Really? Pina Colada?? Why?
Wednesday 30 November 2011
Friday 25 November 2011
Funny Taiwanese products - part 1
Like promised here is a photo of a random product I found at the chemist here:
For those ladies who aspire to be more of a douche-bag! Now you can be a "Fresh scented douche"!
For those ladies who aspire to be more of a douche-bag! Now you can be a "Fresh scented douche"!
Dr Sun Fun - Part 3
I realised on Wednesday night that Dr Sun had only given me enough herbs for 6 days, so unsure whether I was just meant to miss a day, or I was meant to visit him every 6 days, I decided to go on Thursday instead of Friday, just in case.
He wasn't expecting me, but seems to have been studying his English Fertility terms as he was able to chatter away with me about my cycle without use of any translated terms at all!
I am still in awe of his dedication!
Anyway, good news is he is happy with my progress although he did remind me that Chinese medicine ISN'T a quick fix and it will take a couple of cycles for everything to be back the way it should be. But that being said, he was very happy that my period was pain free this time, and he has changed my herbs again this week to boost CM and my fertility as I head into O week from tomorrow.
He gave me acupuncture again - in different parts of my body again - this week focusing on my ankles and wrists, as well as my neck and shoulders, put me on the TEMS machine for my shoulders (which feel SOOO much better by the way!), gave me a heat pack and then put a herbal patch on back (about where my heart chakra is) that was made from fresh herbs that he mixed up in front of me.
After 3 visits it is interesting to see how although the basic treatment is the same, it is also slightly adapted each time for the different phases of my cycle.
So how do I feel?
Well, apart from still being in shock about having no period pains at all, I feel great! I feel slightly more energetic overall, my BBT is VERY stable (it has been the exact same temperature 36.28 for the last 5 days!!) and today I noticed my first ever CM! I really do feel like the herbs are helping with my metabolism aswell. I never usually get hungry, and when I do eat I usually feel bloated and heavy, but lately I actually feel like the food is being turned into energy and I no longer feel bloated or sick after eating.
All good signs in my opinion!
Today's trip cost:
Consultation 100NT ($3.30)
Acupuncture 50Nt ($1.80)
Herbs 40NT ($1.30)
Total: 190Nt ($6.30)
Total spent so far: 530Nt ($17.60)
He wasn't expecting me, but seems to have been studying his English Fertility terms as he was able to chatter away with me about my cycle without use of any translated terms at all!
I am still in awe of his dedication!
Anyway, good news is he is happy with my progress although he did remind me that Chinese medicine ISN'T a quick fix and it will take a couple of cycles for everything to be back the way it should be. But that being said, he was very happy that my period was pain free this time, and he has changed my herbs again this week to boost CM and my fertility as I head into O week from tomorrow.
He gave me acupuncture again - in different parts of my body again - this week focusing on my ankles and wrists, as well as my neck and shoulders, put me on the TEMS machine for my shoulders (which feel SOOO much better by the way!), gave me a heat pack and then put a herbal patch on back (about where my heart chakra is) that was made from fresh herbs that he mixed up in front of me.
After 3 visits it is interesting to see how although the basic treatment is the same, it is also slightly adapted each time for the different phases of my cycle.
So how do I feel?
Well, apart from still being in shock about having no period pains at all, I feel great! I feel slightly more energetic overall, my BBT is VERY stable (it has been the exact same temperature 36.28 for the last 5 days!!) and today I noticed my first ever CM! I really do feel like the herbs are helping with my metabolism aswell. I never usually get hungry, and when I do eat I usually feel bloated and heavy, but lately I actually feel like the food is being turned into energy and I no longer feel bloated or sick after eating.
All good signs in my opinion!
Today's trip cost:
Consultation 100NT ($3.30)
Acupuncture 50Nt ($1.80)
Herbs 40NT ($1.30)
Total: 190Nt ($6.30)
Total spent so far: 530Nt ($17.60)
Saturday 19 November 2011
Dr Sun Fun - part 2
Yesterday was my second visit to Dr Sun.
Whilst I do feel that the herbs have helped with my period pain, I still wasn't overly convinced that his goal was to get me pregnant, the lack of questions about my cycle last time made me felt he was more interested in my period pain - which, granted, are related, but my goal, afterall is to have no periods for 9 months!
