Unsafe Prescription of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM)
On 2 Sept 08, The Star paper published a letter by a reader pertaining to the bad experience he had on finding treatment using Traditional Chinese Medicine when initially the Western doctors could not help.
The story: Unsafe Prescription- an encounter that leaves a bitter taste in the mouth (Speaking Up, Star Two, Tuesday 2 September 2008)
(Note: I decided to summarise the story here in case the article above goes off The Star’s archives and the link don’t work).
The reader, A.S Toh, suffered infection on his right ear with discharge and ringing in the ear following a diving expedition in Indonesia. Initially, he sought treatment from Western doctors- the ENT said it could be due to his nose while the eye specialist said it was his brain and the neurologist told him it was an old man’s disease. The treatments were getting nowhere.
So in April, he visited a TCM sinseh (the sinseh came from China) recommended by his friend. He was told there was an imbalance of qi, then he undergone acupuncture and was given some herbal solution and tablets. He took the medication and when it was not working, the sinseh told him it was due to his ears. The initial dizzy spells that he used to have were slightly reduced. But the treatment does not seemed to be working very well, so he was losing faith because he had gone for many sessions.
8 Ways to Detox Electromagnetic Energies from Your Body
Every day, we are exposed to electromagnetic rays from the electrical gadgets that we are exposed to as computers, handphones, TV. Our body constantly absorb radio signals and satellite transmission - so long as you live in town, these conditions are inevitable.
Have you experience the sensation when you touch a friend, your friend felt a small current going through his body? It could mean that perhaps, you are storing too much of these electromagnetic currents in your body and on the long run, it’s not healthy.
Our body conducts electricity and electromagnetic rays- very much like a tree does. That is why if we are strike by lighting, like the tree, electricity will use our body as the path to move towards the ground. And why do people find talking walks along jungle trails or places with lots of trees are soothing and make them feel rejuvenated? Not only it is due to the relaxed green colour that the eyes see, but our contact with nature and breathing in healthy air helps our body to feel rejuvenated. Therefore, I still believe that handphones and putting headphones in your ears connected to handphones, IPOD, MP3 are bad for your health in the long run.
This static and tiny particles of electric charges causes stress to your body cells and in turn, can contribute to emotional stress (which always happen when your body is feeling ‘one kind’). Therefore, it is important that you learn to detox these static energies from your body as often as you could.
How to Make the Best Out of Your Weight Training
When it comes to weight or strength training, which one you think will be more effective?
A. Doing 2 sets each time 2 times a week, or
B. Doing 1 set each time 3 times a week (every alternate day)?
The answer- you will benefit more from 2 sets (or better still 3 sets) each time twice a week than one set every alternate day.
Having toothache, ear pain, sinus, headache and sore throat at the same time?
If you find yourself suffering from one or more problems IN COMBINATION WITH TOOTHACHE/ TOOTH DISCOMFORT:
- sinus outbreak
- ear pain
- headache
- sore throat
- red eyes
The possible cause:
Could be your tooth. Instead of going to see an ENT specialist, you may want to consult a dentist to have your teeth checked for infection. If the cause comes from your teeth, all the problem will go off immediately (almost like magic) after the dentist treat the affected tooth with cleaning and applying medicine to kill off the bacteria, followed by filling. The dentist may also put you on a round of antibiotics just to make sure.
How to Stay Motivated When Doing Cardio- Turn off the Timer
It is easy to get bored when using the cardio machine- especially if you spend about 20 or 30 minutes doing exactly the same movement- either running, jogging, cycling, stair climbing, etc. Do you find your eyes straying to the timer to see how long you are on the machine and how many calories that you have burned?
Do you find yourself thinking, ‘yikes, why does the time pass so slowly? What… still another 15 minutes to go?’ or ‘geez, I need to continue this exercise for another 10 minutes to burn to my targeted calories’.
Sometimes you feel tired and bored - and manage to successfully talk yourself out of using the cardio machine. It is no wonder so many people drop out or managed to successfully talk themselves into skipping gym-coz it is the same drill over and over again. And in a gym, there’s probably at most about 6 types of varieties of cardio machine.
The solution? Why not attend a cardio class? Most gyms have them.
But then, what if you are like me, who do not fancy attending class or like to work out at own time and pace?
I have a suggestion for you- it’s very simple- turn off the timer indicator. Certain gyms are already equipped with high end cardio machines that display the timer, calories burned, etc - all on the same screen. But in older gyms, you can still find cardio machines that do not have the calorie indicator- but allows you the option to set your goals using 3 modes- calories, distance and time.
Normally, people will neglect these machines because everyone wants to know the calories burned- that’s why the machines are always being used. Now, I find the older versions to be a real gem. Because these machines are seldom used, I need not have to content myself with greasy sweat stains at the handles that were left by previous users. Sometimes, the higher end machines had sweat stains on their screens and there is even smell- I find it a bit uncomfortable exercising with the sweat smell from the previous user pervading my nostrils.
You can set the machine by pressing on the ‘Calories’ under the Goal section of the machine. Then select your goal calories by moving the up and down arrow and once you are satisfied with the goal, press enter. A short while later, the machine will ask you to enter your weight- move the up and down arrow till the display indicate your correct weight- this reading is more accurate than just using the machine that display the calories burn (without factoring your weight). And exercise away.
You do not need to care about the time since the machine will probably display the time every few minutes or so. It is surprising that once you stop looking at the time (and keep wishing the time will pass faster) that you do not feel like agony on the machine. All you look at is the target calories burned- and you know in order to see the calories burned going up faster, you have to exert more energy. You get more motivated that way and the next thing you know- you have been on the machine for 20 minutes.
If you are unsure about how to set the machine to display the goal as calories burned instead of time, ask the gym staff for assistance.
Wrong Diagnosis of Multiple Sclerosis
I have to quote a passage that I read from the book The British Holistic Medical Association: Beating Back Pain by Dr John Tanner. What I like about Dr John Tanner’s book is that he is a qualified practioner in orthopedic medicine and psychology. He goes into in depth discussion on matters related to back pain- from diagnosis, clear description of various causes and the role of holistic cures in relieving the conditions.
In one of the chapters, he related psychological factors as one of the possible reasons of back pain. He told a story of a patient who was wrongly misdiagnosed as having multiple sclerosis but it was actually due to years of repressed emotions:
How to Relieve Pain in Joints and Body
Do you suffer from pain in the joints and body that you can’t seemed to explain? Perhaps you have already been diagnosed with having osteoarthritis, or rhemautoid arthritis and wanting to find other ways to relieve the condition. Or you don’t have these conditions but wondering why you seemed to have chronic aches in the body.
If you suffer from any medical condition, please seek appropiate treatment from the doctors. However, I would like to recommend some holistic methods that may help you to relieve your discomfort:
Theory of Inflammation
Due to unsuited diet and inactive lifestyle, the body- fascias, joints and muscles may be inflamed. You could have eaten something that results an allergic reaction to your body- and that could escalate or cause the onset of autoimmunity diseases such as RA.
