i'm a fancy car (part 1)
as you may or may not know, i had what was probably food poisoning in bangkok, thailand, in the summer of 2003. i had gone to the hospital there and was examined by a doctor, who pushed around my abdomen asking where it hurt, and then prescribed antibiotics, pain killers, carbon, and something else, and told not to eat vegetables and junk food until my diarrhea had gone away.
when i got to korea a few days later, i was still sick -- fever, loose bowel, and a strange skin condition mostly on the palms of my hands. the doctor didn't really do anything remotely spectacular and just gave me needle in the butt and a prescription, with no explanation, just saying that whatever i had told him that i acquired in thailand was still there. i could have told him that.
yesterday, i went to a chinese doctor. he is a friend of my friend jackie, and, as i remember it, graduated top of his class at the specialised university for chinese medicine, and so impressed his professor that the latter gave his star student his already well-known and -respected clinic in downtown daejeon. in any case, i trust him.
i explained why i had come: i had been having stomach problems ever since that thailand incident. i would eat something that was just slightly intrusive and i'd get a stomach ache, or recently, that and a fever. i've also been quite gassy. my bowel movements are erratic. and that i tire easily. now that the yukky part is over...
the first thing he did was take my pulse with his first and second or second and third fingers -- i'm not sure which -- and simultaneously pressed his thumb into the top of my hand, just below the wrist. something was strange, because my hand began to tingle, like the blood was not flowing all the way through. from this observation of my pulse, which lasted more than just a few minutes, he gathered that i was not someone who has had stomach problems chronically. i affirmed his statement -- i never had big stomach problems like my both my brother and mother have. he also said that i am healthy. in reference to my tiredness he asked if i exercised regularly. i said no. the doctor then reiterated that i am a healthy person, but not only that but the kind of person that needs to exercise in order to stay healthy. in contrast to this, he told jackie that she is the kind of person that should not exercise.
he illustrated his theory to me in the following way: you are like a fancy car. but if you very rarely drive a fancy car, it's going to deteriorate slowly. when you do drive it, it does not perform well.
i have finally been convinced that i need to exercise regularly, despite my mother's admonishment everytime i refused to do so (i apoligise, mom), and despite most popular health advice.
he then told me that my stomach problem stems from the fact that the poison that i got from thailand has not gone away, and is moving around my body. my hands, for the past few years, get really dry and peel and crack in the winters. since my hands are weak in this sense, the poison infiltrates them, causing the red itchiness that i've been experiencing of late.
we've got to get rid of that poison, he said, and then you should be fine. so i have to take medicine to rid my body of the poison, and some acupunture will help that process.
the medicine, i later learned, would be ready for pickup later. i had my acupuncture treatment first. he started at my feet and placed one needle in each foot somewhere between the tendons of my big toe and the one next to it. the prick did not really hurt, but i immediately began to feel something that i'd never felt before. i could hardly move my toes or feet. he inserted two more needles, one in each shin. the doctor then put three needles in my stomach in a horizontal line just above my navel. two more went into my upper stomach and lower chest vertically, the topmost one not reaching the height of my nipples. the last two went into my hands, between the metacarpus of my thumb and forefinger. i lay there for about 20 minutes trying not to move because when i did it hurt. it was quite strange to see little needles sticking out of my body.
it was definitely an interesting experience. in short, everyone has energy flowing through their body, qi or gi or chi, and chinese medicine relys on this. the needles i believe rerouted the qi from different parts of my body to the affected part of my body in order to heal that part.
i really appreciate chinese medicine now, more than i had already previously, as the doctor really explains why things are and what needs to be done to fix it. cause and effect are very apparent, seemingly much more so than in western medicine.