For all those people down under, has your health been noticably better since you moved to the sun?

These days here in the UK we seem to go from one "bug going round" to another and get viruses etc. in the summer as well as winter. Maybe something to do with the excessive prescription of anti-biotics in recent years?

Is it the same in OZ? Maybe you get lots of Asian flu etc?

Also, my wife suffers from a lot of joint pain.
This is generally helped by heat and remembering Barry Sheene retiring to Brisbane cos his pins/plates/joints hurt in the damp/cold here do you think she'll be better off?

Do you feel generally healthier?

I look forward to your views!

Andy.

Andy

Most 'bugs' are exactly the same as we get in the UK.

Colds and flu are worldwide illnesses.

You may find this interesting:

http://www.aihw.gov.au/publications/...cfm/title/5742

G

Interesting thread, and I hope people will be honest. Its something not debated much.

I'm sure this will vary from person to person, but this is my own experience - slight arthritic joint pains, much improved. Thats the good bit! On the negative side - I have picked up every cold/flu germ going, partly I guess cos the germs here are different so you have to build up immunity to them. I had a lot of bronchitis as a kid, and this is now shoiwing as asthma during the very dry winter months, especially when there is smoke in the air.
The one that botehrs me the most is my eczema - controllable in the UK, never caused me problems here during holidays of up to 6 weeks, but for the last year has been diabolical. I've had 4 lots of antibiotics for infections, and I spend every day in an agony that only fellow sufferers will know! The condition dislikes extreme temp changes - so in summer I have the eternal problem of cold air con vs hot sun outside; going from one to the other constantly makes it worse. In the winter it eased up for about 3 weeks, then the humidity dropped and I could actually feel my skin cracking, in spite of being deluged in creams. Anything below 50% humidity now is greeted with dread as I really didn't expect that reaction.

I don't want this to be seen as a whinging post, although it has seriously curtailed my enjoyment of Oz - someone tell me what its like to go out in a
t-shirt, with bare arms? If you are heading to Qld with a similar condition, beware.

Yup, anyone who makes the slightest complaint, even if they're in agony, is simply a whinging pom.

What on earth are you doing there?

Don't have much choice really; married to an Aussie who would hate living in the UK.

Defo got worse, I've had congested sinuses for the last 2 months.......I kid you not. Gearing up for a doctor visit.

My arthritis has cleared up though...... No need for the bangle.....

Amazing what we will all put up with for love

Sinuses could well be linked to air con - certainly affects mine, and the pharmacist told me that a lot of Aussies suffer from blocked sinuses if they spend a lot of time in air con'd places.

Yeah right, I woke up in the middle of the night with my mouth wide open, air con pouring down my throat, snoring like a trojan (!?), mouth as dry as a thingy, gasping to the bathroom for water..........apart from that I'm tip top.....

yip !
i suffered joint pain for years in the uk. was taking pills for years to help it.
dont need a thing here, infact ive not walked as much in 10 years as i do now. it must be down to the weather

Generally healthy but then we were generally healthy in the UK too. Queensland is supposed to be very good for people with arthritus type ailments.

But people get all the same bugs/ailments here as anywhere else really, flus, colds, rashes and tummy bugs, think they are worse here always going round, everyone we speak to in melbourne has stomach flu at the moment.

Main thing is not to succumb to the poor diet of junk food and excuses about being too hot to walk/exercise, we've been back 4 years and have all managed to stay the same weight, no fat aussies in this house

husband went to docs in Oz with recurrent chest/wheezing problems - never had this in the UK. Turns out it was due to the pollution in Melbourne (he was exercising outdoors about 15hrs a week). Give us fresh Cheshire air over a smoggy hot Melbourne summer day any time!! Many of the guys he trained with carried inhalers for asthma - there seemed to be a much higher incidence of asthma in the city (in Oz) than we'd ever seen - maybe because we never lived in or near a city in the UK.

Asian flu? No, just Aussie flu . Like Polly, inthe first year, I seemed to pick up every flu/cold bug going. The companies we both worked for in Melbourne had flu-jab days - you could get the flu jab for free. Think it was to try and combat the number of people pulling sickies with flu!! We also had office-spraying days - to rid the office of bugs (as in viruses not insects).

Husband has osteo-athritis in knees and warm weather certainly eased his aches in Oz, compared to prolonged damp weather in UK. However, sun alone didn't make us healthier. But exercise did. Saying that, exercising in heat and smog combined could often make me feel worse!!(used to cycle-commute to cbd and some days I'd get home and lungs would feel terrible from bad air).

it must be like cycling to work through the blackwall tunnel in london

if it's 39 degrees in the tunnel then perhaps! (always remeber one January day, northerly wind blowing hot air on me and it was 39 degrees at 5pm. Couldn't breathe...and that was before I got stuck behind a bus)

My son's asthma got much worse in Australia.

He first moved to Brisbane, then Sydney, Now Adelaide.

It probably depends on what triggers it. For him it is worse. For others it may improve.

G