follow up: old man skin

An awful patch of my random old man skin disease reappeared on my shoulder yesterday and has been bugging the ever living crap out of me (it itches like the dickens). I was complaining to some Russian friends of mine and they looked at it and immediately went to interwebs for translations.

They kept telling me it was "the mange", which I didn't know of as a disease, but turns out it is- a disease for dogs. The human version is called demodicosis and is commonly associated with pityriasis, which my dermatologist said I had when I went back to the States last fall.

Awesome = finally being confident in knowing what I have and knowing that since one of the Russian guys had it and kicked it, I will too, after almost a year.

Not so awesome = knowing I have a dirty dog disease, and I'm almost certain it came from these guys in Cambodia. Thank god I'm not losing my fur like they are.

bizarre old man skin disease

One piece of my health problems I had beginning in August turned out to be a kind of eczema, eczema pityriasis rosea to be exact. I found this out during a trip to my American dermatologist on a short trip back to The States in late September-early October of last year.

Unfortunately, she got my biopsy back after I had returned to China, so I have had to rely on intermediaries or interwebs for more info like: How did I get this? (Interwebs don't know. It's not a thing anyone else in my family has.) Will it ever go away? (Probably, say interwebs, but I apparently belong to the two percent of people that suffer recurrences.) How do I prevent outbreaks? (I don't.) Interwebs also suggest that eczema and pityriasis rosea are two different things, instead of pityriasis rosea being a kind of eczema, like my derm seemed to say.

I still have it now and have been getting regular-sick, the cold or flu-ey kind, more often since I developed this, because it's a fun kind of dermatological thing that also can come with upper respiratory tract infections, fevers, headaches, nausea and fatigue, yay.

At this point, I'm sure you're thinking, "This might be a bit of an overshare, or at least significantly less interesting, compared to her usual posts..." BUT, there's a reason for it.

An older, American male friend of mine here has another form of eczema that has gotten significantly worse since he moved to China.

Another American male coworker, my age, was complaining last week about a weird skin patch on his leg that developed since he came to China and hasn't gone away in months. He showed me and the older gent and we both agreed that it's definitely eczema.

Same thing with another younger, American male friend here.

I think it's a little strange that so many people around me have developed, or aggrevated their existing, eczema here. The coworker that's had it for a while before China explains it to me as allergy related, and he alters his diet and what touches his skin in his affected areas (not an option for me anyway). Wikipedia doesn't seem to be saying mine is allergy related though, and as far as I know I'm not allergic to anything. 

Weird. Sucky and weird.

leg #2: travel China, Shanghai

After traveling Thailand for ten days with my boyfriend, I flew to Shanghai to meet a good friend from the States. She was my first visitor to China that came solely for me, so exciting!

She had some vague requirements of things she needed to do (see a big city, see a small city, see the Wall, see a temple) but that's about as much planning as we did. She kind of left it all in my hands as the Chinese "host" and I've been playing everything by ear, not planning much at all throughout my travels over the past seven months out here, so I planned to do the same with this trip. Basically, I dropped the ball a bit.

Coming off traveling with the bf in Thailand backpacker style, I had a really rough time switching into China travel mode. I had forgotten how much harder it is to travel in China than in Thailand, Laos or Cambodia. Everything in China is a struggle, just trying to eat can be an exhausting challenge (especially since my friend has some stomach issues).

I was really proud of myself, I ordered for us off this menu, using only Chinese, and got exactly what I wanted and expected. Win.

Combine that with the fact that I was having some problems in my personal life, and then one health problem, which turned into many health problems, and our first week was just kind of rough. We made a couple of hospital visits, luckily we found one for foreigners in Shanghai, but it was still difficult. Their English was not good enough to discuss health problems in depth and it's still Chinese healthcare, so treatment is never the easiest route. Almost a month later, I am still on meds.

Nothing instills confidence in a hospital like a Family Guy sign, lol.

I went into that leg of my trip thinking, "Oh, I live here, I'll be a great tour guide, it'll be really easy," and I felt really bad when it became blatantly obvious that nothing about it was going to be easy. Life in China can be, but when it's in a place you know really well, doing things you know really well and eating things you know really well. Even Lonely Planet can (and did, for us) steer you wrong.

We did a couple of cool things around Shanghai at first. I took her to the Bund, the French Concession Area, the pearl market and foreign food street (things I knew). The Lonely Planet fail came in on an afternoon trip to Songjiang, which basically had nothing to do or see.

