#1154 – The Expat Files: Stem Cell Treatments, Legal Changes, and Safety Tips in Latin America

Automatically transcribed from the original recording; names and wording may contain errors.

[00:00] South of the border down Mexico way That's where I fell in love when the stars above came up to play and now as I wonder Hello there all you expat wannabes. I'm Johnny Mueller and you're listening to the expat files living in Latin America The show that tells you just what it's like to live work play and or retire down here in Latin America It's a mix of the good the bad the ugly and the great and it's all right here. So let's get started. Hey We're back with the regular Programming schedule now that means we're back to two fresh new shows a week Well, I don't know if they're fresh, but they're new anyway But first before we get into the meat of the show you remember I was gonna keep you up to date on the stem

[00:45] Cell clinic progress. Remember I took my brother who was on 21 prescription medicines He was 50 pounds of overweight couldn't walk two blocks without sitting down and taking a rest He had been diagnosed by doctors up in the states with at least Dozen different malady which should have been way more than enough to get him down to a stem cell clinic to try to work that stuff out especially with the severe arthritis that he had But you know the straw that broke the Campbell's back the real reason why I got him to come down is because he was scheduled to Get three joint replacements up in the states two shoulders and a knee and he like most every American was gonna go through with it Because insurance would pay you know the drill It's the go-ahead doc as long as it doesn't come out of my pocket syndrome Anyway, we got him down to the stem cell clinic in the DR that I just tap into stumble on place

[01:32] Not at all widely publicized and they only speak Spanish yet They use all the modern cutting-edge techniques the very expensive stem cell clinics that cater to gringos use Better yet if you need it They do a detox before you get your stem cells Whereas the other big high-profile clinics that target gringos just don't do that Even though it can give the stem cells a much better chance at getting to the problem gringos it seems are always in a rush they fly in get their stem cells and fly out an Impatient bunch as gringos are am I right, but not at this stem cell clinic Why because there's virtually no gringos go in there. How could gringos and expats even find it? They've got no big marketing machine and their websites in Spanish In fact even after a dozen or so trips I made to the place to translate from my brother and stuff People were always coming in and out the place was fairly busy, but I never saw a single gringle

[02:22] No marketing means no gringos right of course that also means surprise surprise no gringo pricing either Anyway now that it's been four or five months the results are in my brother has dramatically improved In fact as I mentioned in a show about a month ago for years He hadn't been able to sleep at night without painkillers his shoulders which had been operated on many times before bothered him so much He had to take oxycodone every night for years He said now for the first time in years he can go to sleep with no pain and no oxy and the arthritis He says virtually gone, but that's not what I wanted to talk about I wanted to talk about my other brother my youngest brother who was even worse off than the brother I've been speaking about I haven't mentioned him much, but he's a much sadder case if that's possible

[03:07] Let me lay out part of his story. You're gonna find this really interesting you see way back when he was a power lifter in high school in college Then you know as many sports guys do when they hit their 30s It's all over the young guys bump them off their pedestals You know the drill they slowly but surely quit working out But they keep on eating those high-calorie portions like they were still competing adds that to the fact that back in the 80s and 90s A lot of guys were taking steroids to bulk up and they didn't know the negative secondary effects of those not like we do now Anyway, so after a few years of that by the time he hit 40 he was a hundred pounds overweight a blimp He started having health and cardiac problems and was told by a heart specialist that if he didn't lose that weight

[03:53] He was headed for a heart attack So guess what being that my brother has tremendous willpower when he wants to he lost a hundred pounds in six months But even at this normal weight he was tired no energy lethargic Well, he went back to the cardiac specialist had a bunch of tests on and the doctor gave him the bad news He said by him losing that hundred pounds so fast. He'd damaged his heart so much that he needed heart stents I think he ended up having 12 stents. Definitely not good for a guy in his 40s, right? So anyway, five or so years went by he kept his weight down but still wasn't feeling so good. No energy No stamina. So then in his early 50s, he went back to the cardiologist and got more bad news I told him his damaged heart's ejection fraction was only 31%

[04:38] Now the ejection fraction is a measurement doctors use to calculate the percentage of blood that leaves your heart each time it contracts each pump of the left ventricle Now the normal range in men is from 50 to 70 percent with a low mildly abnormal range from 40 to 50 percent with an abnormal range of 30 to 40 percent and a severely abnormal range at 30 percent or less and Once it gets into the mid or low 20s often will put you on a heart transplant list Nope, not good at all. And my brother's ejection fraction was at 31 percent and dropping Even if your heart injection fraction is below 35 percent Your doctor will likely recommend a treatment like an implantable defibrillator or pacemaker

