Not Well

There's signs of her being unwell recently. Started from mild fever last week which we kept away by self administered paracetamol. Over the weekend, she was up till almost midnight, we had a wedding dinner to attend Saturday and she was cranky and restless and rude.

Her appetite was bad. Took her 2 hours to eat half a bowl of rice and by Sunday, we didn't bother force feeding her anymore. Wanna eat.. eat.. hungry, eat.. dun wanna eat.. forget it. We had a birthday party to attend on Sunday and I wasn't going to kick up a big fuss on her meals.

Yesterday afternoon, Boon texted me and said Amber was crying of stomach pain and 'backside pain'. She pooh-ed and later diarrhea-ed.. Hubs and I rushed home to take her to a new paeds at Setapak, Sharon's regular. I don't trust our neighbourhood clinic anymore after 2 failed antibiotic doses on me.

Amber kept crying 'buttock pain',, 'stomach pain'... and was so fussy, she had to sit at a certain angle in the car, otherwise her buttock will hurt. Poor girl, cried all the way to the clinic.. she even said 'pang pui also pain ahhh '. .. hubs and I almost broke out laughing.

We got her some mashed potatoes from KFC as the poor girl didn't have lunch or dinner. While waiting for the doctor, hubs had a quick dinner next door. Amber threw up forcefully, a projectile vomitting. So fast till I couldn't open a paper bag for her in time. So, she was messy all over... body, legs and all, not to mention us too, spots of vomits on our clothes.

I had to clean her up at the clinic and luckily I had a spare set of school uniform with me.
Doctor couldn't detect anything except wind and he prescribed Pedialytes, Ibuprofen and Novimin.When Amber kept crying 'backside pain', doctor checked on her 'backside' and asked us in detail on Amber's care history. I think he was doing his job, looking for signs of abuse  and I had to assure him that I trust Amber is in good care while we are at work. Quite funny, this doctor, but I appreciate his concern..

Back home, she diarrhea-ed again, this time with lots of wind.. long bouts of fart came along with her motions.
She felt much better and I fed her the balance of mashed potatoes.
Showered her clean and put her to bed.

A restless night for her, she kept talking in her sleep and dreaming. Woke me up at 2am, 4am and 6am, asking for orange juice. I don't know why, I was in such a sleepy state and only fed her water.

She's off school today. I let her rest at Boon's and Aunty Choo had suggested boiling some ginseng with warm rice water. I told her to do the works and I'll pay her back. I know very well if I take the effort and double boil anything for her, she'll manja and refuse. Aunty Choo is better at stuffing things down her throat. :P

A boring and tired day for me, sleepy state and needing coffee badly

Another episode worth noting for Amber for she hardly vomits. I think for her entire 4.5 years of being my baby, she hasn't vomitted more than 10 times.. or perhaps.. less than 6 but yesterday's projectile spew was like water gushing out the Merlion but at a much faster speed.

When It Rains.. it.. POURS !!!

literally.. it does..

I did post on Amber sleeping snugly in my office last week. All was not well. She was weak and want to be carried to the car. I had to quickly buy a pair of pants from the shops downstairs when she told me she was cold, her feet was cold and she had no energy.
We braced the mad KL Friday evening jam to Cheras and pick up hubs. Amber had fever and looked listless. We made a quick decision to stop by at Pantai Cheras A&E to get her checked out instead of racing back to Tampin as planned.

She had fever of 40.5 celcius.. mighty high ! Her tonsils were inflammed on one side. The doctor quickly suggested suppository, something which we've not used for years. When Amber heard.. 'stuff the buttock' , she wailed.. I gave her a choice.. Papa to stuff or Doctor ? Somehow , having to choose Papa over doctor makes the ordeal less painful.... and so we stuffed her. She wailed.. like a baby, as expected. :(

She's given antibiotics (Zithromax) , Ibuprofen and Panadol to bring down the fever. This is her first try at Ibuprofen. Works like wonders. I always worry that Panadol or any other Paracetamol may not last more than 4 hours.. and now with Ibuprofen, she takes them alternate at every 4 hours interval and an extra bullet   suppository at night if the fever does not subside.