Yesterday, however, I was pleasantly surprised to find that he was expecting me!
After no doubt being surprised and a little taken aback by a minimal-Chinese speaking foreigner walking into his clinic last week and pouncing on him with lots of complicated English terms, this time he was prepared with a whole A4 page of translated terms explaining why he believed I was having trouble conceiving and how Chinese Medicine was going to help me to overcome them and get pregnant in 2-3 cycles.
I was impressed to say the least!
He did care!
He cared so much that he spent his own personal time to translate terms into English for me!! Personally, I don't know of too many doctors in Australia that would go to that extreme to translate things into a different language for their immigrant clients!
I suddenly felt sooo guilty for not being confident with his treatment last week and resolved myself to let him work his magic on me.
According to the A4 page of translated information, apparently the reason behind my fertility problems stem from my kidney.
I apparently have low kidney function, or a lack of chi in my kidneys. Because the kidney is the chief of the Endocrine system and is responsible for hormone secretion, I guess it makes sense! That is what he meant by "my body is cold" - in actual fact what he meant to say was "we need to warm your kidney up so it secrete hormones correctly." Apparently if we warm my kidney and rebalance it's chi, my luteal phase with lengthen and my hormones will secrete correctly.
Well that makes more sense now!
He gave me acupuncture again (in different parts of my body this time - but still concentrated around my neck and shoulders), put me on the TEMS machine again, put a heat pack on at the end, and then finished with herbal patches on my shoulders before I left with another bag of herbs.
This time, I left feeling ALOT more confident and happy with the treatment. I googled kidney function and chinese herbs when I got home and found countless TCM sites that say that the problems with the kidney are the leading cause of infertility according to Chinese medicine and can be quite easily cured.
So yay! Here's hoping all of the treatments help to make my body clean and pure and ready to support a baby.
Today's treatments:
Consultation: 100Nt
Herbs: 20Nt
Acupuncture/TEMS machine/heat pack/herbal patches: 50Nt
Total: 170Nt (AU$5.80)
Whilst I do feel that the herbs have helped with my period pain, I still wasn't overly convinced that his goal was to get me pregnant, the lack of questions about my cycle last time made me felt he was more interested in my period pain - which, granted, are related, but my goal, afterall is to have no periods for 9 months!
Yesterday, however, I was pleasantly surprised to find that he was expecting me!
After no doubt being surprised and a little taken aback by a minimal-Chinese speaking foreigner walking into his clinic last week and pouncing on him with lots of complicated English terms, this time he was prepared with a whole A4 page of translated terms explaining why he believed I was having trouble conceiving and how Chinese Medicine was going to help me to overcome them and get pregnant in 2-3 cycles.
I was impressed to say the least!
He did care!
He cared so much that he spent his own personal time to translate terms into English for me!! Personally, I don't know of too many doctors in Australia that would go to that extreme to translate things into a different language for their immigrant clients!
I suddenly felt sooo guilty for not being confident with his treatment last week and resolved myself to let him work his magic on me.
According to the A4 page of translated information, apparently the reason behind my fertility problems stem from my kidney.
I apparently have low kidney function, or a lack of chi in my kidneys. Because the kidney is the chief of the Endocrine system and is responsible for hormone secretion, I guess it makes sense! That is what he meant by "my body is cold" - in actual fact what he meant to say was "we need to warm your kidney up so it secrete hormones correctly." Apparently if we warm my kidney and rebalance it's chi, my luteal phase with lengthen and my hormones will secrete correctly.
Well that makes more sense now!
He gave me acupuncture again (in different parts of my body this time - but still concentrated around my neck and shoulders), put me on the TEMS machine again, put a heat pack on at the end, and then finished with herbal patches on my shoulders before I left with another bag of herbs.
This time, I left feeling ALOT more confident and happy with the treatment. I googled kidney function and chinese herbs when I got home and found countless TCM sites that say that the problems with the kidney are the leading cause of infertility according to Chinese medicine and can be quite easily cured.
So yay! Here's hoping all of the treatments help to make my body clean and pure and ready to support a baby.
