After my first appointment with Dr. Chen I started to feel really good. The pain in my right side went away and I was having less problem with reflux. I was confident that Dr. Chen had cured my reflux. Amazing! For the next week or so i got progressively better, then something changed. The pain in my right side slowly came back and my reflux issues came back. It was very distressing. I sent an email to Dr. Chen and asked to go see her. I made an appointment and went to see her that Friday.
After Dr. Chen checked my tongue and took my pulse, she was very unhappy with me and she told me so. She said that I should have gone to see her sooner, my treatment was not complete and now I had relapsed. She gave me a stern lecture about how Western people do not understand how Chinese medicine works. There are no magic bullets or drugs that seemingly make people instantly better. In fact, these things do not exist in Western medicine either but for some strange reason, Western people do believe that these things exists. In Chinese Medicine, you have to stay the course and go through as many acupuncture treatments and take as much herbal medicine as necessary. I listened to her lecture without protest because she was absolutely right. I should have known better because I did know enough about Chinese Medicine to be aware of all of the things that she said. The truth was, I was busy and I felt that the treatments and herbs that she gave were sufficient. One week slipped into two weeks and then three. In truth, the only reason I called her after three weeks was because I could not stand the pain on my right side.
Dr. Chen kept me for almost two hours that evening, by the time I left her office it was past 9:30 PM and she still had another patient after I left. Now that is true dedication! In addition to a thorough acupuncture treatment, she thoroughly questioned me on every aspect of my health and bodily function that anyone could possibly think of. She also did a complete physical examination of my abdominal area. Dr. Chen discovered the scars of my gall bladder operation and realized that I had by gall bladder removed. She seemed to feel that this was significant information and asked why I did not tell her before. I said that it did not occur to me that this was important information. I could clearly see that she was exasperated with me.
She gave me several different medicines to take and gave me explicit directions on how to take them. In Chinese Medicine there is no such thing as off the shelf medicine. Every prescription of herbal medicine is individually tailored to the patients specific illness and condition, so what Dr. Chen gave me and her instructions that she gave me might be completely different for someone else who had a similar ailment.
I felt good after I left her office, it was the effect of the acupuncture. Even without the beneficial effect of the herbal medicine, the acupuncture had a positive effect on my condition. I went home and slept very well that night which was unusual because I was getting up at least one a night to deal with the effects of nocturnal reflux which usually meant going to the bathroom to vomit.
The next morning, I drank Kombucha before I went to practice Qigong. Afterwards I ate a small bowl of congee then I ate breakfast with my wife. Before break fast I drank my herbal medicine in a glass of warm water. I went on to drink my herbal medicine three times a day, before every meal. Dr. Chen also gave me goji berries to eat with my congee in the morning. since the goji berries are dried I soaked them in water before I added them to my congee. I only added to them after I heated up the congee because I didn't want to do anything to diminish the beneficial effects of the goji berries.I followed Dr. Chen's directions explicitly and took the medicine exactly as she prescribed it.
The next day the pain in my side improved but still did not disappear. I was feeling better but all my symptoms had not disappeared. I was looking forward to my appointment with Dr. Chen on the following Tuesday.
Showing posts with label Laryngopharyngeal reflux. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Laryngopharyngeal reflux. Show all posts
Wednesday, September 12, 2018
Saturday, March 28, 2015
Reflux and Our Caribbean Cruise
After my disappointing bout with Western medicine for Reflux I contracted Bronchitis, something that I did not have the pleasure of suffering for almost twenty years. I think that it was brought on by the reflux. Some of the fluid that would rise up during the night got into my lungs and caused a bronchial infection, at least that is what my doctor hypothesized. At any rate, I had suggested to him that I not go on the Caribbean cruise that my wife and booked for my sixtieth birthday. He told me that it would be the best thing for me to go on the cruise.
I had to agree with my doctor that he was right, after only one day in the Caribbean all signs of my Bronchitis had disappeared. Unfortunately, I still had Laryngopharyngeal Reflux (LPR). The flight down to Houston through Atlanta did not bother me and all of the maneuvering to get to the boat did not cause me any undue effects which I found surprising. It was all stressful but not in the same way that work is stressful so it does not have the same effect on the body which I found to be interesting.
