High fever that wouldn't go away

Approximately one and a half months ago, Brendan had to missed school for 3 days as he had extremely high fever at 39.9 degrees. We took him to see the dr who said that he didn't require any antibiotics and the fever should subside after a few days. We were given paracetamol which unfortunately didn't help very much.

The fever did go down for just a little while but would go up quickly again especially at night. Brendan was extremely weak and his body was extremely hot. He didn't have an appetite for days. He couldn't even finish a cup of water. I had to keep reminding him to drink sips and sips of water every now and then.

I wanted to try the egg white and flour rub down but decided to send him to see a lady who specialised in 猪毛 丹  (“zhu mao tan” or also known as Chinese typhoid fever or demam kepialu in malay) in Seri Kembangan on the 4th day, upon recommendation by a friend.

She did a quick check on Brendan and asked him to lie down while she rub a watery mixture in red on his chest. Within seconds, there were tiny little hair on his chest. She proceeded to pass us a few packets of some powdery medicine to be taken every 4 hours for the next 2 days plus a packet of clear water. It was all done in a jiffy. There were no description of the herbs or the water which I later found out to be some sort of cooling water.  She didn't even confirmed it to be 猪毛 丹. So, to this date, I'm still not sure whether it was 猪毛 丹 or "atapchee" fever.

This traditional chinese remedy believes that the appearance of the harsh looking hair on the body is the relieving of body heat. If not treated, it can lead to death.

She passed us a small piece of paper which states "Diet: rice, egg, apple, sweet potato, pork, chicken, fish. No Bath for 2 days. Diet for 4 days". I thought that was the diet Brendan was supposed to be taking until my friend who recommended me this lady said that those are the food to avoid.

His fever did subsided 2 days after that lady's treatment. It was a big scare for us as his fever was so high and he couldn't even walk.

Over the CNY holidays, I had the privilege to consult a very experienced sifu in treating 猪毛 丹, shingles, snakebites and centipede bites. He taught us how to identify whether it is  猪毛 丹and how to treat it.

Here's the video taken. Hopefully this helps anyone who is looking for any sort of info on this. Kindly excuse our bad Chinese in the video.

Contact of Sifu Tan :

Tan Eng Huat
013-7046165 (updated : 011-1077 6165)

21, Jalan Muhibbah, 

Taman Kerjasama, 

86000 Kluang, Johor.
              

"kutu" mission

I'm going crazy thinking about head lice, or more commonly known as 'kutu' here.

Two nights ago, I noticed Brendan scratching vigorously in his sleep and the first thought that came to mind was that he must have been sweating and have not washed his hair. So, the next morning, I washed his hair, but noticed that he still continue scratching and scratching his head later in the afternoon.

Oh no! Must be 'kutu'. I checked his hair and I think I see nits on his head. I can't seem to find that stupid kutu. Make me so stressed the whole day yesterday thinking about that stupid kutu. He must have gotten it in school quite recently. I normally spend half hour to an hour reading books in bed, with Brendan beside me, and I didn't notice him scratching much before that, until two nights ago!

So last night, I beh tahan liao, after spending an hour trying to take out the nits and looking for any live kutu last night, I decided to drive to the pharmacy in the rain, with my two kids in the tow. I got a kutu comb (like the one on the left below) and a kutu shampoo (apparently, it kills the live kutu and nits as well). Drove back home, and immediately try to comb Brendan's hair. Stupid comb, doesn't work cos it's not that fine. Some more say, 100% guaranteed. Blah!

I checked Eryn's hair. Perfectly clear. I tried to check my hair, but seems clear also, but I can't help feeling itchy all over just thinking about the stupid..... yes! K.U.T.U.!!!

Couldn't sleep the whole night, thinking about this stupid.... K.U.T.U.!!! This morning, again, I drove to the chinese medicine shop to look for the wooden kutu comb (like the one above right), and it's equally lousy. Can't comb anything out at all. sigh! The uncle told me that it's common for school kids to have kutus and its spreads easily. He even says he used to have lots of it and have to comb it out all the time when he was small!! Eeewwww.... GELI!!

