Archive for the ‘Traditional Practices’ Category
Face Bloating & Gaining Weight- Signs of Steroids in Medication
If someone you know are taking traditional medication- and you noticed that the person seemed to be putting on a lot of weight even though the person did not eat a lot. Or even the action of drinking water seemed to bloat the body up- as if the body is desperate to conserve water. And this is often accompanied by the face becoming round and bloated- which is often referred as the ‘moon face’.
Normally, if we visit the doctor practising Western medicine, the doctor will tell is if the medication contains steroids and what are the side effects to expect from it. So the patient is generally well informed. And the steroids prescribed in the medication are within accepted and permissible levels.
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.
How Effective is Massage Chairs in Relieving Pain?
Massage chairs are heavily promoted in the health industry. In Malaysia, a massage chair from a reputable brand costs from RM7000 to over RM10000. Celebrity endorsement of the brand and huge advertisement banners are costly- so logically, the chair will have to be very expensive in order to meet the cost.
The advertising media has been trying to convince people that massage chair are quick fixes for all types of chronic problems and pain. In order to bring the message home- advertisements pull at heartstrings when the message send across during Mother & Father’s Day promotion: ‘your parents have worked hard for you all their lives and now they’re old. They’re in pain. Why not you get them a massage chair?’. And pictures of happy elderly parents enjoying the massage chair convinces you to fork out almost 10k (payable back in installments) just to get a massage chair for them.
How effective is massage chairs?
Massage chair is supposed to mimic the movements of a masseur- and supposedly enable a person to save on the long term of treatments. The lower end one basically just move lightly at your back where the higher end ones have more function such as adjustable speed, massage at the lower back, knees, head and feet. Those little extra features can set you back easily for about an additional 5k to 6k. Still, no matter how convincing the advertisement is, what I fail to understand is why do I see these massage chairs lying around houses like white elephants- and they really do occupy a lot of space. Why do people stop using them after a while if they are really that good and effective?
Why You Should Keep Away from Iced Drinks
Many people like to enjoy a chilling glass of iced lemon tea on a hot day or after a days’ work. My friends frequently love to order ice lemon tea after walking around shopping or to accompany their meals - some restaurants offer free refills.
The belief that iced or cold drinks are very damaging for your health originate from Eastern beliefs. Any physician treating patients using traditional Chinese medication will tell you it is a strict no no to take any form of cold drinks- especially when your body is very hot or at night. My grandmother and the grandmother of my friends also frown on this.
Another strict no no is to take iced drinks with your meal. From biology, we know that our body need to digest food at room temperature. So if you were to accompany your meals with cold water, you reduce your system’s capacity to digest food at its optimum levels which will bring you all kinds of stomach ailments such as stomach spasms, acid reflux, indigestion, wind in the stomach, bloating, etc.
However, many in the West considered this to be merely old wives superstition and since there is no scientific basis of this, people are told to abandon this ancient ’superstition’. Especially after exercising, we are told that our body need to rehydrate and as such, if you drink iced or cool drinks, the fluid will be absorbed quicker into your working muscles, thus preventing heat strokes or dehydration.
Fancy Beating Yourself with a Cane? Enter…Cane Exercise
Many people have not heard about the cane exercise. Basically, cane exercise involves, well, taking a cane - then beating, rubbing and massaging yourself with it. You must be thinking… huh??!!
But cane exercise is very effective because it involves activating meridian points in your body. In Chinese healing systems, it is believed that the key to health can happen if the energies in your body are balanced, in harmony and with smooth flowing of ‘chi’.
How Cane Exercise Came About
The founder is a lady from Taiwan. I was dragged there by some aunties to attend the special session as the founder came down from Taiwan (sorry, I cannot remember her name). She spoke about her experience in Mandarin and there was a English interpreter as the audience consists of all races.
This lady came from a poor background. She led a hard life and life dealt a cruel blow to her when she was involved in an accident that resulted severe spine injuries. The doctor told her that she will never be able to walk again. She was devastated- what was she going to do? She is the family’s breadwinner and cannot afford to be a liability. For a while, she suffered from depression.
What she did is that she took whatever equiment she could find- broomsticks, wood, etc and use it to specifically beat her meridian points to active them. It took her a few years but eventually, she could walk again, and she was much stronger than she was before. She was definitely much healthier and fitter than me.
A New Revelation Brings Hope to My Early Stage of Osteoarthritis
I started develop very strong interest in subject of health and fitness, after experiencing first hand the benefits from proper eating and exercising in eliminating certain chronic conditions. As you would invariably notice from the various health related topics from this blog, I am really committed in sharing as much information as I can to benefit others who suffers from any health related issues. On every health issue posted here, I’ve known at least one person whom I care about who are suffering from the ailment.
From exercising and eating, I am now exploring another possibility- energy healing. What made me belief that energy healing works is because it relieved the current condition that I am on the early stage of osteoarthritis- characterized by the decrease in synovial fluid on my right knee. As the result, my right knee creaked a lot each time I bend and straighten it.
Previously, it was painful but once I started adding aerobic exercise and weight training, as well as making some dietary changes, the pain got to very minimal. But try as I do, I could not ignore the unnerving ‘creaking’ sound that my right knee makes each time I do a ‘front kick’ motion while being seated. It’s scary but to my knowledge, there is no cure for osteoarthritis.
Stomach Pain/Spasms- Due to excessive wind element
If you suffer from the following:
- sudden sharp pain deep (like a inner area behind your belly button) in your stomach
- stomach is also experiencing spasms
- vomiting and diarrhea at the same time. When you go to the toilet, the pain is so bad that you do not know which to do first- vomit or pass out water
Possible cause:
- From the traditional Chinese cures, it could be too much of wind element.
- Please read my previous article on Natural Cures for Stomach Ailments/ Pain/ Spasms if you have not done so.
My friend’s experience.
- Last weekend, my friend ate cheese and suffered from migraine (if she takes too much diary product, she gets migraine). As the result of her migraine, the pain cause her to vomit and she hardly ate anything because she totally lost her appetite.
- On Monday, she had porridge for lunch and soon after, started to suffer from diarrhea with terrible stomach pain and spasms. It lasted till Tuesday and did not get better- so she had to go back early as she felt dizzy and wanted to throw up.
- She went to see her urologist and he told her he cannot prescibe a strong dose of antibiotic because of her kidney problem (she suffers from nephritis). In the specialist’s words: “you’ll just have to let it run its course”.
- Her condition was so bad that she was on the verge of getting herself admitted to hospital today because she had literally not eaten for days. Each time she eats, she immediately pass it out as water.
