Our health is the center of our life and being healthy should be part of our overall lifestyle, but that isn’t always the case, we tend to abuse our body and health without realizing our money won’t be enough if our health deteriorates.

A week ago early in the morning, my mother complained of stomach ache and it continued to bother her so she and my sister went to a doctor for a check-up, but that check-up turned to hospital confinement.  She was hospitalized for a simple stomach ache,  which turned out to be acute gastroenteritis of the abdomen.

There was a little drama before her confinement because I told her to seek a second opinion and if ever she needed to be confined I would like her to go to the public hospital or the hospital owned by our boss, it’s private, but at least I maybe could ask our boss for a help through a discount.

My mother didn’t want to be confined, if not to her doctor’s choice of hospital, it was her doctor since she had a stroke a few years ago, and maybe she is already at ease with this doctor, and her experience with public hospital confinement a few years ago didn’t please her, so yes I was left no choice but to agree with her caprice, rather than seeing her sick at home without knowing her case is serious or not.

She was confined for almost three days and two nights, and our bill was in the ceiling, when we requested our bill it was ₱35,000.00, and I momentarily exited my body because I didn’t know where to get that amount, with the help of the doctor and a few of the hospital employees they thought us where to ask for medical help, it might not be enough, but at least the burden was lessened and with a lot of people lining up asking for assistance  my sister and I have to be absent for a day so we can process everything.

Most people in rural areas run to quack doctor when something irritable grows in their skin like allergies, bumps cause by air and insects. When an itchy bump grow in my face I treat it with ointment for skin irritation rather than going to quack doctor like what my family has told me but the itchiness didn’t subsides so I have asked my mother to verify if the bump is a pimple since I can’t fully see it, she said it was indeed a pimple.

A few days passed nothing has changed the bump is still quite itchy so I scratched it without hesitation until it grows bigger, so I immediately search online for alternative medicine aside from using coconut oil and creams. Through searching online I have found out the benefits of oil and turmeric. Coconut oil is anti-fungal and anti-bacterial, and nourishes skin cells to inspire softness while turmeric kills bacteria on and beneath the skin’s surface without damaging healthy cells or drying the skin out. According too, to Taiwanese study, coconut oil was found to be the most effective carrier for the curcumin (turmeric) to enter the skin cells. Since I have only small amount of coconut oil I have asked my mother and sister when they went to town to buy me old coconut as well as turmeric in the market.

A coconut oil is made from cooking the coconut milk, I crushed and cut fresh turmeric and mixed it with the coconut oil and treat the itchy bump in my face but since I scratched it a lot, the bump isn’t a simple bump anymore, when I checked it in the mirror it looks like a fungal infection already. I treat with the mixture I have made and the itchiness subsides a bit and it is drying overtime but there is new tiny pimple blisters growing again and the affected area is becoming even larger once the bad skin is treated. Annoyed with the outcome and how my face looks like that I can’t even go to church without putting band aid in it.

One day, when it itches again I rub salicylic acid without hesitation. The burning feeling made me crazy that I didn’t stop until it hurts a lot without thinking I am treating my face, part of my skin that everyone can see. After treating it with salicylic acid I treat it with pure coconut oil after few days the skin dried out like how it looks like in a wound but a new itchy pimple grew beside it so I treat the new bump with salicylic acid again and it is gone but a new itchy bump grew at the other side and what I did this time is different method I treat it with a crushed garlic for a few hours.

Treating fungal infection is very irritating, sometimes I have wondered where did I got it from, I bath every day and clean our house regularly that my family is even annoyed with me for being clean and germs freak. So I guess I got this from interacting with our cats especially it is my nature to pick and bring home abandon kittens from the street, or buying used clothes from thrift shop because according to some health articles that I read online if your immune system is weak you can easily get it from animals or individuals who has it including their personal things.

Well, I have found out too that the coconut oil with turmeric is a good treatment for ant and insect bites after using it to treat my ant and mosquito bites.  Coconut oil and fresh turmeric when mixed together had a foul smell overtime so I wonder if dried turmeric is better than fresh ones.

Originally posted at my health blog on January 29, 2016

With the rainy season, a lot of bugs, insects and ants in the field moved to a dry place so it is not surprising to see crawling ants in the corner of your house and get insect bites. I have previously blogged buying a cream to alleviate itchiness brought by insect bites. It was very helpful to avoid scratching and such.