So, washed Brendan's hair with the kutu shampoo. He's scratching less now, but still scratching, and I did some reading and realise that the itch may still continue for a few days before it totally stops. The nits are still there, apparently, dead, and I can't stand the sight of it each time I checked.

I washed all bed sheets, towels, clothes, combs and took out the pillows and bags out to sun in the sun cos kutus are susceptible to high head. kah kah kah... Die! Die! You kutus!! Die!

So, again, I took out my two books, "Herbal Home Remedies" by Jude C. Tood and "Debug your home the natural way" by PAN-AP.

My good faithful books give me some tips on how to remove kutus the natural way. One of it is to pour boiling water over tobacco leaves (apparently, tobacco from cigarettes with the papers removed also helps) and strain to use the liquid to rinse over hair at least 15 times into a basin. Reuse the water. Then leave it on for a few hours before shampooing out.

Coming with a solution of one part vinegar and one part water makes it easier to comb the nits out. Other natural uses are neem oil, oil-based shampoos and hair dryer (for adults only).

One comment I read on the net states that the mother uses Listerine mouth wash and leave it over night and white vinegar for the nits later.

I'll wait for a while to see whether the scratching is still there. Otherwise, I'll drive out to get myself a pack of cigarettes for the tobacco rinse.

For more reading on head lice, you can click here, here and here. I found a home remedy suggestion too here.

Lack of sleep kills!

Time and again, we hear of health issues arising which we normally tend to ignore till it's too late. I've been hearing news of acquaintances with heart problems and cancer for the past one year.

Today, I received an email from one of my ex-boss which is as appended below. This is getting scary and people are just way too ignorant about their precious life.

This story reminds me of a top CEO guy in Malaysia many years back, who died upon touching down at the airport, after coming back from a holiday with a fiance.

Here's the story which appeared in newspapers in India not too long ago :

Ranjan Das Passed Away on Wednesday, 21-October-2009
SAP India CEO Ranjan Das Dies After Gym Workout

Carried : Wednesday, 11-November-2009
What killed Ranjan Das and Lessons for Corporate India

A month ago, many of us heard about the sad demise of Ranjan Das from Bandra, Mumbai. Ranjan, just 42 years of age, was the CEO of SAP-Indian Subcontinent, the youngest CEO of an MNC in India . He was very active in sports, was a fitness freak and a marathon runner. It was common to see him run on Bandra's Carter Road . Just after Diwali, on 21st Oct, he returned home from his gym after a workout, collapsed with a massive heart attack and died. He is survived by his wife and two very young kids.

It was certainly a wake-up call for corporate India . However, it was even more disastrous for runners amongst us. Since Ranjan was an avid marathoner ( in Feb 09, he ran Chennai Marathon at the same time some of us were running Pondicherry Marathon 180 km away ), the question came as to why an exceptionally active, athletic person succumb to heart attack at 42 years of age.

Was it the stress?

A couple of you called me asking about the reasons. While Ranjan had mentioned that he faced a lot of stress, that is a common element in most of our lives. We used to think that by being fit, one can conquer the bad effects of stress. So I doubted if the cause was stress.

The Real Reason

However, everyone missed out a small line in the reports that Ranjan used to make do with 4-5 hours of sleep. This is an earlier interview of Ranjan on NDTV in the program 'Boss' Day Out'.

Here he himself admits that he would love to get more sleep ( and that he was not proud of his ability to manage without sleep, contrary to what others extolled ).

The Evidence

Last week, I was working with a well-known cardiologist on the subject of 'Heart Disease caused by Lack of Sleep'. While I cannot share the video nor the slides because of confidentiality reasons, I have distilled the
key points below in the hope it will save some of our lives.

