Sick in Thailand

There is nothing worse than being sick in Thailand. Don't get me wrong if you do get sick and have to go to hospital they look after you fantastic. I know this first hand but that's another post.

It's the little problems. The flu, stomach pains, fever and so forth. You go to the local clinic or hospital and they take your details, you sit down in the waiting room they call your name and a nurse checks your blood pressure and then it's off to see the doctor. If you are lucky the doctor will maybe use a stethoscope and have a listen to your breathing and might look in your mouth but most the time it's "What is the problem?" You tell them and they prescribe Panadol and a few other tablets and offer you a certificate to stay home from work for a day.

This has happened to me a few times and also friends. I remember one doctor: I had terrible stomach pains and hadn't eaten for 2 days and had a fever and I went to the private hospital. The nurses did their check I went to the doctors room and he asked the question "what was the problem?" After that he pulled out his prescription pad and wrote me out a script and I was off in less than 2 minutes.

Now, I don't go to the clinic or the hospital for anything minor (what I think is minor) I just do a self diagnoses, do a web search and see what is a good medicine to fix the problem. I then have my Thai girlfriend look it up in Thai and we head off to the local pharmacy get what I need and head home again and I am usually better in a day or two.

Right now it's the same. At school the other foreign teachers love the air conditioning so much. They turn it on first thing in the morning as cold as can be and it runs all day until we leave. I am a fan of air conditioning in the summer when it's hot, but right now it's not that hot. I wear a jacket all day at school because it's so cold in the teachers room and the computer room. Going in and out of rooms into the warmth and into the cold and the other teachers are often sick because they live their lives in air conditioned rooms with recycled air. I am constantly turning the air conditioners off when I am in a room by myself but as soon as one of the other teachers walk in they turn them back on again. So right now I have a very sore throat and runny nose but I have been to the pharmacy and will be back on track in no time. Plus tomorrow in Golf Day so 4 hours plus out in the fresh air will do wonders as well..