That which cannot be named
February 23, 2010 by ldf
When I was in Samui a Thai guy I know, looked slightly below my left armpit and twisted his face. He looked into my eyes, then back at my armpit. I believe he then said something to the affect of ‘Eewww’…and explained, in broken English, that I had the dirty infection boxers get around their pubic region. What? I’m still not sure what it was, but I think I had jock itch. Sexy.
I had been plagued with what I thought was an allergic reaction for months. I had been using crèmes varying pharmacists prescribed to me, but they weren’t working. I got so accustomed to the itchy red rash, I completely forgot about it. It just became something I lived with. Until that moment. Until that moment in time, when on Chewang beach, a friend decided to rid me of the disguglies. Basically, he said I shouldn’t tell any Thai person I have it and he’d help me get rid of it. Okay. I was down.
The first order of business was hitting a pharmacy and picking up a bottle of Zema for roughly twenty baht. It’s also available at some 7-Elevens. The kid was incredibly worried the bacteria were deep into my skin – he pondered getting two bottles of it.
The second order of business was administering the stuff. The first day, he told me to sit still – it was going to hurt. I lied on my back as he poured Zema on my skin; it bubbled and started turning white. The white, he told me were bacteria dying. He explained that we had to kill them all and from the looks of it, there were a lot. He was amazed and horrified at what was going on, so he quickly went to the third order of business – taking a spoon and scraping the tiny bacterium corpses from my external membrane. Then more Zema. Then rest.
This process was repeated I believe for approximately two or three days. Scrape the scab. Kill the bacteria. Create a new scab.
Finally, after my lower pit was but a red mess of crustiness with very little white coming out of it when assaulted with the Zema, we administered a tiny bit of the liquid each day for approximately a week. Within about ten days, my armpit was free of the dirty infection boxers get in their pubic region. What remains is a scar that looks like someone bit a plug out of me.
Sooo….should you be out here in Thailand and be in a situation where a small rash of whatever nature is developing, and you didn’t bring a cortisone crème or you’re living in an area where the pharmacist can’t speak any English, or nothing you’ve tried seems to be working….you may want to pick up Zema and administer it early on, sans the spoon. The spoon and the scraping, I believe are only for cases where the bacteria have been present for awhile…good times.
More about Laura
I’m a Canadian who decided to quit my job, sell most of what I own, pack a suitcase, and skip continents to pursue a martial art I’m not particularly efficient in. A minimalist. A modern nomad. A kid who just likes having a good time.
My attraction to muay thai is that it’s an art with no wasted motion. It has been the greatest vehicle for my continual education. It’s incredibly challenging to me – both the physical and the mental game. The latter probably more so than the former.
Currently I’m in Bangkok training muay thai fulltime. The plan is to be here for a few years, but realistically, I have no idea where this path is leading, or what the timeline is. I like change and pushing my comfort zone. A lot. Nevertheless, muay thai will be the constant among the variables.
Be prepared for updates, rambling, video content and anything I’ve learned that I think may of use to you.
This hasn’t been easy, but so far, its been a pretty sick ride.
Laura you’re really slumming it. Kudos, the crust punks of canada would be proud.
Mmmm crusty!!!
seems like a horrific experience. kinda hard to finish my pasta now
post pics of aforementioned sexy infection or this article was all for nothing :D
Laura,
Thanks for all the info and useful tips on “Thailand survival”. LOL
I read your articles and you have definitely seen some challenging times and I think its awesome that you take things in such a good spirit. Take care.
nasty story, glad you pulled through. lol. strange afflictions are the bane of all us farang!! hahaha.
have to say, though, it is unfair to your training partners if you let stuff like that go untreated for too long. i don’t think you had ringworm (aka jock itch, athlete’s foot) cuz if you clinched with anyone for as long as you had it, the whole gym would have got it. (also, the zema medicine you used says it’s for eczema and psoriasis, which are genetic problems treated with corticosteroids that inhibit skin cell growth while ringworm is a fungus that needs to be killed. if zema worked for you, i doubt it was ringworm, but i could be wrong.). and that’s the unfair part, to get the whole gym sick.
anyways, i am not a stranger to weird skin sickness in thailand, so i’m happy you got rid of your curse. lol.
pics or it didn’t happen.
nevermind, no pics. i had staph infection for a bit in during my stay and all the trainers ended up calling me “mr spida-bite.”
gorillapalmz – thanks, i think..what? ha.. – if i thought i had something contagious, i wouldn’t train with it…and chances are, if it was contagious, i caught it from someone at the gym – i thought it was eczema – which i get from allergic reactions…still don’t know what it was, but the cortizone cremes that normally work didn’t…i suspect it was bacterial, but of what variety, i don’t know. could have been eczema that got infected from the constant abrasion of my bra…. i was taking this kid’s word on it….i didn’t want to ask too many people about it. ha!
pics? you kidding? bad enough i wrote this piece…i think i’m sharing too much as it is. hahaha….that last bit i just wrote was more than i thought i’d get into….eesh..
thanks for the kind words everybody!
:D Great post!
Hey Laura, I had the address you wrote me for Chuwattana, but no one around here has heard of mahajak. Any help with where i should be looking? im staying off phloen chit bts station. Id like to check out the gym as soon as possible and start training. Thank you
hey ryan…the gym is west of where you are…in pomprab – north of chinatown and south of raja stadium..the only thing i can say is, you’re going to have to tell them how to get there in thai – i can give you the english translation, but no one will know what you’re on about sooo….rong payabaan glaang – which for you will mean central hospital. chances are you’ll be dropped off at the front of the hospital – where the ramp is. mahajak road is directly opposite/behind the hospital…so…as landmarks…there are two 7-elevens within close proximity to the hospital. directly in front of it. and directly behind it – you’ll be dropped off near the one in front of it and you’ll have to find the one behind it. once you find the 7 eleven behind the hospital, you will have to walk south, south meaning the hospital will be on your left hand side and the 7 eleven on your right. you will see a small alleyway on your right hand side, perhaps 7 shops south of the 7 eleven. walk into that alleyway (meaning turn right). the gym will be approximatly mid way down the alleyway on your left hand side. note – there’s a ton of construction going on- follow the construction guys/noise. also, the nak muays are living near the 7-eleven, so you may see a few of them hanging in what looks like the mouth of a abandoned shop – you can ask them and they’ll show you. i suggest avoiding going for the first time on a saturday – you’ll hit the market and it’ll be crazy. some taxis refuse to go there, depending on what time and if there’s something else going on in the area. hope this helps!
oh how you saved my life. thank you so much
Hi Laura,
I’m a travel producer from Canada looking to do a segment on Muay Thai boxing. With the growing interest in Muay Thai in the West among women we’d like to interview some female boxers who are training in Bangkok. If you are willing to be interviewed please contact me.
Cheers,
Anthony
Laura when I read this story, I first thought it was staph which is fairly common unfortunately here in the US among MMA types and gyms (athletes in general). do the thais also have it there, and what would they do about it?
hey robzepeda – to be honest, i have no clue. i wouldn’t even know how to ask / translate staph unfortunately.