[05:24] That's exactly what my brother was looking forward to and his cardiologist told him if he drops into the 20s He manned up on a transplant list So things weren't looking good and of course, you know when you hear news like that You get really depressed and depressed people Well that carries along with it its own set of physical and psychological problems. So anyway about six months ago I took him to the stem cell clinic. He got the maximum 300 million cell dose now You might think you injected right into the heart. Well, they don't do that. It's by IV and it only takes about an hour and Just now six months later. He went back to his US cardiologist had his ejection fraction measured and it was 51 percent. Yep 51% about a 60 percent improvement that put him back in the low normal range. Remember it was 31 percent

[06:13] Well, guess what? These cardiologists was shocked That stuff just doesn't happen. He says remember he's got a dozen or so stents in his heart, too Well, my brother told the doc he'd been to a stem cell clinic south of the border But predictably even seeing those fantastic results was his own eyes. The cardiologist said Hmm. Is that right? I don't know. You got to look out for those clinics south of the border. Lots of scams down there Yeah, right Let's not go sending our heart patients south of the border now for treatments not approved by the corrupt FDA that would upset the apple Cart cut into the doctor's bottom line Who knows if too many of his patients find out about that the doc might risk getting behind on his Ferrari payments Meanwhile, my brother's terribly weak heart is now normal. I'll be at normal on the low end of the scale, but still normal

[07:04] Anyway, I just thought I'd give you a heads up on that because I just got the news from him yesterday Anyway, speaking of the stem cell clinic in the DR. Well, I spoke to the concierge lady yesterday You know the hand-holding translator lady that can make all the arrangements for you pick you up at the airport Put you in a hotel take you to every appointment translate and hand-hold you through the whole thing Remember I mentioned in a previous showed she'd be ready to start doing that on July 1st Well, it's all set took some arranging, you know, nothing at that clinic is in English. It's all in Spanish so are you guys and gals out there who've been inquiring about that clinic and how to go about organizing a trip there as Promised she'll be sending you her details this week so that you could communicate with her directly and for anyone else who's interested

[07:50] Just send me an email the expert files at gmail.com and I'll pass the info on to her Now, of course, if you're a Spanish is pretty good You can come down here and do it all yourself But if you don't know anything about the Dominican Republic and you've never been there before and you don't know where to stay Well, do note that there's some logistics involved You'll be going back and forth to the clinic every morning for about a week Could be more could be less depending on your treatment plan and you'll be shooting off to a couple of different labs to get scans And blood work done as well The thing is you'll be in Santo Domingo the capital of the DR and it's a big city With 4 million people in the metro area and the traffic really sucks. So it's pretty chaotic Oh and about the traffic, you know I've been in almost every single Latin American country now except believe it or not Suriname

[08:35] And I thought Mexico and Guatemala had the worst drivers until I visited the DR They have the absolute worst drivers that I've ever seen worse yet. They're very aggressive. I don't mean road rage aggressive I mean bumper car kind of demolition derby style aggressive for example So far I've met two different people from the DR who bought a new car and got into an accident on that very same day I know it sounds like a joke like a bad comedy cliche, but it ain't Now you might see a viral internet piece about a guy who buys a car drives off the lot and smashes into some Aha, you think it never could happen to you or anyone, you know, but I know two people it has happened to both in the DR And just a couple of days apart, but I digress as usual. Where were we? Oh, yeah talking about the stem cell clinic in the DR

[09:24] Well, I'm just saying if you're Spanish is pretty good and you're up for a little adventure You could do it all yourself taking taxis ubers or even rent a car now rent a car in the DR I wouldn't recommend unless the enes huevos de hacero you have balls of steel Or you can hire the concierge lady to drive you around and and hold you through the whole process or not Either way if you and yours have health issues and are interested in stem cells Send me an email the expect files at gmail.com and I'll pass the information on to her And I'll send you the link to the stem cell clinics website. So again, it's all in Spanish Unfortunately, they don't have a button on that site. You can press for English then again That's one of the reasons why you won't pay gringo prices All right, speaking of bad traffic and terrible Latino drivers

[10:12] Sometimes, you know a Latin government Latin bureaucracy actually does something right for a change something positive something correct Though often with any government with the first world governments to good deeds only happen because of some kind of error or mistake Because you know as a rule governments and politicians are corrupt and retarded They're reactive not proactive. It's usually the case when they pass a law It's because something bad has already happened and they're trying to correct it something bad The government itself had caused now. It's not that I'm for any new laws at all We got way too many already by a factor of ten But here's a brand new one that actually makes sense and it's coming from the country of Ecuador I'll paraphrase this as usual to cut out the boring part. It comes from the Spanish language newspaper el periodico

[11:00] It starts off by saying in an anti-crime move. The National Traffic Authority has outlawed adult male passengers riding on motorcycles We're talking about Ecuador now and man, you know when I read this thing I first thought it was an April Fool's joke, but it came out in June So it can't be it says the National Traffic Agency announced Wednesday that Motorcycles can no longer carry adult male passengers on public roads and highway Wow, I can't believe it hip hip. Hooray It says according to Minister of Transportation Marcelo Cabrera the new regulation is a response to the growing number of crimes committed by Motorcyclists with a driver and a male passenger All right me John here. I wonder where have you heard that before?

