[Vitamins, Supplements]

On 3/19/2024 at 1:33 AM, mstevens said:

I am not saying you should take all of these, but this is my personal daily supplement regime:

 

Multivitamin

Vitamin K2 Mk7

Vitamin D (in the cloudy / wet months only)

Magnesium

Fish oil

 

A few notes:

- I agree 100% with the poster who mentioned not to skimp on fish oil. Buy the best you can afford. (I buy Carlson, Wild Norwegian, Elite Omega-3 Gems, Natural Lemon, 1,600 mg which is available on iHerb)

- A multivitamin is useful to fill in any gaps / deficiencies in your diet. Think of it as an insurance policy. Again, buy a good one.

- Vitamin D is a must if you don't spend much time outside in the sun. If you do spend a lot of time in the sun, you may not need it. I take 5000 IU of vitamin D daily for half the year.

- Vitamin K2 Mk7 is very good for bone health and driving calcium in to the bones (and away from the arteries). The Mk7 version is the best as it is the most easily absorbed.

- I take all my supplements in the morning, except for magnesium which I take twice a day, 150 mg in the morning and 150 mg at night.

 

No matter which vitamins you take and how high quality they are, your diet is even more important. Just which diet is best is very much a moot point and I don't want to mess with the thread by going down that path.....but please don't think that taking lots of high quality vitamins will make you healthy, as it won't necessarily. But it certainly will help. What you eat is the most important thing! Combining high quality vitamins with a great diet is the way to go.

AGREED regarding Vitamin K2 Mk7 for exactly the reason stated above.

[Fixing my eyes whats available]

RUTNIN eye hospital in Bangkok.  I have used them for several eye problems:  

• double vision in one eye - solved by corneal debridement (outpatient)
• macular pucker in other eye - couldn't be diagnosed in Pattaya [see below]
• retina checkups - because I have had a retinal tear in one eye and a vitreous hemhorrage in the other

I've been very satisfied with the medical care I've received at Rutnin.  I live in Pattaya, but is worth the trip.

 

I was advised by a private hospital specialist here in Pattaya to go to Rutnin because the Pattaya hospital didn't have the up-to-date latest equipment to confirm the macular pucker.  Rutnin had the necessary equipment.  Rutnin always updates its equipment with the newest technology.

[Colonoscopy]

1 hour ago, Sheryl said:

When most people say they were "put under" they usually mean IV sedation with propofol. Because as far as they experience/recall they are knocked out suddenly and wake up when it is over. Actually they are (usually deeply) sedated but rousable during the procedure but due ot the agent used have no memory of any of it.

 

No place is using GA for this.  People just vary in what they call deep IV sedation.

 

 

Sheryl, as usual, is correct.   I have had three colonoscopies.  I was awake for all three, not 'put under."  

[Colonoscopy]

On 3/3/2024 at 1:38 PM, Sheryl said:

The problem is you may not know it is "brioken" until it is too late to fix.

 

In the case of colon cancer it is the difference between a simple outpatient procedure vs major surgery that may entail a colostomy...and, of course, possible death.

 

Pre-cancerous polyps are asymptomatic. So for that matter are early cancers. Hence the recommendation to screen.

I waited until my late 60's to have a colonoscopy.  The gastroenterologist found and removed 8 polyps (photos provided by him and the report by the examiner).  The polyps were tested and some found to be precancerous.  The Doc said that in two or three more years, i would likely have developed colon cancer.  I agree with Sheryl.  My advice:  "Get 'er done!" 

[Guided Tours -Would You, Have You, Where?]

In 1983, I did all my own planning and bookings for a 6-month trip:  Canada to Tokyo to Hong Kong to Bangkok to INDIA to Bahrain to France to England, then back to Thailand.  No Internet, of course, so I spent a lot of time with the OH&R Guide ("Official Hotel and Resort" Guide).  I phoned the hotels myself and booked my own rooms.

 

I decided that the easiest way to see a lot of India was to book a guided tour for my 14 days there.  However, I booked a tour with a private car and driver, and with a private guide.  Travel between cities was by air.  I got to see a lot of India and in the kind of detail that I wouldn't have been able to alone.  It turned out that I was a tour group of only one person -- me.  I met other people on the same itinerary with the same tour company -- they travelled together as a group, and on the same flights.  The first flight was from Bombay (didn't become Mumbai officially until 1995) to Jaipur.  I got to know one couple from the  USA very well, and we kept in touch afterwards.

 

I had only two nights in Bahrain, so I booked a day tour there, which was going to be cancelled since I was the only one to book (a minimum of two was required).  So, I told them I would pay for two, and the tour went ahead.

