How I came down with the chill
One Thursday, it was raining very heavily as I ran out the car to unlock the gate after meeting up with someone. I thought nothing about it as I was often caught in the rain when I was staying in Thailand- since I am the type who rather make a dash for shelter while raining than to use the umbrella. Still, I had my suspicion because on the same time, I took some antibiotics prescribed by my dentist- he wanted me to take antibiotics before he pulls an infected tooth out. And it was a new antibiotics that he was trying out- it was not the usual one that he had given me. If it is not because of a possible infection prior to tooth extraction, I would have never taken antibiotics- even when I have fever.
By Saturday, I spent about 2 hours in the gym (yes, I rejoined back the gym). On Sunday, I started feeling a bit tired and did cardio for about an hour and skipped the strength training. By Monday, when I woke up, things are not looking good- it started with the sinus like symptoms (not flu coz my body was not aching). My body felt weak. Things got worse by the days that passed. By Wednesday, I had problem sleeping because as soon as lie down, I started coughing.
By Thursday, I tried the herbs steam bath- it seemed to improve the flu like conditions but not the cough. H1N1 is ruled out because I did not develop fever. Then by Friday, when things were not improving, my mom insisted I visit a traditional Chinese medical doctor recommended by a concerned neighbour.
Interesting Discovery and Advise Given by the Chinese doctor
The Chinese doctor is an elderly man with white hair and a rosy complexion. He felt my pulse on both hands, put his palms on mine and touched the edges of my fingers to diagnose my condition. I was amazed by his accuracy. He told me I had caught a slight chill. He also knew I was on medication- at first I told him about taking a panadol. He said it was something more. Then I remembered the antibiotics. He said by feeling the edges of my fingers, he knew I had taken some kind of medication that I was allergic too. He told me to stay away from antibiotics if I can because it is not suited to my body and does it more harm than good. He said that this medication would have made me had chest discomfort or feeling tired- it was very true.
He told me to stay away from all fried or oily food for the time being until I get well. According to him, by taking fried food, they ‘cover over’ the element imbalance, thus making the body unable to get well. And he said that the medicine will not get through to cure the condition because the layer of fat ‘protects it’. One thing if you were to take traditional Chinese or Malay medication, you have to follow strict guidelines and have to stay away from certain type of food. In my case, he told me to stay away from watermelon, pineapple, Ceylonese tea (he said Ceylonese tea or ‘teh tarik’ is very unsuitable for my body).
I also learned got some advise from him that I feel makes sense and I want to share this:
- Chinese medicine that had to be boiled should be taken latest by 5 till 6pm (before the sun sets). This is because when the sun sets, the ‘fire’ in our body slows down in order to get our body ready to retire for the night. If we take the Chinese medicine, we need to move a bit in order for the medicine to circulate and absorb into our cells. Some people have the idea to take it before going to sleep- unless specified, don’t do that.
- If you can, do not ever bathe after the sun sets. This is applicable for all. I have heard this advice from a number of traditional healers. Bathing after the sun sets or at night will bring on arthritis in later years.
It is long known that conventional antibiotics and tablets will only treat the symptoms of common illnesses. Traditional Chinese medication will zoom in straight to treat the cause so that it has a less chance of reoccuring.
Here’s how the prescribed Chinese medicine prescribed by my chill treatment
The picture above shows the medication that he had prescribed to me. All in, together with consultation, I paid only about RM36. The instruction is to boil the medicine with 8 cups of water. Boil until the water is reduced to about one cup of water. Then drink it- the sweet (in the picture) is given for me to take to rid of the bitter taste in my mouth after taking the medicine.
how the medicine looked like after being boiled
Did the Chinese Medicine cure my condition?
After taking the time, my cough disappeared just like that. No more night cough. I also don’t feel tired and could attend a full day seminar on Saturday as well as put in a couple of hours worth of cardio workout.
To think that many of my long suffering friends- eating anything from Fisherman’s Friend, cough mixtures (that normally have sedative effect) and taking antibiotics to relieve their cough. And it never seemed to work- most of the time, the cough will get worse, causing panda eyes because the sufferer couldn’t sleep and lost of productivity away from work. Not to mention feeling awkward when they could not control their cough in public places or meetings and coughing till their chest hurts and tears come out.
Perhaps a simple prescription of Chinese medicine can cure. Or if you do not have access to this, you can try naturalpathy or homeopathy.
But a word of caution: for potentially life theatening conditions such as high blood pressure, diabetes, cancer, etc- please consult conventional doctors and before you try anything, make sure your doctor is aware of this.