Some Excerpts:

* Short sleep duration ( less than 5 or 5-6 hours ) increased risk for high BP by 350% to 500% compared to those who slept longer than 6 hours per night. Paper published in 2009. As you know, high BP kills.

* Young people ( 25-49 years of age ) are twice as likely to get high BP if they sleep less. Paper published in 2006.

* Individuals who slept less than 5 hours a night had a 3-fold increased risk of heart attacks. Paper published in 1999.

* Complete and partial lack of sleep increased the blood concentrations of High sensitivity C-Reactive Protein (hs-cRP), the strongest predictor of heart attacks. Even after getting adequate sleep later, the levels stayed high!!

* Just one night of sleep loss increases very toxic substances in body such as Interleukin-6 (IL-6), Tumour Necrosis Factor-Alpha (TNF-alpha) and C-reactive protein (cRP). They increase risks of many medical conditions, including cancer, arthritis and heart disease. Paper published in 2004.

* Sleeping for less than 5 hours per night leads to 39% increase in heart disease. Sleeping for less than 6 hours per night leads to 18% increase in heart disease. Paper published in 2006.

Ideal Sleep

For lack of space, I cannot explain here the ideal sleep architecture. But in brief, sleep is composed of two stages: REM ( Rapid Eye Movement ) and non-REM. The former helps in mental consolidation while the latter helps in physical repair and rebuilding. During the night, you alternate between REM and non-REM stages 4-5 times.

The earlier part of sleep is mostly non-REM. During that period, your pituitary gland releases growth hormones that repair your body. The latter part of sleep is more and more REM type.

For you to be mentally alert during the day, the latter part of sleep is more important. No wonder when you wake up with an alarm clock after 5-6 hours of sleep, you are mentally irritable throughout the day (lack of REM sleep). And if you have slept for less than 5 hours, your body is in a complete physical mess ( lack of non-REM sleep ), you are tired throughout the day, moving like a zombie and your immunity is way down ( I've been there, done that ).

Finally, as long-distance runners, you need an hour of extra sleep to repair the running related damage.

If you want to know if you are getting adequate sleep, take Epworth Sleepiness Test.

Interpretation: Score of 0-9 is considered normal while 10 and above abnormal. Many a times, I have clocked 21 out the maximum possible 24, the only saving grace being the last situation, since I don't like to drive (maybe, I should ask my driver to answer that line ).

In conclusion:

Barring stress control, Ranjan Das did everything right: eating proper food, exercising ( marathoning! ), maintaining proper weight. But he missed getting proper and adequate sleep, minimum 7 hours. In my opinion, that killed him. If you are not getting enough sleep ( 7 hours ), you are playing with fire, even if you have low stress.

I always took pride in my ability to work 50 hours at a stretch whenever the situation warranted. But I was so spooked after seeing the scientific evidence last week that since Saturday night, I ensure I do not even set
the alarm clock under 7 hours. Now, that is a nice excuse to get some more sleep.

Unfortunately, Ranjan Das is not alone when it comes to missing sleep. Many of us are doing exactly the  same, perhaps out of ignorance. Please forward this mail/article to as many of your colleagues/friends as possible, especially those who might be short-changing their sleep. If we can save even one young life because of this email, I would be the happiest person on earth.


Source : news

medical attention?

My little girl was sick the whole of last week. She started having fever on last Monday and on Tuesday, we took her to see the dr and her temperature was at 38 degrees. She had fever, flu, cough, sore throat and was feeling very lethargic. We enquired on H1N1 and the dr says that she was merely having the normal viral infection and shouldn't be having H1N1 as the main concern would be for suspected patients who have just returned from infected countries as well as those who have direct contact with someone who is having H1N1.

We were relieved and were given the normal flu, cough & throat medicine for her. 2 days later, her fever hasn't gone down, and instead went up to almost 39 degrees. We send her to a 24 hours clinic in the middle of the night and was merely given suppositories to immediately reduce her fever.