 

From 1983 to 2011 (when I retired to Thailand), I spent my two-month annual vacations in Asia.  During that time, I did the following one-day tours:

• Ayutthaya, Thailand
• Tokyo, first day there to help get oriented
• Seoul, during a mandatory two-night stopover between flights

The above tours were the tour-bus type.  I wouldn't want to do more than one day by tour bus.

 

There was one more guided tour during this period:  a four-day tour of Angkor; this time by private car, driver, and guide, again. 

 

Until 2015, those were the only guided tours that I took.  In 2015, '17, and '19, my partner and I spent about 2 weeks each time in Japan.  We did several one-day guided tours:  Nara, Kyoto (three different times), Nikko, Kamakura, Tokyo, but it was just the two of us and the guide -- no group.  The guides were local people, experts, certified guides and very knowledgeable.  These tours made sure that we got to see what were the most important sites for us; and we were able to get answers to all our questions:  a great time!  More pricey, but customizable, and far more informative and pleasant than a group tour would have been.  In our opinions, good value for money.  The rest of the time we were on our own (easy to plan out with the Internet).  

 

In summary, I find that guided tours can have their uses, even though nearly all of my travels have been done without a guide or a tour.

 

[Compensated/renumerated blood and plasma donation]

renumerated ? ... switch the m and the n, please.

[Unpaid Hospital Bills]

16 hours ago, richard_smith237 said:

I just want to point out at this time that the medical burden of tourists on Thailands medical industry (i.e. cost of unpaid bills) is 300,000 Million Baht a year....   which is 1.5% of the income tourists bring to the medical industry which is 24 Billion Baht year.

 

So.. if foreigners stopped coming to Thailand, Thailands medical industry would be 23.7 Billion Baht per year worse off... 

 

 

 

At today's rate of exchange, 300,000 Million Baht equals 8.4 BILLION U.S. DOLLARS.  I suspect that your figure is incorrect. 

[Haiter, is it really bleach ?]

On 1/18/2024 at 11:14 PM, GammaGlobulin said:

I have, for many years, been looking here for CLOROX BLEACH, at a cheap price, just like it is available in North America.

 

I prefer Clorox Bleach, also.  Until about a year ago, it was available at a couple of the supermarkets in Pattaya.  Then, seemed to disappear.

 

A now buy Clorox Bleach from Lazada.  The 2-liter bottle is around 170 Baht + delivery.

[Thai air force to battle surging fine dust pollution crisis]

What a joke (aka "it is to laugh")

[Pattaya Air Pollution]

6 hours ago, eyeman said:

 

I have CO2 measuring thing putting the aircon on can bring my room down from a stale 650 to 510 so there is definitely some exchange going on..

In our condo, the North end of each room is floor-to-ceiling glass, with half of that being the typical sliding panel.  These definitely do leak air.  For example, when we head to bed, the purifiers in our sitting/dining/kitchen area read 001 or 002 (PM2.5).  When we get up in the morning and turn them on, they (recently) have been starting at the 020 to 025 range (with the a/c off).  So, the polluted air does enter around the glass panels.

[Pattaya Air Pollution]

43 minutes ago, leverito said:

No any pollution if you live near the sea.

That is NOT the case.  We live in a 16th floor condo only 500 meters from the sea.  On days like today and yesterday (right now the air "quality" rating is again the highest in Thailand at 159 µg/m³),   Ko Larn can barely be seen because of the pollution.  (On some days, it cannot be seen at all!)  So, being near the sea does not help much, if any.

[Pattaya Air Pollution]

8 minutes ago, john donson said:

 

but if you open the airco, the flow of bad air will come in and your purifier is pretty useless

The air conditioners do not draw in air from outside.  They simply cool the interior air.  

 

As I said in my original post, yesterday we opened the air purifiers and they read the PM2.5 in our condo as 30  µg/m³.  Within 25 minutes, with the air con running, the reading was down to only 4.

[Anyone seen either of these for sale in Pattaya lately?]

Friendship Supermarket on Pattaya Tai or Villa Market on Second Road.

[Pattaya Air Pollution]

At 10:00 a.m. this morning (January 16), Pattaya's air quality was the worst in Thailand.  According to IQAir, the reading was 153.  From the same source, the pm2.5 concentration was 59.4  µg/m³, of which the site states:     "PM2.5 concentration in Pattaya is currently 11.9 times the WHO annual air quality guideline value."  

 

We have 2 air purifiers we use in our sitting room/kitchen/dining room area (about 70 square meters).  When they were opened this morning, they read the PM2.5 in that area as 30  µg/m³  they now read about 10, and will continue to decrease.  At night each of our 2 bedrooms has one air purifier running and can keep the PM2.5 below 3 or 4.

