Back home

I returned to Hong Kong several days ago, after spending a few weeks in England and Norway.

In England, I visited some relatives; and was very happy to see the newborn baby of my niece. The baby girl, seen in the photo with me, is called Kaitlyn.

I was also very happy to meet, for the first time, a lady friend whom I came to know on the website of the Trigeminal Neuralgia Association. I brought her some Chinese herbs which I hope will be of help in alleviating her TN pain. I am not sure whether the herbs will work well for her, though I very much they will.

As for my own physical condition, I was free from TN pain throughout the trip. Most probably this was because I took sufficient precautionary measures: keeping myself warm with layers of clothing, and protecting my face with scarf and warm packets.

After I returned to Hong Kong, I experienced some pain which was probably the result of travel fatigue. The pain was not serious. I took Tin Mah soup, and the pain was gone.

In the past 6 months, I took 300 mg of Tegretol CR everyday. Last week, I reduced it to 200 mg. and I continue to feel fine. This week, I'm reducing it further to 100 mg. per day, perhaps even giving it up altogether later on.

I think the warm weather is an important reason for the remission of the pain these days. The pain has a chance of coming back at the end of the year, when temperatures fall; and I will have to fight it again with herbs and medication.

Small update

My physical condition in the past couple of weeks improved gradually. I was almost TN pain-free till these two days.

I took fishhead soup with Tin Mah only a few times. I'm not sure if the improvement in my TN condition had to do with the fishhead soup or the increasingly warm weather in Hon g Kong or both.

In the recent two days, a slight TN pain returned, though not at all serious.

Today I took fishhead soup again. I'll see if there'll be any improvement.

I'd like to record here something which I almost forgot. In the post on this blog dated 16 March, I mentioned trying a special kind of "physical therapy" whereby a traditional Chinese doctor used some sharp object to pat on my face and head, with the purpos of strengthening my physique. After trying it for some time, I feel that method is not very useful and I stopped receiving that treatment.

(The photos shown here were taken in Lanzarote, one of the beautiful Canary islands, when I went on a trip there in March.)

How's my friend today?

From the website of the Facial Pain Association (http://www.endthepain.org/), I learnt that a friend, whom I came to know thru the web, is suffering from severe TN pain, so severe that she has resorted to using morphine.

Along with other people, I pray that she'll recover real soon.

Today I have difficulty connecting to the discussion area of the Association's website and cannot gain access to the friend's daily blog.
I wonder how she's doing these two days.

As for myself, I'm fine. Occasionally there's some TN pain, the effect of which is a bit like being pierced by a needle on my face. The pain is not strong, not lasting, and doesn't affect my daily activities. Therefore, I feel very grateful already.

I hope my friend will recover very soon.

Some pain persists

I did not work on this blog for many days mainly because I felt quite tired after the recent trip. I think the cold weather in Europe and the long-haul flights took their toll on me. I did not sleep well and it took me some time to completely regain my strength.

I'm feeling fine now.

There's been some TN pain after the trip. But it's not too serious. Not like the kind I experienced in the past. Not only is it less severe in intensity, it's more 'controllable' in the sense that I can minimize its happening by suitably adjusting my physical movements. The pain occurs everyday; and then it goes away after some time.

Another difference between this pain and the one that occurred a few months ago is that this one doesn't seem to react very well to fishhead soup. I've cooked the dish a few times after returning home; and yet the pain continues (though reduced considerably).

This shows that the fishhead soup does not remove all types of TN pain.

Still, I hope the soup works on some people sometimes.

The photos shown here were taken on one of the Canary islands: Lanzarote. The camel ride was fun.

Back from trip

I returned to HK three days ago, after a trip which included stops in Italy and a cruise that went to Casablanca, Barcelona and the Canary islands.

Long-haul flights, cold weather and fairly strong wind had perhaps contributed to the return of TN pain for me. Some pain occurred almost at the start of the trip and lasted almost throughout the trip. But it was not very serious and did not affect my enjoyment of the journey.

The pain intensified somewhat on the flight home; and also on the first couple of days after reaching home. Still, it was tolerable and not the kind the severe pain I suffered a few months ago after the trip to Dubai in December 08.

I quickly prepared and ate some fishhead soup with Tin Mah. Since yesterday, the pain has subsided considerably but not gone completely.

The experience this time is different from that in Jan/Feb. On that occasion, the very severe pain was completely gone on the next day after taking the fishhead soup.

This time, the improvement only occurred gradually. I am not sure if this was related to the portion size of soup which I took. On the previous occasion, I finished eating the whole soup made from one fishhead. This time, I started by eating half of the soup only, because I didn't feel well in my stomach.

Today, I cooked and ate one whole portion of the soup. I'll see if there's any more significant advancement in my condition.

In any event, I'm feeling quite fine already, with occasional pain which is not serious at all. I'll continue to write about my condition in the next few days.

The photos shown here were taken in Casablanca.

Reference books; another form of treatment

The 1st photo here shows my reference books on Chinese herbs. The other two show the pages from one of the books, explaining about the therapeutic value of Tin Mah, with a brief description about the fishhead soup. The descriptions say explicitly that Tin Mah is good for curing headache related to nerves and blood vessels in the brain.

Since last week, I've been seeing a Chinese medical doctor (trained on traditional Chinese medicine) referred to me by a friend. The doctor applies a special therapy on me in a way similar to but is not exactly acupuncture.

Unlike acupuncture with needles half inserted into your body, the needles used in this therapy are not penetrative, i.e. will not be inserted into the skin. The object or apparatus used by the doctor is like a tiny hammer with a cluster of sharp points at the end (but not sharp enough to penetrate through the skin). The doctor attaches a new set of needles to the tiny "hammer" for each patient. They are sterilised before use.

The doctor uses this object (i.e. "tiny hammer" with sharp ends)to quickly pat on different parts of my body, mainly my face, forehead, top of head, and the back of my body. The purpose is to stimulate my nerves, with a view to correcting irregularities in the nerve system. (The doctor attaches a new set of needles to the end of the small "hammer" for each patient. They are sterilised before use.)

I am not sure if the therapy is really useful. Reason is that I've had no significant TN pain since taking the fishhead soup. With this new therapy, I do not feel any difference in my body mechanism right away. But I'm trying it anyhow as a kind of precautionary measure, hoping that it will improve the fundamentals in my nerve system, thus minimizing the chance of TN pain's return.

Yesterday, I learnt from the news that an American man who had been paralysed for many years on the feet miraculously retained his movement ability after being bitten by a spider. This is something which cannot be explained even by medical experts.

In a couple of days't time, I'll be leaving Hong Kong for a trip to Europe. This will be a test on my physical condition. I'll be taking all sorts of precautionary measures (e.g. covering my head and face on the airplane) to help prevent the occurence of TN pain. Certainly, I'm eating fishhead soup these few days!

I'll report on my condition after the trip (which will be around Easter) . Meanwhile, my best wishes for all TN patients.

Happy times

I'd like to divert a little bit to a lighter subject: travel. Here I share some of the many photos I took on a trip in December 2008. I went to Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Fujairah of the United Arab Emirates, Muscat (of Oman) and Bahrain.

It was a wonderful trip.

In Dubai, I took a ride on an open-deck tour bus for hours. It was very very windy. I believe it was that ride, coupled with the cold weather upon return to Hong Kong, which triggered off TN pain for me.