Getting freaked out pre-departure! Disease advice!!
 

I hope I am not posting excessively on this board, you guys are just helping me so much.

I am starting to get a little freaked out before leaving, people have been doing this for me since I've told them of my plans, but I am worried now about getting sick on my trip. I cannot say as I am in the best of health, just low energy/underweight/low iron etc..things, and so I know my immunity isn't at its highest.

What do you ADAMANTLY recommend I do before leaving based on where I am going. I am doing Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia and Indonesia. I am thinking some malaria vaccine is a must? What were your experiences encoutering mosquito or food born illnesses? Is it a given that just adjusting to SE Asia you will experience digestive issues? Do I need to be as hyper vigilent on the beaches as some books are saying? Others seem so casual about it and say it's more the paranoia of others than reality, but between bird flu, mosquito bites, ring worms and ticks, a few of these books make it seem like you are doomed to be killed if you venture out beyond the Western experience!

I'm sure this question has been flogged to death in the past but please, if you could add a dose of reality to my current paranoia that would be great! : )

-Kat

Start by visiting the cdc website: wwwn.cdc.gov/travel

Then go visit a travel med doc - or given your list of medical issues, visit your primary care doc.

There is no such things as a malaria vaccine. But there are vaccines you'd be wise to have.

routine vaccines you should have at home:
tetanus/diptheria
measles/mumps/rubella

"travelers vaccines"
Hep A (and get Hep B while you are at it)
typhoid

Now, read all of the info on anti-malarials. You are visiting a number of malarial risk areas and a number of areas that are not risk areas. You will find mosquitos in some places, not in others. Make sure you have a deet-containing (25%-50%) repellant or one of the picardin repellants.

Read all of the info on food and water precautions. You may choose to violate some of those precautions, but know when and why you are choosing to do so. (For instance, I eat salads and cut fruit at places I know and have not gotten ill, but I am very conscious of when I choose to violate the precautions.) Always drink bottled water, and use bottled water to brush your teeth.

I've not gotten food borne illness in SE Asia, but I have traveled with people who have - not something you want.

Bird flu is really not an issue you need to worry about unless you pan on staying at farms with ducks and chickens and would have contact with diseased or dead poultry. The cdc has a section on this as well.

I've traveled to SE Asia almost annually for over 20 years and have never had anything worse than a cold.

By the way, if you have some medical issues, get them taken care of before you go.

And do you have medical evacuation insurance? Always wise to have!

I could not agree more with Kathie.

I agree with Kathie.

I've been traveling all over the world for over 30 years and personally have gotten really very sick only once that I can remember and that was a few years ago on my Ghana, West Africa trip.

But, I didn't get the sickness from being in Ghana, but caught something , from a passenger, on the plane between Frankfurt and Nigeria. He boarded in Frankfurt and was very sick and shouldn't have been allowed on the plane. I was told there had been a major flu epidemic in Frankfurt. He hacked away for 6-7 hours straight until he got off in Nigeria and then the plane flew on to Ghana. But, the damage had already been done as he was sitting very near me.

The next morning I woke up with the shakes and sweats and it pretty much wiped me out for my 2-week, solo trip. I had some medical supplies with me though. And after about a week started to feel better, although still shaky. I lost 10 pounds or so in two weeks. I didn't mind that. Those were the 10 extra I wanted to lose as I had taken off 20 during the year of the trip. Smiles.

I went back, to Ghana, the next year to do the things I didn't do on the sick year. I was fine the second trip. No one hacking on me on the plane and no more vaccinations. The immune system was back to iron clad.

I usually have very strong immunity and don't come down with anything. But, I had had all of those vaccinations and was on my Malarone malaria med. All of that stuff, in my system, I believe weakened it as I went through this only one other time, back in 73 when the vaccinations vastly affected my immune system. So, after that bad experience I hadn't taken a vaccination since 1973 and had traveled on all continents with no problems.
But, then 2003 came and I had to take one for Yellow Fever to get into Ghana. Then my sister, a doctor, strongly suggested a few other ones. So, I went along with it, but had the vaccinations spaced out. I wouldn't take them all on the same day as they had been given me in 73.

So, one never knows what one's system is going to react to. I don't let it stop me from traveling. And I don't worry about it. I just forge on.

As for stomach sickness, I usually get some form of it, but I just go to the pharmacy (Boots) and they know what to prescribe.

Last year, in BK, a friend came over to visit me, and he and I had bad stomach sickness on the same day. He usually has an iron-clad system as well, and he can usually eat anything and have no problems. I have a more sensitive stomach.

Things happen overseas depending on one's system. I don't know what I got the stomach sickness from especially since I live in a serviced apartment and had cooked my own food all day. I cook a lot while there. So, it was from something I'd bought at the supermarket I guess. My friend had eaten some kind of street food meat, so he knew exactly where he'd gotten his from. Happy Travels!

Definitely follow Kathie's advice! Also, make sure your medical insurance will cover you for emergency treatment abroad, and take out medical evacuation insurance if it's not included in your policy. (See the current Bali trip report thread for what can happen). No need to get paranoid, but good insurance is worth every penny.

I think I got sick (briefly) one time in SEA, but I am very careful about water (including ice) and fruit and veg. And about street food in some places.

go to a travel clinic!! most teaching hospitals have them....

Kathie gives good advice about what kinds of jabs to get, brushing with bottled water, not going around barefoot in the muck, etc.

Wash your hands every time you think about it. That's a biggie.

I will go out on a limb here and report that IN ADDITION to all that, I swear by really good probiotics to support good intestinal flora and a daily dose of oregano oil to keep parasites in check.

I keep around packs of electrolytes and put in my water also; simple dehydration can be a killer.

Don't be freaked out. Just err on the side of caution if you're worried about it.

Most people who travel to SEA leave unscathed; you can too!