Our first night on board the boat was busy. we were tired by the time we went to bed. I slept fitfully until 4:00 AM when I woke up in a coughing fit brought on by my LPR. I wrote for a while in my journal then I went off to the fitness center at 6:00 AM to practice Qigong.
There was so much food on board that it was difficult to decide what to eat. i tried to pick food that was not going to aggravate my reflux. Breakfast and lunch were fine because I could choose whatever I wanted in the Garden Cafe which was a full service buffet. Dinner was a little more difficult. We wanted to try the various sit restaurants on board. The food was excellent but the trouble was that the food was rich and inevitably I caused my reflux to act up as soon as we started eating. I found that I had to drink massive amounts of water just to get the food down my throat which somewhat dampened my enjoyment of the meal.
That night, I woke around 12:30 AM coughing with phlegm in my throat. I went back to sleep but I was awake again a 1;30 AM, and the phlegm was coming out of my mouth before I could make it to the bathroom.
After a few days on the boat I was finding it to be more and more difficult to find food that I could eat that was not going to bother or worsen my reflux. Every meal became a struggle to eat. I had to be very careful that mindful about everything that I ate. There were so many good things to eat but the number of things that I could actually eat was a very small subset of everything that was available.
There were a few times that I threw caution to the wind and indulged myself. My wife and I were at an art showing one evening. They were offering large glasses of red wine so I had one. I was just going to take a few sips and put it down
On the second last day on board the ship I decided to go and talk to the acupuncturist on board. the acupuncturist actually had a practice in Washington D.C. He was taking advantage of combining work with a vacation, it sounded like a great idea to me. At any rate, I told him about my symptoms and how I felt at the time. It was interesting that his recommendations were very close to what my acupuncturist at home had done. At the very least, it gave me confidence that she was doing what other acupuncturist would do. What took me by surprise was his $175 fee for one sessions. That is more than twice what my acupuncturist charges me. Since it was the last night that I was going to be on board I did not see any reason to start a course of treatment so I left.
The cruise finished and my wife and I went home. Don't get me wrong, the cruise was great in spite of suffering with acute reflux, I worked around it for meals. Other than meal time, it really did not bother me.
If you are interested in my cruise, here is the link for the series of blog posts for my cruise,caribbean-cruise-day-1.html .
Fish Baked in Banana Leaves
1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
1 tablespoon ginger, chopped
1/3 cup canned coconut milk
2 tablespoons unsweetened coconut
1/4 cup chopped green onion, optional
4 pieces of fish fillets, (tilapia, cod or basa)
4 large banana leaves defrosted.
In a blender add cilantro, ginger, coconut milk, coconut. Blend until smooth.
Place one banana leave on a cookie sheet Place a fish fillet in the middle Top each piece of fish with 1/4 of the paste from the blender. Sprinkle with green onions if using. Fold the banana leaf like wrapping a present. Tie with string, or make sure the opening is on the bottom to keep the package from opening. Bake at 400 for 10-15 minutes, depending of the size of the fillet.
Unwrap carefully and serve with steamed rice.
I had to agree with my doctor that he was right, after only one day in the Caribbean all signs of my Bronchitis had disappeared. Unfortunately, I still had Laryngopharyngeal Reflux (LPR). The flight down to Houston through Atlanta did not bother me and all of the maneuvering to get to the boat did not cause me any undue effects which I found surprising. It was all stressful but not in the same way that work is stressful so it does not have the same effect on the body which I found to be interesting.
Our first night on board the boat was busy. we were tired by the time we went to bed. I slept fitfully until 4:00 AM when I woke up in a coughing fit brought on by my LPR. I wrote for a while in my journal then I went off to the fitness center at 6:00 AM to practice Qigong.
There was so much food on board that it was difficult to decide what to eat. i tried to pick food that was not going to aggravate my reflux. Breakfast and lunch were fine because I could choose whatever I wanted in the Garden Cafe which was a full service buffet. Dinner was a little more difficult. We wanted to try the various sit restaurants on board. The food was excellent but the trouble was that the food was rich and inevitably I caused my reflux to act up as soon as we started eating. I found that I had to drink massive amounts of water just to get the food down my throat which somewhat dampened my enjoyment of the meal.
