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ucfvgirl

Joined: 28 Sep 2005 Location: Bundang
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Posted: Mon Dec 19, 2005 9:55 pm Post subject: I think it's a Western Thing |
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I have been here since September and I have already had three colds. Everyday I suffer from the runny nose syndrome and have used more Kleenex in the past few months then I have in my entire life. I seriously believe that our bodies are being exposed to viruses and germs that are completely different than what we are exposed to back home. Thus the continual cold symptoms.
I had my family send me two boxes of Neocitron from back home and I found that really helped. I also brought some Advil cold medication with me. I was forwarned that some Western products were difficult to find so I can ready for ANYTHING.
Also I agree that Koreans do not wash their hands enough and their total disregard of how germs are spread is extremely irritating to me. I take the subway everyday and more than once I have had someone sneeze very close to me and they don't even think to cover the mouth in any way shape or form. I try really hard not to touch the handrails or polls on the subway as I am sure someone just touched it without washing their hands.
Besides the Neocitron, I had my family send me the evaporting Sanitary Hand gel which I use EVERY SINGLE DAY. I am hoping this will help eliminate any new germs from entering my body.
Cheer up everyone; It can only get better. |
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ratslash

Joined: 08 May 2003
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Posted: Mon Dec 19, 2005 10:37 pm Post subject: |
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i always seem to find that i don't get a cold in winter, it is always in the hotter months.
all you can do is cram yourself full of fruit, five pieces a day at least is the recommended amount, and maybe get some multi vitamins. i find centrum works a treat. |
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SPINOZA
Joined: 10 Jun 2005 Location: $eoul
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Posted: Mon Dec 19, 2005 11:37 pm Post subject: |
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Can you imagine being married to ucvfGirl?
Christ Almighty, what a whiner! |
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desultude

Joined: 15 Jan 2003 Location: Dangling my toes in the Persian Gulf
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Posted: Tue Dec 20, 2005 12:37 am Post subject: |
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I find that I get a lot fewer colds, now that I am aclimated to the place, than I did in the U.S.
I think that it is actually good to get exposed to as much as possible (considering you are healthy). Teachers, and young students, always catch a lot of colds the first couple of years, and then they get their immune system adjusted.
That being said, I am just getting over my first cold in the last couple of years, and it was a doozy. |
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4 months left

Joined: 07 Feb 2003
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Posted: Tue Dec 20, 2005 3:42 am Post subject: |
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Might be allergies. People who do not get allergies in their home country get them here, myself included. Try Zyrtex and if they are bad combine another allergy medicine with it. Mine are just going away. |
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VanIslander

Joined: 18 Aug 2003 Location: Geoje, Hadong, Tongyeong,... now in a small coastal island town outside Gyeongsangnamdo!
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Posted: Tue Dec 20, 2005 4:38 am Post subject: Re: I think it's a Western Thing |
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ucfvgirl wrote: |
I have been here since September and I have already had three colds. Everyday I suffer from the runny nose syndrome and have used more Kleenex in the past few months then I have in my entire life. |
New teachers often experience a lot of colds at first. I did my first year. Now I go two or three months inbetween colds. A cost of teaching a hundred kids in a small confined space.
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I seriously believe that our bodies are being exposed to viruses and germs that are completely different than what we are exposed to back home. |
You sound almost xenophobic yourself! As if foreign influences are to blame, you thrust into an alien, dangerous land... newbie!
The more people and cultures we are exposed to, the stronger our immune system becomes. Scientists and doctors agree. The best way to innoculate a child is to INCREASE their exposure not shelter them away.
And by the way, there is no such thing as "germs". That was an advertising word created to sell cleaning products. The vast majority of bacteria and fungi we encounter in our daily lives are not bad for us, quite the contrary. "Anti-bacterial soap" sells well to American housewives afraid of the natural world.
Be careful but... watch out or else you'll become phobic (it's not a terminal condition, but it can be chronic).
Last edited by VanIslander on Tue Dec 20, 2005 4:46 am; edited 1 time in total |
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vlcupper

