latest health update
I am not sure it is especially thrilling to read endless updates on my health, but i journal here as much more me as for you guys, and it's become my primary source for trying to remember exactly what happened in my life when. Of course, because it's also public, i tend to not always reveal embarassing stuff till later, but it's better than not having any record at all, i suppose.
The latest on my embarassing bottom problem is... It got worse. But also i am now fairly certain that the scabies has been defeated. Before the treatment i was constantly in despair about the state of my skin. Everything itched everywhere. I was getting breakouts all over my body. I'd try some over-the-counter medication or adjusting my clothes or diet or personal hygiene and there was no way to compare before and after, because everything was just a chaotic mess all of the time. But now, it seems that if i try something, i can see a result - good or bad - that makes logical sense. I think what was infuriating before is i had two or maybe even three overlapping problems that all interacted with one another and left my body reeling.
My current feeling on the problem that remains is that i have a fungal infection. That seems logical. I spent a year traveling around mostly outside, at least 6 months of that in hot, humid, tropical environments. I didn't always have access to washing machines. My shit got damp. I sweated a lot. I am not sure if it is ringworm because i am not getting a hard, defined ridge anywhere on my body, but the dots on one of my buttocks do appear to be arranged in a suspiciously circular shape. And that appears to be the epicenter, with more dots appearing in nearby "intimate" areas and around the thighs and middle.
Last week i bought some over the counter anti-fungal cream and applied that to the affected areas, expecting them to improve. And. Exactly the opposite happened. The red dots that already were there got more raised, deeper and redder. Meanwhile a couple of new dots appeared nearby. I did some googling and found a few scientific papers saying that it is a bit of a problem in India and other Asian countries that over-the-counter anti-fungal medications also include steroids, and that the steroids can actually end up causing existing lesions to grow. I saw some photos of patients and it looks a lot like what's started happening to me. And it makes sense, because not only does this anti-fungal cream have steroids in it, but i have been applying steroid cream of one sort or another for over a month now. It seems that overuse of steroids can result in these bright red keloid-looking lumps, which is exactly what i am now seeing.
My new plan is to stop using any kind of cream whatsoever for a week. No steroids, no anti-fungal and not even my standard moisturizer. Also, i am going to start wearing underwear at home again, because i had previously been removing it at home to try to give my body more fresh air, to keep it cool and dry and not irritate the area even more. But in the case of a possible fungal infection that might just mean i was transferring it to my bedclothes and spreading it across other parts of my body, whereas if it's covered up perhaps it will help to keep the infection localized?
The frustrating thing is that without cream i am back to itching. And if it's an infection, it won't just heal by itself, i am going to need some anti-biotics or other medication anyway.
FUCK!
This is so annoying. I just want it all to be over so that i can finally relax. Maybe take a long weekend and travel to the southern part of the country where it is slightly less rainy than Taipei. Hell, maybe if my body really starts feeling better i might look into going to some electronic music events in the city. Taiwan does have a bit of a scene, and i haven't even looked into it thanks to this ongoing skin condition of doom.
Also, the country has reopened to tourists without quarantine. I don't know if it's just my imagination, but i feel like i am seeing way more foreigners around the place. And, to be frank, they are mildly irritating. I'm sure the government will drop mask mandates at some point - they've been looking to other countries in the region like Japan and South Korea to decide on policy, and both of those have now dropped their outdoor mask mandates - but it's still annoying to see selfish white tourists walking around the bustling middle of town without a mask as if the rules don't apply to them. It was quite nice to be in Asia without having to put up with all the white male shitbags who see half the continent as their personal playground, a place they can visit to party and get laid and expect to be treated like kings despite their bad behavior. But, oh well, back to normal i guess.
Downside is before if you were walking around as a visible minority, it was clear that you actually lived here. So the xenophobia was less. Or, maybe people were just more polite. But now - literally just in the last few days - local people assume me to be a dumb tourist, and make remarks in Chinese within earshot, as if i have no idea what they're saying. I tend to just turn around and roll my eyes at them, which i hope reminds them that just two weeks ago they behaved very differently.
