Whoopy!!!!!!! I'm having the Whooping cough...

Today's my very first visit to a Traditional Chinese Medicine Hall (TCM)

I guess after coughing for so long, taking many antibiotics, going for an X-ray, drinking all sorts of self-concocted medication, I gave up.

I decided to go CHEENA for my health...

"百日咳 " "bai ri ke" (a hundred days cough) is an understatement. I may have breached the 100th day mark TWICE or more :(

The English equivalent is known as PERTUSSIS (wah.. so chim.. cough cough..)

I decided to check it up.. the definition is as such:

A highly contagious disease of the respiratory system, that is caused by the bacterium Bordetella pertussis and is characterised in its advanced stage by spasms of coughing interspersed with deep, noisy inspirations.

Wow.. so all Jedis and Padawans stay away from me... I'm gg back to school in an 'Outbreak 'suit.. or better still... please bar me from gg back to school!!!!

The experience at the TCM was rather frustrating but I realised (or rather I've always known) my Chinese is not so good and so is my health. Here's why:

1) When the Chinese (fr China) receptionist asked me for my number in mandarin, I realised I couldn't recite it out. I had to think in English and number by number convert it to mandarin at a rather slow pace, though I tried to sound cheena by saying "Yao" instead of "Yi" for the number one.. keke...

2) After pressing my wrist for my pulse, the lady doctor could diagnose what's wrong..(I'm amazed and at the same time skeptical) She was telling me in mandarin that my lungs have weakened and the causes of my condition. I was trying my best to interpret but most of the time I was like.. "What's that in English? Can you translate to English? Fei?? Which organ is that? Oohh.. Lungs.. Oh crap.. what did she say after that..." She's from Shanghai.. so she did her best to translate certain terms and I did my best to decipher her technical terms...I was literally LOST IN TRANSLATION.

3) She told me what I needed to do and which food to avoid: sleep early, avoid stress, avoid coffee, tea, milo, orange, cold drinks, dairy products esp cheese & chocolates, chicken, anything spicy, fried and oily...

Wah lau.. common sense will also tell me if I do all these I'll be slim, healthy, stress-free and most probably have stopped working. How to avoid??

4) The medication which lasts for 7 days cost $50!!!! MOE doesn't allow medical claims for TCM and I'm supposed to go back for the weekly dosage till my "Qi" is balanced??!! When will that be?? She said 'depends'!!??

Now, I'm back home.. looking at my 14 sachets of TCM (see pic) and I'm seriously thinking if it'll work. Is what she had said just common sense? I'm also wondering what's in those powder substance that I'll be taking.. but I have to trust her.. this is a TCM hall which has the "Superbrand" logo and she has a Masters in Chinese Medicine too. Since all old methods of getting rid of the "dunno how many days aredi" cough have failed, TCM is my last resort!!!! And if it works, it'll be a small price to pay to prevent an onslaught of a serious illness.

Crap!!!! I'm only in my 20s (albeit a late one)