[11:48] Then it says according to police almost half of all the crimes against persons committed in Ecuador Involved motorcycles with that driver and male passenger It also says in some cities more than 60% of the crimes are perpetrated by two men on a motorcycle Such as in the city of Guayaquil, then it says according to police reports revolving around homicides 70% of all homicides in Ecuador involve motorcycles carrying a driver and a male passenger who's the shooter And then it says quote these numbers have grown dramatically in the past two to three years says Cabrera. We have also found he says 85,000 fraudulent licenses and registration documents during police roadside vehicle checks

[12:34] And we know this is just a small fraction of the total the situation is out of control He says we must have these new restrictions against male motorcycle passengers The you think all right again me Johnny here Haven't I've been telling you over and over again even earlier in this podcast that Latin American drivers are the worst I've ever seen You've heard me mention on earlier shows that police will admit that less than 50% of all the motorcycle drivers throughout Latin America Don't even have legal driver's licenses and 25% of them don't have any paperwork or driver's license at all most of them know they can get away with it too because with those police roadside stops a Motorcyclist can spot that at least a block or so away So they just turn and take a side street or whiz on past and when they're flagged down and don't stop the cops

[13:23] Won't bother to chase them. It's not worth it. In fact in all my years down here I've never seen a cop involved in a high-speed chase of anyone Anyway to prove a point yesterday while I was driving two different motorcyclists were driving the wrong way on the one-way street I was driving in the correct direction. Of course, let me tell you what I do when that happens and it happens often Now you might think I'm a dick you might think I'm evil, but as they get closer to me I swerve right into them. Of course that scares the poop out of them. Nope. I don't hit him I swerve away in time, but nearly always when I look back they throw some pretty wild hand gestures at me So, is it fair? Is it just well, call me a jerk. Call me an a-hole Am I really teaching him a lesson do Tigers change their stripes? Will popes stop wearing funny hats?

[14:11] Who knows? I kind of doubt it with the below room temperature IQs we're dealing with here But in the moment anyway, it makes me feel good. But where were we? Oh, yeah back to the article According to Marcelo Cabrera director of the Ministry of Traffic Says from now on Violators will be fined and their motorcycles confiscated and in cases where weapons are found Violators will go to prison Though he says there are exceptions to the no male passengers on a motorcycle rule The exception is for families who have male children under 12 However adult males even if they are family members cannot be carried as passengers on motorcycles. That's the new law By the way throughout Latin America, there's another Unwritten sort of implied transit law that says a motorcycle can carry no more than 12 kids three dogs and four tanks of propane

[15:01] Hmm. Hey, if you think I'm kidding you ought to come down here and drive around for a while By the way, speaking of crimes. I came across an article the other day that said throughout Latin America About 80% of all the crimes go unreported Sounds terrible, doesn't it? So if you're up in the States and you read something like that, you're thinking who would want to live there? It's like the damn Wild West But is it really let's analyze this a bit So then why do 80% of the crimes go unreported? That's because the locals know the cops are lazy ass slugs and that unless a person has been caught red-handed Reporting a crime is just a waste of your time Which reminds me of that old saying when seconds count the police are only minutes away But wait, there's more to this story get this according to the US 2019 Bureau of Justice statistics

[15:50] Turns out it's not much different in the States 59% of violent crimes in the US are not reported either and get this 68.5% of US property crimes are never reported as well. So before you start calling the kettle black Right speaking of health care. Well, at least we were speaking of health care with the stem cell thing earlier anyway Closing my eyes and digging into the health care email stack comes this one It's from mr. Dee who just ordered my Latin American health care report You do know I've got a hundred page Latin American health care report that I wrote a while back but updated it for 2022 It includes all the latest greatest stem cell information, too Anyway, if you want to get it just go to expat plan B calm and click on the link