And i gotta say it's especially galling in Taiwan, because a much bigger proportion of immigrants are not white. Most immigrants in Taiwan are from Japan, Indonesia, Philippines etc, and in many cases cannot be visually distinguished from local Taiwanese. But with those immigrants, the assumption is that they can speak Chinese, even when they can't. I know, because i work with several of them. I suppose they have a different form of embarassment where they need to apologetically explain that they can't speak Chinese to someone who assumed otherwise. Whereas i have to deliberately speak Chinese back to people who think that they are doing me a service by speaking near-indecipherable Engrish instead of just using Mandarin or standard Chinese number gestures. Oh, and some "helpful" person in my building keeps bringing random letters from the mailbox up to my door as if they were addressed to me, just because the name is written in Latin alphabet, even though it's clear if you read it that the name is not only male but also Spanish and possibly Filipino. But, hey, i'm the only white person in the building so it must be me, right?
Ah, the joys of being an immigrant.
There are also a fair few Vietnamese immigrants here. Friday night i just wanted some bread and didn't walk to walk all the way to Carrefour just to buy a baguette, so i got a bánh mì from a local stall instead. Sadly because this isn't North America or Europe, there was no vegan/tofu option. But, also sadly, because this isn't China, i can't find anywhere that knows how to make properly spicy mapo tofu, so perhaps bánh mì can become my occasional pork-laden cheat dish instead. Although that's stretching the cheat dish definition a bit, since mapo tofu is just a sprinkling of ground pork for flavor, and here in Taiwan that sprinkling of ground pork for flavor happens at most of the noodle stalls who also sell 滷肉飯 (a splash of lard and ground meat on top of plain rice). So, i do end up cheating at least once a week anyway with various cheap noodle bowls.
Still, i suppose consciously eating very little meat is better than cheerfully chowing down on beef every day. I might not be perfect, but i feel like i'm doing my part for reducing my impact on the environment. Let's just ignore all those flights i took in the past few months...
The latest on my embarassing bottom problem is... It got worse. But also i am now fairly certain that the scabies has been defeated. Before the treatment i was constantly in despair about the state of my skin. Everything itched everywhere. I was getting breakouts all over my body. I'd try some over-the-counter medication or adjusting my clothes or diet or personal hygiene and there was no way to compare before and after, because everything was just a chaotic mess all of the time. But now, it seems that if i try something, i can see a result - good or bad - that makes logical sense. I think what was infuriating before is i had two or maybe even three overlapping problems that all interacted with one another and left my body reeling.
My current feeling on the problem that remains is that i have a fungal infection. That seems logical. I spent a year traveling around mostly outside, at least 6 months of that in hot, humid, tropical environments. I didn't always have access to washing machines. My shit got damp. I sweated a lot. I am not sure if it is ringworm because i am not getting a hard, defined ridge anywhere on my body, but the dots on one of my buttocks do appear to be arranged in a suspiciously circular shape. And that appears to be the epicenter, with more dots appearing in nearby "intimate" areas and around the thighs and middle.
Last week i bought some over the counter anti-fungal cream and applied that to the affected areas, expecting them to improve. And. Exactly the opposite happened. The red dots that already were there got more raised, deeper and redder. Meanwhile a couple of new dots appeared nearby. I did some googling and found a few scientific papers saying that it is a bit of a problem in India and other Asian countries that over-the-counter anti-fungal medications also include steroids, and that the steroids can actually end up causing existing lesions to grow. I saw some photos of patients and it looks a lot like what's started happening to me. And it makes sense, because not only does this anti-fungal cream have steroids in it, but i have been applying steroid cream of one sort or another for over a month now. It seems that overuse of steroids can result in these bright red keloid-looking lumps, which is exactly what i am now seeing.
