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| Health
in China |
Unusual Malady's
(September 2008) |
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| This
page features an assorted collection of odd Health Issues |
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We are not Doctors!
We simply offer advice concerning weird
medical conditions and bodily adjustments we have personally
experienced. Most of these are entirely due to you living
for a long time in a very different climate.
Consult a Doctor immediately if you have any health
worries |
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Introduction:
These are not life-threatening
or even serious Malady's, but if you have never encountered
them before they can be very worrying. Most are also
only specific to Expats - people who live in another
country for several years
These things mainly can occur to anyone living in a
very different culture or climate from the one their
body is used to - and are applicable to anywhere in
the world
Currently Explained below are:
1. Weird and Vivid Dreams
2. Heat Blisters
3. Skin Changes
4. Feeling Too Hot
5. Slight cough that won't go away
6. Persistent Perspiration
Dreams
One extremely disconcerting phase concerns weird and
vivid dreams - especially ones related to: times long
past, events and experiences
Condition:
You will have been living in a very different country
for between 12 and 18 months. Everything seems fine,
then suddenly you start to experience the most vivid
and colourful dreams of your life. You can recall specific
dreams days, or even months later! These dreams also
relate to things from your past - real people (Perhaps
now dead), situations, or places and things you knew
well.
Symptoms:
Over several months, the frequency and dynamics of these
unusual dreams intensifies!
Explanation:
Your mind is reorganising storage space, and making
way for a new set of rules and people. Think computers
here, and re-booting and old pc with a new configuration
Your old memories that are no longer a part of your
regular routines, are being put into 'Deep Storage'
- should you ever need use them again!
Remedy:
None that we know of. This lasts about 3-months. Simply
knowing what is actually happening will give you peace
of mind.
Heat Blisters:
These are very common, and you can even get them at
home, or especially during a short holiday to somewhere
hotter than you are used to.
Condition:
The sudden appearance of very small, white, and extremely
itchy spots on the skin
Symptoms:
Small white itchy spots appear on the skin, often on
the feet, or forearms and wrists. They normally develope
over a few hours, although some never reach maturity
- remaining as a small red spot
Explanation:
Your body is hot and sweaty. It is trying to sweat in
places there are no sweat glands - and the nearest sweat
gland centres are too far away (Armpits etc) to be effective
The places these occur are normally associated with
hot weather and clothing
Remedy:
To stop them appearing, wear less clothing, and clothing
of a baggy and ventilated nature. Don't wear a wristwatch.
Wear open sandals, not shoes and socks
They will naturally disappear in a few days. If you
continue to treat your body in the same way you did
when they first appeared - you will get many new ones!
To immediately stop the itching, pop them with something
very small and sharp, like a needle. However, they will
then take longer to disappear
Skin:
After moving from a cool climate to a very hot one,
your body will slowly make adjustments. Some of these
you may consider share symptoms with some very serious
and dangerous diseases. Here we only deal with normal
skin making suitable alterations to your new climate.
Be very careful, and seek qualified medical
help immediately if you consider your body or health
is under threat
Condition:
You have been living in a very hot country for a year
or so. During this time your skin has been put under
great and continual stress. For the next 3-years your
skin may exhibit some strange peculiarities. We only
list the harmless ones below:
Freckles and Skin Marks:
1. Appearance of freckles, especially on your feet.
Other similar darker marks on your skin
2. Your skin is trying to adjust to the intense sun
and associated environmental factors
3. Check for any growth - if they appear normal, check
against 4. below. If they continue to grow, change colour,
or form a growth - see a Doctor immediately - it could
possibly be cancer / similar
4. If the colour is freckle brown and they do not grow,
change colour, or form a lump on your skin - then this
is probably a natural skin function
5. If in any doubt, check - we are not Doctors, but
have experienced this personally
Shedding Skin:
1. This is another weird phenomena that can occur during
your second cold winter in a very hot climate.
2. Your entire skin appears to have severe dandruff
all over your body!
