Korean Job Discussion Forums

[matthewwoodford]

The pharmacists and the Oriental medicine practitioners are in the business of selling traditional cures, catering to Korean popular folklore beliefs. This is pure speculation but perhaps if western culture hadn't burnt all its witches we'd have a lot more folklore medical beliefs too.

There's no reason to distrust modern doctors here at all and quite a lot of them - in Seoul at least - speak English. The only bad thing I know about is they have a tendency to way overprescribe antibiotics.

[djsmnc]

[Demophobe]

Well, it seems like the OP has their mind made up about how they DIDN'T get sick and how traditional Korean medicine DOESN'T work.

So....whatever. Be sick with your mystery disease, refute all attempts to diagnose it, continue to be closed-minded and suffer.

You came here seeking medical advice from a bunch of English teachers...then tell them they are all wrong. Well, you are probably right. We aren't doctors. Some here have offered their VERY SIMILAR experiences, but you choose not to believe them.

A/C sickness sounds very believable to me, but what do I know? I don't have A/C, turn it off in a room whenever I can and generally avoid it.

That, and I'm only a teacher.

How about consulting a doctor?

[Blue]

actually some of those oriental med things are shown to have some benefit, some massage and accupuncture cures actually work because the truth is there ARE strange connections within your body that dont make any sence at all.

also you CAN get sick from your AC although from the precautions you take it sounds more to me like some kind of food poisoning or other type of sickeness.

having said all that most korean folk medicin (like tugging the OK sign, pricking the thumb or the poison bubble beat down) really are just silly and its a wonder that people still follow them. then again rino, tigers and all manor of other animal are still being hunted largly to satisfy asian medical fantacy so... go figure.

[OiGirl]

[hojusaram]

I'll bet this person is actually a Korean in America, for only a korean would go on about Japan like he does and try to fend off the issues about mindless assumption that happens in Korea.

[phaedrus]

[Real Reality]

Kain067 wrote,
"i don't think i'll ever go to a doctor in this country."

"A few days ago, the medical bill was over 100 thousand won for a simple treatment for a cold at a hospital."
http://english.donga.com/srv/service.php3?biid=2004070522448

[Corporal]

I'm sorry you're sick. I have no advice to offer on your situation, but just wanted to say I am with you on believing that the pharmacists know more than the doctors. Two different docs prescribed me two sets of medicine this week, some of which were contraindicated, even though I specifically asked them if there would be a problem taking them together. They said, "oh, no problem." The next day after I'd been vomiting all night, I went to the pharmacist, and he pointed out immediately that it was because there were two very strong painkillers, one in each pack of pills, and I should stop taking them immediately.

I wonder if Korean doctors have to take the Hypocritic Oath as I like to call it, or whether has any meaning for them if they do.

[Kain067]

Ok, I have some more time now and feel much better (can actually look at my monitor without squinting) so I'll go into my philosophical interpretation of Western and Eastern medicine a bit. I think it's interesting because I think the same principles etc. can also be extended to their thinking in general, in many ways.

First, quick thing to demophobe: I have not stated any bullheaded opinions that I did not back up. All suggestions of air conditioning sickness I have refuted with facts, in this thread. You present no arguments against me, but just call me ignorant and set in my ways. I see.

Anyway, Western medicine has been, since the days of Leonardo Da'Vinci dissecting bodies in his spare time, based on recorded observation and experimentation. There are times when practitioners of Western medicine will do things "just because they work", but these are in only extreme cases (mass vaccinations) and for only a very short time until their true natures and causes are discerned. Western medicine follows Western science and, similarly, Western logic (well, logic is Western, essentially). Things are not believed until they can be proven. Skepticism. Scientific process.

Eastern medicine (and Korea is a prime example, of course) follows much more the "mysticism" road. Herbs, energies, and such. Things are not necessarily (they can be) studied, but if they seem to work, or if a large amount of people claim they work, then they are believed. There is a large belief in powers and forces that we do not understand, that are natural, and must be adhered to as much as the "scientific", day to day things. People must be aligned to a natural order or else things go awry. People who follow Eastern medicine sometimes claim it adheres to scientific principles we just do not understand yet, and some claim it adheres to principles that science can never understand - basically, religious.

