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techselector
Joined: 17 Jan 2012
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 Posted: Thu Jan 19, 2012 1:18 pm Post subject: korean medical exam - high blood pressure? |
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hello everyone, a few questions:
1. i know that they require you to do a medical exam once you get to Korea. i'm an otherwise healthy, 24 year-old male aside from having mild hypertension (high blood pressure). the information i can find on the medical exam states that you must have NO medication in your system when you take it. my question is this: does the exam really look for all medications in your system? or are they just testing for illegal drugs? i'm worried that my blood pressure medication would show up and they'd fail me, disqualifying me for work.
once again, my symptoms are extremely mild. as long as i take my daily tablet, it's basically as if my condition doesn't exist. i eat well and exercise, and don't drink/use drugs or smoke.
2. would it be a good idea for me to not admit on the medical form/to the doctors that i have high blood pressure? i've heard admitting such things on the medical exam/form can prevent you from being hired.
3. i'd occasionally have to get my prescription refilled as well. my location would definitely be in Seoul so i don't foresee a problem getting my refills. especially if i worked at a hagwon, then I could just go in the morning before work or on the weekends. you guys see any problems here either?
thanks for any help! |
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young_clinton
Joined: 09 Sep 2009
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| Posted: Thu Jan 19, 2012 3:54 pm Post subject: |
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| They're not going to reject you over high blood pressure. You can put it on the form or not depending on what you want to do. As far as finding out your on blood pressure mediction, unless you're on a sedative or benzodiazipine (valium like drug) it's not going to come up in the blood tests. They can't test for every chemical after all. |
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techselector
Joined: 17 Jan 2012
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| Posted: Thu Jan 19, 2012 4:15 pm Post subject: |
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| thanks young_clinton. i assumed that would be the case but wanted to be on the safe side. didn't want to show up in Korea and have them tell me to take my yankee ass back home, haha. and my medication is a standard ACE inhibitor, nothing that would be flagged in a drug screening. i've had to take drug screens recently for jobs + admission into the teacher education program at my university and nothing was mentioned at all. like you said, those tests look for specific chemicals. not all of them at once |
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english puppet
Joined: 04 Nov 2011
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| Posted: Thu Jan 19, 2012 5:13 pm Post subject: |
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| techselector wrote: |
| thanks young_clinton. i assumed that would be the case but wanted to be on the safe side. didn't want to show up in Korea and have them tell me to take my yankee ass back home, haha. and my medication is a standard ACE inhibitor, nothing that would be flagged in a drug screening. i've had to take drug screens recently for jobs + admission into the teacher education program at my university and nothing was mentioned at all. like you said, those tests look for specific chemicals. not all of them at once |
Yeah, I was hired w/o issues and I take a small dose like you do. You shouldn't have any problem with it either way. The only snafu my first year with it was they wanted a note from a doctor in the States which said I was "fit" for teaching. It added an unnecessary trip to the doctor's office at the last minute...if you're younger probably they won't even request that.
Good luck. |
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techselector
Joined: 17 Jan 2012
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| Posted: Thu Jan 19, 2012 5:26 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
| Yeah, I was hired w/o issues and I take a small dose like you do. You shouldn't have any problem with it either way. The only snafu my first year with it was they wanted a note from a doctor in the States which said I was "fit" for teaching. It added an unnecessary trip to the doctor's office at the last minute...if you're younger probably they won't even request that. |
music to my ears! good to hear from someone who had the same experience. Much�simas gracias to both of you  |
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northway
Joined: 05 Jul 2010
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| Posted: Thu Jan 19, 2012 7:22 pm Post subject: |
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| I drink, smoke, and have had high blood pressure during a couple of my health checks. They don't care. One time the doctor said it was probably because Korean food was very salty (after I'd been here for two weeks). |
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FDNY
Joined: 27 Sep 2010
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| Posted: Thu Jan 19, 2012 7:37 pm Post subject: |
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I have high blood pressure. Before I go for my health exam I take a Xanax and a Metoprolol(beta blocker), plus my normal high blood pressure medicine. I always clock in at 120/80.  |
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techselector
Joined: 17 Jan 2012
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| Posted: Thu Jan 19, 2012 9:29 pm Post subject: |
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somewhat off topic, but the issue of the saltiness of Korean food is something i had wondered about as well. i'm very salt-sensitive and high sodium content shoots my BP through the roof. i foresee a lot of buying groceries and eating at home so i can control that aspect.
don't get me wrong though, i'm sure i'll still eat out at least a couple times a week. Korean food is delicious and i won't be depriving myself of it entirely |
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Zyzyfer
Joined: 29 Jan 2003
Location: who, what, where, when, why, how?
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| Posted: Thu Jan 19, 2012 10:25 pm Post subject: |
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| northway wrote: |
| I drink, smoke, and have had high blood pressure during a couple of my health checks. They don't care. One time the doctor said it was probably because Korean food was very salty (after I'd been here for two weeks). |
This post made me chuckle.
I have the terrible fortune of getting too nervous at the doctor's and getting false positives. They once checked three times before my blood pressure reached a normal level. It worried me for a while until I wrapped my head around the fact that you can't exactly will your blood pressure down by sheer thought. Or maybe you can, and I'm an idiot. Heh.