Joined: 12 Aug 2004 Location: Gangnam
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Posted: Tue Dec 20, 2005 4:43 am Post subject: |
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You're just getting used to a new climate, air, etc.
I had 4 colds, mind-numbing menstral cramps, and a UTI my first 4 months here. Of course I lived in Pohang, and it's a miracle I didn't automatically get lung cancer from that hellhole, but moving on...
Honey, get Otrivan. I think that's how it's spelled. It's a nasal spray and it works wonders. Just go to a drug store, and tell them Otrivan. It's the same in Korean. It's a small white bottle with a spray pump on top. It's awesome.
Don't fight the germs with tons of unnecessary meds and antibacterial hand gel. Just use regular soap. You're not going to get malaria or polio from this place. |
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Tiny_Tibbo
Joined: 21 Apr 2005 Location: In My Skin
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Posted: Tue Dec 20, 2005 6:21 am Post subject: |
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I had a crazy cold every month for the first 3 months...i feel ya....my nose ran like a facet...I couldn't figure out where it was all comming from.....lol.....I don't think I had a cold like that since I was the size of the little creatures I caught it from. |
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joe_doufu

Joined: 09 May 2005 Location: Elsewhere
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Posted: Tue Dec 20, 2005 6:28 am Post subject: |
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I almost always get sick when I move or change jobs. It's almost never due to the cold weather. Tony Robbins has a theory (well it's not original, everything in his seminars is collected from gurus around the world, but he talked about it) that people get sick around the holidays because we spend a good month and a half consuming lots of junk food, eating a couple of huge meals, and being cheerful and energetic... which absolutely exhausts our bodies. Our systems are taxed with all that effort in digestion, maintaining body temperature in the cold weather, and the holiday cheer. The sickness is the body saying "stop! i've had enough." |
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jajdude
Joined: 18 Jan 2003
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Posted: Tue Dec 20, 2005 9:41 am Post subject: |
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I haven't gotten flu too much. But a few years back I was ill quite a bit for perhaps a month until I got a flu shot. Then I was fine for the next few months of winter. |
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n3ptne
Joined: 14 Sep 2005 Location: Poh*A*ng City
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Posted: Wed Dec 21, 2005 7:00 am Post subject: |
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I have an uncle who is a doctor, he told me if I eat kimchi alot... I won't get sick... I eat it daily, was sick once, but it passed far quicker than it would have normally passed in the US. Not sure if I attribute it to Kimchi or not, but I feel great. |
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canuckistan Mod Team


Joined: 17 Jun 2003 Location: Training future GS competitors.....
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Posted: Wed Dec 21, 2005 8:59 am Post subject: |
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My husband used to work in Dongducheon where the air is cleaner. I lived in Seoul. Whenever he'd come down to Seoul his nose would start running like a tap without fail. It was the air pollution. |
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kangnam mafioso
Joined: 27 Jan 2003 Location: Teheranno
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Posted: Wed Dec 21, 2005 9:41 am Post subject: |
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for various reasons your immune system isn't doing its job. i would suspect overuse of antibiotics, antibacterial hand gels and avoidance of the more healthy korean food. |
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little mixed girl
Joined: 11 Jun 2003 Location: shin hyesung's bed~
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Posted: Wed Dec 21, 2005 4:42 pm Post subject: |
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maybe you just have a runny nose?
i just have a runny nose...all the time & i'm not in korea.
fyi, i go to a uni in the states and there's wayyyyyyyyyyy too many white chicks that take large dumps in the toilet and walk out of the bathroom without washing their hands...
i'd say it's something like...60%...that go without washing. |
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Maserial

Joined: 31 Jul 2005 Location: The Web
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Posted: Wed Dec 21, 2005 5:43 pm Post subject: |
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little mixed girl wrote: |
fyi, i go to a uni in the states and there's wayyyyyyyyyyy too many white chicks that take large dumps in the toilet and walk out of the bathroom without washing their hands...
i'd say it's something like...60%...that go without washing. |
Fascinating.
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