My new plan is to stop using any kind of cream whatsoever for a week. No steroids, no anti-fungal and not even my standard moisturizer. Also, i am going to start wearing underwear at home again, because i had previously been removing it at home to try to give my body more fresh air, to keep it cool and dry and not irritate the area even more. But in the case of a possible fungal infection that might just mean i was transferring it to my bedclothes and spreading it across other parts of my body, whereas if it's covered up perhaps it will help to keep the infection localized?
The frustrating thing is that without cream i am back to itching. And if it's an infection, it won't just heal by itself, i am going to need some anti-biotics or other medication anyway.
FUCK!
This is so annoying. I just want it all to be over so that i can finally relax. Maybe take a long weekend and travel to the southern part of the country where it is slightly less rainy than Taipei. Hell, maybe if my body really starts feeling better i might look into going to some electronic music events in the city. Taiwan does have a bit of a scene, and i haven't even looked into it thanks to this ongoing skin condition of doom.
Also, the country has reopened to tourists without quarantine. I don't know if it's just my imagination, but i feel like i am seeing way more foreigners around the place. And, to be frank, they are mildly irritating. I'm sure the government will drop mask mandates at some point - they've been looking to other countries in the region like Japan and South Korea to decide on policy, and both of those have now dropped their outdoor mask mandates - but it's still annoying to see selfish white tourists walking around the bustling middle of town without a mask as if the rules don't apply to them. It was quite nice to be in Asia without having to put up with all the white male shitbags who see half the continent as their personal playground, a place they can visit to party and get laid and expect to be treated like kings despite their bad behavior. But, oh well, back to normal i guess.
Downside is before if you were walking around as a visible minority, it was clear that you actually lived here. So the xenophobia was less. Or, maybe people were just more polite. But now - literally just in the last few days - local people assume me to be a dumb tourist, and make remarks in Chinese within earshot, as if i have no idea what they're saying. I tend to just turn around and roll my eyes at them, which i hope reminds them that just two weeks ago they behaved very differently.
And i gotta say it's especially galling in Taiwan, because a much bigger proportion of immigrants are not white. Most immigrants in Taiwan are from Japan, Indonesia, Philippines etc, and in many cases cannot be visually distinguished from local Taiwanese. But with those immigrants, the assumption is that they can speak Chinese, even when they can't. I know, because i work with several of them. I suppose they have a different form of embarassment where they need to apologetically explain that they can't speak Chinese to someone who assumed otherwise. Whereas i have to deliberately speak Chinese back to people who think that they are doing me a service by speaking near-indecipherable Engrish instead of just using Mandarin or standard Chinese number gestures. Oh, and some "helpful" person in my building keeps bringing random letters from the mailbox up to my door as if they were addressed to me, just because the name is written in Latin alphabet, even though it's clear if you read it that the name is not only male but also Spanish and possibly Filipino. But, hey, i'm the only white person in the building so it must be me, right?
Ah, the joys of being an immigrant.
There are also a fair few Vietnamese immigrants here. Friday night i just wanted some bread and didn't walk to walk all the way to Carrefour just to buy a baguette, so i got a bánh mì from a local stall instead. Sadly because this isn't North America or Europe, there was no vegan/tofu option. But, also sadly, because this isn't China, i can't find anywhere that knows how to make properly spicy mapo tofu, so perhaps bánh mì can become my occasional pork-laden cheat dish instead. Although that's stretching the cheat dish definition a bit, since mapo tofu is just a sprinkling of ground pork for flavor, and here in Taiwan that sprinkling of ground pork for flavor happens at most of the noodle stalls who also sell 滷肉飯 (a splash of lard and ground meat on top of plain rice). So, i do end up cheating at least once a week anyway with various cheap noodle bowls.
Still, i suppose consciously eating very little meat is better than cheerfully chowing down on beef every day. I might not be perfect, but i feel like i'm doing my part for reducing my impact on the environment. Let's just ignore all those flights i took in the past few months...