Actually I can't small the chlorine, guess I am already here too long.
I am already happy that the muddy Yangtze smell finally disappeared.

Fleurette7 wrote:That many? Really?
In France people are crazy... they have a cold, they think they are dying. So extreme. Also French drugs are way too strong- I was better off not taking them as they always made me worse!

That's not really a lot, about 0.02% of the population. It's about 36,000 a year in the US but of course, that's deaths. A LOT more people get flu but don't die. That's my whole point, at this time of year it's expected that lots of people get sick. This post is pretty pointless.

Sorry guys it's all my fault, I brought my evil canadian microbe to this dear land.

Someone take me out for a beer? We can talk about old school remedies ...

My cold haven't gone~ I got it from the club "apartment", much germs there...

What dont kill you makes you stronger,


OK Serena, we can try another club ...

tylerdurden wrote:

CoffeeHawk_0 wrote:

CoffeeHawk_0 wrote:^bright yellow or green snot means there is an infection, it will not go away by itself, hence why you two have had it for a month. You need antibiotics.

It will never go away by itself. The bright yellow or green signifies bacteria (vs. a virus), which your immune system can not kill.

Wrong, wrong and wrong.

And, the longer you and your boss have it, the more people you will infect, because it is likely airborn, which is likely how you received it, subway, etc.

Right, wrong and wrong.

Antibiotics are cheap in the pharmacies, go to a Chinese hospital, pay $10~$20, get a prescription, then $20 more for 8 days of antibiotics.

And stop taking them after 2 days, at which time your viral infection will have resolved by itself, and the bacteria living in your nose will have had a big Darwinian boost toward developing multiple antibiotic resistance.

OP, if you get a bill in the mail from Coffee tomorrow for his consultation fee, my advice is: don't pay it.

wrong, wrong, wrong, etc. etc.

OK. I never had sinus or lung bacterial infections before moving to China, I never had antibiotics before moving to China. I had one yellow and 3 green infections in Shanghai. Twice, I am confident I know when and where I was infected because due to street crowds I walked right into the cough of someone who looked like they were about to die. The first 2 times, I thought it was a cold and it turned into a 102F+ fever and kept getting progressively worse. The next 2 times, as soon as I saw the green color, I went straight for the antibiotics, and the symptoms barely developed, and it went away in half the time.

You are wrong about it not being airborne, it is. That's why you get it from AC and people coughing, both of which Shanghai has millions of.

Influenza can be airborne. The vast majority of cold viruses (there are over 70 of them) are not - they are spread via nasal secretions. You don't get colds from air conditioning either - you may be mixing this up with Legionnaire's Disease. All this stuff has been proven through carefully designed and conducted large-scale studies.

The fact that you got better once or twice after taking antibiotics proves nothing. I bet (well, I hope) you also took a daily shower both times. It could just have easily been the shower that cured you. Or maybe it was just your immune system that cleared the infection. You can't prove any of this from unblinded observation of a sample space of one.

Viral respiratory infections often produce green sputum.

Most bacterial respiratory infections follow a viral infection. Sure, if you have had a cold for a week, you take a turn for the worse, feel like sh*t, are running a fever and cold sweats, have chest pain, and start producing copious sputum, then yes. It's time for the a/b's.

Well, I'm fine now. The yellowness went away by itself... and lots of hot tea and sleep.

When you come to a new place, you are likely to catch new diseases just because you don't have some of the antibiotics. You will be fine in a few years.

This is particularly true for Americans and Canadians, where the population density is much lower.

^ I think you mean "antibodies", not "antibiotics" - yes?

You have hit the nail on the head. China has high population density, especially in cities like Shanghai. So viral infections tend to run rampant.

BTW did you know that Europe has a higher population density than China? Who woulda thunk it.

tylerdurden wrote:BTW did you know that Europe has a higher population density than China? Who woulda thunk it.

I dunno, makes sense to me, if you are talking about the population spread over the land mass as a whole. Of course that isn't what happens, but if it's being measured as a straight ratio of people to land, then yeah, not hard to believe.

chotomate wrote:Bad air, bad water, questionable quality of the food produced here, people coughing in your face and spitting at your feet, lack of warm water and soap in the restrooms... welcome to civilisation

Anyone notice how much more chlorine in the H20 these days? It's like a cloud of chlorine gas every time I try to have a shower or run hot water. I used to think the steam helped deal with the bad air I breathe into my lungs every day here...now it's cancer-causing too.

A a teacher, I have co-workers and students come to school even when they're sick. Back in the US, we stay home if we're sick. In fact the managers don't want us to come in and get everyone else sick. They don't think that way here in China. My students come up to me and cough while asking questions without covering their faces. People on subways do the same even when they sneeze. Chinese people are terrified of drinking cold water or missing the right time for their meals, but it doesn't occur to them that washing hands with soap, not spitting in public, and covering their faces when sneezing or coughing will dramatically cut down on people getting sick.