We stopped by at KFC along NSE to get her some food, mashed potatoes. We need some food before we could feed her another dose of ibuprofen. After coaxing and forcing.. and finally meds in, she threw up, luckily a quick minded decision to let her hold the mashed potato bowl saved the vomits.. some ended up on her clothes and some on hubs jeans.. the only pair of jeans he had to last for the weekend. Poor hubs had only one other pair of tattered shorts.

And so... we took a slow and quiet drive to Tampin. Upon reaching.. she was jumping high n low, playing w everyone. I was also jumpin high n low, making sure she had enough liquids in her tummy. She refused her Isomil as she said it hurts her throat very much.

Middle of the night, fever came back, ferocious.. I didn't have a thermometer with me but i guessed it was close to the 40's range and so.. we sumbat her buntut again.

The next morning, we took a very early drive to Tangkak to consult her allergy specialist. I got the maid to prepare her barley water and porridge before we left.  I wanted to be early.. to be the first in line.. as I had to make my way back to Tampin for lunch then go to Malacca later, with the in laws.

The doctor checked on her inflamed throat again and found many white ulcer spots on her tonsils. No wonder she's been complaining since few days ago of pain on her throat. We shrugged it off as a non event or as an excuse not to finish her food.  The spots looks real ugly and Dr Wong was trying to console her.

He asked if she liked ice cream or yogurt but I intercepted and whacked the whole idea off. She's allergic to milk remember ???  Dr was also taken aback .. quite funny and sad at the same time. We both could not offer much solution to the poor child's inflamed throat.  

Her allergy test was NOT GOOD. New surprises. Allergy to milk came back. WHAM ! WHACKED !! We are down the ladder again, back to ground zero and starting all over again.. sigh ! sigh ! sien ! major SIEN !

Her allergy reading was :

House dust mite - 10   
Egg - 6
Milk - 6
Candida - 0

This is so disappointing. SO SOO SOOO DISAPPOINTING ! I had expected better results from her test 2 months ago where she was tested to be allergic only to eggs and now we have milk and house dust mites to deal with.

The deal about house dust mites is you cannot eliminate them. I think she caught it from an overnights stay at the in-laws. Our room is usually unoccupied and it's also usually very dusty when we go back for a stay. There's a helper to change the sheet and clean the room but only so much can be done. I know the room is laden with dust mites as I can't sleep either on the same night. Moi wasn't feeling too good and can feel the dust mites trickling down my throat when I tried to sleep.

Then the eggs..OK ... we tried hard to eliminate.. tried very hard.. at least it went down from 12 to 6. Try harder ok ?? and trying harder is not good enough.. we have to STICK TO IT !!

And the milk.. I half suspected something bad to crop up from this visit when Amber has been coughing a lot lately. All the syrups prescribed did not work and kill off the cough.. True enough, she has allergy to milk and there's some milk substance there somewhere in her bloodstream. I can only pinpoint to the few roti canais she started taking lately.. and oh pleasee... there's only so much so little milk in her roti canai. and why wasn't it detected in Sept, our last visit ?

GAWD !!! Exasperating.. it's like winning the race.. almost winning .. nearly there.. only nano seconds to the finishing line and then a gust of wind blows you back to ground zero !

Really kek sei ngor..

And then the hubs fell sick

And then I fell sick ..

All of us we sick... tic tac toe, eenie meenie miney moe, if it's not me, then you.. or you.... our table is laden with a medley of sick medicine.. Sheesh.. I dun likey this at all..

When we got home on Sunday night.. my gingerbread man , which I've hung on the tree before we left, all fell down.. tumbling down... like the stock market lately. The house was infested with ants..I spent the very late Sunday evening burying the gingerbread man and killing ants ! Sigh.. I give up my big big idea of hanging gingerbread man on Christmas trees. I'll stick to baubles instead. Wait.. I have some real funny pics to show. Let me find time to download first.