[16:39] Anyway, mr. Dee who just got that report and I guess read it Send me this email he says and I'll paraphrase this a bit much Thanks, Johnny. Your Latin American health care report could not have come at a better time He says I'm currently on a low iodine diet in preparation for radiation treatment of my thyroid He says this low iodine diet really sucks because everything here in the states is so over processed I honestly can say last time I was in Guatemala We ate better though the food would be considered basic by many standards. I don't hate it though Actually, I like the freehold these tortillas eggs fresh fruits and vegetables, etc He says our plans are to look for a small house apartment in and around Antigua, Guatemala Then he adds Johnny. Do you know any good contractors? As a side note, he says we've been researching on how to possibly monetize

[17:29] Documenting the work that will be done while building or remodeling a house Though he says it'll start out as a hobby who knows what it could turn into All right, let me stop there for a second. You know, mr. D. That's a really good idea I can imagine just tons of gringo is interested in anyone who's going through the process of building a house in Latin America So I think if you started a YouTube channel Let's say entitled a gringos guide to building your dream house in Latin America or something like that Or you could call it what not to do when building your dream house in Latin America Depending on your perspective. I bet you'd have just a ton of subscribers I don't think anything like that really exists right now Meanwhile, so many people are getting a plan B going getting the hell out of dodge and would like to do that

[18:15] I meet people all the time gringos and expats who really want to build but don't want to reinvent the wheel Anyway, I think that's a really good idea. Let's say you put out a 20-minute episode once a week Hey, I'll watch it. I'll check it out. Now as far as you're asking me if I know any good contractors I assume in the Antigua, Guatemala area. Well now is not the time. Ask me that question when you're ready to get started Anyway, aside from that he writes a bit more in his email He says Johnny our plan will be to enable us to sign up for basic health insurance in Guatemala While we still fall within the age requirements of the local insurance companies Then he says what I find interesting and maybe of note to your listeners pre the Covidya cham in the States, of course, I live in Maryland

[19:02] I was at a building checking on some of my folks and ran into a woman a co-worker who was originally from Guatemala and Believe it or not. She noted that at least twice a year She and her kids traveled back to Guatemala to visit her family doctor She stressed that her appointments with her family doctor there were very in-depth and always took at least 45 to 90 minutes Something she'd never experienced here in the States. In fact, she noted that her and her family only used medical care in the States for the basics Kind of scary and worrisome if you ask me She said she'd rather go to a developing country where a doctor would listen to what you were saying Versus punching info into what's essentially a medical provider's version of web MD

[19:48] Then he says don't get me wrong. Well, I like computers My undergrad is in information systems We human beings just aren't there yet with the online doctor thing and I don't think it will be at least in my lifetime Then he finishes off by saying you and Captain Mango stay safe now Hang on to that Bitcoin and buy the dip when you can it isn't just crypto blockchain technology is becoming bigger in government and private sectors all the time Signed mr. Dee from the Socialist Republic of Montgomery County, Maryland Well, thanks for that mr. Dee and you're certainly right about Bitcoin and crypto Although we've had just a huge market blowout in the last couple days, man. No need to panic I'll tell you be Captain Mango Bitcoin Dan Oscar minor lawyer Jose and a bunch of us other early adopters to us

[20:35] This recent crash is just a blip We've seen the same kind of thing happened 10 or 15 times before by the way Oh you guys and gals out there who for the past year or two been bragging about your staking gains on your tokens and shit coins You're licking your wounds now, aren't you? Some of you guys who are using leverage got wiped out, didn't you? You know when people have asked my advice what to do if they're just getting into crypto I'd always tell them stick with the top five unless you're really into speculating and unless you can stomach the fact that you might lose it all Never get into leveraging But of course everyone asks for advice But they don't listen in the crypto world you have to get burned a couple of times before you learn your lesson My best advice for anybody getting into crypto is spend about 10 hours Learning just about the blockchain and Bitcoin best book to read. It's called the Bitcoin Standard

[21:25] That'll get you off to a roaring start and that'll be your 10 hours right there By the way, if you want to copy that book, send me an email the expat files at gmail.com Alright, since we're digging into the email pile comes this email from Dave. Yep. Another Dave another dollar or something like that He says Johnny just putting some of the pieces together regarding your show After listening to some vintage Art Bell broadcasts from coast to coast a.m. I sense a distinct influence in on-air vocal cadence With you and your show and that show title of yours the expat file seems derivative of the X files TV show in the 90s So then Johnny, can we assume you share a skepticism of government and a libertarian worldview based on those influences? Am I on to you or am I reading too much into it? By the way, what number do I call from East of the Rockies?

