Nasty health problems in the Philippines - What to do?

[E_Irizarry]

Today my dad told me that my cousin's husband just died of high liver enzymes, and told me to take it as a warning to bring down my liver enzyme level as well. But how can I do that?

He wrote:

Dear Win,

I got a call from your cousin Shiu-Hon today. She told me her husband passed away Thursday. You remember her husband, he appeared as a chunky strong guy. Before he died, he had a levitated GOT and GPT and he was too busy to take care of that. His liver became harden (like a hard fiber) and stop functioning. His kidneys were also bad. He had a cold that further complicated the conditions that triggered multiple organs failure including lung. I was very shocked and sad for her. We will find time to go to Taipei to see her.

I can't help to think about your condition. You have high GOT and GPT. You have high blood pressure and blood sugar. You don't take care of your health. You have a bad sleeping pattern and you don't excercise. You don't take medication as you were told. Please take Shiu-Hon's husband as a warning sign and start taking care of yourself seriously.

You should also find time to come back to Taiwan for a thorough check up. If you don't like to stay long, you could just stay long enough for the check up. You could pick up the stuff you asked me to buy from US.

Let me know your plan. Take care. Love,
Dad

My belated condolences go out to Shiu-Hon's late husband and his surviving family.

[Winston]

You won't believe this.

With all my ailments here, the other day, while I was straining to get stools out for the stool exam, I strained so hard that I ended up with hemorrhoids! Now I have a huge external hemorrhoid next to my anus, which hurts a little when I sit down! I just found out online that straining during constipation is a common cause of hemorrhoids. Oh great. How was I supposed to know that? I'm not a medical human encyclopedia. So how was I supposed to know? Sheesh. Such bad luck.

Will this thing go away on it's own? What can I do about it?

I told some of you before, that I sense a bad luck jinx here, or a bad energy field, that creates health problems.

Here are some other odd problems I have that I forgot to mention:

- I do not just cough when I am sick or have an infection. I also cough when I see something gross, or think about something gross. I don't know why? Is that a type of reflex disorder? For example, if I see spit wads on the street floor, it will make me cough. And in the Philippines, there's nasty stuff on the floor on the time - spit wads, garbage, spilled food, etc. So I'm constantly coughing just by walking on the street. That's why I need a clean environment. It's yet another reason I'm not suited here. So you see, the ways in which I don't fit in here, are more than you can imagine and more than I can list.

- I keep pulling muscles just by stretching or yawning. I don't know why. If I stretch my body, I often feel like one of my muscles is about to pull, so I quickly stop. Even if I yawn, I sometimes feel like my neck muscles are about to pull, which is scary, so I quickly stop the yawn. Most painful of all though, is when I crouch or bend forward and arch my back. When I do that, I feel something in my solar plex region of my stomach about to snap. And once it does, it's very painful, like a muscle is about to tear! It's terrible. I don't know what causes this. Is it simple lack of exercise? I didn't pull muscles this easily before.

- The air and humidity feel icky on my skin, so much so that it becomes hard for me to feel horny or perform sexually here. If I feel grossed out by the air and environment, it's hard for me to get turned on physically or aroused sexually. That's another major downside.

In terms of health, I sense a bad luck energy here, like a jinx, that is very destructive to health. When you are here, the health problems just pile up one by one. There is something about the energy or karma here. It happens to others too, not just me. Lots of people die young here. And many Filipinas told me that their father passed away early. It seems to be dangerous to health to be here.

[odbo]

Get some quality sleep and the muscle strain should go away. Try to sleep on your back too. And when you're finally out of the country write one of those "I feel like I just got out of prison!" articles like you last time.

[momopi]

In terms of health, I sense a bad luck energy here, like a jinx, that is very destructive to health. When you are here, the health problems just pile up one by one. There is something about the energy or karma here. It happens to others too, not just me. Lots of people die young here. And many Filipinas told me that their father passed away early. It seems to be dangerous to health to be here.

So, when are you moving?

[YoucancallmeAl]

Hey Winston,

Constipation was a big problem for me in PI too. None of their food has any fiber. They only eat white rice instead of the much healthier, fiber-rich brown rice. When I introduced my GF and her family to brown rice, they hated it.
I realized after only a few days there I was getting constipated so I stocked up on oatmeal and made sure to eat it every day. And I drank a lot of green tea as well. Those 2 dietary decisions helped me get and stay somewhat regular again.
I've never had hemorroids (thank god!), so I can't tell you if it's life-long or not. But if you had to strain that hard, get some oatmeal and green tea ASAP!