That night, I woke around 12:30 AM coughing with phlegm in my throat. I went back to sleep but I was awake again a 1;30 AM, and the phlegm was coming out of my mouth before I could make it to the bathroom.
After a few days on the boat I was finding it to be more and more difficult to find food that I could eat that was not going to bother or worsen my reflux. Every meal became a struggle to eat. I had to be very careful that mindful about everything that I ate. There were so many good things to eat but the number of things that I could actually eat was a very small subset of everything that was available.
There were a few times that I threw caution to the wind and indulged myself. My wife and I were at an art showing one evening. They were offering large glasses of red wine so I had one. I was just going to take a few sips and put it down
On the second last day on board the ship I decided to go and talk to the acupuncturist on board. the acupuncturist actually had a practice in Washington D.C. He was taking advantage of combining work with a vacation, it sounded like a great idea to me. At any rate, I told him about my symptoms and how I felt at the time. It was interesting that his recommendations were very close to what my acupuncturist at home had done. At the very least, it gave me confidence that she was doing what other acupuncturist would do. What took me by surprise was his $175 fee for one sessions. That is more than twice what my acupuncturist charges me. Since it was the last night that I was going to be on board I did not see any reason to start a course of treatment so I left.
The cruise finished and my wife and I went home. Don't get me wrong, the cruise was great in spite of suffering with acute reflux, I worked around it for meals. Other than meal time, it really did not bother me.
If you are interested in my cruise, here is the link for the series of blog posts for my cruise,caribbean-cruise-day-1.html .
Fish Baked in Banana Leaves
1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
1 tablespoon ginger, chopped
1/3 cup canned coconut milk
2 tablespoons unsweetened coconut
1/4 cup chopped green onion, optional
4 pieces of fish fillets, (tilapia, cod or basa)
4 large banana leaves defrosted.
In a blender add cilantro, ginger, coconut milk, coconut. Blend until smooth.
Place one banana leave on a cookie sheet Place a fish fillet in the middle Top each piece of fish with 1/4 of the paste from the blender. Sprinkle with green onions if using. Fold the banana leaf like wrapping a present. Tie with string, or make sure the opening is on the bottom to keep the package from opening. Bake at 400 for 10-15 minutes, depending of the size of the fillet.
Unwrap carefully and serve with steamed rice.
Monday, March 2, 2015
Reflux and Diet
Acupuncture helped my LPR but I still had it. I had been reading that diet could help. After some searching in the library I found a book with an interesting title, "Dropping Acid: The Reflux Diet, Cookbook and Cure", By Jamie Koufman, M.D. and Jordan Stern, M.D. with French Master Chef Marc Bauer. Dropping-Acid-Reflux-Diet-Cookbook
One of the first things that I learned from this book was that it is not stomach acid that is the problem, it is actually a digestive enzyme called pepsin Pepsin. Pepsin only works when acid is present and it does not care what acid it uses. It will use the acid in our food or it will attack the lining of the throat or esophagus. The authors go on to show the damage that pepsin can do to a body consuming highly acidic foods.
The book gives some steps to get immediate relief from reflux.
1) Don't smoke, it causes reflux.
2) Don't wear tight clothing. especially around the waist.
3) Do not exercise right after eating
4) Do not lie down right after eating, do not eat within 3 hours of bedtime.
5) Elevate the head of your bed if you experience reflux at night.
In the diet section of Dropping Acid, the authors go through , "The Best Foods List", "Best Foods for Refluxer", "Notoriously Bad Reflux Foods". There is a chapter on avoiding acidic foods and beverages. I found that chapter to be especially useful, it has list of the pH of good and bad foods.We did not try them all but the recipes that we did try were very good.
I went through their two week "Induction Diet" and I can say that it further helped reduce my symptoms. I was very much aware of what I could eat and what I could not eat. Basically, any food or beverage with a pH pH less than 5 was off limits. That includes a whole lot foods that I used to eat and enjoy. There were some foods that the diet said I couldn't eat but I could eat them, and other things that I was supposed to be able to eat, but made the reflux worse. I came to realize that this disease has some personal characteristics that you can only come to know through trial and error.