Her fever subsided on Monday and I took the day off to send and pick her up from school as it was also her first day of Holiday Program at another center. I've arranged for transportation to pick her from the holiday program school and send her to Boon's

Somehow, my motherly instincts tells me something and somewhat will go wrong. It was the first day of Holiday Program and situation was, needless to say, chaotic. Parents paying for fees, asking for transportation , yada.. yadda. . yadda... all last minute and i have the hunch that something will go very wrong despite me reminding the lady in charge of transportation where to send Amber to and when to start pick up,, etc

I trailed the van, like a private detective.. not too far and not too close that my daughter will see me.. True enough.. the van sent her home  instead of  Boon's. No one was at home to receive Amber. I honked the van and told him it's definitely the wrong address and never to send her home. I didn't even mention 'home' .. i just said.. salah.. jangan bawa dia ke sini.. Gave the correct address and again I did the snooping work.. followed the van all the way to the childminders. The guy was pretty good, I must say. He doesn't just send her home and honk for someone to get the child but he will stop the engine, get out.. assist Amber out and walk her to the house. I like the arrangement and I know Amber will be safe in his hands.

And so.. what else ??  I was sick.. body aching like mad.. went to see a very rude doctor who didn't like me asking sooo many questions.. we walked off but not before hubs gave them a piece of his mind and we went to the hospital. The doctor at the hospital suspected dengue but I really do not think so. After 2 days of painkillers.. I feel better. I hope the pain has been killed for good and no signs of dengue.. luckily i didn't waste any money taking the blood test  :)

I need to get well, the family need to buckle up. Christmas is coming. We need to get our Christmas tree up.


tis the season to be jolly... falalalala... lalalala.. deck the halls with boughs of holly.. falalalala... lalalala

Stomach Flu

Amber's down with stomach flu. In fact the a few of the kids at the childminder got it and I heard even Sharon is down with fever.

Stomach flu - with diarrhea and vomitting is very contagious. She last had it when she was 20 months old, diarrhea for 2 weeks. I spent so much money sending her to the hospital, paeditrician and forth and lastly sent her stool for test. -ve and she recovered.

My guess is we'll have to let it run it's course, let her tummy clear itself off the bad virus and slowly recover.

The childminder picked her up from kindie yesterday and the teacher didn't look too happy. She vomitted on the floor on the way to the toilet. She also told me : Teacher Mila say tell your mummy if you are sick, don't go to school.

*shame* I feel bad for the teachers but honestly, she was fine yesterday morning albeit tired looking. No fever, no vomit, no purging.

Last night, she woke up at 2.30am, crying, complaining of stomach ache, I took off her diapers and saw she had diarrhea-ed. She sat on the toilet seat and cried and later let out a big Hiroshima... hubs who was sleeping soundly heard the big explosion of yellow smelly goo and lots of gas. She felt better after that.

We've decided to let her rest another day today and I've been scrubbing the toilet with Dettol this morning. I don't want hubs or me to get it as stomach flu can be contagious. The last round she got it, when she was 20 months old, she spread the germs to hubs and me. Boy, it was CHAOTIC, having 3 in a family sick n running to the toilet all the time, and were were staying in a small apartment then, sharing the same toilet !

Ok, I need to scrub ALL toilets that she uses with Dettol tonight. There goes my Friday evening !

Roast Pork Bone Porridge

A savoury porridge for the family. Amber loves it, I love it and good for hubs when he's sick

I made a whole pot. Ask for roast pork ribs, taste even better. Rinse with hot water to remove scum and oils and cook with porridge and chunks of carrots (can use tomatoes for a sweeter and tastier variation)

I like mine with extra century eggs (pei dan)

Roast pork reduces heatiness in our body and if you feel feverish, roast pork bone/ribs porridge is a tasty and hearty meal!

Nice or not ?

Comforting Chow for Down Times

Hubs has been sick since last week. Started with fever, sore throat and the whole jazz. He's recovering now albeit tired and lethargic.

So, what would I cook for a sick baby ?