The first time I felt something itchy in my leg 3-4 inches from my sole, I saw a small pimple in it that looks like an ant bite, I started putting cream on it but I have noticed the itchiness gone and keeps coming back until a group of three pimple marks developed. I scratched it from time to time and no matter how many times I put a cream it keeps coming back maybe because I always have my feet dirty when I am outside. One day, I felt uneasy that I keep scratching it, the old red pimple marks was gone but a new itchy red marks grow and when I looked at it closely I noticed something strange after thorough scratching, the red mark is forming like a circle.

[Photo credit: © Biophoto Associates / Science Source]

When I showed it to my sister and mother they said it is “buni” an allergy you get from eating too much chicken, they told me to avoid eating something fishy like sea foods, chicken and eggs.  So for few days I have avoided eating those things, they said I need it to be measured by going to a quack doctor then I will be given a medication.

To avoid the hassle of going to a quack doctor I have searched online for home medication,  I have found out the cause of this is fungi,  yes it was a fungal infection and not chicken allergy like the belief of the old folks.

Ring worm is caused by fungal infection in the skin and can be acquired through dump places like the bathroom and from people having this type of infection; it can also be acquired through pets like dog and cat. I have first thought I have got it from staying outside, in our outdoor faucet where I always soak my feet when washing dirty rags and our pet bowls especially it has been raining lately, and flooding but then I remember every time I sleep at night it was my habit to put a cushion in my feet and when I wake up in the morning a cat is sleeping in the cushion at my feet so I have thought I’ve got it from them.

Anyway, the medication that is useful for this type of fungal infection were coconut oil, turmeric, garlic and etc.,

Calmoseptine cream was also good for fungal infection as written in the packaging, since I have started putting cream in the infection in my leg it alleviate the itchiness and redness, but since it still occasionally itch and I have found more alternative medicine for it, I have tried it in different days. I first tried garlic, by cutting it in half and rub it through the mark, then the next day I tried rubbing salicylic acid which is a bit painful but surely the itchiness stops and faded a little. To take care of the skin and have the mark to disappear completely we cooked coconut milk to make coconut oil as a new alternative medicine.

Originally published on Herzline/ Sep 2, 2015 at 02:45

It was been a long time since I posted in my blog, if I we weren’t asked to share or to let others know the location of the training center, I wasn’t able to update this blog. Wish me luck that in a few days before the training I can do backlogs, back dated posts.

Well, there are times I felt bored, I felt bored with the slow internet connection that I wanted to fly to Mars (lol), felt bored reading horror stories because they sounded like just the same old story, watching Korean drama series and even living at times I felt bored (lol), in short I felt bored talking to myself alone (haha), I wanted someone to be friends with and to talk with. Then, I remember I have created a profile online and after guessing many times what was my password I was able to login and saw many messages I wasn’t able to open and replied back then. If you think, I have opened them, well I let them as they were and started to browse profile to profile from males to females, young to old ones. It was entertaining knowing people in their profile, giving them encouragement, praising and applauded them for the things they have accomplished like helping a community and etc., It was good thing at first but it becomes tiring browsing and browsing and no one to talk too (well I do talk to one). I just felt I need to recharge, sleep a lot and maybe in a few days, a one or two I will have a full battery again (lol).

Anyway, my younger sister came home yesterday with sets of tablets and capsules. It turns out they were given to them, each employee was given different kinds of medicines and since they are too many for us, we have to share them in our neighborhood. Their office owned a pharmacy and a store, but it is going to close because it wasn’t performing well. They will just focus on space rentals and loans.  As I look through the medicines they were for colds, pain relief and fever, I wish there is a medicine to be happy and to be comforted because the world needs it.

I wasn’t feeling well these past few weeks, I have indigestion and acidity to deal with, painful upper back and hips and then these past few days I felt a discomfort on my left foot and since yesterday my knee hurts like it was dislocated.

My mother told me that I drink too much coffee that’s why my hips is painful, she encourage me to drink a herbal coffee, I have been drinking it for sometime but I got tired of the taste of it so I switched back to 3n1 coffee and since a few days ago I drink the herbal coffee again but the pain didn’t still go away. I guess, it is already sign of aging, the perks of getting old.

[Photo courtesy of Kaboompics // Karolina/pexels.com]

Early this morning I did cold compress into my left foot, it was very painful but to no avail my foot didn’t feel any better, my knee hurts even more especially when I stand up from sitting.

Anyway,  I have feed my cats and dogs at lunch and I accidentally slid with my left foot (like someone push me) while carrying their food, I have already thought of getting a broken bones but surprisingly my foot got better, it fixes my foot and knee, the discomfort was gone and my knee didn’t feel that painful anymore. I have wonder how did I slid but I didn’t think much of it anymore, I am just thankful that it made my foot and knee better.