Tomatoes are one of the worst things for reflux, not only tomatoes but tomato sauce, tomato paste, salsa, virtually anything that has a tomato base. I never realized how many foods that we eat that are tomato based or have some sauce or aspect of the dish that contains tomatoes. Like many people in North America, we eat pasta. I would say in a normal week, we would eat pasta at least once, maybe twice and it would usually be pasta with tomato sauce. My wife went to great lengths to come up with a viable pasta dish that was not tomato based. I think she did a great job, I really enjoy the dish that she made and I hope you will too.
I would recommend this book to anyone. It is informative and offers a way to manage reflux without taking drugs. Speaking of drugs, I will write about my experience with reflux drugs in my next post.
Linguine with Clam Sauce
1/2 pound linguine or spaghetti
4 tablespoons olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup dry white wine
1/4 cup chopped parsley
1/8 teaspoon dried thyme or 1/4 tsp. fresh thyme
salt & pepper
1 - 7 oz can of clams
Bring a large pot of water to boil to cook the spaghetti, add about a tablespoon of salt to the water. Cook according to the package directions until the pasta is tender but not fully cooked. Drain.
While the pasta is cooking, in a large saute pan add olive oil. Cooking garlic for about 30 seconds until fragrant. Stir in wine, thyme and clam juice from the can. Cook for about 2-3 minutes until the liquid comes to a boil. Stir in clams, season with salt and pepper to taste. Add pasta and toss with tongs. Sprinkle with parsley and serve.
One of the first things that I learned from this book was that it is not stomach acid that is the problem, it is actually a digestive enzyme called pepsin Pepsin. Pepsin only works when acid is present and it does not care what acid it uses. It will use the acid in our food or it will attack the lining of the throat or esophagus. The authors go on to show the damage that pepsin can do to a body consuming highly acidic foods.
The book gives some steps to get immediate relief from reflux.
1) Don't smoke, it causes reflux.
2) Don't wear tight clothing. especially around the waist.
3) Do not exercise right after eating
4) Do not lie down right after eating, do not eat within 3 hours of bedtime.
5) Elevate the head of your bed if you experience reflux at night.
In the diet section of Dropping Acid, the authors go through , "The Best Foods List", "Best Foods for Refluxer", "Notoriously Bad Reflux Foods". There is a chapter on avoiding acidic foods and beverages. I found that chapter to be especially useful, it has list of the pH of good and bad foods.We did not try them all but the recipes that we did try were very good.
I went through their two week "Induction Diet" and I can say that it further helped reduce my symptoms. I was very much aware of what I could eat and what I could not eat. Basically, any food or beverage with a pH pH less than 5 was off limits. That includes a whole lot foods that I used to eat and enjoy. There were some foods that the diet said I couldn't eat but I could eat them, and other things that I was supposed to be able to eat, but made the reflux worse. I came to realize that this disease has some personal characteristics that you can only come to know through trial and error.
Tomatoes are one of the worst things for reflux, not only tomatoes but tomato sauce, tomato paste, salsa, virtually anything that has a tomato base. I never realized how many foods that we eat that are tomato based or have some sauce or aspect of the dish that contains tomatoes. Like many people in North America, we eat pasta. I would say in a normal week, we would eat pasta at least once, maybe twice and it would usually be pasta with tomato sauce. My wife went to great lengths to come up with a viable pasta dish that was not tomato based. I think she did a great job, I really enjoy the dish that she made and I hope you will too.
I would recommend this book to anyone. It is informative and offers a way to manage reflux without taking drugs. Speaking of drugs, I will write about my experience with reflux drugs in my next post.
Linguine with Clam Sauce
1/2 pound linguine or spaghetti
4 tablespoons olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup dry white wine
1/4 cup chopped parsley
1/8 teaspoon dried thyme or 1/4 tsp. fresh thyme
salt & pepper
1 - 7 oz can of clams
Bring a large pot of water to boil to cook the spaghetti, add about a tablespoon of salt to the water. Cook according to the package directions until the pasta is tender but not fully cooked. Drain.
While the pasta is cooking, in a large saute pan add olive oil. Cooking garlic for about 30 seconds until fragrant. Stir in wine, thyme and clam juice from the can. Cook for about 2-3 minutes until the liquid comes to a boil. Stir in clams, season with salt and pepper to taste. Add pasta and toss with tongs. Sprinkle with parsley and serve.
