SUWANOSEJIMA🇯🇵 Ira | Island Manga Artist 🇸🇬
🌏 Traits: ADHD / ASD, IQ 115, BMI 17.7
✒️ International Island Manga: MAHARAJIMA (まはらじま)
🇸🇬 Life Abroad: Attained Singapore PR as a "Singapore NEET"
🇹🇼 First Japanese national to successfully explore all inhabited islands in Taiwan (2025)
⛴️ Explored 500+ islands in just under 3 years
🌏 World Record Holder for the fastest completion
The last time I caught a cold was when I was in my second year of high school.
Since then, I haven’t caught a cold. Even if I did, the symptoms would clear up in about a day—my recovery was strong.
My Singapore cold just won’t go away.
It’s been seven days since symptoms appeared. That’s too long. Generally, symptoms seem to show up within two to three days.
I didn’t have sleep issues in high school. Now my sleep problems are severe—four hours of sleep over four days is common.
This might have weakened my immune system. Aren’t people with developmental disabilities at higher risk of infection? This is troubling.
This is exactly why data shows shorter average lifespans for people with developmental disabilities.
Cold symptoms in Singapore
1: Fever (normal temperature +1.8°C)
2: Cough (with bloody sputum)
3: Fatigue
4: Chills
5: Stomach pain. Coughing up gastric fluid
6: Gum pain (My gums hurt, maybe from clenching my teeth, and my teeth feel loose)
7: Hoarse voice (My voice started getting hoarse after wearing a mask. The mask was just uncomfortable)
8: Body aches (This is the worst)
Colds last longer here than in Japan.
I’ll be returning to Japan temporarily next week (for three months). I was also back for three months this spring. If I don’t recover even with Japanese medicine, I’ll go to a Japanese clinic.
Since I don’t have my usual Japanese over-the-counter medicines at the house I’m staying in Singapore, I took some Singaporean OTC drugs.
They do help alleviate the symptoms, but the relief is weaker compared to the Japanese ones. And yet, Singapore’s pharmaceutical laws are stricter than Japan’s, yet you can still find stronger drugs available over the counter here.
It’s been a few years since I came to Singapore. I caught my first cold.
I think the reason was when I went out for afternoon tea in Bugis, Singapore last month.
Because I’m usually a shut-in and hardly ever leave the house.
・Common Singapore Afternoon Tea Experiences:
→ No wet wipes provided.
→ Even if you go to wash your hands in the restroom, the floor is often flooded by other users or the doorknob is dirty.
→ Finger food style.
→ Adults licking sauce off their fingers are overwhelmingly more common in Singapore and Malaysia (Indian communities) than in Japan.
→Elevator buttons and bus handles are also dirty (Around 2024, a man masturbating on a bus was filmed and made news. He apparently pressed the bus buttons and touched the handles with that hand before getting off).
・Bringing your own disinfectant to protect yourself has become a must.
I’d run out of hand sanitizer, so I figured “washing my hands often should be fine” and headed out to a crowded place for the first time in ages.
Bugis is an area where lots of people eat with their hands.
I’m not a fan of eating with my hands.
For now, I’ll suppress the symptoms with cold medicine while working.る
If I don’t manage my symptoms, my whole body aches unbearably.
I believe this is also due to sensory hypersensitivity from ADHD/ASD, where my pain perception is heightened compared to neurotypical people.
In daily life, it’s common for others around me to feel no issue, yet I alone experience intense pain.