My back still hurting though, I don’t know if it is because of acidity. I was washing the dishes when I tried to burped and puked many times, when I did I tasted acidity in my mouth. I am feeling anxious about my upper back pain because I inhaled a lot of muriatic acid fumes almost a week ago when I cleaned our bathroom and living room. Morbid thoughts about my lungs is disturbing me, huhuhu.

About a month ago I was infected and sick with chikungunya virus, a viral disease transmitted to humans by infected mosquitoes. It hits me by surprised because it wasn’t viral yet in our village and I didn’t hear any one had it, in neighboring village yes but to ours none.

I have visited a herb doctor thinking I was bewitched by unknown being, I felt better after doing so but the next day, upon waking up I can’t get up, my legs and my knees are very painful.  I was in severe pain and feverish as well, my family doesn’t believe me, I guess they are thinking I am making up things. It was a very hard for me to get up and dragged myself to the bathroom, I can’t get up without crawling and looking for something to hold on to.  I have told my family that I have chikungunya virus but they insisted I am only brewing a flu. My sister even get angry when I keep insisting that I have the mosquito virus, I think they can’t accept the truth that I am sick.  I have never been sick this grave so I guess they have the perception that I am made of steel so they are on denial that I am indeed sick because at first, they wanted me to get up and do things like I usually do.

They knew that I never failed to attend church during Sunday so things sink in to them that I am really sick especially when I show them the rash that are developing, my mother even says they looks like measles rash. Anyway, I have asked my sister to buy paracetamol tablet for me I took it after they force me to eat lunch.

Chikungunya Virus Infection Symptoms & Treatment

Symptoms of Chikungunya usually begin 3–7 days after being bitten by an infected mosquito and below are some of the symptoms when you have the virus –

• The most common symptoms are fever and joint pain.
• Other symptoms may include headache, muscle pain, joint swelling, or rash.
• Chikungunya disease does not often result in death, but the symptoms can be severe and disabling.

When I took paracetamol my fever subsided but the pain in my feet and wrist still there so I research more about the virus and I have found out that there is no vaccine to prevent or medicine to treat chikungunya virus. All you can do is rest well, drink plenty of fluid and take paracetamol to reduce fever and pain.

The pain is really disabling, it feels like you just had a stroke. I experienced a lot of pain on my right leg and knee, I read somewhere that when you are sick with chikungunya virus it will ache a lot in the part of your body you had an injury, my right leg was hit by a motorbike in Jeju while crossing the street so imagine my horror when I can’t walked and felt a severe pain on my right leg, I got so anxious and almost got panic thinking my feet will be cut.

On the second day of getting the mosquito virus my skin was quite dark, bit feverish and feet, legs, knees and wrist is still painful but I can move a bit.  I heard my younger aunt asked my mother if I am already well and what is my sickness because an older cousin has it too, he has red rashes all over his body but no fever.

On the next following days I was covered by red rashes that looks like minor burns and on the sixth day the rashes became worst  and when I was accidentally got wet by drizzling rain I felt itchy so I thought the rain drops were just so dirty so I took a bath and there I itched even more, I have thought again the water in our bathroom is dirty because it was so itchy that I don’t know which part of my body should I scratched first, and there I found I have rashes all over me.  I dry myself immediately and pour lotion into my body and uses the ointment I have bought online for treating allergies, the itchiness wasn’t that severe anymore.

My fever was gone after 2-3 days by taking paracetamol tablets, the pain didn’t disappear right away.  When I wake up in the morning my joints felt so painful, even until today.

You know what is ironic? My mother who keep insisting I only have flu also got the chikungunya virus the after two days I had it, it was terrible when she had it because she suffered stroke a year ago and she was disabled for a day that my father didn’t go to work so he can carry her.

Anyway, when I was a bit well and can go out I have found that an older cousin was sick too before us but they didn’t know it was chikungunya because they just said he has a high fever, and less than a week after, another older cousin had it, I thought he didn’t suffer a fever but he did actually before me.

Maybe if  we only knew that a cousin in the neighborhood had chikungunya infection we are able to do some prevention not to be infected as well.

There is a day I don’t feel well, either I have headache or my hands and legs get swollen.  There are times to my blood pressure isn’t normal especially my diastolic pressure. It was been long that I was urge by my mother to get a medical test to check if  there is something wrong with my health, it was also advised by the village nurse so when my father had his medical tests done I did too.

My blood test was normal, my sugar and uric wasn’t high, my kidney is healthy but my urinalysis isn’t good I have a urinary tract infection I guess from holding on to my pee at night was too lazy to get up and use the bathroom,  or is from eating dirty food?  I love eating street foods if you may ask. The doctor prescribed a three day antibiotic for me to take which made me to drink too often, I don’t drink that much before because it is burdensome to always use the bathroom.