Sunday, February 22, 2015
Acupuncture, Acid Reflux and Steamed Chicken
The Monday after my procedures I went to see my family doctor. After describing the symptoms to him he told me that I had Atypical reflux otherwise called LPR (LaryngoPharyngeal Reflux)Laryngopharyngeal_reflux. He wrote out a prescription for me to take for the reflux. as it happened, I had a regular acupuncture appointment scheduled right after my Western doctor's appointment. i told my acupuncturist what had happened and what my symptoms were. She told me that she could treat it. another-acupuncture-study-on-heartburn She put eight acupuncture needles in my stomach an needle in the web between my thumb and forefinger, a needles in the location called stomach 36 why-are-you-doing-that-point-st36 and liver 8liver-8 in each foot. When she was satisfied that she had all of the needles in place she heated all of the needles with a stone that she had heated somehow. I immediately started to feel better. When I went home to eat dinner I had much less trouble to eat than before. I have another appointment on Wednesday, I am looking forward to it.
On Wednesday I had my second treatment. It was much the same as the first treatment with the placement of needles and the heating with a hot stone. I was really hoping that these two treatments would do the trick because I was really looking forward to sleeping again.
I had my third treatment on the following Monday. Over the weekend before I had my third treatment I started to feel stronger and my energy levels were higher. After my third treatment, I felt much better the following morning. I had one more session booked for that Friday. My condition improved, I could eat more normally and the effects of the phlegm are less. Still, I have to sleep with three pillows to prop me up or else the reflux rises into my throat in the middle of the night. The acupuncture made a big difference in my condition but it did not get rid of it completely.
Here is a recipe that my wife made for me during this time that was very easy for me to eat.
Steamed Chicken
1/2 pound of skinless chicken thighs, cut in bite size pieces
6 dried shitake mushrooms, soaked and sliced
1 green onion, cut into 1" pieces
1 chinese sausage, sliced (optional)
2 teaspoons shredded ginger
2 teaspoons rice wine
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1 tablespoon cornstarch
Place all the ingredient in a heat proof bowl, mix well.
Spread evenly. Place into a pot with a rack. Steam for 15 - 20 minutes until chicken is cooked
Eat with rice.
On Wednesday I had my second treatment. It was much the same as the first treatment with the placement of needles and the heating with a hot stone. I was really hoping that these two treatments would do the trick because I was really looking forward to sleeping again.
I had my third treatment on the following Monday. Over the weekend before I had my third treatment I started to feel stronger and my energy levels were higher. After my third treatment, I felt much better the following morning. I had one more session booked for that Friday. My condition improved, I could eat more normally and the effects of the phlegm are less. Still, I have to sleep with three pillows to prop me up or else the reflux rises into my throat in the middle of the night. The acupuncture made a big difference in my condition but it did not get rid of it completely.
Here is a recipe that my wife made for me during this time that was very easy for me to eat.
Steamed Chicken
1/2 pound of skinless chicken thighs, cut in bite size pieces
6 dried shitake mushrooms, soaked and sliced
1 green onion, cut into 1" pieces
1 chinese sausage, sliced (optional)
2 teaspoons shredded ginger
2 teaspoons rice wine
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1 tablespoon cornstarch
Place all the ingredient in a heat proof bowl, mix well.
Spread evenly. Place into a pot with a rack. Steam for 15 - 20 minutes until chicken is cooked
Eat with rice.
Sunday, February 15, 2015
Colonoscopy and Endoscopy
At the best of times I have a strong dislike for hospitals.. The fact that I was going to go to the hospital and have not one but two invasive procedures done to me was not something that I was looking forward to. On the other hand I was really looking forward to finding out what was wrong with me.
Since I only had one day to prepare for the procedure and I was not feeling well I stayed home. Besides, I very well could not go to work when I needed to go to the bathroom every hour. Also, the effects on my stomach were not pleasant. Let's say that the laxative that was prescribed to me was more than effective.