Today's treatments:
Consultation: 100Nt
Herbs: 20Nt
Acupuncture/TEMS machine/heat pack/herbal patches: 50Nt
Total: 170Nt (AU$5.80)
Herbal healing
I know it's still very early to say that the herbs are working - it has only been a week after all, but I really feel alot better.
Normally my periods signal their imminent arrival with about 3 days of cramping, back pain and nausea for me. This is VASTLY better than it used to be, but still annoying, painful, and just not fun. When AF does arrive, she usually kicks all of those other nasties out in an hour or two and settles in to make herself comfortable for 3 or 4 days. And then she's off again, without hardly a goodbye.
This cycle, AF arrived after 6 days of herbs and one acupuncture session, and to be 100% honest, I barely felt her coming!
If it wasn't for me knowing when to expect her, I probably would have had a surprise when I went to the bathroom.
And I haven't had even a twinge of pain at all!
Which for me, is nothing to sneeze at.
My cycle has also been pretty irregular - anywhere from 23-30 days but usually 26-28. She came in the morning of day 27 this cycle which was a nice change!
So, although I do feel it is still too soon to say how much of an affect the herbs are having on my body, I'm quite happy with how I feel from taking them so far!
Yay!
Normally my periods signal their imminent arrival with about 3 days of cramping, back pain and nausea for me. This is VASTLY better than it used to be, but still annoying, painful, and just not fun. When AF does arrive, she usually kicks all of those other nasties out in an hour or two and settles in to make herself comfortable for 3 or 4 days. And then she's off again, without hardly a goodbye.
This cycle, AF arrived after 6 days of herbs and one acupuncture session, and to be 100% honest, I barely felt her coming!
If it wasn't for me knowing when to expect her, I probably would have had a surprise when I went to the bathroom.
And I haven't had even a twinge of pain at all!
Which for me, is nothing to sneeze at.
My cycle has also been pretty irregular - anywhere from 23-30 days but usually 26-28. She came in the morning of day 27 this cycle which was a nice change!
So, although I do feel it is still too soon to say how much of an affect the herbs are having on my body, I'm quite happy with how I feel from taking them so far!
Yay!
Friday 11 November 2011
Dr Sun
So after a month of distractions, procrastinations and excuses, I finally had my first Chinese Medicine visit this morning.
Much to my relief, Dr Sun spoke pretty good English although I am glad I took along a list of translated terms such as "Luteal Phase".
He did lots of tests - he looked at my eyes, my tongue, took my pulse in several places of my body, looked at my skin etc, although, surprisingly he didn't ask too many questions about my cycle. I told him about it anyway, and he pretty much shrugged my 26-28 day cycle, and my with 11-14 day Luteal Phase off as "normal."
Sure, it's not terrible, but it's not stable.
According to him, the reason we haven't fallen pregnant is because I am "internally cold."
(Although I am very "warm hearted" lol)
My body temperature is fine and normal, but he believes I have too much cold in me which is making it hard for the egg to implant/grow.
He prescribed a vast array of treatments - from herbs 3 times a day, to acupuncture every week, he put me on a TEMS machine to relax my "frozen" muscles, and gave me herb patches to wear.
I have to take herbs with hot water 3 times a day, see him once a week, and I need to exercise - ALOT!
The exercise part was a bit of a surprise.. I am by no means obese (168cm and 53kg - which makes me underweight on a BMI chart) and being a teacher, I am literally on my feet and running around a room for 5 hours everyday. But that is apparently not enough.
So it's back to daily yoga for me (which I really should be doing anyway! Maybe this will give me the kick up the bum to actually get out of bed and do it!!)
He was also very concerned about my tense shoulders and neck and believes that the tension there, combined with my lack of heat is preventing the chi from flowing through my body correctly.
He thinks it should only take 2-3 cycles to conceive so we will see!!
Fingers and toes crossed!
On the way back I popped into the chemist to buy some more Folic acid and spoke to the lovely chemist. She strongly recommended I upgrade from a normal thermometer to a BBT one - which I did, then she gave me a blank chart and explained how to chart, when to chart, how to interpret the chart etc (all of which I already knew but it was really lovely of her to care enough to take the time and to use simple Chinese to make sure I really understood it!) She also recommended I chart for 1 month then take it to a doctor for analysis. When I told her I had just been to see Dr Sun and he didn't want to see the chart I have on my I-phone she was a little baffled. She kept saying, "but the chart is the most important piece of information!? Why didnt he want to see it!?"