[Waiting for the doctor to arrive, the clinic was too small you can literally hear why the patient see a doctor]

Anyway, since my kidney test is good. There was nothing wrong with me I just need to reduce my salt intake because it turns out too much sodium in the body can cause swelling and can cause the heart to work harder I guess that’s why my diastolic pressure is higher than normal, and why I am suffering from frequent headache. I have found out that overtime increase of sodium intake can put too much stress into the heart which can lead to stroke or heart failure.

If our body has quota for sodium levels, I think my body had reached its quota. I have been eating unhealthy food for many years with J, like pizza, fried chicken, salty chips and instant noodles then when I went home I did the same, eating salty foods like instant noodles, salty chips and peanuts. Instant noodles are cheap and easy to prepare so it is the easiest way for me to fill my empty stomach when hungry.

Many parents says raising a child is hard but for me raising a parent is harder. No matter how many times you told your mother that she is not allowed to eat this and that, and not to do this and that. It is to no avail she will eat and do what she want so yesterday she fell and slid in our stairs. Good thing she didn’t hit her head and broke only a toe nails and since my father brought the first-aid kit to work I practically chew young moringa leaves so I could stop the bleeding in her feet.

So this is what I got on my shopping bag last night, petroleum jelly to treat minor burns, antibacterial ointment for cuts and wounds, pau liniment for muscle and back pains (she need to get a massage now since she is complaining of sore body), betadine to treat fresh wounds, basically they are all for first aid. There goes a part of my funds for Saturday, I am planning to visit a diagnostic center on the weekend to have a medical check-up eh but I guess my health can wait. 💉

Oh well, my sister told our mother to be careful and not to let me jump out of my chair again, because I might die first before her due to high blood or shock on seeing her doing gymnast moves in the stairs.

A few days ago, I have blogged about my father getting a stomach flu. He was not able to go to work because he felt very tired and have a fever, making me to remember J when he suffered stomach flu in India where he looks so helpless. Anyway, since my father was feverish I gave him the medicine intended for me. After taking it he wants to cut firewood so he will perspire but I stopped him thinking it is not a good idea and he might get sick even more. I told him just to rest and lie down, he listened even though he complains that there is nothing to do since there is nothing worthy to watch in the television. What is funny at home, my mother, instead of looking after my father, she mumbles and blamed him for eating something out ordinary and eating food aside from his lunchbox (lol).

[Photo courtesy of Kaboompics // Karolina/pexels.com]

My father went to work the next day even he is still feverish, I asked him if he is already well and he said he has too feel well even he is not, so as expected he came home feeling cold after work that he has to take a medicine again, I instructed him to take vitamin C as well to stop his colds.

There are times I felt like I am already old, it was like it was just yesterday when my parents look after me when I am sick and tell me what medicine to take, today is the other way around, I was the one who told them what medicine to take when they felt sick.

Long time no update because my internet is quite slow to go online and I have been sick with colds.  The other day I have two patients to nurse after my father had a stomach flu and felt feverish, when he came home from work he asked me to make him a cup of coffee since he is feeling cold, I have offer to make him a turmeric ginger tea but he doesn’t like the idea and within just a few hours he started to use the bathroom almost non-stop, he just went out and he has to use it again. We’ve asked him what did he ate at work, it turns they had a raw radish salad for lunch, which make me teased him that maybe the radish was planted near a poop tank that is why the radishes where contaminated, or his co-worker who prepared it has contaminated hands.

[Photo courtesy of Richard Revel/pexels.com]

Anyway, I initially gave a biogesic capsule to my father since he said he felt cold and feverish when he came home but since he had a situation  I bought two loperamide capsules and asked my sister who went to store to look for ripe bananas but unfortunately there’s none. At dinner I have asked my father to eat so he could take the capsules, he did but since he ate only a spoonful it didn’t help him. It was already midnight and nothing has changed on my father’s situation so I told him, it happens because he didn’t listen to me, he didn’t eat a lot on dinner and not agreeing with me to drink turmeric ginger tea and when I guess he already felt exhausted and tired, he gave in and asked me to make him a turmeric ginger tea, he also ate  a big serving of rice, and that’s where the urge to use the bathroom stopped.

My father wasn’t able to go to work the next day because of what happened overnight, he complained of gassy stomach in the morning so I prepared again turmeric ginger tea for him while my sister teased our father to always listen to his Doctor (pertaining to me), lol.

Well, my father wasn’t feeling well until today, he is complaining for sore body and I hope he will felt better tomorrow already.