By time time, I was furious as I requested for a blood test and was denied one, as the dr was not willing to do one. We sent her to a paeditrican the following day, for her third check-up and this dr too says that there is no need for concern. Our request for blood test again was denied. So, what does it take to get an ACTUAL medical test done?

There are so many deaths happening among children these days and what does it take for the medical centres to give prompt and MORE concern for such cases?

After having fever for one week, Eryn's fever has gone down, but I had shudder to think if something could have happened to her.

And with so many people coughing and hacking and sneezing around me, do I continue life as usual without being paranoid?

'Health attack'

What? Melamine in 17 biscuit products in Malaysia?! What's next?

Oh well, no wonder health problems are growing at an alarming rate. With pollution, processed food, unhealthy lifestyles, work stress, superficial diets, chemicals in our bodies and all, how can a person not face with health problems?

I know of many women who have problem conceiving due to the food they eat and their lifestyle. I know of a young woman who contracted lung cancer even though she doesn't smoke. I know kids with health problems. I believe all of us know of someone who has serious health problem in one way or another.

Based on some information I gathered sometime last year, I found the following :

• medical inflation is rising at 15% per annum
• the 3 giant killers are - cancer, heart attack and stroke
• 1 in 3 Malaysians age 30 and above suffer from hypertension!
• Only 6 out of 100 peple have their blood pressure under control
• 10,000 deaths a year linked to stroke, heart attack and kidney failure
• 6,000 deaths a year due to heart disease
• 3 million have high cholesterol, which lead to the above stroke, heart problem, etc.
• 25% of malaysian are overweight, and for obesity, we're no. 1 in Asia.

The numbers might vary, but the truth is that most people are pretyt much ignorant about all these. We know the importance, but do we really take heed?

Yikes! .... and I'm going for a Raya open house tonight, makan session tomorrow, Deepavali open house on Monday and dinner on Monday night... Time to exercise...... zzzzzz

Someone collapsed in front of me!

I'm feeling very tired right now, but I can't go to sleep. I keep thinking of that man that passed out right in front of my eyes.

I drove all the way from Johor to KL today. Hubby was tired, so I offered to drive. We had gone back to my hometown for the long Raya break. It was raining quite heavily on the highway and traffic was heavy too.

By the time we arrived KL, it was dinner time. Halfway through dinner, I noticed a man who walked towards our table in a drunkard way. I was observing him and saw that his face were red and his eyes were rolling and I thought that he was going to knock into our table and start vomitting on us.

*PLOP!* That man fell onto our table, knocked his head and collapsed. He lay on the floor under our table. My hubby, kids and I were extremely shocked! Everyone one were looking and I just didn't know what to do! His family members came over to him and suddenly, he just got up and stood up, took out his glasses, walked to his table and continued having his dinner with his family members all staring at him, and at us. He was totally ok after that. The waitress mentioned to us that he said he didn't know what happened cos when he opened his eyes, he realised he was lying on the floor under our table!!

Everyone was blurred as to what suddenly happened. It could be low blood pressure or a sign of more serious health problem to come for the man.. It's the first time I come across such a case like this. I happened to watch an episode on Grey's Anatomy of an elderly man who have the symptom of passing out and sitting up straight just after a few seconds. Can't really remember what's the condition called.

Here I am, wondering and thinking about life, once again. I thought someone died in front of me. It was scary. Life is just unpredictable sometimes. I've been taking my health for granted. I'd better start exercising.

mini Olympic 2008

It's the Olympic now in Beijing. Back at home, we have our own little olympians :-) With the Olympic fever happening everywhere, I took some fun shots of the weekend exercise the kids enjoy having.

Pea eggplant

My mum is a garden herbs enthusiast. Recently she showed me a cluster of tiny green peas look-alike fruit which she claims is good for anaemia. She's now planting it in her mini-herbs garden.

I did some finding and realised that the round pea -shaped fruit is known as pea eggplant (or Solanum torvum).

Apparently, some people cook this in their curry.

I'm keen to know more about this if anyone can provide some medicinal info and cooking method on this.