Chicken onion soup... Slow boil chicken with Thai shallots. So yummy and comforting, bound to make you let off 'gas', but hor.. the chinese sinseh hubs has been consulting said to avoid anything chicken, esp chicken soup. Apparently very 'chou for'. Hubs broke out in rashes after consuming his wife's chicken soup. LOL !
Anyway, this is the easiet chicken dish I can come up with in a jiffy.


Then FIL suggested to him to take 'lek tau chui' , or mung bean desert instead. The Chinese doctor said the same. Mung beans is very 'detoxifying' and can red toxins very fast. So, it's been mung bean for desert every night. Pretty easy to dish up, except that it needs long boiling hours for the beans to soften and open up (hoi far). So, what did I do ? Chuck it to my pressure cooker lor.. Easy peasy !
one small bowl of beans + 3 piece of gula melaka + knot of pandan leaf + 5 bowls of water.
within 20 mins my mung bean desert is ready (+ another 10 mins for pressure to reduce). We had this 2 nights in a row and it's soooo comforting and helped us sleep well. No wonder I always see Hong Kong families having 'tong sui' after dinner, something we are not accustomed to here.



Then, yesterday, I cooked misua soup with choy sum and meatballs. Really a dish for the sick.
For me, I added minced meat (fried and fried till really dry and heavenly tasty). Hubs couldn't resist, he also added lots of minced meat to the soup.

So, what's up tonight ? I really don't know .. run out of ideas already. ABC soup done, pumpkin soup done.. rice cannot eat, porridge and mihun also not advisable, misua also done... *sigh*

My dear hubs, please get well soon, I have frozen rendang and chicken curry from my Tua Kor's Deepavali leftovers waiting for you .. LOL !!!!

Amber's Getting Better

We took her to the doctors to check her lungs last Saturday. Her lungs are cleared but cough persists.

I take extra precautions to keep her body warm, especially at night. No more evening baths, just wash hands, legs, bum bum, brush teeth and wipe face. I apply body warming oil to her abdomen, wear a camisole inside her jammies and put on Vicks to her feet sole and lastly put on socks.

I find Vicks helps when kids have runny nose. Apply plenty to their feet, right up to ankles and put on long socks. Kids will sleep better throughout the night.

However, the ever mischievious Amber plays the socks and I have to search for them in darkness after she sleeps and wear it over her feet again .. every night .


She wears the socks over her hands as gloves ....

Nah !!!! See how she likes to roll up her pants? A habit she's used to. Mama has to roll it down again when she's asleep. Just another one of Amber's quirks and quaints.

Prevention or Precaution

Prevention or precaution ? Whatever. Chinese medicine halls now sells prepacked 'leung char' and with special ones labeled H1N1, for one to take precautions against H1N1 but the guy also said it can prevent H1N1 wor ...

I don't believe much of his words, purely sales talk but still I end up grabbing some packs of :


I took a few packets of 'leung char' and some to 'yoon fai' or sooth the lungs. I don't think it prevents me or my family from catching the H1N1 virus. I believe in keeping ourselves clean and be wary of our surrounding wherever we go. Never leave home without antibacterial wipes and hand sanitizers. However, I do believe the 'leung char' keeps our body balanced, cool and thus reduce our chances of catching a cough, fever or sore throat. If we keep our immunity high, there'll be less chance of us catching the virus right ?

Moreover, the 'leung char' taste great and refreshing !

Tonic soup and others

I just wanna share a bit about Amber's paeds. He has a habit of writing notes for his patients like this :

After a few visits, you'll be familiar with his notes and style of writing. He's also known to be impatient, that's why I dare not take a picture of him with his gown, gloves, mask and all :)
If your child misbehaves or 'lau kai', he'll walk out and attend another patient in the next consultation room, he believes parents should be in control of their child before he checks the child. Anyway, I have to thank him for diagnosing Amber early before she gets a full blown infection and needs hospitalization.

I also boiled a tonic for Amber last night. I kept it warm and put in a flask to bring to childminders this morning .

It's a ready packed tonic from chinse medicine shops :


The ingredients are dates (mutt choe), dried pears, figs, chinese almonds (nam hang pak hang) and kat peang (candied mandarins)

Simmer in slow cooker for 2.5 hours , very easy.