I was not allowed to eat any solid food while I was preparing for my tests, only clear liquids. There is only so much water, and jello that you can eat. My wife made this delicious Beef Bone Broth that was not only tasty but it was nutritious as well. My wife also brought home some other things for me to try that she bought at a health food store, Goodness Me, goodnessme.ca, in Burlington. She bought Aloe water and something that I had heard about but never tried; Kombucha,Kombucha. I did not like the Aloe water but I drank it because,after all my wife bought it for me. I tried the Kombucha and found that it settled my stomach immediately. Kombucha has become a mainstay of my treatment. My wife bought quite a few bottles of Kombucha but it is not the cheapest beverage to buy so we figured out how to make it ourselves. It turned out to be a lot easier than we thought. We have included the recipe for Kombucha that we use along with the link to the website. As it turns out, my favorite flavor of Kombucha is ginger.
Since there was not a lot for me to do at home, I started researching my symptoms on the Internet. There is a lot of misleading information on the Internet. In this blog I am only going to share information that I know from my own experience. I am not a doctor and I do not have any kind of medical credentials behind my name so I can only tell you what I know from my own experience. Following the various symptoms for gastrointestinal diseases I came up with GERD, gerd. The thing is I did not and still do not have the traditional symptoms of GERD, mainly a burning sensation in my stomach. I have never felt that. Instead, I have phlegm in my throat, a constant cough, difficulty swallowing when I eat, hiccups when I eat and after meals and especially in the middle of the night, I have food and liquid rising back up into my throat. The only thing that I found that even came close to my symptoms was LPR (Laryngopharyngeal Reflux ) Disease, Laryngopharyngeal_reflux. Yet I was not sure because the doctors at the ER said that I did not have Reflux.
So Wednesday came, my wife drove me to the hospital for my procedures. I was admitted to the surgical ward and then I waited. I had anticipated the wait so I brought a small paperback with me to read, something that I could slip into my coat pocket when it was time to go in for my procedures. It was a book that I had read many times, Chinese Folk Medicine, by Heinrich Wallnofer and Anna Von Rottauscher. Chinese-medicine-acupuncture. After a long wait I was given a bed and instructed to get undressed and put on a gown. After that, I sat in the bed and waited so more. Eventually, I was taken to the operating room where I met a cheerful Dr. Choi and his anesthesiologist who I remember that she was very personable and chatty. Of course, It did not take long before she had me out like a light. The next thing that I remember was that I was waking up in my bed in the same spot where I was before the procedure. My nurse came by and told me that everything went well and that Dr. Choi would come and see me. Dr. Choi came by shortly to see me. He told that they did not find anything in my colon, or in my esophagus or larynx. He did find something irregular in my stomach that he took a biopsy an sent it for analysis.
So after all that, I still did not know what was wrong with me. Afterwards, I made an appointment with my family doctor to find out the results of the tests. I had to know what was wrong with me so that I could do something about it.
Beef Bone Broth
1-2 lbs beef bones
1 carrot, cut up
1 stalk celery, cut up
1 onion, cut in half
Place all the cut up vegetables in a roasting pan. Put the bones on top.
Roast for an hour, or until the bones are brown. It they look dried up, that's ok, it will have better flavour.
Take everything from the roasting pan and put it into a big soup pot or the crock pot. Pour hot water into the roasting pan. Let it soak for 10 minutes. Then try to remove all the bits stuck to it. Pour the liquid into the pot. Add water to cover all the bones and vegetables. Bring to a boil and cover, simmer for 2-3 hours. In the crock pot, cover the bones with water, place cover on the crockpot and set the timer on high for 5 hours.
When the soup is done, pour the soup liquid through a sieve and throw the bones and vegetables away. Season soup to taste with salt and pepper. If the soup is fatty, skim off the fat, or let it cool and remove the hardened fat.
Kambucha.
3 1/2 quarts of water
1 cup of sugar
2 tablespoons of green or black tea.
