You know that old adage ‘health is wealth’? Not to sound like a middle-age aunty, but I couldn’t agree more.
Last night at 3.00 a.m. after a toss and turn in bed, an excruciating pain gripped the whole left side of my back. My body felt out of whack and I couldn’t sleep a wink more. I threw my comforter aside and got out of bed, only to find out that I couldn’t stand properly.
The pain kept persisting even after half an hour of hatha yoga poses, all from my memory, with hopes to sooth the pain (Usually yoga helps!). I tried sitting in my dad’s massage chair but every time the knob(?) kneaded into the left side of my body, I could only wince in agony. Everyone in the house was asleep and I didn’t want to wake my parents up for I knew they had to go to work and attend a church wedding respectively in the morning.
4.40 a.m. came and I couldn’t take it anymore so I decided to call Mike, in hope that talking to him would ease some discomfort. I know, I am insane to ring him up in the wee hours of the morning… I am only grateful for him to be so concerned and was even willing to come by my place to be at my side when I needed him.
When he came at 5.20 a.m., I was lying on the floor with a sore back, fighting back the tears. My helper and parents were also awake then and my dad even wanted to rush me to A&E while my mum said that it was probably my long hours of studying in front of the computer with a bad posture and similarly long hours standing on my feet at work.
I thought going to the A&E was overhyped, I didn’t think (and certainly hoped) that my situation wasn’t that dire so I decided to endure the pain till morning came, so mum could bring me to see the family sinseh (Chinese physician). What more, over the years, I have come to better appreciate Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) over Western medical practices for the former uses more natural herbs and goes to the root of the problem, instead of just curing superficial symptoms and administering short-term remedies with many chemicals.
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Thankfully, at the sinseh, I didn’t have to wait long before it was my turn. Let me tell you, Dr. Huang certainly showed no mercy. He got me to sit with my back facing him and before I knew it, he was kneading the kinks out of my neck. My mum spent most of the time updating him about my granny’s condition as she used to go there for her weekly massages.
Despite conversing with my mum, his attention and efforts were still on my neck and my back. I was clutching whatever I could so hard and even cried a little as he kneaded, pounded and pummeled my back muscles. With every push, some crack from my back would emit and the entire process felt like someone attacked me all over with stone-cubs. (No hyperbole, really.)
Not satisfied, he told me to lie face down on the bed while he cracked and twisted my limbs to release the tension. After the ordeal, I have to admit I was feeling much better than before.
He told me in Mandarin what the issue was. Apparently, my posture is so bad from neck down that it has affected the nerves and muscles of my back. I need to stand and sit up straighter! Dr Huang tells me to ‘be more arrogant’, i.e. stop looking down all the time, whether it is reading or texting…. He also thinks I put too much pressure on myself to achieve perfection (true sign of a Virgo that I am) and hence it has been affecting my quality of sleep the last couple of months. So true… I have been having frequent panic attacks the last couple of weeks due to a couple of issues… 
I guess I really need a time out. School, work, volunteering, Sundays School… all my commitments have taken a toll on my body and it’s prime time I start giving my body the attention it deserves. I haven’t done Cardio for months- I don’t even want to run after the bus these days. But Dr. Huang tells me to lay off intensive Cardio for now to let my body just get back into a peaceful mode. (How to achieve Shakira’s bod like that?! I kid…) My meals have been erratic and hurried due to my packed schedule. Terrible! And as if the string of bad news hasn’t been enough, my blood pressure is way lower than average. Like a tiger pouncing on its prey, my mum immediately suggested, ‘more red spinach and chicken liver to boost your iron levels’! Oh no… I love spinach but not so much the liver. *shudders*
Now that I am back home, I will be extra conscious about my posture and will be learning to chill out instead of bustling around, trying to fill every hour of my day with activity.
After all, I am a human BEing, and not a human DOing right? I need to just BE.
Dr. Huang has also given me 3 bags of strange herbs which I have to brew and be disciplined enough to gulp down the concoction.
C’est la vie!
I am thankful for my parents and Mike for being there for me today when I am in excruciating pain. What are we to do without our loved ones?
P.S. The TCM place I went to even a Facebook account. Haha, talk about being updated with the times. For a shiokadoodle massage, check this out: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Shandong-TCM/158580927522244?sk=info
Stay healthy!!!