I hope the tonic helps nourish her lungs. In fact it's really yummy, hubs and I had a cup each last night.

Falling Sick

My poor Amber has cough for almost 2 months. It's not a serious cough-till-you-drop cough but it's prolonged and she has a hoarse voice. She sounds like some sexy rock star singer !

We were at Penang last weekend for a short holiday, hubs brought her to the pool. After 30 minutes, she was shivering, her teeth were 'chattering'.. chat, chat, chat, chat, chat... LOL !! I quickly took her to the room for a warm shower followed by warm milk. She still complained cold. I suspected something amiss, she hardly complains about feeling cold.

I was on the phone with a friend y'day and he told me another friend of ours was down with pneumonia at the hospital. It all started with a prolonged cough and one day he turned blue and couldn't breath. He was admitted to ICU immediately and put on a ventilator as his oxygen level is only 60%. He advised me to get Amber checked asap by Dr Iean, Amber's paeds at the hospital. I'll bring Amber to see him for more serious condition, he's known as an impatient doctor but I personally find him caring and does his job meticulously.

In fact, I hesitated to get Amber to the hospital coz I was afraid of being exposed to H1N1 virus. Private hospitals are taking in H1N1 patients now. I was also afraid since her immune system is down, she may catch the virus easily. I discussed with hubs and he decided to get Amber checked asap as the longer we wait, more H1N1 cases in the hospital and more germs around. That got me hurrying to make an appointment asap.

I arrived at the hospital this morning and the situation was different form my last visit 3 months ago. They no longer check you for temperature but you'll be given a mask if you have cough or runny nose.


I've already put on a mask for Amber on the way to the hospital and the nurses at paeds clinic gave me another to wear.

I stopped her from playing with toys and touching anything at the clinic. Luckily she was obedient today. I had my hand sanitizer and wet wipes with me, wiping her down everywhere she goes.



While waiting for her turn, we played and monkeyed with our masks on and took some photos together. I'd rather carry her the whole morning than let her run around touching this and that, god knows where the H1N1 virus lurks.


When it was her turn, I was surprised to see Dr Iean taking ALL NECESSARY precautions :

- he sat 3 feet away
- he wore double mask and a plastic cover over his face
- jacket, and plastic suit
- gloves
- when he checked Amber, the nurses placed a plastic sheet between him and Amber.

My ! Oh My ! So many layers of protection. He took necessary measures to protect himself. I don't blame him coz If he falls sick, who's going to treat our sick kids ?

He looked at Amber and asked what's wrong coz Amber looked fine to him. Then I told him about Amber's prolonged cough and he checked Amber's chest, front and back, and said "AIYO ! WHY ! WHY LAH ???"

My heart skipped a beat. He mumbled mumbled and with so many layers of masks in between us, I can hardly hear what he's saying. Then he drew a picture of lungs with dots. He said Amber has chest infection and needs to be treated. The infections been the for a while but not serious that requires hospital admission (I have been giving her chinese meds and I think that helps too).

He prescribed the following ;
- Klacid (clarithromycin) antibiotics
- Singulair powder to strengthen the lungs
- Rhinatoil Promethazine

and asks to have her reviewed again on Friday by another doctor as he'll be on leave. I'm lucky to catch Dr Iean before he goes off. He's a very meticulous and experienced doctor. In fact, some of my friends kids were treated by him for lung infection at very early stage. My niece also had lung infection but it was not detected by clinical doctors. She had difficulty breathing and had to be admitted, only then did they discover her weak infected lungs.

Hopefully with early treatment, she'll get well soon. I miss her sweet voice.

HFMD gathering (continued)

Birds of feather flock together, sick children flock together too.. hahahaha...

We met again at night, had dinner, went to pasar malam and back home for Happy Hours. While the Papas had beer, the little ones join in to "Cheers" :


Cheers with milk bottle


Then we gave them Heineken !! Cheers only, no sip-sip for them..


Amber could not take food, keep crying Pain! Pain! Mouth Pain!

but ..
but ..
but ..
..
..
..
..
..

she can take potato chips !!!

