Protected: Kyoto - Nara (24 Oct 2009) Day 3

Protected: Kyoto - Gion ,Shibekoji & Kiyomizudera , 23 Oct 09(Our Wedding Anniversary!!!)

Protected: Brief Snapshots of my trip to Kyoto & Osaka Oct 2009(Day 1-23 Oct 09)

How do I avoid Ovarian Cysts?

“There is no way one can prevent ovary cysts production.” I asked this question to two different gyanes and I was told the same bitter truth.

Is there any way to prevent future cysts from forming? Yes, birth control pills may be prescribed to reduce the probability of other cysts growing but do not treat them. However this would not be a possible option for those who are trying to conceive and most importantly, they do not restore our health.

However when I googled on the net, I learned that changing our diet could be the natural effective ways to treat ovarian cysts. So this is what I am going to do:

• Eat proper food to maintain acid alkali balance
  (60-80% alkaline-forming foods and 20-40% acid-forming foods)
• Cut down the following foods as they irritate ovarian cysts:
  - Food that are rich in estrogen e.g.oats, daily food, tomatoes
  - Caffeinated foods, chocolates, soda, sugar
• Lower the carbohydrate consumption
• Avoid consumption of alcohol
• Don’t eat meat !! (haha piece of cake! I am a vegetarian!!)
• Stop the bad habit of holding my bladder
• Avoid cold drink whether having ovarian cysts or not !!! This is what I was told by my Chinese Physician!

I am so excited! I hope it is gonna work

How to get rid of wind in my stomach?

There are tonnes of food that I try to avoid because my stomach is always bloated with lots of winds starting early Feb this year. I went to see my doctor many times for the past few months to treat the trapped wind but to no avail. Western medication doesn’t seem to be working well for me.

The stomach wind seems to get worst after my laparoscopy. Lately my stomach pain has been hurting so much and often woke me up from the sleep. I am so determined to get rid of this once and for all, hopefully before I return to the stressful workforce next Monday. So, this is what I want to do daily , in fact I have already started this regime since yesterday:

• Making pitted red dates & wolfberries tea mixed with raw ginger to drink(Chinese traditional way of getting rid of wind)
• Taking a short walk after eating to encourage digestion process(As advised by my doctor)
• Consuming 3 teaspoon of the expensive active 100% wild Cherry honey that I just bought. The salesman said it would definitely help to release the gas…erm, still too early to judge the effect now!

On top of that, list of Food that I try to keep at bay at all cost:

• Soft drinks
• Whole grains
• Milk, daily and soy products
• Vegetables, e.g. beans, cabbage, artichokes, brussels sprouts, broccoli,  sweet potato, onions and asparagus
• Fruits, e.g. Citrus fruits, pears , peaches and apples
• Foods containing sorbitol, such as dietetic foods and sugarfree candies and gums
• glutinous rice
• bread
• spicy food

I shall come back to update my blog in a week’s time to conclude the effectiveness of the above method. Wish me all the best, will ya?

Update (3 June 09)
Thanks to ginger, my condition has become better. How do I know if ginger helps? It is not hard to tell, because the wind that I passed out smelled so much like the ginger water that I drank

Vegetarian Pregnancy Guide to Health & Nutrition

I often received comments that imply that vegetarian diet is not always healthy. Some even said that vegetarian is bad for me if I am trying to conceive. They wish I would be converted to be a meat eater anytime soon. One of my colleagues even has jokingly regarded this as one of his missions of the year!

Well, I know they meant it for good. But, I never like to eat meat or seafood. As a matter of fact, I loathe it! For some reasons I couldn’t even stand the smell of it especially when it comes to steam fish dishes!

I do understand if I am not careful in picking and choosing the right food, then vegetarian may not be the best diet for my health. When I received ” Your Vegetarian Pregnancy - A Month-by-Month Guide to Health and Nutrition” written by Dr.Holly Roberts as a gift, I was jumping for joy! Needless to say, this is the sort of book that I needed most!
(Thank you Sis Pauline for being so thoughtful, although I got it for quite a while already)

This book used to sell in MPH Singapore for S$27.30. If you are interested, you may sample the book at Amazon at here.

Does it hurt to remove stitches after laparoscopy?

It has been a week! It is time for me to see the doctor and get the three stitches on my tummy removed!

Before it got started, my doctor smiled at me and said it won’t hurt a thing. Firstly, the 3 bandages on my tummy were removed. Then, I saw the doctor stretched out his arm to get a pair of scissor. Argh, I closed my eyes and heard the sound “clark”, “clark” and he said “this would be the last one” and “clark”. At the blink of an eye, it was over!

And yes, my doctor is right , it doesn’t hurt at all!

Breastfeeding Good for Mums too

Are you breastfeeding your child?

Research has shown that breastfeeding is not just good for the babies, but it also benefits the mothers.For women who breastfeed, the latest study done by the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology shows that it may also protect them from heart disease.

