30 June 2010

The "Healthy" June

It's July already, but I will still mark this post the last moment of June as a reminder that, June 2010 had been a "wonderful" month for me.

Saying this, I've been visiting quite a few clinics in June due to various reasons. Luckily it has nothing to do with serious sickness or diseases, just a little medical conditions....

Dermatology (Skin)

Back in May I had something like an enlarged pimple growing on my back which caught me by surprise. Had similar experience before back in Malaysia but this time I'm alone and couldn't really do much to get rid of the annoying thing.

Kinda hard to grab a shot of it.
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After consulting the medical officer in the university, I went to a nearby clinic nearby the university to receive treatment. This was my first encounter visiting a Japanese clinic.

Good thing after applying the cream for some days the "pimple" seems to getting smaller and eventually disappears, to my delight.

But weeks later I revisited the clinic again, this time is another "problem". Summer in Japan is sweaty and somehow I had some rashes near the groin which were itchy. Except for the itch, it wasn't really a big deal but thinking that heck, this sort of small problem could be cured applying cream so I had another go.
The result was positive. :)

But then, one of my worst health experience has yet to come....

Ophthalmology (Eye)

During the first 2 weeks of June, I noticed that my eyes were getting exhausted faster than usual and I'm having a hard time to concentrate in the classroom looking at the screen or the whiteboard. Strain in the eyes, I thought it would be cured after sufficient rest.

But then, after a week or so it doesn't seemed to work well. Besides having enough rest I also tried to reduce my time in front of the computer (main suspect of the cause).
Was kinda helpless because I had no previous eye-related problem at all and I thought my short-sightness increased drastically in such a short time, prompting the thought of getting a spectacle?

To play safe, there goes another visit to an eye clinic not far away from my hostel.
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Had a proper eyesight test and was told that eyesight is still OK eventhough there's slight short-sight in the right eye. The doctor didn't speak much but prescribed some eye-droppers.

The 2 eye-droppers. The light-blue is for moisture the dry eye; the red is to cure eye-exhaustion.
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After a week or so applying them in between 3~4 hours interval daily, the eyes are getting much better and eventually I can resume my daily life without the eye drops.

I was kinda worried back then because I still wanna see this beautiful world with my eyes (without the specs!) and yeah, was glad that it's cured. :)

Otolaryngology (Ear)

I actually had this problem since years ago, something buzzing ringing in my ear (the right ear to be specific) which sounded like a high frequency pitch sound. Normally it's ignorable but lately it's been kinda messing up abit. This problem is known as Tinnitus.

Another unfamiliar problem prompt me to check it out for good.

The doc checked my ears with various instruments (not the musical, but medical ones), check the air pressure in the ear canals, CT scans on the head and lastly, a hearing test.

My audiogram result. Was being asked to listen to various sounds with different frequencies and loudness. The result shows a normal hearing in between the 10 and 20dB range.
IMG_4855

The verdict: Nothing wrong with my ears and my hearing is fine. Although the ringing sound still persist, but I can easily chose to ignore it like I did in the past. The doc even joked that if anyone can came out with the medicine to cure Tinnitus, he/she would have won a Nobel prize lol!



Getting sick, having medical conditions in this foreign land can be a stressful experience for most people especially students like us, where not only have to face the language barrier (to describe the illness, symptoms) and covering the medical expenses as well. Although medical treatments in Japan are generally good, it do comes with a cost.
Of all these visits so far, I've spent slightly above 10k yen on the medical bills.

Sometimes, there're things that you really need to invest money in, especially healthcare. Ever since coming here to Japan I've been vigorously monitoring my own health, trying to maintain a sickness-free life as possible.
Until today, I only had a slight fever which is quite an achievement I think.

What I usually do is have enough sleep (not staying up too late), balanced eating (not picky with food) and regular exercise (cycling to school everyday).

A piece of advice for everyone out there, take care of your body nicely before anything happens.... for health is the greatest wealth of all!

2 comments:

  1. hope everything is ok now ^^

    I had to go to the hospital maybe 3 or 4 times since I arrived in Japan in 2008..

    general hospital and dermatological clinic ^^

    but nothing serious ..

    Japanese health system is great I think!

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  2. Yeah seems to be OK for the time being. :)
    although it's great but I won't be looking forward to frequently visit them lol.

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