3. Because of the extreme and rapid loss of skin, you
may be more sensitive, and even have splits of the skin
to finger and toe joints
4. You joke about becoming a snake, whilst privately
wonder if you have a virus such as a type of ringworm.
Nothing researched on the web exactly matches - although
a combination of certain skin parasites could possibly
produce a similar body to your own. You begin to worry...
5. Basically your skin has adjusted to the almost perpetual
hot weather, but is now facing a very dramatic period
when the temperature is simply far too cold for the
newly adjusted skin to handle.
5. To prevent more serious complications later, the
existing 'new compound skin' is being rapidly replaced
with one more suited to cooler weather (Which your body
already knows)
6. This will last about 1-month, and should not reoccur
7. If your are worried, or your symptoms do exactly
match any form of either ringworm or skin parasite -
Consult a Doctor immediately
Hair:
1. Due to the different intensity of the Sun, you will
probably notice your hair turning white! This is normal
- consider it as being 'Bleached'
2. Contrarily; in some people the Sun can have the opposite
effect, and actually restore colour to certain types
of hair! We hope you are one of these. If so, you will
usually notice this during your second summer
Eyes:
1. Similarly, your eye colour may alter slightly (In
line with changes in skin mentioned above)
2. Most likely you will not be affected, or may only
notice your eyes are slightly 'duller' in colour
Feeling Too Hot:
Condition:
You continually feel hot, especially for a few hours
after eating
Symptoms:
You feel 'Hot' internally, and this can feel uncomfortable
Explanation:
You are not eating and drinking as the local people
do
Remedy:
1. Eating hot dishes like chillie in a hot climate,
causes heat build-up in your body. So do heavy and fatty
Western foods.
2. Alter what you eat, or when and how you eat it
Slight cough that won't go away:
Condition:
This is related to living in smog. This one does apply
to most industrial Chinese cities, and similar cities
anywhere in the world
Symptoms:
After living for some months in your new city you develope
a very minor cough. It is nothing serious. It is very
persistent, and becomes a daily feature of your life
You may even take a few weeks away in the country on
holiday, and return refreshed. A few days later your
cough returns - and you realise it wasn't there when
you were away
Explanation:
You have a smog related cough solely because of the
atmosphere you live in daily. I will call it a form
of emphysema, although not in a strict medical sense
of the complaints definition. It probably won't get
any worse, is probably not related to smoking - as you
notice non-smoking locals also have it. In fact, you
notice that virtually all local people have it
Remedy:
1. Move to a cleaner atmosphere / place to live
2. Wear face masks etc - which won't really make any
difference, except make you look stupid as well
3. Take more exercise - on this occasion it does actually
help
4. Put up with it!
Persistent Perspiration
Condition:
You may wonder why after many years spent in a hot climate,
you still sweat profusely
Symptoms:
Profuse sweating, even though it is very hot where you
are - even though you know your skin has adjusted -
as detailed above. This occurs with light exercise,
and is worsened in hot and sunny places
Explanation:
Drinking a lot of beer is causing most of your sweating
the following day. Beer, like coffee, is a natural diuretic.
However, because you live in a very hot place, your
body now tries to store extra water. The effects of
alcohol, (and especially beer for some strange reason?)
override this
Remedy:
Drink lots of water, particularly after a session. Cure:
either stop drinking large quantities of beer - or put
up with the consequences!
Summary
We hope this section eases your concerns over weird
changes that take place within your body. Please observe
how the locals live - especially what and how they Eat
and Drink. Copy them, as very often there is a very
good reason for they way they choose to live, eat and
drink
Health Concerns:
If you are worried - Consult a Doctor immediately! |
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| This
information is as supplied by the Chinese Embassy in
UK, as dated 20th June 2008, and/or other reliable sources.
Please check this information yourself as it may alter
without notice, and whilst we try our best to ensure
it is correct, please do not hold us responsible for
any errors - this is intended as a simple guide only |
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