The skin seems a little tougher than the normal brinjal, probably due to its size, and the taste is somewhat bitter.

Died of dengue

Yesterday, I received news from a friend that another friend, Jon, whom we've just known recently, had died of dengue last week.

It was a very shocking news to hear. I don't know him that well, but it was so unexpected that it makes my 'mission' even stronger - the mission to explain why it is necessary to get coverage and protect our family and have an income replacement in case something untoward happens to us.

In Wikipedia, the signs and symptoms can be described by "a sudden onset of fever, with severe headache, muscle and joint pains and rashes. The dengue rash is characteristically bright red petechiae and usually appears first on the lower limbs and the chest; in some patients, it spreads to cover most of the body. There may also be gastritis with some combination of associated abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting or diarrhea.

Other symptoms include fever, chills, constant headaches, bleeding from nose, mouth or gums, severe dizziness, and loss of appetite.

Some cases develop much milder symptoms which can, when no rash is present, be misdiagnosed as influenza or other viral infection. Thus travelers from tropical areas may inadvertently pass on dengue in their home countries, having not been properly diagnosed at the height of their illness. Patients with dengue can pass on the infection only through mosquitoes or blood products and only while they are still febrile.

The classic dengue fever lasts about six to seven days, with a smaller peak of fever at the trailing end of the disease (the so-called "biphasic pattern"). Clinically, the platelet count will drop until the patient's temperature is normal"

Jon left behind his wife and two very young children, some unpaid debts and funeral expenses. His wife is currently non working due to a minor ailment. His colleague called him a day before he passed away and Jon indicated that he's feeling better. News then broke out that his blood count was dropping and he passed away.

He was admitted to one of the local government hospital and somehow, was not able to make any claims due to the hospital report indicating that he didn't die of dengue. In fact, I was told that the family has to let it go that this unfortunate incident happened. What really happened, I do not know. But it got me thinking, that most people are ignorant on the importance of getting basic protection, not only for themselves, but also for the sake of the living family members, in the even of an unfortuante death.

Being in the wealth accumulation and wealth protection business myself, it sometimes breaks my heart when people are ignorant over this, and when something happens, it will be too late. We can only provide support and grief with the family..

My 'mission' goes on...

Exercise

Though I was a sports girl in school, I've somehow succumbed to my laziness, and yet I complain of not having any energy and gaining weight on my butts!

Early Sunday mornings are the days where the kids will go jogging with their daddy while I choose to take my own sweet time to get up, sweep and mop the floor while waiting for the kids and daddy to be back for breakfast.

They wake up really early at around 7am+ and will go, "Daddy! Daddy! Where are you? We want to go jogging!" and then, followed by, "Wake up, lazy bug mummy. Let's go jogging!"

Below here are some snapshots of some stretching exercise they are doing at home.

Garbage Enzyme

This morning, a friend told me of a garbage enzyme workshop workshop which contributes to a better earth friendly environment.

I was my first time hearing of such thing. With the changes in the climate and the many waste thrown into garbage, I was listening attentively to her, when I found out that we can contribute to the climate change through a simple DIY formula using kitchen waste (fruits' skin and unwanted vegetables).

This not only helps in protecting our ozone layer and lower global temperature, but actually provides a natural and environment friendly way to use the enzyme liquid as a household cleaner, air purifier, laundry and floor detergent, shampoo (yes, shampoo!!), body care, car care and or course as an organic fertiliser.

It removes odor, molds and grime, it's antibacterial and anti-viral.

It's all natural, and in fact, it doesn't even smell and actually acts as an insecticide as well!

The dilution ratio for usage is approximately 1:1000 to use enzyme as insecticide, 1:100 for pesticide, diluting it 200X to be used as air-refreshener and 500x as hormones for plants to get more fruits or flowers.

1 Tbp of enzymes for 1 litre of detergent water/dish washing liquid/shampoo (or 1tsp for 500cc) will help reduce the side effects in chemicals and enhance the nutrients.