Sharon too. .. .. .. .. Wuahhh.. she's so 'happy' and kicking having potato chips !

Kids are kids, when they see chips, all pain is forgotten. Tell me, which kid do not like chips ?

HFMD Breakfast

---Backdated post ---

When she was down with HFMD and on home quarantine for 1 week, no one (esp friends with kids) would come near us and I don't blame them coz HFMD is highly contagious.

So, what did we do ? Had a HFMD gathering with other HFMD affected children lah... :) We didn't want to risk bringing Amber to crowded places so we met up at a open air Mamak for breakfast. It's our regular spot when we don't have any particular place to go. The surroundings pretty nice, we had breakfast under some trees, enjoying the early morning breeze.


2 couples, 2 recovering-from-HFMD-child ... enjoying breakfast together. We shared notes on our kids ulcers, blisters, sleepless nights, pain etc...


Amber .. my sweet little fart. She has lost weight after being ill for a week. I call her "super sau mang kai"


Sweet sweet Sharon.. always with good apetite but that morning, she refused milk and everything else because the ulcers in her mouth hurts and her lips were dry and cracking


A snapshot from our table. I like the hillview ... serene, green and peaceful :)

A Treat

Seeing her so miserable, I gave her a little 'spa' treat.
All I need is a big laundry tub, tepid water and Eubos bath oil to sooth down her blisters on her hand and foot.

After a long session of wailing (she wail coz Mama catch hold of her, forcing down liquid and meds.. *sigh*), she's happy and smiling with this :

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ENJOY !!!!

So nice to see her calm and happy, playing with the bath water and smiling again ... :)

but not for long till the next feed !!

*sigh*

If I could have one wish today, it'll be for her pain to go away.

Chinese Physician

Por Por just called and said she's bringing Amber to see a Chinese physician.
Hopefully Chinese herbs will cool her down and recover from HFMD faster.

pray.. pray.. pray..

and thanking prayers for having Por Por around.

Rock a Bye Baby

Amber was so 'manja' and wants to be carried all the time. Seeing her in pain, we give in.

During the nights she cannot sleep, she wants me to carry and rock her. Her order was :

Amber ai Rock A Bye Baby !

That means she wants to be cradled and rocked. I used to rock her to sleep when she was an infant. My MIL 'pengsan'ed' at the thought of carrying and rocking a 11 kg baby to sleep but that's what we did and baby grows up fast, when she was 2, no more rocking, I could pat her to sleep on my bed.

So, last night, she wants me to sing. I only sing 2 songs : Rock A Bye Baby & Hush Little Baby.

Rock a bye baby, on a tree top
When the wind blows, the cradle will rock
When the bough breaks, the cradle will fall
Down will come baby, cradle and all

..... and repeat and repeat ... and must 'sayang' her forehead, stroke her cheeks till she falls asleep.

She loves it so much, she'll cuddle up in my arms and fall sleep..
:) sweet memories of my baby

This was the first song she learnt to sing at 15 months.

Yesterday night, I twisted the lyrics to :

Rock a bye Amber, on Mama's arms
When the fan blows, Amber will sleep
When the fan stops, Amber will cry
And down will come Amber, bolster and all..

and I went on and on and on, i fell asleep cradling her and fell to my side of the bed, then she screams

AMBER AI ROCK A BYE BABY !!!!

ok.. and again i sing, like a tape recorder again and again....... *sigh*...

Then I changed to another favourite lullaby of mine :

Hush, little baby, don't say a word,
Mama's gonna buy you a mockingbird.

And if that mockingbird won't sing,
Mama's gonna buy you a diamond ring.

And if that diamond ring turns to brass,
Mama's gonna buy you a looking glass.

And if that looking glass gets broke,
Mama's gonna buy you a billy goat.

And if that billy goat won't pull,
Mama's gonna buy you a cart and bull.

And if that cart and bull turn over,
Mama's gonna buy you a dog named Rover.

And if that dog named Rover won't bark.
Mama's gonna buy you a horse and cart.