I went to a good restaurant a few nights ago. I went to the restroom, and one of the cooks was using the urinal while talking on his mobile. He was holding his ***** to urinate with one hand and the other to talk on the phone. I waited to see if he would wash his hands. He ran it under the water for less than 2 seconds - no soap.

The last time I caught a bad cold was a few hours after coming home from the hospital to get rid of a kidney stone. The hospitals here are one of the most common places to catch a cold. The bathrooms in the hospitals often don't have soap either. A friend explained this to me saying uneducated people from the countryside steal the soap, so the hospitals don't bother putting them up.

About the water.... I've also noticed the strong odor. I thought it was probably just my building, but I noticed a somewhat similar odor in my friend's place on the other side of town. This odor only started when the weather got cold about 2 months ago. I wouldn't describe it as smelling like chlorine - it's a little more foul smelling than chlorine. It's almost like a light sewer water odor, but more chemical-ly. What the hell is it? and what are the harmful effects? Cancer? Should I buy the large bottles of water, heat it up and take a very mini-bird bath instead? In the last 2 weeks, I've stopped brushing my teeth and gargling in the shower. I now only use bottled water to brush my teeth and gargle. I'm simply tired of getting sick in China. I used to get sick only 2 or 3 times a year back in the States, but would also recover within 1-3 days. Here, I get sick twice as often, and the recovery time is 3 times longer.

fucinay wrote:I went to a good restaurant a few nights ago. I went to the restroom, and one of the cooks was using the urinal while talking on his mobile. He was holding his ***** to urinate with one hand and the other to talk on the phone. I waited to see if he would wash his hands. He ran it under the water for less than 2 seconds - no soap.

Urine is sterile. Penises may have a higher concentrations of pheromones than other body parts, but no higher concentration of harmful bacteria. In fact, the body parts with the highest concentration of potentially harmful bacteria are probably the hands (and the teeth). So, by handling his penis, he was actually cleaning his hands.

Well this is just my personal experience but I get sick (cold / flu) here about once or twice a year which happens to be exactly the same frequency as when I lived in the UK.

A couple of weeks ago I was really bad... dizzy, beginnings of a fever etc. I sent a message to my boss saying I needed to stay home... his answer was that for everyday I call in sick, they will take 1000 RMB from my salary and it "wasn't worth it" and might as well go to work. I went to work. That's probably why people don't call in sick here...They can't afford to be ill.

Fleurette7 wrote:A couple of weeks ago I was really bad... dizzy, beginnings of a fever etc. I sent a message to my boss saying I needed to stay home... his answer was that for everyday I call in sick, they will take 1000 RMB from my salary and it "wasn't worth it" and might as well go to work. I went to work. That's probably why people don't call in sick here...They can't afford to be ill.

IMHO, your boss is a prick, better to have a job that has defined leave.

Well... that's my company... I have recently quit... (yey!)

It costs me almost the same if I don't go to work either. We have 5 sick days per year, but I must get a doctor's note for sick leave. The problem is that last time I was too sick to go to the hospital, and the doctor won't give a sick note for previous days.

It's just a whole lot easier to go to work, get a bit worse and infect everybody else...

I have had 2 chest infections in 9 years - 1 now in Suzhou and the (Chinese) wife is coughing and snotting. Thank you door handles/knobs and lift buttons.

You have done it well.<cough>.
Z

That is reason why I keep my gloves on all the time when I am outside.

yes, too many people getting sick in Shanghai.Government taking action for all that..

I guess people must react differently. I think my immune system must have strengthened since being here. Haven't been sick in over 5 years.

Wheel chair is very useful for a person who in not able to walk.. there are many production companies across the world.i dont know where should i shope wheel chair.

Living in that dirty city seams almost normal after some time there. I just left last month and live in a really clean city now near the ocean. The contrast makes it so obvious of actually how nasty Shanghai air is.

Also the low quality food and lots of nights out partying in shanghai take a toll.

One month out of shanghai I feel 15 years younger. It wasnt easy to get here as my body went into detox mode and clearing out some the toxins was painful.

I would be very cautious in taking a job in Shanghai now even though I really enjoy living there. The cost to ones health should not be ignored.

People might like to debate treatment plans but the best advice is find a healthier city to live in beacuse health can be a hard thing to get back once it is lost.

I really hate how the level of awareness is so low in China about air pollution and such. It seams to be getting worse not better.

The real problem is economic growth at all costs with no concern for consequences.

So ask yourself is the economic gain of living in Shanghai worth a lower level of health in your future.

Actually I found out I only have 3 paid sick days and not 5. However, I must go to the hospital and pay for a doctor's visit to get a paid sick day. Total B.S. Anyway, I agree that the cost to one's health living here shouldn't be ignored. I'm going to leave as soon as my contract is up in September unless I fall in love with someone here or something like that. Even then, I will try to convince them to leave as soon as they can too. I have never felt so consistently "sickly" and drained of energy almost all the time as I have in the last 7 months!