So, now I'm not too sure about Dr Sun.
I am due for my "friends" in the next 3 days, so I think I will stick with Dr Sun for 1 cycle and see how I am feeling. A friend has also recommended another English speaking doctor in Hsinchu, so I might give her a go after a month.
Either way, the acupuncture felt nice, my shoulders feel 100 times better, and it's just nice to know I have finally taken the first step!
And the total cost for today's visit?
Consultation : 100Nt (AU$3.30)
Acupuncture/Tems machine/herb patches: 50NT (AU$1.80)
1 weeks supply of herbs: 20NT (AU$0.80)
Total of 170NT (AU$5.90)
Even if it takes 6 months, it's not exactly going to break the bank!!
Much to my relief, Dr Sun spoke pretty good English although I am glad I took along a list of translated terms such as "Luteal Phase".
He did lots of tests - he looked at my eyes, my tongue, took my pulse in several places of my body, looked at my skin etc, although, surprisingly he didn't ask too many questions about my cycle. I told him about it anyway, and he pretty much shrugged my 26-28 day cycle, and my with 11-14 day Luteal Phase off as "normal."
Sure, it's not terrible, but it's not stable.
According to him, the reason we haven't fallen pregnant is because I am "internally cold."
(Although I am very "warm hearted" lol)
My body temperature is fine and normal, but he believes I have too much cold in me which is making it hard for the egg to implant/grow.
He prescribed a vast array of treatments - from herbs 3 times a day, to acupuncture every week, he put me on a TEMS machine to relax my "frozen" muscles, and gave me herb patches to wear.
I have to take herbs with hot water 3 times a day, see him once a week, and I need to exercise - ALOT!
The exercise part was a bit of a surprise.. I am by no means obese (168cm and 53kg - which makes me underweight on a BMI chart) and being a teacher, I am literally on my feet and running around a room for 5 hours everyday. But that is apparently not enough.
So it's back to daily yoga for me (which I really should be doing anyway! Maybe this will give me the kick up the bum to actually get out of bed and do it!!)
He was also very concerned about my tense shoulders and neck and believes that the tension there, combined with my lack of heat is preventing the chi from flowing through my body correctly.
He thinks it should only take 2-3 cycles to conceive so we will see!!
Fingers and toes crossed!
On the way back I popped into the chemist to buy some more Folic acid and spoke to the lovely chemist. She strongly recommended I upgrade from a normal thermometer to a BBT one - which I did, then she gave me a blank chart and explained how to chart, when to chart, how to interpret the chart etc (all of which I already knew but it was really lovely of her to care enough to take the time and to use simple Chinese to make sure I really understood it!) She also recommended I chart for 1 month then take it to a doctor for analysis. When I told her I had just been to see Dr Sun and he didn't want to see the chart I have on my I-phone she was a little baffled. She kept saying, "but the chart is the most important piece of information!? Why didnt he want to see it!?"
So, now I'm not too sure about Dr Sun.
I am due for my "friends" in the next 3 days, so I think I will stick with Dr Sun for 1 cycle and see how I am feeling. A friend has also recommended another English speaking doctor in Hsinchu, so I might give her a go after a month.
Either way, the acupuncture felt nice, my shoulders feel 100 times better, and it's just nice to know I have finally taken the first step!
And the total cost for today's visit?
Consultation : 100Nt (AU$3.30)
Acupuncture/Tems machine/herb patches: 50NT (AU$1.80)
1 weeks supply of herbs: 20NT (AU$0.80)
Total of 170NT (AU$5.90)
Even if it takes 6 months, it's not exactly going to break the bank!!
Thursday 10 November 2011
A visit from Mum
My mum has never travelled. She grew up in a single-parent household, had to drop out of school young and worked her entire working life in a factory.
After marrying dad, they both sacrificed everything for my brother and I.
Her upbringing, could not have been further from mine.