The ratio of making this would be mixing 3 parts of the unwanted fruits and vegetables to 1 part of brown sugar (not sure whether this is gula melaka or that special brown sugar for making desserts) with 10 parts of water.

Keep these in an airtight container and leave it unopened for 3 months. After that, you can pour them into individual containers for your daily household usage and personal care.

Eryn and her yoga poses

I've noticed Eryn doing some exercises and poses which looks like some yoga pose. She'll be showing off her stretching and posing in front of us whenever we sit down and watch TV.

I believe it's the "influence" or should I say, copy-catting her nanny at the nanny's place. Eryn does it so well, having no problem bending backwards, in a u-shape with her hands and legs behind her, or stretching her body out to touch her toes! I tried doing that and almost hurt my back! haha..

I took the opportunity to take some pics of her when she tried showing it off again.

Eryn's first high fever

I had a scare when Eryn had high fever last week. Went to see the dr and he gave some fever medicine and an anti-inflammation medicine for her throat. Her restlessness made me lose sleep until her fever went down yesterday.

But then, the reddish spots came out. Called my mum last night to seek her opinion and she said that I should go to see the auntie staying on the ground floor of my block. Lan Jie was very helpful and I got some tips from her. In fact, I suspected that it was Roseola (or 'fake measles' in chinese). She confirmed it and gave me some tips.

To put myself at ease, I took Eryn to the dr again after work today and the dr too confirms that it was Roseola. Have to pay another RM45 just to see him the 2nd time, but I take it that I learnt something from the dr today, by differentiating between the normal measles and roseola.

On a separate issue, it's Eryn's chinese birthday today. We have a simple 'birthday game' where you lay some items in front of the birthday child for her to pick her so-called expertise. We don't really believe in it but did it out of fun.

F.E.V.E.R.

What's with all these fever nowadays? No, it's not the football fever I'm talking about.

Last Sunday, Brendan was feeling extremely lethargic and was lying on the mat the whole day. His body was a little hot when he woke up. He didn't have the appetite to eat. In the afternoon, his fever shot up real high. We gave him the fever medicine and the next day, his fever has gone down a little. I then noticed lots of little ulcers on his mouth and scary thoughts ran through my mind. HFM disease first came to my mind and I asked some friends who had gone through the HFM experience with their children and nieces and nephews on what to do and stuffs like that.

Brendan's symptoms were a little different. Prior to the fever, he had lots of rough red spots on his body for more than a week. We knew it was heatiness, cos he's gotten that before. The spots spreaded to his neck and by the time it reached his forehead on Sunday, he immediately had a fever and the spots almost disappeared by itself. To make things worst, I too had small ulcer on my mouth. Then my maid had it too. Gila kah?! What kind of an endemic is this, I wondered.

On Tuesday, Eryn pulak had mild fever. But she was very much ok the next day. Then, I hear of many children around my area having fever and ulcers and body aches. I mean, many.... not one, not two or three... but many! Last night I heard that my cousin in Johor is also having fever and body aches. This morning, my sis called to say she had fever yesterday.

So, this fever here fever there is really making me wonder what kind of virus is this? It's not HFM.... It's not bird flu.... It's not football fever.... What then? Scary......

Aura Cleansing

I happened to chat with a friend on the directions in life when we came to the topic of aura cleansing.

I was then introduced to this person who does aura cleansing as well as healing sessions. I was told that aura cleansing is done to "fine-tune" the energy level in a particular person, getting ride of unwanted negative energy. We contribute to our own happiness and we are to think positive at all times. However, certain circumstances causes the accumulation of negative energy in one's life.

I was told that this aura-cleanser (or whatever you call it) has done healings and cleansing for many people, including cancer patients, sick patients, infertility problems to things like bankrupcy in life and things like that.

Well, I tend to think a lot, and now, I do wonder if I should go for aura cleansing. How it works and why it works, is a mystery to me. Maybe I should just check it out.