 

 

[A SIMPLE GUIDE TO PERSONAL INCOME TAX IN THAILAND]

8 minutes ago, LarryLEB said:

  1 hour ago, Iamloki said:

Just curious, what exemptions do guys in your home country get for "defacto relationships"?

In the US they get zero...

Mike Lister, please note that lamloki asked the above question about what exemptions we get in our HOME country.  Please read my complete post, which includes lamloki's post above!

[Immigration queues Jomtien]

19 hours ago, BenStark said:

I guess you guys have never heard about appointments.

 

NO QUEUES

 

https://outlook.office365.com/book/[email protected]/

 

 

Thanks for posting the link.  To do my one-year extension of OA visa, which do I select,,,

• Long-Term Extension,
•   OR
• Retirement Purpose?

[Pattaya 7-eleven Stamps]

It is one one-baht stamp for every 80 baht spent.  More on certain promotions.  (Last time they did the stamp thing, it was one one-baht stamp for every 50 baht spent.)

[Three favourite movies]

First, what a great thread!  Someone mentioned Once Upon a Time in the West (Sergio Leone) with one of the all-time best musical scores by Ennio Morricone.  It certainly deserves to be highly rated.

 

So many great flicks were listed by other posters, including Mulholland Drive, The Big Lebowski, Unforgiven, True Romance, The Wages of Fear (1953).  The only poster who mentioned a movie on my all-time top-10 list mentioned Les Enfants du Paradis.

 

So difficult to choose only 3, but here goes:  Grave of the Fireflies (a Studio Ghibli film, 1988, directed by Isao Takahata), Tokyo Story (1953, Yasujiro Ozu ), and Ali: Fear Eats the Soul (1974, Rainer Werner Fassbinder).  

 

Ozu is my favourite director of all time.

[Three favourite movies]

On 10/10/2023 at 12:29 PM, Felton Jarvis said:

1. Shawshank Redemption

2. The Green Mile

3. Desperate Living

WOW!  Desperate Living.  We have another John Waters fan:  great!  Edith Massey (known to many as the "egg lady") as Queen Carlotta.  That was the only feature film Waters made without the great actor/actress Divine before Divine's death in 1988.

[Three favourite movies]

On 10/10/2023 at 12:07 PM, The Fugitive said:

Wages of Fear (1953)

Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)

Blade Runner (1982)

 

Yes!  The original Wages of Fear (directed by Clouzot).  What a great choice!

[Bangkok Pollution: one for the BKK long timers]

30 or 35 years ago, while on holiday in Bangkok, I remember reading in the leading English-language Thai newspaper that living in Bangkok had the equivalent effect of smoking two packs of cigarettes a day.  Additionally, the newspaper reported that, at an given point in time, over 1/3 to 1/2 of traffic police suffer from respiratory ailments.

 

This was during the months of June, July, and August.  So, serious air pollution problems in Bangkok are nothing new, but go back decades.

 

In the recent years, the months of December through February or March have been the worst here in Pattaya.  Our air purifiers get their workouts in those months.  BUT, they reduce the indoor pollution levels by over 95%.  

[Thai PM sees a role for Thaksin when he gets out of jail]

14 hours ago, KannikaP said:

Should HAVE...........

Beware the vocabulary police!

[Thailand banks have the worst interest rates]

On 9/6/2023 at 2:32 PM, bob smith said:

best thing to do here to avoid overpaying on a loan is to beat the bank.

 

Take out a loan on a house for 30/40 years for example and pay it off in 10. Then then banks dont get their hand in your pocket as much.

Agreed.  On my last mortgage, I also had payments made WEEKLY to further reduce the interest.  (Just dividing your monthly payment by 4 and paying weekly.)

[Good, Most Complete, Medical Checkup in Pattaya at a fair Price ?]

I very much agree with Sheryl regarding colonoscopy.  I had my first one done at BPH about five years ago (I was 65 at the time, and should have had it done much earlier!).  The gastroenterologist removed a dozen or so polyps during the colonoscopy.  He remarked that 2 or 3 of them would likely have become cancerous in another few years (3 or 4).  In the post-colonoscopy appointment, he showed me the photos of the polyps removed.

 

At the time, the all-in price was close to 25K Baht, so all-in currently at 19K is a great price.  If you would like the name of the gastroenterologist, please PM me.

 

Regarding your checkup, I had mine done at BPH also (about 16 months ago), and it revealed one or two conditions that needed attention (one of which was heart-related).  Since then, that condition has been controlled with inexpensive medication.

 

All in all, you are making an excellent decision!

[Thaksin Has Arrived At Don Mueang Airport]

3 hours ago, Trippy said:

He looks good for being 71.

He is actually 74 years old.