[22:17] Anyway, love the show. Keep it up Alright Dave. Thanks for that. And as far as the answers to those questions Yes, yes, yes, and paramphe, Nevada By the way I get emails once in a while from people asking me if there's any truth of the stories that bad guys and gals will spike your drink With drugs at certain virus discos and nightclubs in Latin America. Now, you may have heard about that drugs gopolymy It's been called the twilight drug puts you into a kind of a twilight stupor Turns out in World War two up to the Vietnam War Militaries used it as a kind of a truth serum when they captured the enemy now as for those rumors I personally have never heard of any cases coming out of Guatemala Honduras or El Salvador

[23:03] however, I've heard a few first and second-hand stories of Spiked drinks leading to robberies or worse Happening in places most exclusively on the gringo tourist trail like in Cancun, Costa Rica Panama City certain cities in Colombia and now just this week in fact, and that's why I'm bringing this up in Cuenca, Ecuador Why does it seem this kind of stuff always happens on the gringo tourist trail never off again? You have to assume the bad boy locals on the gringo tourist trail See the gringo expats and tourists as just people with dollar signs tattooed on their foreheads So listen up as I read from this article that just came out from once again Ecuador's largest newspaper The titles in Spanish, of course, it starts out in Cuenca de Lincuencia Opera con Escobal Amina

[23:52] Translation in Cuenca crime operates with the drug scopolamine It says there have been some robberies using scopolamine in the past few days with the most recent case Reported last Friday afternoon at Calle's Mariscal Lamar and Manuel Vega where three people were found unconscious on the sidewalk Pastor buys who found them called 911 and the Cruz Roja That's Red Cross and the fire department arrived and took two of them to the Vincente Corral Moscoso Hospital the third person was awakened did not require hospitalization The victim is reported all three had been drinking at a bar when they were approached by a man who asked them about an Address on a piece of paper next thing they knew they were out in the street nauseous Semiconscious missing their phones money and valuables in another incident that occurred in the city the next day

[24:42] The victim was approached by a person who touched his shoulder and arm and asked him how to get to a certain place Then feeling a bit drugged and out of it He went with the man to an ATM machine took out 500 bucks and gave it to the guy The article goes on to say two expats were also victims of scopolamine robberies in April and May both Single men reportedly had drinks with a woman in Guayaquil One of the men invited two other women to his apartment and then reported He was robbed of his computer cash cell phones and small kitchen appliances while he was unconscious The second man says he drank with a lady from Guayaquil at a local bar and woke up the next morning on the banks Of Rio Tobamba River missing his wallet and cell phone moral of the story when you're out at the bars

[25:30] Keep a close eye on your drink. Oh and by the way, that's why it's always a good idea To order something that comes in a bottle or can Then drink it out of that bottle or can't don't pour it into a glass because that's an open invitation to hanky-panky Especially in the low light of a bar or disco worse yet later in the night after you've had a few Oh and another little tip when you get that bottle or can you open it yourself? Don't let them open it for you I've seen this happen. For example in Medellin, Colombia We were in an average local restaurant and a guy with me ordered a bottle of that Pellegrino water You know that's imported from Italy because it's imported like Perrier water I guess it must have cost three or four bucks Anyway, the waiter brought it over and popped the top and my friend took a drink but realized something was wrong He said Pellegrino water has tiny little bubbles like Perrier water. Just ever so slightly carbonated

[26:21] Oh, it was carbonated Alright, it fizzed but with gigantic bubbles like a Canada Dry Club soda Which by the way down here is about 50 to 75 cents So in that case, it wasn't like scope of me. No one was trying to drug anyone It was just a switcheroo a bottled water switcheroo a cheap brand for an expensive one So again, even when you order bottled water, make sure you open it yourself And if someone the waiter the bartender or someone in the kitchen already cracked the top Tell them you pop your own tops. You want another one By the way, speaking of gringos and expats getting rolled by bad boys and girls You know, I don't have any sympathy at all For idiot gringos and expats who come down with all their bling and flash money around in bars and discos They're just asking for it and that too almost exclusively happens on the gringo tourist trail You know a lot of young 20-something guys come down to Cancun, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic

[27:11] Just looking for a quick hookup They'll go to a bar, flash some cash and bling Buy drinks for a local girl or two and you know how that turns out By the end of the night, the guy and his buddies are slashed They take the girls back to the hotel Somewhere along the line, things go missing To show off tourist boys in question, we're asking for it They didn't even need to get drugged to get rolled You've been listening to The Expat Files, living in Latin America If you need some help with your own plan B, we can schedule a one-on-one phone or Skype consult Just send me an email, theexpatfiles.gmail.com And if you want to get on the waiting list for my next week-long Expat Insider Seminar in Central America Where you're guaranteed to get a two- to five-year head start on your plan B Send me an email, theexpatfiles.gmail.com

[27:57] Nos vamos