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Thread: Anyone been to China?

  1. #11
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    Marta..Yea for you.I hope you have a fantastic trip and that you stay healthy. Look at the list, I think it was Nicole from Austraia, packed on her trip to the US maybe you'll get some ideas you wouldn't have thought about !!! HAVE FUN
    Life isn't about how you survive the storm, but how to dance in the rain !

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    I'm with Sangye, Tetanus is a must going into any Asian country or south of the border. Even staying in lux hotels you will still be out with common folk when sightseeing. Hep A, is a question but it's very easy to get the illness so I would get it, it has a very high protection factor. Typhoid, I would look ino what are the statistics for the area you are visiting and then make an informed decissionnn
    Jolanta

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    Thanks Everyone. Me2, that's an awesome tip about the nasal gel. I usually put in polysporin in my nose when I travel on planes. It creates a barrier for the airplane germs to get stuck in. I wore a mask on an airplane trip early on, when I was still very afraid of germs and not too familiar with what level of immunosuppression I was at. My rheumy told me that those masks don't really do very much to protect you from free floating germs.

    Back to the topic at hand. I have decided against getting a vaccine. I spoke with a local GP here the other day and he was of the opinion that if it was the vaccine that triggered my disease in the first place and also triggered the only flare I have had, there is a possibility that getting this vaccine might trigger a flare. I had this fear in the back of my mind and was working very hard at suppressing it. Once I heard that though, I went and spoke with the nurses at the clinic and they told me that it's not manditory (the only that's mandatory is Yellow Fever for some countries but not China). So in the spirit of Wegener's where every decision after diagnosis seems to be choosing the lesser of two evils, I made a decision to not get the vaccine because I've worked for two and a half years to get to where I am today and am not in the least bit interested in having a self induced flare and starting from scratch this stupid game. I know I will flare at some point in my life again, perhaps even several times but I'll be damned if I am knowingly the cause of a flare.

    As for the threat of Hep A and Typhoid, I'm going to go packing Cypro (antibiotic used to treat traveller's diarrhea and Typhoid as well) and Tamiflu (antiviral to treat early symptoms of Hep A). So I'm going in packing some heat, so to speak, in case of emergency. My doc (super rheumy) supports my decision but warned me that an infection caused flare is very troublesome. I'll be super careful. We're staying in nice places. I grew up in a Communist country so I have some intrinsic know how on surviving the system (although in Bulgaria I had the benefit of knowing the language.) Incidentally I looked up Bulgaria and the vaccine 'requirements' are similar but I spent a chunk of my life there and never had any issues, so I'm taking the risk.

    Carrei, it was Sangye actually that helped me come to that conclusion (not intentionally, I'm not sure if she'd like credit for that one.) I had the H1N1 vaccine late 2009 along with everyone else - against my better judgement and my gut telling me not to. I was guilted into it for my daughter who was 3 years old at the time. I went and got her inoculated and of course myself because what kind of momma would I be if I did it to her against my feelings and not get it myself. She's fine. I'm a Weggie. It took about two and a half months for the symptoms to appear and then five months to diagnose. I didn't make the connection at the time. After dx I was told to get the seasonal flu shot to keep safe due to the immune suppression. I went that fall (five months after diagnosis) to get the flu shot and they had the H1N1 included in it. Within two days I started getting symptoms, and two weeks later I was in the hospital with a full blown flare on 1000mg of solumedrol for 3 days and back at 60mg of pred and weaning that crap since Nov 2010 - I'm at 3mg now). My liver enzymes were elevated just before both acute attacks, and I speculated on this forum that something with my liver might be involved with setting off a flare. Sangye suggested that something in my environment might be setting off my liver and that's when I made the connection because the only thing that was the same in my life between those two dates is getting the H1N1 vaccine. My life had changed so dramatically that this was the only commonality. I then did some research and believe that in countries that used squalene as the adjuvant in those first mass inoculations there is a significant jump in autoimmune disease. My second shot didn't have squalene, however at this point I believe my body was primed and that's what set me off. This is my opinion but I do have some solid research that supports this view.

    I had this in my mind and it made me a little angry and let down by the powers that are supposed to be watching out for my welfare, but I have decided to not focus on the negative emotions and switch it around for myself and focus on the positive. That's why I've grabbed trying to find a cure for all autoimmune disease by the horns. I want to channel my energy towards a positive goal. This is my coping strategy and it really makes me feel good and puts the yucky stuff that's associated with Wegs on the back burner of my mind. I've gotten so into this vortex that I truly believe with all my heart that if we pool our resources, Weggies, Arthritis sufferers, MS patients, Cilliacers, Chronesers, and over a 100 more, we can be strong enough to get science to look for our commonality and thus lead us straight towards a cure. I believe we can see a cure in our lifetimes... not our great grand kid's lifetimes. So get your PJ's ready and get your circles of friends to do something they're normally doing but in PJ's on March 1st. If we all do it, people will notice. Our entire town put on PJ's last year. It was absolutely unreal. We felt like a group of people banding together for a common cause that would not only save millions of lives, but free up our health care system to take care of other sick people. 20% of Americans have autoimmune disease. Then there's their families and friends - it affects so many of us. Can you imagine if we all stood up for it on one day of the year, how many people that would be....

