a map. Actually they call it Geographic Tongue. I didn't know that at the time and was pissed when they kept calling me 'map tongue' at the hospital llllllllll Raoul himself helped me find a doctor to figure out what it was. I had gone to the fancy hospital in town and they didn't know.
The cure is simple, just take Vitamin B pills once a day.
-
Or make sure to eat a reasonably well-balanced diet that includes enough veggies...which an awful lot of us here don't seem to do.
Some posts were added here that, again, went from general guidelines to really specific right-now stuff. I separated those posts into their own thread and moved them to the Bar... -R
-
Athlete's foot, although it doesn't exist here. Pharmacies will sell you some fairly inexpensive topical ointment, which isn't really effective. Then they will try to sell you a B-vitamin supplement which is expensive. Apparently the word for athlete's foot is the same as for beri-beri, although I don't see the connection?
Wear flip flops in the shower, wash and dry your feet, change your socks, etc., but sometimes it just happens.
If you're coming to China you might bring your own OTC meds, just in case.
-
Oh...a reminder:
THE TOPIC OF THIS THREAD IS INFO ON COMMON DISEASES AND AILMENTS THAT PEOPLE COMING TO CHINA MIGHT ENCOUNTER AND SHOULD BE AWARE OF.
Okay, since everyone seems to want to be a pain in your ass and wander off topic, I'm surprised there is not a reference anywhere in our body of collected work dealing with hemorrhoids. I know some of you are bound to be plagued by this given pregancies, overweight, sedentary life styles, packing heavy loads for midnight runs away form dodgy schools, and just plain old living too long.
There was mention of witch hazel in a thread on belly button infections. Tufts pads are really just nice little sheets in a 50% solution of Witch hazel. Can Tufts be bought in China? How about Preparation H? Of course, just having a bottle of witch hazel which can be used for a plethora of skin ailments would be good. If the answer is no, then RD we need to do a raid on your Wally World and start a black market delivery to China.
I turned my friend on to witch hazel and tufts and she confirms it beats the traditional floor sweepings given by her Shanghai quack.
What's in the Carefore, Wal-marts, etc?
Is that common ailment enough for yous? uuuuuuuuuu
-
good post and useful. I too would like to know where to purchase the good ole 'H' as i have recently run out and i never see here. And am on occassion plagued by the little nasties. :lickass: just does not work. ahahahahah ahahahahah
-
Thankfully, I was never plagued by this particular affliction... bfbfbfbfbf
However, I often found myself in the position of medicine-buyer for other expats whose Chinese was even more pathetic than mine, so I got a look at a pretty broad spectrum of products...including 'roid meds. The Typhoon also had some problem with these while she was pregnant.
I never saw Prep H brand in a Chinese pharmacy, but it's easy to find hemorrhoid creams based on shark liver oil...exactly the same active ingredient Prep H uses. So no worries there at all.
More good news...witch hazel has been accepted into the Chinese herbal pharmacopoeia, and with a little shopping you'll find bottles of witch hazel tincture exactly like what you'll see in the West. A bottle of that and a bit of cotton gauze, and you've got Tufts.
So...sit easy. uuuuuuuuuu
-
bibibibibi Bummer!
-
bibibibibi Bummer!
:lickass: just does not work. ahahahahah ahahahahah
You two!!!!
Thanks, RD. My dearest akakakakak asks, who can buy it? I'm assuming anyone, but last night she tried to tell me that the average citizen can't buy Hydrogen Peroxide because it's considered a poison used to process drugs.
Some days it's hard to believe she's an environmental scientist then I have to remind myself she's afflicted with the "PhD Disease." ahahahahah
-
The 'roid creams and witch hazel, like most Chinese pharmaceuticals, can easily be purchased by any illiterate unwashed migrant agricultural worker who wanders in from the street and asks for them. bfbfbfbfbf
Hydrogen peroxide- a compound I happen to believe capable of solving most of the world's ills- is quite hard to find and is best brought in from outside. I did see it in China- ONCE- but it was a very tiny bottle at a very high price, and 99.9999% of local pharmacies won't carry it. Bring a supply in with you.
-
The iron tablets available at the local pharmacy here also have vitamin B. It isn't mentioned in Engish, but the Chinese student pointed out the word for vitamin in Chinese and it was followed by 'B'.
This might be good for the lady members who have higher iron requirements and are looking for the vitamin B. Vegemite is also a great source of VitB.
-
Vegemite is also a great source of VitB.
Yeah...if you can hold the stuff down. aaaaaaaaaa uuuuuuuuuu
Seriously, though, I never really trusted vitamin supplements etc. very much in China. There's just too much piracy and fakery. If they'll fake baby formula, for God's sake, they'll have no qualms about faking expensive vitamin tablets... bibibibibi
If nothing else, China is a land where it's easy, cheap, and pleasant to eat a balanced and highly nutritious diet. My advice is to eat smart and not place too much faith in the supplements. It's true in the West, too, but it seems a lot more true in China. I understand that many folks, especially the ladies, need supplements of iron, calcium, and other nutrients. My advice here is to get them through a doctor and buy them in hospitals, and don't use the shops for these items.
