On Wednesday, April 5, there were two health related presentations at the Pattaya City Expats Club (PCEC) meeting. The first by Barry Jones on the topic “Ageing and Declining Health – and some things you can do about it.” This was followed by Ron Pitelka whose topic was “Alternative Ways to Fight Prostate Cancer.”
Barry has previously provided informative talks to the PCEC on health matters. Barry stresses that he is not a doctor, but he has attained many internationally accredited awards on the subject of nutrition. He is a retired Principal Instructor/Manager of a Technical Training Academy.
He began by noting that as we age, we tend to become less healthy as well as frail and perhaps disabled. He then asked the audience if they wanted to feel better, live longer, and have a better quality of life. With the audience’s affirmative answer, he then asked how committed everyone was to achieving these goals as there was no magic bullet or pharmaceutical pill that can give you instant good health.
Barry then presented many slides as he described the common diseases and conditions that occur as we age. These being heart disease, osteoporosis, muscle atrophy, inflammation of muscle and joints, and dementia. He then explained what can be done to slow down the decline in health caused by these conditions.
The first step is a change in lifestyle. You should cut out eating highly processed food, eat more nutrient dense food, and exercise more. However, diet alone may not furnish enough of the nutrients you need. Barry then focused his talk on the essential nutrients one needs along with recommended supplements to ensure you get a proper amount of them. Otherwise, he said, your metabolism cannot work at optimum, which then can weaken you, thus leaving you prone to various diseases. He identified 7 specific nutrients noting their benefits to slow down the common diseases he previously mentioned along with symptoms that occur when you are not getting a sufficient amount of them.
Ron Pitelka then spoke to the Club. Ron is from the USA and has been an Expat in Thailand for about 20 years living in Naklua with his Thai significant other. He mentioned his history with prostate cancer which included a radical prostatectomy 20 years ago. However about 10 years ago, his Prostate-Specific Antigen (PSA) score started to rise again because the cancer had recurred. Further, it metastasized to his lymph nodes some 4 years after that.
He described the usual treatment that was recommended to him. He declined to take that treatment as it involved taking an expensive drug by injection which had very serious side effects. He then mentioned an alternative and much less expensive treatment. This is Androgen Deprivation Therapy which is using a hormone therapy to reduce the production of testosterone.
In his case, Ron says he uses Estradiol (E2) gel which he applies to his inner thighs. This gel is available from pharmacies in Thailand. He presented a slide showing his PSA scores over a period of time. The slide showed his PSA was at 0.71 when he started E2 treatment in April 2018 and then continued to go down and was 0.003 as of March 2023. Ron recommended a book he found beneficial entitled “Androgen Deprivation Therapy: An Essential Guide for Prostate Cancer Patients and Their Loved Ones” by Richard J. Wassersug PhD, et al.
After the presentations, MC Ren Lexander than mentioned some upcoming events before calling on George Wilson to conduct the Open Forum portion of the meeting where the audience comment and ask questions about Expat living in Thailand. To learn more about the PCEC, visit their website at: https://pcec.club. To view videos of the presentations, visit the PCEC’s YouTube Channel at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_rQrkcZ8owI for Barry Jones and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0SffVDUFjkk for Ron Pitelka.