Korean food can be very salty, yes. I find it a bit more deceptive personally. I don't like salt or salty food most of the time but didn't notice all the salt here for a while. I've been noticing it a lot more recently, though. |
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cedarseoul
Joined: 16 Feb 2008
Location: nowon-gu
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| Posted: Fri Jan 20, 2012 4:40 am Post subject: |
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I have high blood pressure. It was sky high last time I took a test. Nobody said anything. Nobody cared.
Maybe I'll die young, but at least I get my ARC.
:-/ |
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northway
Joined: 05 Jul 2010
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| Posted: Fri Jan 20, 2012 5:06 am Post subject: |
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| Zyzyfer wrote: |
| northway wrote: |
| I drink, smoke, and have had high blood pressure during a couple of my health checks. They don't care. One time the doctor said it was probably because Korean food was very salty (after I'd been here for two weeks). |
This post made me chuckle.
I have the terrible fortune of getting too nervous at the doctor's and getting false positives. They once checked three times before my blood pressure reached a normal level. It worried me for a while until I wrapped my head around the fact that you can't exactly will your blood pressure down by sheer thought. Or maybe you can, and I'm an idiot. Heh.
Korean food can be very salty, yes. I find it a bit more deceptive personally. I don't like salt or salty food most of the time but didn't notice all the salt here for a while. I've been noticing it a lot more recently, though. |
Despite the drinking and smoking, I think the latter is more the issue, considering that in the four health checks I've had here it's been perfectly fine twice and a bit on the high side twice. |
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Zulethe
Joined: 04 Jul 2008
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| Posted: Fri Jan 20, 2012 1:05 pm Post subject: |
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| Zyzyfer wrote: |
| northway wrote: |
| I drink, smoke, and have had high blood pressure during a couple of my health checks. They don't care. One time the doctor said it was probably because Korean food was very salty (after I'd been here for two weeks). |
This post made me chuckle.
I have the terrible fortune of getting too nervous at the doctor's and getting false positives. They once checked three times before my blood pressure reached a normal level. It worried me for a while until I wrapped my head around the fact that you can't exactly will your blood pressure down by sheer thought. Or maybe you can, and I'm an idiot. Heh.
Korean food can be very salty, yes. I find it a bit more deceptive personally. I don't like salt or salty food most of the time but didn't notice all the salt here for a while. I've been noticing it a lot more recently, though. |
You absolutely can control your blood pressure through biofeedback. It's a common practice in psychology which I'd done before in college. To be able to control your pulse, respiration, and even blood pressure is a pretty cool, invaluable health tool that anyone can learn to do. The problem is that you need the expensive equipment to practice with that not everyone can have access to. |
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Smithington
Joined: 14 Dec 2011
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| Posted: Mon Jan 23, 2012 9:19 pm Post subject: |
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This being Korea, there are few things that are enforced consistently across the board. Phone immigration about a given topic and you'll get one answer. The next day you'll get a different one. Same with health issues. I got turned down for a SMOE position three years ago because I listed high blood pressure on my health self-evaluation. My blood pressure is perfect on medication, but I still got denied.
The first rule in Korea is not to offer any information on any subject - be it health, religion, relationships, etc. - that you absolutely do not need to provide. It will rarely be used to your advantage. In the case of the health self-assessment just check "no" to every item.
We have enough loops to jump through here without being discriminated against for health conditions that in no way affect our jobs. |
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young_clinton
Joined: 09 Sep 2009
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| Posted: Tue Jan 24, 2012 3:56 am Post subject: |
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| Smithington wrote: |
This being Korea, there are few things that are enforced consistently across the board. Phone immigration about a given topic and you'll get one answer. The next day you'll get a different one. Same with health issues. I got turned down for a SMOE position three years ago because I listed high blood pressure on my health self-evaluation. My blood pressure is perfect on medication, but I still got denied.
The first rule in Korea is not to offer any information on any subject - be it health, religion, relationships, etc. - that you absolutely do not need to provide. It will rarely be used to your advantage. In the case of the health self-assessment just check "no" to every item.
We have enough loops to jump through here without being discriminated against for health conditions that in no way affect our jobs. |
Very good assessment and advice. Although if you can, or don't have to positively work in Seoul, don't ever apply to SMOE. Who the hell wants to rely on somebody like them to get a job. |
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lemak
Joined: 02 Jan 2011
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| Posted: Wed Jan 25, 2012 9:41 am Post subject: |
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| Zyzyfer wrote: |
| I have the terrible fortune of getting too nervous at the doctor's and getting false positives. They once checked three times before my blood pressure reached a normal level. |
It's called Whitecoat Syndrome.
According to wikipedia....
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| White coat hypertension, more commonly known as white coat syndrome, is a phenomenon in which patients exhibit elevated blood pressure in a clinical setting but not in other settings.[1] It is believed that this is due to the anxiety some people experience during a clinic visit.[2] |
Any doctor worth their salt will test and then retest maybe 10 minutes later after your body has had a chance to mellow out. Best idea if it's consistently high is to buy a blood pressure monitor (A good one will still only set you back around 100 bucks), and check at the same time every day. Just after you wake and before you bombard your system with coffee, booze, stress, exercise etc. is a good one. Try again after exercise or when you get home from a crappy day at work just as a comparison. |
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