贝 has always had gastric problem for many years but the onset of gastric pain would only occurred if he was starving. Such persistent unwellness had never happened before. So, to find out what was wrong, he went for a gastroscopy procedure, and inflammation and helicobacter pylori were detected in his gastric. The doctor then prescribed one-month dosage of strong antibiotics, claiming that it would cure the gastritis and the bacteria infection.
The medicine did help but only for that one month when he was taking the prescription. After he had finished the course of medication, the discomfort returned. So he went back to see the doctor. To ensure that the unwellness wasn't caused by other organs such as the intestine, the doctor suggested a colonoscopy procedure. 贝 did the procedure (and so did i later on) and concluded that the problem was indeed the gastric and hence continued to prescribe medication for his gastric.
From then on, 贝 took the gastric pills for almost a year. His condition didn't really improve much. The mild pain would only subside when he was on medication. If he stopped taking the pills, he would feel the discomfort again.
I've heard that Western medicine only tackles the symptoms and not the root of the problem. Taking pills on a long-term basis would also harm the liver because of the chemical substances in the tablets. Certain types of illness require long-term therapy to restore the health completely. For such long-term treatment, Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) is preferred because it really gets to the root of the problem, albeit its slow progress. The Chinese medicines are also less harmful to the liver because it's made naturally from herbs.
So last month, 贝 decided to stop the western medication and consulted a Chinese physician at the Sanjiu Hai-O TCM Centre. The physician was a lady who was in her 60s and came from China. Having done the TCM diagnostics, she told 贝 that his gastric was "cold" (胃寒, or wei han) and a gradual treatment was needed for complete healing. During the course of medication, he must keep off tea, coffee, and food that is cold, sour, sweet, and spicy.
The prescriptions were a whole lot of Chinese herbal medicines. To our amazement, we no longer need to buy the herbs from the Chinese medicines shop and spend hours decocting them. The herbs were all processed and packed into sachets for ease of preparation.
贝 is to drink the herbal medicine once each day. Every dose was packed into a paper bag with instructions:
Each dosage contains sachets of various processed herbs:
The preparation is very simple. Just empty each sachet into a cup, pour in hot water, stir till the herbal powder dissolve and the medicine is ready to be taken.
However, these herbs weren't cheap. Every visit would cost him over RM100:
贝 gotta return for consultation every week and the price for the medicines got more expensive with each visit. So far, 贝 has spent more than RM1,000 for the Chinese medicines. It may seem like a hefty sum but the money he had spent earlier on the Western medicines for one year was even more and yet there wasn't any obvious improvement.
On the contrary, after taking the Chinese medicines for only a month or so, his condition has indeed improved. He no longer has the feeling of discomfort at his stomach unless he didn't heed the physician's advice and ate the food that he was supposed to avoid.
I must say that i'm rather impressed by the TCM through this experience. The Chinese medicines preparation process had advanced so much that it's no longer so troublesome like the old days. It's also more effective in treating certain type of chronic conditions compared to the Western medicine. So i guess there is no surprise why an indigenous medical practice of several thousands years could continue to be an important part of the modern medical world.
