Exhausted after 1 week in Thailand
April 13, 2012 | 25,00 EUR | answered by Dr. med. Ralf Berg
Question:
After a week in Thailand, I always experience a kind of exhaustion. I am interested to know if this is a common phenomenon, what the most likely cause is, and how I could possibly prevent it next time.
Background:
In Thailand, I do moderate exercise and drink a few glasses of beer daily. I also tend to experience diarrhea sooner or later.
The exhaustion usually hits me after a week, and I just want to stay in bed.
Last time, I tried taking several multivitamin-multimineral tablets, sugar, salt, and lots of water as soon as the exhaustion set in. Surprisingly, the exhaustion was practically gone the next day.
I would conclude that the cause was an acute deficiency of a substance, which I then replenished.
It surprises me a bit that there seems to be an acute deficiency here, even though from my perspective, I am not doing anything out of the ordinary.
If I do nothing, it can take several weeks after returning home for me to feel fit again.
Good evening dear traveler.
Of course, this is not common, otherwise Thailand would not be so popular as a destination.
There may be 2 possible causes, although it must also be said that the way you experience the symptoms is not typical, but the following is possible:
1. Perhaps your state of exhaustion is a delayed jet lag. The internal clock gets disrupted when traveling across multiple time zones. Although jet lag usually occurs with exhaustion and sleep disturbances earlier for most travelers (2-3 days) and also ends earlier (after 1-2 days). But people are different. Some hardly notice it, so they can quickly adjust their internal clock, why shouldn't there be others like you who experience this phenomenon later, and more intensely. Basically, the return journey can also trigger a jet lag, which may immediately follow for you. However, this is also not common, and I have no explanation for it. In general, travel to the west is better tolerated by most people than to the east, with jet lag symptoms occurring less frequently and much milder. It would be interesting to know if you experience a similar state of weakness after a week of traveling similarly far to the east, but in a moderate climate (e.g. Soviet Union). If so, this would indicate a special type of jet lag responsible for your symptoms. If not, then cause 2 is more likely for you.
2. The fact that your symptoms improve after taking electrolytes, as well as the information that you practically always get diarrhea, suggest that your salt balance could be the cause of your complaints due to the climate, different diet, or bacterial populations causing diarrhea. In this case, you could conduct an experiment on your next trip, eating only canned food that you are used to. If the diarrhea and weakness do not occur, it may be due to the diet. Based on the improvement you described after substituting vitamins and salts, I also consider the latter version to be the more likely cause. Apparently, you do not tolerate the climate, the tropics, and/or the local diet well.
I am not aware of any other medical explanation for your complaints.
With many greetings R. C. Berg.
