Korean Job Discussion Forums

English Matt · Joined: 12 Oct 2008

Anybody else suffering from the most god awful chest cold recently? My students started spluttering and sneezing a week ago and bang on schedule I developed symptoms Thursday....I feel like I have COPD.

Does anyone have any remedies or know of any medicine I could ask for at my local yakgook that can help clear this up fast? I don't like visiting the hospital for things like this as they always try and put me on codeine or steroids or wire me up to an IV....

caniff · Joined: 03 Feb 2004 Location: All over the map

English Matt · Joined: 12 Oct 2008

Uh oh....I can sense my hypochondria about to kick in. How bad and what were your symptoms when you had pneumonia? This virus has been the worst I have so far had in Korea....I struggled through class on Thursday and then slept for 16 hours, if anything I felt worse on Friday....a cough so bad it felt like someone had punched me in the back of my throat, I had to heat the apartment to 26 degrees before I felt comfortable and I slept for about 18 hours. I feel a bit better today....still quite weak and the cough is still there but seems a bit better....I'm guessing if it were pneumonia then I would feel worse today rather than a bit better?

bluelake · Joined: 01 Dec 2005

Be careful. Back in '94, I first got measles (I later found I was in a niche group in the States that didn't get vaccinated) from my son's classmates. Then, as measles totally wipes out your immune system, I contracted pneumonia, which then developed into pleurisy. After enduring the first two at home, the third put me in a Korean hospital for a week. Not only did I have to endure hospital food, but it was Korean hospital food (with cheap rice). My energy was drained for nearly a year after that.

As with Caniff, I had been burning my candle at both ends (and even in the middle) and I paid for it. I recommend seeing a doctor (careful, again, as seeing a doctor is where I contracted the pneumonia) to find out exactly what you have and then get as much rest as you can. Good luck and feel better!

Depths of My Soul · Joined: 04 Apr 2010 Location: In The Sun

Old skool Swedish Metal band. Cool! Razz

AsiaESLbound · Joined: 07 Jan 2010 Location: Truck Stop Missouri

That is really going around right now. My two co-teachers and many students all came down with it about 3 days ago. Being that I had a bad cold for like 24 days straight in March, it's the last thing I want. Colds seem to be frequent and lengthy in Korea. I never had a cold for that long before.

loyr2662 · Joined: 22 Sep 2009 Location: Gwangmyeong

A lot of my students are sick right now, too. And I managed to catch the plaguey virus thing they've been spreading. It's been three weeks and I'm still not feeling 100%. I got over the worst of it within a week, though I've had periodic relapses for a couple days at a time. I honestly don't know how much to blame on evil germs or the yellow dust everyone talks about.

World Traveler · Joined: 29 May 2009

I wouldn't underestimate either.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asian_Dust

If you work at a hagwon with children, you are at especially high risk, because of the close proximity and because parents send their children to the hagwon even if they are very ill. Many of my students stayed home from their public school (free), but had to go to the hagwon (the parents paid a lot of money for the monthly tuition fee). These are students who had been to the hospital this day for being so sick. Some parents knew their children had H1N1, but sent them to the hagwon anyway.

Look at this wikipedia article, too.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flu

Children are much more infectious than adults and shed virus from just before they develop symptoms until two weeks after infection.

leafs 87 · Joined: 02 Apr 2010

hey, i would definitely see a doctor. i had the nasty chest cold virus with a killer throat infection and went to the doctor as soon as it got really bad because i've had pneumonia twice... doctor put me on some penicillin type drug, a liquid to swallow, a shot, and some tylenol (3 days worth) after 5 days i felt soooooo much better, this was a bout a week ago, i still cough in the mornings though. if you don't want t3s or steroids tell them that, any doctor will understand that.... also, do not worry about picking up pneumonia at a doctor's office, you can't "catch" pneumonia, you get pneumonia from any bacteria or cold that makes you sick and letting it go for so long/not being able to get rid of it especially with a weak immune system

Von Tristof · Joined: 31 Oct 2009

I have an awful throat infection. In every class I had last week there were a whole bunch of absences and every kid left was sneezing and coughing so I knew it was inevitable. Just as I think it's getting better on Friday night it gets 50 times worse. If anyone knows of a doctor open on Sundays in Incheon or a pharmacy near the Arts Centre of Incheon City Hall subway stops let me know. I honestly cannot find a pharmacy, and I found a clinic today that was open but had already stopped taking patients.

Katchafire · Posted: Sun Apr 11, 2010 12:53 am Post subject:

I don't bother going to the Dr. The pills never seem to do anything (3 days worth is rediculous anyway), cough medicine supresses the cough when in actual fact, the reason we cough is because our body is trying to get rid of the infection, gunk, stuff in our lungs.
Let yourself cough, dont swallow what you cough up as that can lead to a secondary infection in your gut.

4 years Ive been in Korea, and for those years I have had an annoying little tickle cough. Now and then it turns into a nasty hacking, wheezing one. It eases and is gone within a week of returning home, and comes back a week or so after returning to Korea.

What I do, and seems to work REALLY well is: buy yourself a heap of oranges (vit c), bananas (potassium keeps your strength up), water (and squeeze fresh lemon juice into it) ... buy the small bags of peeled garlic cloves, cut them in half and swallow a couple a day. All of that combined and you'll find yourself feeling a lot better.

Also, peppermint tea if you can find it .. is really good at loosening the mucus etc making it easier to cough up. Once thats gone, your cough will ease and disappear. Drink it as much as you can. Also, inhaling the steam through your nose will help unblock and give you a decent nights sleep.

Finally, if the coughing gets TOO much, have a long shower, as hot as you can tolerate, and take long breaths, inhale the steam. It opens and eases inflamed/constricted pipes from the coughing etc.

On a sidenote, only you will know if you feel a bit crappy, or if your body really feels like something isn't right. If in doubt of course, always go to the Dr to be safe.
Hope you feel beeter soon,

This is goodnight from me, and goodnight from her,

G

Globutron · Joined: 13 Feb 2010 Location: England/Anyang

My school has been halved in population. And half of the remaining half seems half concious half of the time.
Korean teachers are all coughing away too. The only people actually healthy are the three foreigners ^^

For now.

dumpring · Joined: 06 Apr 2010 Location: Auckland, NZ

Oh man I contracted something like that this week from my students too- Got progressively worse over Thursday and ended up having to sit in front of a gas heater for my last couple classes as I was completely debilitated and shivering.

- Went home with a high fever and could barely move so had a bunch of ibuprofen pills and some lemsip max- slept for about 16 hours and woke up feeling like i'd been hit around the head with a bat.

Sadebugo1 · Joined: 11 May 2003

I empathize with you. There's something about Korea and one's health. I rarely missed work during my time there but felt like I was always under the weather. I developed chicken pox as a 35-year old but had it misdiagnosed as measles while receiving the wrong meds for the first few days. In those days, I thought there was something wrong with my immune system. Anyway, now as a 48-year old in America, I can't remember the last time I was sick and/or took a day off. I believe it was in September '07. I'm much healthier now for obvious reasons.

Sadebugo
http://travldawrld.blogspot.com/

kittykoo · Joined: 02 Sep 2004 Location: Canada

I do not believe you can treat a cold or flu that you catch in Korea the same as one that you catch at home. The environment is different, the germs are different, your immune system reacts differently--everything is different. I suffered from chronic throat infections while I lived in Korea and only after being turned on to Chinese herbal teas did I find a way to alleviate the symptoms. Puerrh tea from Yunan province in China is phenomenally effective in curing the propensity to catch upper respiratory infections, and nothing else I tried worked at all.