One’s health is something taken for granted until something happens, then it seems like the most important thing. My latest health related news is about teeth, guts and joints.
A friend of mine (foreign) has a 2 year old daughter who has developed severe tooth decay in her top teeth. This requires 2 root canals and silver caps. The cause of the problem is breast feeding on demand at night. If the tooth decay was due to sugary juices, the symptoms would occer in both upper and lower teeth. When a kid breast feeds at night laying down, a residue of milk gets left on the tongue, affecting the top teeth. If you have a young kid who breast feeds pay attention to brushing. If you need to take your kid to a dentist in Bali here are the options.
My recent bout of runny guts has stabilize after I put myself on the bare-bones diet of bread, rice, potatoes and chicken. Yesterday afternoon I had to sprint to the bathroom in Stadium Cafe, arriving not a second too soon, but since then its been all quiet on the western front. If you have stomach trouble in Bali, lay off the greasy, spicy food and stay away from all green vegetables for a few days.
Getting older means aches and pains and the shoulder problem I have had over the last 4 monthes wasn’t getting any better. Basically I get sharp pain in the rear rotaro cuff area and on the outside of the deltoid, with constant pain reaching down my forearm. Thinking this was the result of a torn tendon / muscle I stopped exercising. A western trainer told me recently its to do with the nerve system, which accounts for the ongoing pain and the multiple locations. He advised me to continue exercising in a controlled way. I’m looking forward to this immensely! My old gym membership was 2m rp per year (reduced hours 10am-3pm) at Seaside Fitness in Legian. Today I checked out the small gym at the Pelangi hotel, which is 1,250,000rp per year and includes the pool. Seaside has better equipment and a particular running machine I like so I’ll rejoin soon.
Living in Bali as an expat poses health challenges. There is increased risk of skin cancer (hence my hats) as well as an array of distractions including bars, nightclubs and restaurants. Add to this the steamy climate and staying in shape can be elusive for some people. Fitness requires a certain degree of personal discipline, not necessarily high goals though. My own mentality is to set extremely low goals for exercise, telling myself if I just make it to the gym, do 20 minutes on the runner and nothing else, it will be worth it. It always is worth it and of course I ending up feeling great and doing more.
People coming ot Bali on holiday or coming to live should get health insurance. As someone explained to me, buying insurance is spreading the risk, given that everything we do carries risk. I can tell you I was very glad my health insurance was taken care of when my shoulder problem showed up and a trip to the hospital was on the cards.
