Thursday, July 22, 2010

One Mans' Meat is another Mans' Poison.

One man's meat is another man's poison is an idiom that rings literally true for me. I was in excruciating pain and had to limp in agony for days. My left foot was swollen and inflame and the pain at my achilles tendon was like an arrow had pierced through it! Am I being too melodramatic in my description of the dreaded four lettered word? GOUT! Yes, gout is my archilles heel, my weakness that had laid low (no pun intended) many of my ancestors from my father's side. How unfortunate that blood tests had also shown that my dear teenage children had also inherited it, as they too had high uric acid. 'From whence did thou posses it? From the sins of my fathers.' No that did not come from the Bible nor the great Victorian bard with a 'parkinsonian' name Shakespeare. Am I being dramatic again? Sorry with a smile. It's easier to laugh in the face of suffering than to cry in the arse of adversity. Now, that was original and you can quote me on that. Inspiration comes from perspiration but my comes from gout. No, I am not high from over medication in fact I refused to take the steroids the doctor gave me. It will cause increase appetite and indigestion. Now that sounds evil. It makes you eat like a hog and gives you indigestion in return. Anti-inflammatory medications also helps tremendously but after one week with it your ulcerated stomach lining may need a new one. I chose a more friendly one call 'Mobid'. My daughter asked why did they call it that and I enlighten her that it is spelt 'Mobic'.

I know a way to reduce the recovery period from 7 -10 days to 3-4 days after all I am a pain management therapist. Using diaphragmatic breathing technique with raised legs as you lie down it increases blood, oxygen and chi flow to reduce the uric acid crystals and inflammation in your joints and tissues. I also used EFT to soothe my frustration and other emotional blocks to healing. It also soothes the burning pain so I can reduce the painkiller dosage to save my stomach lining.

What about food? Water, lots of it will help flush out uric acid and water melon is a juicy natural cure for gout as with cherries. They are rich in vitamin C and antioxidant which helps reduce inflammation. What about supplements? While fish oil that has been distilled is helpful a new product called stemtech was amazing. I tried it and the next day the swelling was 50% down after 3 days it is 90% healed.

I had to also watch my diet to make sure it had less purine which turns into uric acid. The kidneys normally excretes it but some of us tend to go into overproduction and the overworked kidneys cannot handle it.. There goes my satay, durian, cauliflowers, duck, sardines, dahl, all red meat and everything that taste good. If it taste good it's probably not good. No I am kidding but it does seem that way. Peanuts is bad, very bad and it's not even a real nut. Do you know it is the only nut that comes from the ground while all other nuts grows from trees? In Malaysia the more well known ones are grown on cemetery plots. They wash it and then dry it on tomb stones. That's what I was told so don't look at me like my nose had suddenly elongated. Peanut is normally the culprit that gets me but this time the cause was from ..... my wife. You see she bought something that gave me nostalgia, for as a kid I used to scoop a spoon of it and slowly lick it like it's a lollipop. That black,creamy, salty mamite was simply delicious and healthy. I remembered reading about the Japanese invasion and the death railway being built by malnourished British POWs. One of them swelled up with beri-beri. They had very little medication available so the medical officer gave him a bottle of mamite and it healed him. So I had a very high regard for the black goo and we had mamite soup threes times that week and presto now my left foot looks like it has beri-beri!

OK I have to put my brakes on or my blog will turn into a novel. When you are 'hot' you just want to continue writing. For more info on gout here is the medical link and my therapy links.

http://www.qigong.eftwonder.com/
http://iziz.stemtechbiz.com.my
http://www.patient.co.uk/health/Gout.htm
http://gouttreatments.blogspot.com/
With Happiness
Isaac Lim

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Panic Attacks and Punish Me Syndrome.

Statistically 10% of the population suffers from panic attacks and another 30% from anxiety disorder. This is not only true of Malaysians but also of the world. Surprised? Why should we be? Is this not a bad and scary world that we are living in? At anytime an earthquake could open up the earth under our feet and swollen us up or a mad guy may decided that nuclear war is tactically sound or a suicidal zealot may decide to go to heaven by sending everyone else to hell? All that can easily be push back into the dark recesses of our mind (and that's where it will always be, a niggling uneasiness) but for the sufferers of PA and AD it is illogically very real.
I normally need 2-6 sessions to help people with PA and AD with EFT. This is much faster than conventional talk or cognitive therapy. However last week a client who had been waking up with panic attacks for two years told me in the following session that the episodes are gone! Wow! that was fast. Sometimes EFT even surprise me with its results.
I had another client who as a child was arbitrary punished without excuse or his defence being allowed. He soon surrendered to the punishment meted out as something expected and not to be questioned even if he was not in the wrong. Like Pavlov's dogs he soon expects some form of punishment even as an adult and if none is forthcoming he will unconsciously punish himself emotionally or with psychosomatic pain. No amount of painkillers or physiotherapy could help him. I had to work on forgiveness and healing at cellular level to help him overcome it.
Do we all need EFT to help us in life. A resounding YES! As far as I am concern we are emotional beings that have forgotten how to process our emotions and had instead learn to ignore and repressed it. It will come back to haunt us in ways we least expect and affects our quality of life and happiness.

With Happiness
Isaac Lim