So this is where Eastern medicine has its benefits. Perhaps there are such things as "energies" in our bodies, or in the universe as a whole. Before we, through logic and experimentation, understood magnets and gravity, they must have seemed like "energies", too. But this is where Western philosophy is, by definition, better than Eastern. At some point in time Western medicine/science/logic will "catch up" with the Eastern unexplained principles, and will explain them. Then they will be understood, and used, to their full extents, which Eastern fiddling would never allow.

I think much of Eastern medicine is just primitive dabbling in the field of psychology (which we in the West didn't really have as a real science either until about 120 years ago). I have said that Eastern medicine is almost a textbook definition of "placebo effect". People who are given sugar pills really do exhibit physical improvements much of the time. That is because we are discovering, through our scientific studies and research, that more and more of life (and medicine) is in our heads. And this is what Eastern medicine has been largely dealing with. A lot of the herbs they use are useless. But when a shaman prescribes them, your mother says they work, and all of society agrees, well, that's the ultimate sugar pill. Wow, wellbeing! It works! And yes, it does. But just the process understanding why it works (the concept of placebo effect) is Western. And then we can proceed to the next level.

I think once the area of psychology is fully explored (of course that can never happen but we are making huge advances) then Eastern medicine will be entirely moot.

Basically it can come down to: is there a soul? Is there something completely outside of the physical world? Western medicine basically says it's all physical, and it can be traced back into the wirings of your brain. Eastern medicine says no. Which is right? Well, the very process of trying to prove one or the other is a Western process.

So basically, Western medicine can (eventually) do everything that Eastern medicine can do, while Eastern medicine, with its lack of logic and scientific process, can never do all that Western medicine can do.

Of course there is a growing Western interest in Eastern medicine (especially among Ys and Cs) but much of that is on a psychological level. The very notion of being cured naturally and organically and mystically and foreignly and anciently is, combined, a big enough placebo to have some effect, just as it is in the East.

But it can still come down to this: people with serious sicknesses across the world, if they have enough money, do not head East. They head West. Hmm, I have cancer. Korea National University or Johns Hopkins? I know quite a large community of foreigner families living in Korea (with children, homes, and money - not talking ESL teachers here) and I know they have all said that the first moment they detect any sickness more serious than a cold or the flu in any member of their family, they are getting the fook out of Korea.

[Hollywoodaction]

Sounds like a case of food poisoning. Did you eat out?

[gregmgnz]

through air conditioning! as do other bacteria from sick students or residents! never been so sick while I was studying for my degree the uni here!...especially if its not cleaned regulary!

[ryleeys]

I've been sick like this all weekend... so I sympathize with you. I ate some very bad bibimbap... that'll teach me to eat the discount stuff. Anyway, just do your best to chug as much gatorade as you can. You don't need a doctor to pump you full of antibiotics that will only limit their future effectiveness against a real bacterial infection. You don't need your hands massaged (unless you like that sort of thing). You certainly don't need to turn off your AC. Just chug gatorade like your life depends on it.

The first time I got sick like this, I couldn't walk to the store, so I had to rely on Korean friends to help me out. All they would bring me was boiling water. I didn't want no damn boiling water, I wanted some friggin' gatorade. But they insisted on nothing but cold things to drink. I finally (and very painfully) managed to drag my ass down to the store and buy some gatorade. This time I had the good fortune that my father was in town and helped me out.

Anyway, drink lots and lots of gatorade. I'm sure it does the same thing as water in terms of washing out your system and preventing you from getting abnormally dehydrated... I prefer it over water since I think there is something to the whole electrolytes thing and recharging your system (seen way too many commercials).

Either way, the most important thing is to just never stop drinking.

[Kain067]

[Ya-ta Boy]

Apparantly my diagnosis of early stages of fan death was wrong.

Glad to hear you are feeling better.