Maarten Vasbinder lives in Isaan. His profession is general practitioner, a profession that he mainly practiced in Spain. On Thailandblog he answers questions from readers who live in Thailand.
Do you have a question for Maarten and do you live in Thailand? Send this to the editor: www.thailandblog.nl/contact/ It is important that you provide the correct information such as:
- Age
- Complaints)
- History
- Medication use, including supplements, etc.
- Smoking, alcohol
- Overweight
- Optional: laboratory results and other tests
- Possible blood pressure
You can send photos to [email protected] everything can be done anonymously, your privacy is guaranteed.
Dear Martin,
I have been using an ARV treatment for 1 year now and have had a non detectable viral load for 10 months. I use 3 kinds of pills, but the doctor in the hospital asked me if I want to change that. he doesn't say clearly why. Do you have any idea why he would want that? Provisionally bought new stock of the same pills for 6 months for 9.400 baht.
My kidney value was BUN 22 and GFR 30 on June 38.4. Then be more careful with drinking water and on July 14 BUN 18 and GFR 44.1. Can that improve so quickly?
Since last week I have a lot of pain in my left chest at the front. The pain slowly moved down to my hip. Now after 1 week the pain is on the left side and back. It's similar to the pain I've had before from shingles. However, now no itching or rash on the skin.
Could that be shingles or another viral disease? I'm just trying to get out without medication. Do you have advice on this?
Regards,
J. (born October 1939)
******
Dear J,
Maybe it's an idea to ask the doctor why he wants to change and to what. Save that question for the next visit.
Kidney values can indeed improve quickly. However, your GFR is still too low.
The pain you have can have many causes. shingles is one of them. There may be “Zoster sine herpete” (shingles without a rash). This is more common than many think. You can measure in the blood (PCR test, or antibodies) whether there is activity in that area. Shingles is a “skin pain”. If you stroke the skin, it is painful. The pain can also come from the back.
However, without proper research, it is difficult to determine the cause of that pain.
Yours faithfully,
Dr. Maarten
Do you have a question for Maarten and do you live in Thailand? Send this to the editor: www.thailandblog.nl/contact/ It is important that you provide the correct information (see list at the top of the page).