And if that horse and cart fall down,
You'll still be the sweetest little baby in town

Gosh ! She only fell asleep at 4.30am... I'm so sleepy now, so no mood to work !!

God ! Please help me pull through this day and make Amber sleep soundly tonight !

Oh No ! She Has It !

First it was Ya Ya, the 2 yr old

She does not attend kindie.

But Ya Ya's sis, 5yr old goes to kindie that was closed for 3 days last wk due to HFM.
Since the 5 yr old did not come down with HFM, the childminder thought it was safe to let the kids play

The house was disinfected with Dettol, mattresses out in the sun and anything washable will be washed thoroughly.

But we were so wrong..

Over the weekend, Sharon got it, she's also 2.
Today, Amber complained 'mouth pain' and refused milk. I checked her mouth, nothing.

Doesn't sound good

I've made arrangements for her at her previous nanny. She's been very kind to us and took in Amber willingly. She only wants me to confirm the # of days I need her assistance and she'll cancel her mahjong plans..

At her place this morning, Amber came down with mild fever. I took her to the paeds.
CONFIRM !!! Mouth ulcers. At least 10 of them waiting to pop like pop corns !

Can't say much about the hand and foot but it really doesn't look good.

Keeping my fingers and toes crossed she recovers soon.
I'm planning to catch the tail end of Singapore Sales !!!! :(

Remedy for cough ?

I'm still feeling under the weather and my cough has not improved. I had a heavy Nasi Kandar Pelita for lunch y'day and the spice and chilly kinda eased the throat itchiness but when I had fruits (guava and pomelo), the itch came back with a vengeance. No wonder they say to avoid fruits or cold drinks whenever we have a cough. When I lay down to sleep, it just gets worst. I was coughing till 2am last night and I had enough. Packed my bolster and head to the attached study room, no aircond and finally fell asleep.

Many friends have given me alternative solutions to my cough :


A colleague of passed the above plant to me. Looks like mint but the leaves are thicker and furry. Smells a bit like mint & cumin seeds. Grows easily and I only need to cut a few leaves and boil with rock sugar. My Cambodian maid told me they eat these leaves back home, raw with fried pork. Since it propogates easily, I've asked my maid to place in a few pots and if she wants, she can pluck and eat. I'm going to try drinking the boiled leaves tonight for a few nights and see the effect. Anyone knows the name of this plant ?

Other recommendations :
- boil 'kat peang' (candied mandarin orange) with nang hang pak hang (chinese almonds) and mint and drink the concoction
- fry ginger with egg & sesame oil. add a bowl of water, boil it up and drink the soup.
- double boil old ginger and rock sugar.

I'm going to try each of the method above until I get rid of my cough.

When I was pregnant with Amber, around the 5th month, I had the same cough attack and was coughing for a month. I could not take most of the OTC cough syrups and tried all sorts of alternative remedy and finally killed down the cough with double boiled 'toong choong choe' cordyceps and ginger but cordyceps are soooo expensive now, I hope at least one of the method above works for me.

Lousy cough

I hate coughs, especially the irratating itchy itchy ones. Those unproductive ones that makes you cough hysterically and no amount of coughing can relief the itchiness. Some attacks can be so bad I accidentally pee while coughing.

Haven't been sleeping well lately. Everytime I lay down and close my eyes, my throats starts itching again and there goes another episode of coughing my throat down and waking up hubs and Amber. She's been coughing real bad too, must have got it from me ! I'm keeping her under control with Rhinatoil Prometazine.

My remedy was a Chinese doctor in Pandan Jaya but this time, his medication did not work despite consulting him twice (some more, he raised his price to double, claiming imported chinese drugs are expensive ... yada yada yada).

A pharmacist once recommended me Silomat, anti-tussive, non alcoholic, sugar free cough syrup from Germany but the product has been recalled from the market since 2007. Jialat ! how to find a solution now ?

Eldest sis gave me some home grown ginger, will try to double boil with rock sugar tonight. It's supposedly hot and fiery enough to 'kill' the itchiness on the throat. Will try it tonight.