Korean Job Discussion Forums

[eamo]

[BadBadMan]

Could be ghosts.

Seriously, though, I've had some of your symptoms for a few years and I really never figured out what they were caused by. I did do some thinking though.

1. The random heart-racing in bed and insomnia; morning fatigue -> heart-racing got better after I started watching TV or some downloaded shows till I fell asleep every night; morning fatigue got way better after I quit teaching, got back to normal sleeping and eating hours -- getting a wife helped :p

2. Sleeping better at someone else's house -> I attributed this to stress from living alone. Not just loneliness -- I think people get a lot more sensitive, intimidated, and stressed out by little things when living alone.

3. Random heart-racing even when not trying to sleep -> this happened pretty often when I drank a bottle of soju and smoked a pack every day; happens like almost never now that I only smoke and don't really drink much

4. Air circulation concerns -> all buildings give off small levels of toxic fumes, that's why moms always let air circulate at least once a day at home. Not circulating air can also exacerbate mold growth. Seoul air is bad but still wayyyyy better than concentrated trash germs, bathroom chemicals, mold spores, dust, etc. If you live in a small apartment with windows only on one side of the wall, it can be hard to really let the air circulate.

5. Electric current from fridge -> yeah, that's electric current. Probably not enough to harm you, though. Happens a lot in cheap fridges.

Also, what storey do you live in? I usually felt better living in the third floor or higher.

[CtotheB]

Also, consider buying an air purifier. Always a good idea no matter where you live.

[Jeweltone]

This is just a shot in the dark, but...you could have acid reflux issues. Seriously, the burning sensation doesn't happen to everyone - in me, it showed itself as tingling, shortness of breath, and numbness. I later found out I had severe acid reflux and was aspirating it in my sleep. Try buying a wedge pillow online. it takes some time to get used to it, but you will start sleeping better.

That said, my apartment actually DID make me sick. There were many reasons for this, including mold, poor construction (ex. pieces of my wall tile going right through my foot while I was in the shower), and living-next-to-the-subway- at-the-end-of-a-freakin'-airforce-runway-next-to-a-dogmeat-farm-in-the-boonies (pant...pant). I have permanent damage to my digestive tract from the mold problem and whatever else was in that crap-hole (long story).

Another possible cause is that Korea has quite a few "hotspots" of, shall we say, paranormal activity of a negative kind. There were many, many atrocities committed during the Korean conflict from both sides of the debate, and some of the spirits/negative energies/demons/??? are not resting easy. I am usually quite skeptical of such things, but I am now convinced that there are places that I have visited in Korea (my apartment building was smack dab in the middle of one of them that even the locals avoided) that "just don't feel right." You may be in one of them. Check with a spiritual advisor on this - have someone prayer-walk around the building; it is done sort of secretively in Korea, but there are people who do this if you ask around enough.

[Castaway]

Jeez, bad situation. I guess it would be pretty hard to get a new place, right?

[whitestboyalive]

Thanks for the suggestions everyone. I've looked around my place, and haven't found much evidence of mold. The smell hasn't been to bad lately, as I've had the window opens lots. I was thinking of doing a test where I leave my apartment for a week, with all the doors/window closed, all rooms sealed (it's possible to seal off the main bedroom, bathroom, and kitchen/laundry room.) After staying in a motel for a bit, I could go back and smell the apartment, and see if it still smells like chemicals.

But I've also started wondering if there is more involved to this.

A few things:

1) My computer has a very big/bright screen. Sometimes I turn it off at 12 midnight, expecting to get up at 7am. That leaves me with only a 7 hour sleep every night, but the reality is I can never call asleep until like 1:30am after turning off the computer. That leaves me with lots of sleep deprivation. Another poster mentioned this, and I took note. Thanks. I feel best on a 8 or 9 hour sleep.

2) I've beginning to think maybe I drink too much coffee. I usually drink about, on average, 1.5 coffees a day. I know that may not sound like much to some people, but perhaps that is what is causing my heart palpitations. I usually drink my first coffee at 1:00 after lunch, and then 1 out of every 2 days I usually have a second cup around 4:00 or 5:00 ish. I heard that caffeine has a half life of four hours, so that means the caffeine lasts like 8 hours.

3) I don't exercise much anymore. This probably has something to do with it, although I seem to get a bit dizzy when I exercise. I feel lightheaded and dizzy even after 10 - 15 minutes of walking/running on a treadmill. The other day I was walking a bit fast (not very fast) and felt a huge wave of dizziness. I had to stop, as the world turned upwards a bit, then it calmed down. I felt a bit "off" the entire day, until I finally had a weird headache and had to go to bed early after taking a couple of aspirin last night...

A couple of nights ago I woke up with a weird feeling on half of my face, gasping for breath. I would best describe it as almost a 'numb' / squeezing / pins&needles in my face. It was odd. So I wonder if that is a symptom of sleep apnea.

So, for now, what I will do in addition, is to pretty much cut out coffee for a while, try some light exercise, and turn off the computer at 10:00pm.

Dunno if it will help (as most normal people don't have to do the above) but I sure hope so!

As for this all being psychological, yeah OK, I can understand how as a person on the outside, you might think that. Whenever someone is complaining about a few symptoms and the doctor hasn't found anything, that is what you may expect. But we shouldn't have absolute faith in doctors. They are not me, and they don't feel the physical symptoms I'm having. If it were them having the symptoms, they might think differently. The only thing really stressing me out in life are these annoying symptoms.

It's not like "thinking about it" gives you the common cold. It just happens. I dunno what's wrong with me, but I don't believe my mind is any part of this. The only thing I'll admit to is feeling anxiety when falling asleep, but that only happens if I start feeling those weird symptoms first. If I get in bed and fall asleep normally, no problem.

Thanks again for the advice everyone. Trying to get better!

[methdxman]

[kenglish]

sick building syndrome alright. fungus or voc problem. time to pack up and just go. GO!

[whitestboyalive]

[methdxman]

[methdxman]

[Triban]

Ghosts or demons.

[Caffeinated]

[whitestboyalive]

[gem]

Sounds like a mold problem. Hopefully it's not. My building is badly infested with mold although I don't seem to have any visible mold in my apartment. Koreans don't seem to take mold their mold problems seriously. Try to get out more and exercise. Try some herbal sleeping pills from iherb.com. They ship to Korea for a very cheap price. I take them 3-4 nights a week and they really help me.