As a massive traveller since the age of 17, I have wanted nothing more than to show both my mum and my dad the world. Whilst I was living in Japan for 13 years, I offered on several occasions to pay for them to both come and visit me but there was always a reason why they couldn't.
It wasn't until about 3 years ago, after dad semi-retired that they actually started to look, research, save for and plan their first overseas trip - to Europe.
Then dad got cancer.
On his deathbed he insisted that he still wanted mum to go. He wanted her to see all the things she has always wanted to see, and he wanted her to see them for both of them.
And so, shortly after dad passed away, I took mum off to flightcentre and we started to plan. And plan. And plan!
With some of dad's ashes in a locket around her neck, on September 29 this year, mum and her best friend (who also lost her husband - my dad's best friend - to cancer 3 years ago) boarded their first international flight and headed overseas!
Proud doesn't even begin to describe how I felt.
In a way I felt like I was the mum, watching my daughter go overseas for the first time. I was just sooooo happy for her! But a little scared that something bad would happen aswell.
Anyway, after 9 weeks, 3 bus tours, and a 10kg box of fridge magnets later, mum and my aunt arrived safely here in Taiwan to stay with us.
After living mostly overseas for the last 18 years, this was the first time my family had come to visit me so I wanted everything to be perfect.
We planned and we organised.
Then of course we got stuck in traffic and were late to the airport.
Then of course the bus back to town never showed so we had to take a crazily expensive taxi.
Then of course the "twin room" that we booked was actually a "double room".
Then of course I got sick and came down with a whopping fever....
Yep, glad that everything went just to plan.
But all of those minor hiccups aside, we were able to show them alot and they seem to have enjoyed it. They even managed to get on the back of our scooter for a bit of a burl through the crazy Taiwanese traffic, and the beautiful Taiwanese countryside!
Mum says she wants to come back to visit - and that was so nice to hear.
This is our home for the moment and I'm glad she got to see where we live and how we live, and, why we chose to live here.
Now, I'm just looking forward to getting myself pregnant so I can give mum a reason to go out and book those tickets back over here again!
After marrying dad, they both sacrificed everything for my brother and I.
Her upbringing, could not have been further from mine.
As a massive traveller since the age of 17, I have wanted nothing more than to show both my mum and my dad the world. Whilst I was living in Japan for 13 years, I offered on several occasions to pay for them to both come and visit me but there was always a reason why they couldn't.
It wasn't until about 3 years ago, after dad semi-retired that they actually started to look, research, save for and plan their first overseas trip - to Europe.
Then dad got cancer.
On his deathbed he insisted that he still wanted mum to go. He wanted her to see all the things she has always wanted to see, and he wanted her to see them for both of them.
And so, shortly after dad passed away, I took mum off to flightcentre and we started to plan. And plan. And plan!
With some of dad's ashes in a locket around her neck, on September 29 this year, mum and her best friend (who also lost her husband - my dad's best friend - to cancer 3 years ago) boarded their first international flight and headed overseas!
Proud doesn't even begin to describe how I felt.
In a way I felt like I was the mum, watching my daughter go overseas for the first time. I was just sooooo happy for her! But a little scared that something bad would happen aswell.
Anyway, after 9 weeks, 3 bus tours, and a 10kg box of fridge magnets later, mum and my aunt arrived safely here in Taiwan to stay with us.
After living mostly overseas for the last 18 years, this was the first time my family had come to visit me so I wanted everything to be perfect.
We planned and we organised.
Then of course we got stuck in traffic and were late to the airport.
Then of course the bus back to town never showed so we had to take a crazily expensive taxi.
Then of course the "twin room" that we booked was actually a "double room".
Then of course I got sick and came down with a whopping fever....
Yep, glad that everything went just to plan.
But all of those minor hiccups aside, we were able to show them alot and they seem to have enjoyed it. They even managed to get on the back of our scooter for a bit of a burl through the crazy Taiwanese traffic, and the beautiful Taiwanese countryside!
Mum says she wants to come back to visit - and that was so nice to hear.
This is our home for the moment and I'm glad she got to see where we live and how we live, and, why we chose to live here.
Now, I'm just looking forward to getting myself pregnant so I can give mum a reason to go out and book those tickets back over here again!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)