Follow the instruction on the following web site http://www.thekitchn.com/how-to-make-kombucha-tea-at-home-cooking-lessons-from-the-kitchn-173858. It is not hard to make, it takes a little practice.You will need to make the recipe for a scoby(this will ferment your tea) You will need some clean jars for your finished tea. You can have a fresh batch every 2-3 weeks. It is much cheaper than the bottles for sale in the Health Food stores
I was not allowed to eat any solid food while I was preparing for my tests, only clear liquids. There is only so much water, and jello that you can eat. My wife made this delicious Beef Bone Broth that was not only tasty but it was nutritious as well. My wife also brought home some other things for me to try that she bought at a health food store, Goodness Me, goodnessme.ca, in Burlington. She bought Aloe water and something that I had heard about but never tried; Kombucha,Kombucha. I did not like the Aloe water but I drank it because,after all my wife bought it for me. I tried the Kombucha and found that it settled my stomach immediately. Kombucha has become a mainstay of my treatment. My wife bought quite a few bottles of Kombucha but it is not the cheapest beverage to buy so we figured out how to make it ourselves. It turned out to be a lot easier than we thought. We have included the recipe for Kombucha that we use along with the link to the website. As it turns out, my favorite flavor of Kombucha is ginger.
Since there was not a lot for me to do at home, I started researching my symptoms on the Internet. There is a lot of misleading information on the Internet. In this blog I am only going to share information that I know from my own experience. I am not a doctor and I do not have any kind of medical credentials behind my name so I can only tell you what I know from my own experience. Following the various symptoms for gastrointestinal diseases I came up with GERD, gerd. The thing is I did not and still do not have the traditional symptoms of GERD, mainly a burning sensation in my stomach. I have never felt that. Instead, I have phlegm in my throat, a constant cough, difficulty swallowing when I eat, hiccups when I eat and after meals and especially in the middle of the night, I have food and liquid rising back up into my throat. The only thing that I found that even came close to my symptoms was LPR (Laryngopharyngeal Reflux ) Disease, Laryngopharyngeal_reflux. Yet I was not sure because the doctors at the ER said that I did not have Reflux.
So Wednesday came, my wife drove me to the hospital for my procedures. I was admitted to the surgical ward and then I waited. I had anticipated the wait so I brought a small paperback with me to read, something that I could slip into my coat pocket when it was time to go in for my procedures. It was a book that I had read many times, Chinese Folk Medicine, by Heinrich Wallnofer and Anna Von Rottauscher. Chinese-medicine-acupuncture. After a long wait I was given a bed and instructed to get undressed and put on a gown. After that, I sat in the bed and waited so more. Eventually, I was taken to the operating room where I met a cheerful Dr. Choi and his anesthesiologist who I remember that she was very personable and chatty. Of course, It did not take long before she had me out like a light. The next thing that I remember was that I was waking up in my bed in the same spot where I was before the procedure. My nurse came by and told me that everything went well and that Dr. Choi would come and see me. Dr. Choi came by shortly to see me. He told that they did not find anything in my colon, or in my esophagus or larynx. He did find something irregular in my stomach that he took a biopsy an sent it for analysis.
So after all that, I still did not know what was wrong with me. Afterwards, I made an appointment with my family doctor to find out the results of the tests. I had to know what was wrong with me so that I could do something about it.
Beef Bone Broth
1-2 lbs beef bones
1 carrot, cut up
1 stalk celery, cut up
1 onion, cut in half
Place all the cut up vegetables in a roasting pan. Put the bones on top.
Roast for an hour, or until the bones are brown. It they look dried up, that's ok, it will have better flavour.
Take everything from the roasting pan and put it into a big soup pot or the crock pot. Pour hot water into the roasting pan. Let it soak for 10 minutes. Then try to remove all the bits stuck to it. Pour the liquid into the pot. Add water to cover all the bones and vegetables. Bring to a boil and cover, simmer for 2-3 hours. In the crock pot, cover the bones with water, place cover on the crockpot and set the timer on high for 5 hours.
When the soup is done, pour the soup liquid through a sieve and throw the bones and vegetables away. Season soup to taste with salt and pepper. If the soup is fatty, skim off the fat, or let it cool and remove the hardened fat.
Kambucha.
3 1/2 quarts of water
1 cup of sugar
2 tablespoons of green or black tea.
Follow the instruction on the following web site http://www.thekitchn.com/how-to-make-kombucha-tea-at-home-cooking-lessons-from-the-kitchn-173858. It is not hard to make, it takes a little practice.You will need to make the recipe for a scoby(this will ferment your tea) You will need some clean jars for your finished tea. You can have a fresh batch every 2-3 weeks. It is much cheaper than the bottles for sale in the Health Food stores
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