After that, we made plans to head down south to Hainan, for the beach and the hot springs, up north to Beijing, for the Wall, and then back to Shanghai for a day before we both flew out.

random photos: misc Cambodia

I thought this was the funniest thing ever. A billboard for a brand of condoms called "OK"... first off, "OK"?!?! That's the best you could come up with?! The brand of choice for abortion clinics and date rapists. Secondly, why are there four guys at a ktv with no girls on the billboard?! What is going on here?!

These little shrines were everywhere in Cambodia, every business or home has them.

Even though it rained frequently throughout my time in Cambodia (it WAS rainy season after all), it really wasn't bad. It didn't hamper any plans at all.

This was the most bizarre fruit ever. The second you put it in your mouth, you had the worst case of cottonmouth ever. It instantaneously sucked all the moisture out. It didn't really taste good. It was kind of an all around fail.

A bug bit my foot like the second day there. Then about 4 days later my foot started turning black. It was no bueno. We drew a circle around the black and said if it spread any more we'd go to the hospital (I hate doctors). Luckily, the smiley contained the black and it went away, eventually.

massage culture

After the trip to Chanchun the other week, my neck, right shoulder and half of my back were absolutely killing me and I couldn't turn my head at all. I ended up getting a massage at a foot massage parlor the day after I got back, getting acupuncture, cupping and a massage the following day from a therapist and getting another massage along with a scrub the day after that at a bath house. On top of all that, some friends and students had some other remedies for me as well.

This might make the whole thing seem a lot more serious that it really was, but it's really more of a reflection of the culture here. Chinese always want to go to the doctor for the littlest thing and are really big on taking care of your body. I think of it as "massage culture." Before coming to China, I'd say I've had less than 15 massages in my entire life. Here, I go about once a week, most of the foreigners do.

Foot massage places are kind of a hybrid between western pedicure salons and massage parlors. Pretty sure I've described one on here before, but oh well. They have rooms of varying sizes that you go in with your friends, there are a certain number of bed/cot type things in each. They all have pillows and heavy comforters. You can wear pajama type clothing that they supply, but usually you just wear your own clothes the whole time. The lights are usually on high and there is usually a tv playing a random program or the news.

First they soak your feet in a bucket that they put at the foot of your bed. While your feet are soaking, they give you a neck and shoulder massage. Massages here are not slow, deep, relaxing, or really any other adjective I might use to describe one in the States. If I had to guess, I'd say a lot of the people giving them here have no training or certification either. Massages are usually very hard, quick and vigorous. There is also a lot of shaking and thumping involved and maybe a little stretching. We took a new foreigner to the foot massage place when we went the other day and she absolutely hated it at first (as did I actually).

After that bit, you lay down and they massage your feet with lotion. Then they move up and do the rest of your body over your clothes, front and back. Foot massage parlors will usually also do guasha, cupping, ear candles and maybe acupuncture. They range in price, the one a lot of foreigners go to here is 60 kwai (so like $9.50) for 70 minutes. They are a great place to practice your Chinese, because they are a captive audience, they usually want to talk to you and sometimes they know a tiny bit of English.

The second place I went last week was to see an actual Chinese therapist. His office was in his home, which is normal here, and he had certifications, diagrams of the body and stuff like that on the wall that you might expect to see in a western therapist's office. One of my Oil Adults 2 students took me there, as he knew I wanted to try acupuncture.

When the guy explained to him what was wrong with my neck, he said I needed a massage, not acupuncture. The massage was great, definitely Chinese style, but he really got at the knots in my shoulders and gave me good advice (i.e. stop carrying my laptop everywhere). He cracked my neck and shoulders a LOT, much in the way I imagine a chiropractor would. At one point he was climbing up on my chair to hover over me, hugging my head while my student held my chair still and he told me not to be afraid, lol. It felt amazing.

Afterwards, he did some general acupuncture for me. He said I was very brave, many Chinese won't even try acupuncture. Typically if they do try it, it's only when something needs fixing or they are sick. He put maybe 30 needles in me and left them in for about 30 minutes. They didn't hurt going in, it just felt like pressure. If he would tap or twist them it felt kind of crazy. I could feel the needles in other parts of my body, where there were no needles, and when they moved it felt like I was getting shocked, radiating from the needles. Not in a painful way, more in a static shock kind of way. I can't say if I actually saw any effects from this after or in the next few days though.

