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Q: Have you been sick more often since coming to China?

12 years 8 weeks ago in  Health & Safety - China

 
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Shifu

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The kids I teach give me a cold about once a fortnight; if one of them has a cold the week after coming into contact with me I see it as only fair. Don't think they're giving me the runs though, very rarely do I eat children.

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12 years 8 weeks ago
 
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In my case it has been the other way around.  I have never felt better, or healthier, in my life.  I been living in China for almost 20 months now, and only had one cold that lasted 5 days, nothing else.
Maybe it could be the food intake (no oily things, no salt), maybe that now I eat more fruits and vegetables, maybe is my GF taking care of me rather than myself.  But seriously, I do feel very good, and younger too.

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12 years 8 weeks ago
 
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Yes, a lot more than before coming to China.  The two most common illnesses are colds/allergies that never seem to quite go away, and more frequent instances of food poisoning and the resulting dehydration that comes with that.  Before, I would rarely get any kind of cold or flu symptoms, and only had food poisoning once before in my life.  Probably my own fault about the food poisoning, as I eat out a lot more than I should....oh well!

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12 years 8 weeks ago
 
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I haven't been the same since coming here either. Illness seems to follow me around here. Allergies and runny nose are just the tip of the iceberg. In Canada I don't recall missing work due to any type of sickness. But here, I was actually "let go" from a job a few years back because I couldn't get over a battle with gout, of all things. I like my life here, I just wish I felt healthier. I'm working on it.

Shining_brow:

Gout?? Seriously?? Other than the lack of pain meds here, they've got good stuff for it! I get my regular Colchicine tabs from almost any chemist. That, and the ever available Fenbid (and knock-offs)

12 years 8 weeks ago
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derek:

Yeah, I did get proper medication after the fact. Acupuncture has been my saving grace in the past few years. and.....Fenbid rules!

12 years 8 weeks ago
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12 years 8 weeks ago
 
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I'm fine now, but for the first year, year and half it was like I was always sick. About four months in I got so sick I thought I was on my deathbed. But I'm fine now, knock on wood.

I've seen a few other foreigners have this adjustment period, which seems to be different for everyone. A few people get past it in a month or two, for others it drags on for years. Another one is that, when fresh-off-the-boat types get mosquito bites, they tend to be huge, like the size of quarters.

Whenever I get sick here, I like to tell myself that I'm systematically strengthening my immune system, like a superspy, or Batman.

thedude:

That's so true. This past spring and summer I was getting mosquito bites the size of quarters too. Hopefully this year I will be ok.

12 years 8 weeks ago
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12 years 8 weeks ago
 
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Shifu

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I get sick once a month here. Always a cold. Back home I might get sick once a year, if that. But the hygiene here is much worse. People coughing and sneezing and not covering their mouths, not washing their hands, etc etc. It's not an environment conducive to good health. 

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12 years 8 weeks ago
 
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Shifu

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I get less colds and flus here, but I've started getting allergies instead.

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12 years 8 weeks ago
 
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In the US, when I would get the runs, it was a rare occurance.  Here, I can expect to get the "laduzi" at least once a month, sometimes more.  Forget the fact that what I would consider to be a "normal" bowel movement only occurs now with great infrequency (and this is my 8th year here...), so I think that counts as being either ill more than back home or just a general lack of quality sanitation in the food.

My nose also seems to produce a lot more mucus, but this is not a surprise because on some days the pollution is so bad you can actualy chew the air.  This leads to even a minor cold becoming a hacking cough and possibly bronchitis which takes forever to go away.

I've also caught the flu (or had flu like symptoms) in the summer here, something which NEVER happens back home, but I chalk that up to exposure to a lot of people on a daily basis going in and out of 20° buldings into 40° heat and back again with 100% relative humidity.

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12 years 8 weeks ago
 
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Governor

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Some of you talk like everything that happened when you are in China must be due to this or that in China. bleeh.........

kchur:

Yes, and? When something is different in China than it is back home, it's not a huge leap to take.

12 years 8 weeks ago
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wolfdietrich2@gmail.com:

First I have to admit the poor hygiene in China. But it should not be rare to see people in China get sick around like you in some of your assumption, huh? And, a person who is all energetic and healthy in the east part of China gets sick after he went to the north part, how do you explain it? I think you know Non-Acclimatization.

12 years 8 weeks ago
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derek:

Well, well, well, who do we have here?

12 years 8 weeks ago
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MrTibbles:

That's because what I mentioned only happens IN CHINA. If I go to Japan, anywhere in Europe, the US, Canada, Australia... These things VANISH.

12 years 8 weeks ago
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12 years 8 weeks ago

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Posts: 226

Shifu

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I can go from having laduzi to very heavy constipation with frightening speed.

I also constantly have colds, no matter the season, no matter the preventive measures I take. Always. And they take longer to go away.

Also because of the pollution I haven't been doing any outdoor sports anymore, which most likely contributes to the poor health I've had since I've arrived.

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12 years 8 weeks ago
 
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Shifu

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The kids I teach give me a cold about once a fortnight; if one of them has a cold the week after coming into contact with me I see it as only fair. Don't think they're giving me the runs though, very rarely do I eat children.

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12 years 8 weeks ago
 
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Not in general, no... except for some ailments have seemed to have gotten worse, but I'll put that down more to this body getting older, more than the place I'm at.

I did, of course, have a major case of the runs during the first few months here, but that's just getting used to new foods. I had the same with water between 2 capital cities back home...

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I have only had 1 cold and 1 serious case of food poisening over the past year in China.
The biggest thing for me is lack of energy mostly because of lack of excerise which I do religiously at home.  Different dietary habits and increased alcohol consumption in China also don't help.
My daily laduzi wore off after the first few months.  Now it's only a few times a week instead of 14 times a day.
I compensate for the pollution by chain smoking.

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Yes, I have gotten sick 3? times. Always a nasty cold. To be fair, the current one was caught in Japan, but I've been back in China for 2 weeks now and it hasn't gone away. My guess is that I went straight from one cold to another, but I could be wrong. Part of that also may be the fact that I stayed at a friends house, where they have no heat and no hot water, not even for a shower, and the first few days I was constantly cold.

As for the runs, I get it less than once a week now. I tend to eat a lot of meat and drink milk along with other sources of protein. It really helps.

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12 years 8 weeks ago
 
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Colds, colds colds.  last winter I caught 4 straight colds running back to back. I was constantly sick.  In America, I almost never got sick.  I am a constant traveler and it is miserable traveling while sick.  This year, it's a little better, but I am sick now.  Just got over a fever.

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Actually I have been feeling healthier. My wight is down, I do more exercise, I have more energy.  My blood pressure has gone down, etc. In fact, I see photos of when I first arrived almost 5 years ago and now, and I like the change I see.

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When I first arrived in China in 1998 I felt I was sick often.  I had a cough all the time and I had the runs for the first few years.  Now, I hardly get sick.  In fact, I get sick less often than I do back in Canada.  How is that?  I have learned the Chinese custom of washing my hands as soon as I arrive at home and keeping my hands away from my face at all times.  Now, I get sick maybe once every one or two years!

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12 years 7 weeks ago
 
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Shifu

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Surprisingly so....I've been sick some days and some days not. I use to have a big congestion at a certain time back home but it all cleared up now. Well I guess it would be about the same. I haven't been to the doctor here, but I did catch some kind of infection. I got that checked out back home. 

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12 years 7 weeks ago
 
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