Blood doping and Botox: the spa where holiday glow is clinical grade
Sitting in a plump armchair hooked up to an IV drip, I could be in either one of those shows. Instead, I'm at Rakxa, an integrated wellness and medical retreat on the outskirts of Bangkok. It's positioned on the tiny island of Bang Krachao about 40 minutes from the centre of the Thai capital, and fuses Western medicine, ancient healing traditions, longevity and luxury into one 32-hectare, 42-villa retreat.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Sydney Morning Herald
4 days ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
Ozempic drugmaker just became a victim of its own success
It seems counterintuitive, if not implausible, that a company which has revolutionised Western health and promises to potentially eradicate the insidious plague of obesity and address diabetes can be failing to meet its profit and sales expectations. But that is the dilemma faced by Ozempic and Wegovy maker Novo Nordisk. Its share price is shedding value faster than patients are shedding kilos. For blame, one need look no further than pirates and the president (Trump, of course). Novo Nordisk stunned investors on Wednesday by downgrading its earnings expectations, losing nearly a third of its share price at one point during the day's trading – that's $143 billion in value that evaporated in a couple of hours. For some context: there are plenty of spectacular drugs and treatments that have been developed over recent decades to address many of the world's serious health issues, from cancer to heart disease, but this drug tackles obesity and therefore the myriad other health conditions that stem from being overweight (such as stroke, osteoarthritis, heart disease and even some cancers). As such, it is a game-changer. These semaglutide drugs became so popular after their efficacy for weight loss became apparent that in a sense they became victims of their own success. According to the World Health Organisation, about one billion people around the globe are obese, which means the addressable market for this drug is beyond huge and skewed to Western (and therefore wealthier) economies. And that market is still growing. The number of people afflicted by obesity has doubled over the past 30 years in adults, and quadrupled in children and adolescents, the WHO says.
The Age
4 days ago
- The Age
Ozempic drugmaker just became a victim of its own success
It seems counterintuitive, if not implausible, that a company which has revolutionised Western health and promises to potentially eradicate the insidious plague of obesity and address diabetes can be failing to meet its profit and sales expectations. But that is the dilemma faced by Ozempic and Wegovy maker Novo Nordisk. Its share price is shedding value faster than patients are shedding kilos. For blame, one need look no further than pirates and the president (Trump, of course). Novo Nordisk stunned investors on Wednesday by downgrading its earnings expectations, losing nearly a third of its share price at one point during the day's trading – that's $143 billion in value that evaporated in a couple of hours. For some context: there are plenty of spectacular drugs and treatments that have been developed over recent decades to address many of the world's serious health issues, from cancer to heart disease, but this drug tackles obesity and therefore the myriad other health conditions that stem from being overweight (such as stroke, osteoarthritis, heart disease and even some cancers). As such, it is a game-changer. These semaglutide drugs became so popular after their efficacy for weight loss became apparent that in a sense they became victims of their own success. According to the World Health Organisation, about one billion people around the globe are obese, which means the addressable market for this drug is beyond huge and skewed to Western (and therefore wealthier) economies. And that market is still growing. The number of people afflicted by obesity has doubled over the past 30 years in adults, and quadrupled in children and adolescents, the WHO says.
SBS Australia
4 days ago
- SBS Australia
I went to Thailand to fix my teeth after an electric shock. It's left me much worse off
From cosmetic fixes to life-saving surgery, Insight hears from people who have turned to medical tourism. Is it always worth it, and what happens when things go wrong far from home? Watch Insight episode Medical Tourism on SBS On Demand . I put myself in dangerous situations as a boy growing up in the suburbs of Melbourne. When I was 10 years old, I was jumping between the tops of cattle trucks in a cattle yard where I slipped. Grabbing an overhead powerline to regain balance, I was shocked with 1500V DC that threw me to the ground — and left me with a broken jaw and brain trauma. The images of the other children in the hospital with facial burn injuries still traumatises me, four decades later. Sometimes the smell of certain barbecued meats makes me dry retch. When I was in my twenties, I was involved in a serious motor vehicle accident and suffered a head injury that caused movement in my jaw and led to my teeth grinding in a different position. You see beautiful people with beautiful smiles everywhere you turn in the media. Because I didn't have one, I always covered my mouth, even when I laughed. I spent the following years in and out of the dentist, having my teeth capped and repaired in Australia. But they never lasted. They were ground down to stubs and some had fallen out. After both my parents passed away and I got divorced in the four years between 2015 to 2019, I was at the lowest point of my depression and had put on 40kg. I felt isolated and didn't want anything to do with anyone. When I turned 50 in 2019, I met a partner and took charge of my health. I started going to the gym to get out of the house and gradually felt better. I was eating well, walked daily, was seeing a psychologist but was still very self-conscious about my teeth. I thought if I could fix my teeth, and if I could make the outside look good, maybe the inside will follow — and my problems would be fixed. 'A rash decision' I had managed to save a little money from my parents' inheritance and my work teaching disability advocacy. But I still couldn't afford the dental work I needed in Australia. I was on social media when an ad for medical dental tourism popped up. I clicked, sent some X-rays and photos, had a chat on WhatsApp and received a quote. I prepaid for surgery and the included accommodation and booked a flight to Bangkok. I haven't made such a rash decision since I was a young boy. It was daunting yet exciting as I had never been out of Australia. I am a homebody; I like my dog, my garden and the beach. Patrick's teeth. Source: Supplied I thought I looked a million dollars with the new temporary crowns the Thai dental team gave me during my first appointment. The second appointment of eight is where things took a turn for the worse. My face became swollen and I could barely lift my head. I slept all day on the painkillers and anti-inflammatories. Of course, it was major dental work, so it was going to hurt. However, one tooth hurt more than the rest — so much so I had a day off surgery due to the swelling. I told the team about my pain, and they said it would settle but I didn't feel they took it seriously. Someone from their administration then told me the cost of the overall surgery was going to be double what I initially paid, which brought the total to upwards of $20,000. As I couldn't leave with just half a mouth of teeth, I had to borrow the money from a friend back home. 'Something felt wrong' After two weeks, I felt stable enough to fly home. My new teeth looked great, but something felt wrong as I still had pain in that one tooth. I started to feel worse and over the next six months, I went on eight courses of antibiotics to try to fight an infection doctors couldn't identify the source of. This was until one day, the crown of the tooth that had given me pain just fell off. I went to a local dentist who discovered my gum was infected to the bone and into the sinus. He had to remove three teeth, a lot of my gum and part of my upper jawbone. I somewhat locked myself away from the world during this time as the pain was excruciating. The reason I had tried to fix my teeth was to feel more comfortable, be more social and boost my low self-esteem. It did the opposite. By the end of that year, I had retreated from everything — including my social circles and disability advocacy. I felt that all the progress I had made working on myself in the previous years was gone within the space of months. I went for the dentist that looked glitzy and glammy and probably didn't do my due diligence with research. Patrick earlier this year. Source: Supplied Today, nearly two years on, I am considering going back to Thailand for implants to replace the lost teeth. But with a different dentist, of course. I was a bit rash in my decision, but I am not against medical tourism. Why would I be? I was unlucky. I believe the same thing could happen in Australia. For crisis and mental health support, contact Lifeline (13 11 14), SANE Australia (1800 187 263) or 13Yarn (139 276), a 24/7 Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islanders crisis support line.