As for the pulling muscles when stretching, that's been happening to me a lot over the last couple years as well. I get charleyhorses all the time now, no matter what country I'm in, especially in the morning after getting up. I think it's just us getting older. (I'm early 40's) But, yes, more exercise would definitely help.

[Winston]

I don't have constipation. I simply strained trying to produce a stool sample for the lab test.

Good news. My health is better now. The only symptoms I have now are coughing, diarrhea and random drowsiness and an irregular sleep habit.

I stopped taking Nexium and the acid reflux problem didn't come back, amazingly. But if the acid is still coming back up, that might explain the coughing.

Btw, I found out that I was lucky that I didn't exercise in Angeles City's polluted weather. Apparently, exercising in pollution only makes the polluted air get in your lungs faster and deeper. See this.

http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/ewh-semt/air/out ... te-eng.php

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pollution#Human_health

[Winston]

Btw, amazingly, after I had a good time with Rock and Steve, and flirted with some hot girls that turned on my hormones and made me feel alive again, lol, my chronic cough suddenly stopped. Perhaps all my negative thoughts and feelings about Angeles City manifested into a chronic cough, and once I had positive emotions, it canceled the effect? lol.

Who knows. We are only beginning to understand the mind/body connection and how it affects healing, the immune system, and the power of the placebo effect.

Anyway, with my chronic cough gone, my health is pretty much back to normal now. Whew. And I guess my sexual desires have returned as well.

[Davidpeterson]

Most of us plan to live in our entire process. We plan to get married, have children, our retirement, and our future family vacations. However, we can also be a healthier, more active lifestyles program. Sometimes the way of life and our most important aspects related to our well-being forget ...... our health. If you do not have our health, our quality of life greatly diminished.

[Winston]

Update:

Good news. My liver enzymes are now back to a normal healthy level, according to my last two blood tests. Therefore, whatever was causing my GPT/GOT levels to be high in the Philippines has somehow been reversed upon coming to Taiwan. I don't know if it was the pollution in the Philippines, the heat/humidity, or what. But whatever it was, it seems to have been reversed.

I'm also doing 30 minutes of brisk walking everyday on the treadmill at the neighborhood gym. Is it better to run or jog on the treadmill than walk?

[momopi]

I'm also doing 30 minutes of brisk walking everyday on the treadmill at the neighborhood gym. Is it better to run or jog on the treadmill than walk?

Make sure you get a good pair of running shoes first. There's a couple runners here on the forums, they can probably help you with some suggestions.

[Winston]

Why? You don't need shoes to use on the treadmill. I just wear slippers and they do fine on there. But I only do brisk walking, not running.

[Billy]

Nice to hear you´re taking serious steps. ^^

[ExpeditionSailor]

Could my constant fatigue be a symptom of early diabetes type 2?

http://www.diabetessymptomsonline.com/d ... atigue.htm

The thing is, the only other diabetes related symptom I have from that list is frequent urination. I do urinate a lot more than most, but not everyday, only some days, and not always after I drink a lot either. Is it normal for some people to urinate a lot?

I'm going to start swimming more often and exercising and see if the fatigue goes away after that. I guess that's the first step in the process of elimination.

Sorry to bother you all with these health problems. But after a while, you get more concerned about them, you know.

Winston, I have Type 2 diabetes as well. My symptoms before diagnosis were mainly fatigue and frequent urination too, apart from ravenous hunger.
The only way you will know for sure is to ask your doctor to put you in for a fasting blood glucose test. If your fasting blood glucose (FBG)
is more than 7.2 mmol/l (126 mg/dl) at any time of day, especially after a meal, you probably have Type 2 diabetes. T2D is controllable with diet, exercise,
and medications. There is no cure, at present.

Be aware that fatigue and frequent urination can have other causes, so ask your doctor to check to see if anything else could be the cause.

[Winston]

I already got a blood sugar test. My blood sugar levels are at normal levels.

I've always had frequent urination problems though.

I think the fatigue was mostly due to the heat/humidity in SE Asia and from sweating in it.

Odbo will tell you that it's a lie that diabetes is not curable.

[Falcon]

Chlamydia plush dolls are really cute. My university bookstore sells them.