    I'm so passionate about this - can you tell? I feel it in my gut that we can make a huge difference together. HUGE! And we spread the word by just getting our buddies and family involved, and just by doing that our reach is global. Our voices will be heard.

    There, I've hijacked this thread on myself.

    Here's what we did last year, I'm sure I've shown you this before, but in case you want to see how much fun it was (scroll down below the videos to see the newspaper write up after the event, and the pictures of life in our town in PJ's, the pictures are great)
    The video, pics and write-up of PJ Day and the Evening Fashion/Dance Show « Find The Common Thread

    I'm going to have fun in China and will take pictures and post them on here upon my return.

    Love you guys.
    marta

    ....think PJ's
    Last edited by marta; 12-21-2012 at 04:52 AM.

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    Have an awesome time Marta and we look forward to all the goss, on your return
    ...... a positive outlook (I will not be sick on my travels) works wonders.


    Can I just say that I used the mask on the plane to and from America and others in my party/family came down with the flu and I did not get anything.
    My suggestion is that you still use the mask.......even if it helps a little, it is better than the alternative.
    Keep Smiling
    Michelle


    Live your life in a way that you wouldn't be ashamed to sell the family parrot to the town gossip - WILL ROGERS

  5. #15
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    Have a terrific time in China. Don't worry about flares, I visited Poland, UK, US, Hawaii and Carribean since my diagnosis and have not had any flares as a result. You are taking necessary precaution with meds and you and me both came from all most a third world so our bodies already have enough antibodies to many of the bacteria. One warning, you migh get tummy upset just because of the different foods, it's not like our Chinese takeouts, so go prepared with Imodium and like. Be careful, and take home made sandwitches with you to snack on. Oh the wanders you'll see, there is such wonderful history there. Enjoy!!!
    Jolanta

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    My endo has put many places totally off limits for me. All of the orient, except Japan and Singapore, Mexico, all of Africa, and Central/South America are all off limits. Europe, Australia, and New Zealand are all fine, though. I good probably get by with some specific places such as Johannesburg or Teipa, but I don't have much interest in going there anyway.

    However, I have a very different situation than most of you.

    I have already traveled and lived in most parts of the world. I do regret not being able to go to Russia, but I'll get over it.

    Have a wonderful time in China, Marta!

  7. #17
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    I'm back and a much better person from the experience. I met so many wonderful people, had so many wonderful adventures and saw so many incredible (beyond words) things. While we were in Beijing and Shanghai, they had the highest smog/air pollution in history - it was well over 700 when the measurement system only goes up to 500.... but guess what.... apparently heavy smog is good for the Weggie sinuses, because my sinuses are the clearest they have been since last September. All the crazy flu business going on in North America is completely non existent in China. Didn't see anyone with a cold or flu. They wear masks to protect other people when they're sick so despite the dense population there is no sniffles to be seen. I felt so well while there. I had the unfortunate luck of sitting behind a dude who was hacking up a lung on our flight back to Vancouver from Shanghai, and he wasn't a true Asian because not only was he not wearing a mask but was unaware of the concept of covering his mouth when he coughed and he coughed every 30 seconds for the entire 11 hour flight. Not cool. If I get sick, it's his fault.

    China is an amazing place and I have a great series of photos of Marmot Moose (a stuffy toy Hana got for Christmas that I took with me on the trip) in China and once I put them all together I'll show you guys. I have a few pictures on Facebook for those that are buddies on there, but they're just a small sampling of the entire adventure.

    Just wanted to let you all know I'm home safe and sound and pulled it off without the wretched vaccines.

    Big hugs to you all.

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    Thanks for the update. Glad to her you had a nice trip!

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    Yay! I'm glad you had a great time AND stayed healthy!

    It's interesting that you felt so well there. What was your diet like? That's the first thing I'd suspect as the cause.

  10. #20
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    Thanks drz and Sangye,

    I was actually blown away at how well I felt. I hate to talk about what I'm about to talk about but we're all family on here so here goes. You know how the "movement" schedule tends to buckle up when you go traveling? Well on this trip, I was as smooth as a Swiss watch, if you get my drift. Nothing changed, in fact it improved. I felt great. We ate traditional Chinese food most of the time, but I have to say that when we were in Northern China - Harbin, I wasn't too fond of the overall flavour of the food. Once we went further south the food taste improved dramatically for me. I was telling Brian that maybe I was Chinese in a previous life because I really enjoyed the experience, both physically and emotionally. I loved the people. Truly beautiful people. The music brought tears to my eyes a few times (it's embarrassing how little self control I have when it comes to that). So who knows. If you believe in that kind of stuff, I think I have treaded some of those paths before. I would go back there in an instant, although we were very well taken care of, and I was so cautious. No ice, ever, only bottled water or wine (I drank more wine on this trip than in my whole life combined, but only for safety sake )

    Good to be home and with my little girl. That was the hardest part of the trip, being away from 'creature' for so long.

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