After that, my student talked me into trying cupping (again). He asked if I had a high pain tolerance and when I said yes, he used the bamboo cups, which are said to be the most painful with the least give. They weren't painful exactly, just really uncomfortable, like they suck your skin in a lot tighter. I didn't have any really crazy bruising though, so the therapist said I was young and healthy. I have no clue how much that whole experience cost, because my student put it on his wife's account, ha!

The following day I got my third massage for the week at the bath house. This was my first bath house experience in China, I had only been to the one in Korea previously. I'd actually be wanting to go for a while, but all the females I know I either am not comfortable being naked around or they weren't comfortable being naked around friends. If I go with the guys, we can meet up in the coed parts where you wear pajama type clothes and play cards, go in the sauna, lay in heated rock beds together and talk, etc. but the other parts, like the showers, steam rooms and scrubs, I'd be alone for.

The bath house in Korea completely showed this one up. The women's area was small and more like a locker room than anything else. Chinese bath houses don't have pools on the ladies' sides, so really all you do is take a shower in a big room with everyone else and maybe get a massage or a scrub or something. My friend that had been before recommended a body mask if I was willing to spend some money, so I tried it and was pretty disappointed. I don't know that I'll go back. I was spoiled in Korea!

The final thing I tried to fix my neck were these patches with Chinese medincine that you stick on muscles that hurt and leave for maybe 12 hours. There are different varieties and I have no idea what the medicine is. It just seeps into your pores. One of them had a really herby smell and made the area around it kind of cold, which was cool. I think that one helped the most.

dirty bird doctor

An experience I definitely don't recommend is going to a Chinese doctor. I needed to go the other day (Mom, I'm fine, don't have a heart attack) and it was not in my top 100 most fun things ever.

Obviously that's a thing I needed a Chinese person to accompany me for. Unfortunately, about 20 of our 25 Chinese TAs at my school left at the end of last weekend to go back to university in Changchun. The ones that are left are all people I'm not exceptionally close to, at all. My Chinese friends outside of them are my students (who I didn't want to take) and males (who I also didn't want to take). I looked at the schedule, sucked it up and asked one of the girls that seemed the most relaxed to go with me on a morning I knew she didn't have to work.

There are a zillion hospitals and clinics here; generally unless you have a cold, you need to go to a hospital. I asked a friend for a recommendation, so we went to the hospital for the oil company (the "Oil Hospital"). You never make an appointment to see a doctor here, and you don't use your insurance either (not sure why I have an international health insurance policy at this point...).

When you walk in, you go to the registration desk, tell them your name, age and the department that you need. They give you a small booklet, which serves as your chart. They have no permanent record system and they don't ask for any id or even your last name. After that, you take your "chart" to the checkout counter and pay for it (three yuan). Then you go up to whatever department you need and wait to have your initial checkup.

chart!

checkout counter

Initial checkup equals you and whoever else feels like wandering in talking to a doctor/nurse/who knows? and describing what's wrong in a room with other people doing the same. Then they tell you what you need to do (e.g. tests, actual physical exam, etc.), print out something saying as much and you take that down to the checkout, pay again (my exam was 20 yuan) and bring your receipt back up for whatever you need. If you have an exam and then need some tests like I did, you get a printout, go pay (three different lab tests came to 195 yuan) and do some more running around. There also seemed to only be maybe one or two hospital staff working each department. And this was a big hospital.

As far as cleanliness and privacy go, forget about it. For any tests, you carry the samples around yourself. I definitely saw people wandering around with slides smeared with bodily fluids on them completely uncovered, so that if they fell or bumped into you, whatever was on their slide would get on you. Ick. The whole place was dirty, per China standards, and don't even think about going in the bathroom. Which naturally had no soap. Or tissue. In retrospect, I'm honestly not even sure that my exam doctor wore gloves.

The exam rooms are lockable, but nobody really does lock them, and when the doctor goes in or out, they just leave the doors open. I saw more than a few strangers' downstairs mixups (yes, that is a Might Boosh reference).

I ended up with two prescriptions (no pills, apparently they hate the easy way of doing things), that cost me 295 yuan. Once they explained everything, I definitely knew I didn't need nearly as much as they gave me, but whatever.

So that was that. Hopefully there will be no rinse and repeat in this case.