A study from Harvard Medical School revealed that one year of breastfeeding was associated with a 15% drop in a woman’s risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

Summarize some of the breastfeeding benefits below:
(Facts taken from:
1.breastfeedingmums
2.BBC News - Here & Here
3.WHO
4.Singapore Medical Association)

1.Create stronger bond with babies
2.Less likely to suffer hemorrhaging (Excessive or uncontrollable bleeding)
3.Reduced risk of iron deficient anaemia developing
3.May allow for natural spacing between pregnancies
4.May offer protection against some cancers
5.May increase bone density, preventing osteoporosis when breastfeeding ceases.
6.Lessen the risk of mothers developing crippling rheumatoid arthritis.
7.Less likely to develop heart disease
8.Save $$$ on formula milk!!!
9.May cut a mother’s risk of type 2 diabetes

The WHO strongly advise mothers to feed their babies exclusively on breast milk for six months, and continue to offer it alongside other safe and complementary food for at least two years.

You may also read from here for common concerns regarding breastfeeding in a family practice setting made available on Singapore Medical Association Website.

Lastly, if you are a breastfeeding mum from Singapore, you might want to consider joining
Breastfeeding Mothers’ Support Group

Kudos to breastfeeding!

What to expect before & after laparoscopy

If you have ovarian cysts, or suspected to have endometriosis, chances are you might be put forward for a laparoscopy, especially if you have been trying very hard to conceive for years.

The thought of going through a surgery often can be very intimidating. Let me tell you that laparoscopy is not that bad. I hope by sharing with you my own experience, you would have a better idea of what is supposed to happen and hopefully it may also offer you some encouragement.

Blood & Urine Test

Before fixing the surgery date, I have to pass the blood and urine test. This is to ensure that I am clear for HIV & Hepatitis B.

Bowel Preparation

I was told to follow instructions for bowel preparation and take medications to clean the colon for consecutive two days before the procedure.The medication made me running to toilet almost every 10 minutes within 30 minutes upon consumption.For my case, the laxative effect lasted for at least 3 hours. If you are working full time, you might want to consider taking half a day off for this.

The day before my operation, I consumed plain watery rice porridge and drank a lot of water to prevent of becoming dehydration. 7 hours before the procedure, I drank only pure rice porridge water. Due to the frequent diarrhea, I drank a lot of clear fluids but stopped drinking 3 hours or so before the procedure.

On the day of the surgery, it took us about 1.5 hours to see doctor, settle some paper work and payment.30 minutes before the scheduled surgery time, I was wheeled into the operating theater after the nurse has taken my blood pressure . A few different nurses came and repeated a few questions before the procedure began. I did not need to wait very long before the anesthetist came to give me an injection and I knocked out soon after that!

After the surgery

The surgery lasted about 1.5 hours. The moment when I woke up, I felt nausea and restless as I experienced some pain. I managed to go back to sleep after the nurse gave me an injection to combat the pain. When I woke up again,  I noticed that I had an elasticated binder wearing around my waist. The purpose of it is to eliminate the abdominal pain. Ask for it when you see the doctor before the procedure starts!

Overall, I rested in the hospital for 4.5 hours before I was getting ready to discharge. Before I was released, the nurses need to ensure that I was able to hold down some food and could urinate. The nurse told me that it is okay to eat a little if I didn’t have the appetite.  My hubby made me a glass of hot Chocolate before I went to bed and that was all I had for dinner.

Thankfully, I did not suffer any unbearable pain after I got home. I took the advice from the nurse to take the pain killers prescribed by doctor, so that I won’t woke up in pain when the anesthetic effect was gone. I did not need to take any more pain killer after that!

I didn’t have sore throat at all, some people do experience that. For my case, I had some shoulder pain (from the gas the anesthetist used to inflate my belly) but it was bearable. I also felt nausea, no appetite to eat and had some bloody discharged for a few days(ceased on day 8).I also notice that my stool is dark green and my urine a bit oil-like. I would have some minor pain and discomfort whenever sitting up and lying down and they are bearable to me.

To sum up my laparoscopy experience, it is not really that bad after all!

What happened before the Laparoscopy

Hubby said that he can’t tell if I was worried at all about the laparoscopy that I would undergo in the afternoon. He thought I managed to keep my mind at ease and was pretty impressed with this.

What I did was trying to leave all the horrifying thoughts behind me. Prayed for the surgery, and invited my prayer warriors - dear sisters in Christ from previous & current churches to join me in prayer. Of course I also did a lot of other stuff like surfing net, checking office email to diverse my thoughts or to keep myself occupied.

I also thought I would be able to keep my cool, but no, I failed to do so. The moment the nurses started pushing me to the operating theater, tears suddenly rolled down my cheeks as memories of my first surgery flashed before me. My hubby wanted to wait with me at the entrance of the operating theater but was not allowed to do so. But the nurses there were kind enough, a few of them came forward & spoke to me with words of comfort. They asked me to hold my tears back otherwise I would suffer from nose block after the surgery. Two nurses came and asked me for my doctor’s name, my name, my NRIC and if I have any drug allergy. Another nurse repeated the same questions when I was finally pushed into the operating room.

The room that they used for my operation is painted with girly pink that calmed me down a little. The anaesthetist had a short chat with me before giving me an injection. I think I knocked out within a minute or two…the rest ,as they said is history already.