My pain slayer…

I started suffering from heel pain around the last trimester of my pregnancy. It was also then that crack lines started to show around my heels. Little did I expect that the pain would only get worse after giving birth. Somehow, even after losing all the weight I gained during pregnancy, the pain persisted. It is usually worst in the morning when I get off bed. As I start walking, the pain subsides for a while but returns if I continue to be on my feet.

I finally decided to seek help when a friend recommended her TCM practitioner. The doctor immediately diagnosed it as a heel spur (although only an x-ray can prove it), and used an infrared lamp on my heels for around 10 minutes. I felt excruciating pain during that 10 minutes. It felt like my heels were on fire!

The doctor then explained that heel spurs are caused by a high level of ‘acidity’ in the body and said I should avoid cold, sweet food. I did not really understand the relation but I know I will have great difficulty adhering to it because I love cold and sweet stuff! Besides this, he recommended that I wear bedroom slippers at home and high-heel shoes when I’m out. The bedroom slippers was supposed to keep the heels soft and warm because cold hard floor will only make the pain worse. But I was really surprised about the high heels – something I’ve avoided since I was pregnant. Anyway, it is supposed to bring forward my centre of gravity and relive pressure on the heels. Finally, he said a daily foot bath will improve blood circulation around the heel area which will help ease the pain.

The bedroom slippers was the easiest and most effective thing I did. Wearing high-heels when I’m out is a big challenge as I’m usually with M and I still need to carry her a fair bit so I do not want to risk losing my balance. The foot bath was nice and relieves pain but I found it quite a hassle.

So I was really excited when I came across the Philips Infrared Lamp ($50+) when we were shopping at Best Denki some time back. It worked just like the lamp at the doctor’s and sure saved me a lot of trouble and money (around $30 per consultation). And the best part is I can use it for relieving my back ache too!

Definitely a good buy

My flesh and blood…

On my first visit to my gynaecologist when I was pregnant with M, I was informed that I had 2 fibroids. Even though the size of the fibroids were rather small then (1.1 cm and 2.1 cm), we were forewarned that fibroids can complicate pregnancies if they continue to grow, taking away essential nutrients from the foetus. However, gynae informed us that nothing can be done to the fibroids during pregnancy so we could only monitor and hope for the best.

And we were very fortunate that my fibroids hardly grew during the next 34 weeks (pregnancies can accelerate their growth). The check-ups after childbirth showed they remained ‘subdued’ in the sense that no medical intervention was required. However, gynae did remind me that I should go for a review if I start experiencing heavy periods.

Before I continue, some background information about fibroids. Uterine fibroids are benign tumours (muscle growth) which rarely turn cancerous. Their size can range from as small as a pea to as big as a melon. Most common symptoms are heavy bleeding, abdominal pressure or discomfort and changes to bladder & bowel movements. The female hormones – oestrogen and progesterone have been related to the growth of fibroids but the real cause is unknown. Treatment options vary with different sizes and locations of the fibroids.

So early this year, I noticed my period was gradually getting heavier and the last time I saw gynae was probably late 2007 (when my period had just returned since I breastfed for 6 months). It took me a while to finally find time to visit gynae, sometime in May.

And then came the not so good news – one of the fibroids (originally 2.1 cm) had now doubled in size to nearly 5 cm. Gynae recommended that I have them removed in a surgery (myomectomy) before my next pregnancy to avoid complications. I was really frightened by the thought of a surgery (I’ve never had one!). But gynae said situation was not critical and a review was planned 6 months later. Meanwhile, she prescribed some medicine for me to deal with the heavy period.

After getting over the initial shock of an impending surgery, I did some online research. It seems surgery to remove the fibroids (myomectomy) is usually recommended for women who still want to have children. For those who have no need for childbearing, a surgery to remove the uterus (hysterectomy) is sometimes recommended since it will remove the possibility of new fibroid growth which is the drawback of a myomectomy. A keyhole surgery (laparoscopic myomectomy) is possible in some cases but I recalled gynae saying she won’t be able to detect any other small fibroids which may not have been picked up by ultra-sound.

I also read about how some people were able to totally dissolve their fibroids by adopting some special diet or lifestyle. But they obviously wanted money for revealing their ‘secrets’, which I’m still not convinced. Anyway, I decided to visit the TCM practitioner that I’ve seen when I was pregnant to see if he could do anything the ‘natural’ way.

He painted a similar gloomy outlook of fibroids, saying that they will cause ‘damage’ to a foetus and that fibroids bigger than 3.5 cm are difficult to dissolve. Hearing this, I really regretted not seeing him earlier! Nonetheless, he prescribed some chinese herbs to be brewed.

After two doses of that yucky horrible-smelling black concoction, I noticed a lighter period the following month. Encouraged, I’ve gone back to see him 2 more times since he prescribes herbs for a month per visit. In the last visit, he mentioned it would be good that I go for an ultra-sound scan to check on the fibroids’ situation. Since it’s pretty near the review date, I’ll be making that trip soon.

Well, all these have just made me rethink if we should have another kid, since the objective of the surgery at this stage would mainly be for that purpose. My current symptoms are still rather mild and I could probably live with them for a while before any serious medical intervention.

Hmm… still pondering on it. Let’s see what comes out of my visit to gynae…

p/s: this video provides a good overview of fibroids (with gory pictures of fibroids)…. so not for the faint-hearted!

TCM – Prevention better than cure?

Just two weeks ago, both M & myself fell sick. I started coughing one day before her and we both had fever, cough and runny nose nose at the same time. Horrible experience. I needed rest to get better myself but still had to take care of a sick child who was more fussy than usual.

Lucky my husband was able to work-from-home to help me out. Anyhow, after 3 visits to our GP (General Practitioner) in 3 days and a week of fever, cough and runny nose medicine, M’s nose was still runny. We thought it’s time to seek an alternative opinion – Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM).

M visited a TCM Practitioner for the first time last Saturday. After a lot of questions about her eating habits, sleep pattern and bowel movements, the doctor diagnosed that she was of a 热底 constitution – meaning she was the type who tend to get ‘heaty’ easily.

She also advised us to dilute M’s milk (because she doesn’t drink much water) and to offer fruits at room temperature (not straight out of the fridge). She prescribed a bottle of runny nose medicine and a powdered concoction – 川貝, 健脾散, 冬蟲夏草 - (1 month supply) to strengthen her respiratory system, spleen and overall immune system.

All in, these set us back by $216! – $16 for the runny nose medicine and $200 for the powder.

Our first attempt to give her the medicine was a failure. We didn’t think she would drink it from the spoon so we added 10ml of the medicine to her milk which made it turn brown, like chocolate milk. She sucked one time and gave her bottle back, saying it was "very sweet”. Haha… funny, we thought but it doesn’t help. Next time I tried using a spoon, she snatched it over, poured it into her breakfast bowl, took a sip and gave a funny face. The next few attempts proved not too encouraging too.

Whatever… her runny nose cleared itself a few days ago so I kinda gave up too. Let’s hope the expensive powder works! We add it to her morning milk feed and she has finished it every time so far Too hungry to think…

p/s: I gave half the bottle of the medicine away to M’s cousin who took it very readily! I’m saving the other half for myself