-
My advice here is to get them through a doctor and buy them in hospitals, and don't use the shops for these items.
Now that's good advice.
Raoul had to get lucky sometime.
-
Oh I agree. I have my own stash of vitamins from Australia.
The pharmacy I spoke of was at a women's health clinic. I believe it was attached to a hospital. Sounds more reliable. At least the existance of these clinics might be reassuring.
-
BAD, CHESTY COUGH/BRONCHITIS REMEDY
Take an onion. Peel it. Slice thinly (or chop) onto shallow plate. Sprinkle with sugar (Demarara if you can find it). Cover. Let sit for 3-4 hours (overnight OK, too). Drain off resultant liquid into re-sealable jar. Take 1-2 spoonfuls of the onion juice every few hours.
Throw away onion......OR add vinegar to make pickle....
-
This will also work with garlic, but only against that greeny yellow phlegmy stuff.
garlic and onion have a chemical that is related to the original sulpha drug (or is the original supha drug)
But it is topical, not systemic. Works on cuts, abrasions, ulcers and stuff like a charm, especially with salt in the brew.
Hurts like a bastard. But then, are we not men?
We are devo.
-
Broken fingers
I guess we all know that a broken finger means a visit to the hospital, but I found that rather unhelpful when I broke a finger a couple of days ago. So, here's the process I went through.
- Firstky, genius me inserted my finger in a doorframe and closed the door. llllllllll
- Then I taught 4 hours of class with taped fingers. The pain got worse and that 'uh oh' moment arose. Time to go to hospital.
- If you have a ring on this finger it would be a really good idea to remove it before any swelling prevents that. My poor ring is swollen on and I won't let them cut it (unless it gets really bad)
- The hospital has a cute little x-ray machine that I put my hand in, rather like a nail dryer you see at a manicurist. They took some films and confirmed my hopes and dreams. "The finger is smashed and busted" - words of student translator. ahahahahah It's broken just above the top knuckle.
- Doctor's remedy - Chinese medicines in a bottle with that little straw. Antibiotics. (I said no to both) Strap finger to next finger with a splint. Bye!
- Ok, I think, no problem. Home to rest. When I had a shower I put a plastic bag over my hand and taped around my wrist. Worked well. When I washed my fingers after eating I got the splint a little damp. Usually this isn't a problem, but the splint went soft. I took the gauze off to see and the splint was made of CARDBOARD aoaoaoaoao
- Next step: go and see neighbours. Jimmy rig a solution. I was talking with some students outside the building. I gave them some money, asked them to buy icecreams on sticks, eat the icecreams and return with the sticks. We washed the sticks, dried them and wrapped them in gauze. Instant splint bfbfbfbfbf
- We taped an icecream stick under the finger using surgical tape. I have tiny hands so the stick reaches right to the bottom of my palm. We then taped the stick to my palm around below my little finger and between my thumb and forefinger. Next, we taped another gauze-wrapped stick between my broken 4th finger and middle finger to keep it straight sideways. Not too tight, I want circulation!
- Uh oh, problem. My finger is infected too! Seems I borke the skin next to my nail and somehow it is green and icky. Maybe why the doc offered me medicine (I didn't take any of it). I took my own general antibiotic and hope it clears up soon
- Tape and gauze is easily available, but it seems splints are not - hence the icecream stick splint. So far it is working well - but i do have tiny hands. Not sure it would work as well on a man.
-
How to Avoid Chronic Sinusitis/Rhinitis From Pollution and Allergies
I was very worried about living in Beijing because of the air pollution. I have a history of very serious sinus problems (five surgeries so far...and a sixth one in the future). However, I was able to go five months in Beijing without a single serious sinus problem thanks to nasal irrigation (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nasal_irrigation) (warning: sorta gross picture).
Nasal irrigation is simple and can be done with stuff you have around the house. Mix kosher salt (NOT table salt...this is important) and a bit of baking soda in some lukewarm purified water, put it in a squeeze bottle (or teapot that you never use), and shoot/pour the water up your nose and through your sinuses.
The easiest way to get set up to irrigate is to but a NeilMed Sinus Rinse Kit (http://www.neilmed.com/usa/sinusrinse.php) (available through Amazon, among other online retailers). It comes with a ready-made bottle and a bunch of salt packets.
Nasal irrigation has been clinically proven to reduce incidence of sinus infection. It's good stuff, very cheap, and works! Give it a try, I swear by it.
-
There is a reason netti pots keep their popularity. I also have sinus problems and it does work. bfbfbfbfbf