In a search for cure, I am stumbled, once again, with contrasting thoughts and contradicting ways of solving our everyday problems. While I was not in the pinkest of health all over last week and struggling for a cure, I was again served with the typical mishmash of unsolved questions that linger in our lives.ITCHY spots have been beginning to take place during last week's Friday, where certain parts of my body have started to get really scratchy, and of course irritating. I dismissed them as the effects caused by the naughty green flying little insects that occasionally interrupt our nights. Scratching I was, and by Saturday, back in Adi's place, I finally realised that warm, red rashes were starting to appear.
Upon arriving in Shah Alam that very night, I immediately went to see the nearest doctor at of course the very near DEMC. The buoyant Dr. Maznor gave me an injection and some precautions, while suggesting that I was having an allergy. I went home soon after that as the injection will cause me to get sleepy, and I was driving alone. Though the rashes didn't make a disappearance the morning after, I was not disturbed as I have yet to take any further medications given.
Later that day I went to see Dr. Kaur at Seksyen 2's Klinik Anis, to get a backup MC. The cold doctor also suggested that I may be having an allergy, in which it may have been caused by something that I have eaten, or the environment, or any insect bites. However the green insects I mentioned earlier were not something new, and I have yet to know what I'm allergic of, so by the end of my visit with another set of medications I was still clueless about the disease I'm having.
Assuming that I was fine and I have to catch up with some classes I went back to the campus on Tuesday morning, with bad coughs along the way back. It was later that I found out that I am still not very well. Back in the studio while I was doing my work itches were starting to ravage, and by the end of the day, red rashes have taken place all over my body, to the extent of my face.
I went back to my hostel only to find a horrible reflection in the mirror. The rashes were, in fact, very horrible, and I'm not getting to the itchy part of the story yet. But really, I was rather horrendously shocked (yes, it was that exaggerative), and I know I must get a treatment immediately.
On Wednesday morning Abang Alil picked me up, together with his other two friends and we went to the Batu Gajah Hospital for a check up. As it was Thaipusam, only the emergency unit was open. The adamant Dr. Yeoh unsurprisingly suggested the same thing, told me to stay away from what I am allergic of, gave me an MC for two days and a packet of medication - another anti-itch drug - a limited stock, as it the larger pharmacy was closed due to public holiday.
At Abang Alil's hostel in UTP, I Wiki-ed, for awhile, and later discovered I was having a form of hives, or urticaria - a form of rashes - which is to be caused by allergic reactions, and the 'rashes' I was referring to are properly called welts. The occasional coughs were also related to the symptom.
But what the hell, correct me if I'm wrong - especially you medical students.
So it was then when Wan, my grandmother, was fast in telling Mama that I was encountered by a situation called teguran - that I was 'greeted' by an unseen being, which could probably happened anytime during my recently taken excursions.
I was hesitating in dismissing that thought. True, I was rather 'wild' for the past two weeks whereby I ventured for weird places and passed by the gruesome darkness of the jungle along the way. But spirits? Not again! Either way, I have to go back. So on Thursday afternoon, I went back to Shah Alam from Ipoh to really settle my unstable health conditions - which were getting more physically problematic.
I drank a few mugs of air penawar - literally, water for curing - given by Wan and Atuk to Mama for me to drink, alongside with my usual medicine prescriptions. Air penawar is usually an amount of water that has been recited certain excerpts from the Qur'an, however, it is absolutely wrong to regard it as something as holy. Today, after Friday prayers, Ayah brought me to PJ to meet up with one of Atuk's close friends, Pak Cik Ghazali, for berubat - to heal my illness.
Pak Cik Ghazali is the usual pakcik you'll encounter especially in mosques and places like that. With his white kopiah worn on his head, a pagoda shirt and kain pelikat, he behaves grandfather-like, just like Atuk, and speaks sternly rather in a pleasant way. He is thin in his late 60s, with cheekbones and wrinkles most visible when he talks.
To think of him as a shaman, or bomoh, is perfectly wrong. He just apparently has the knowledge to traditionally cure people, and by that, using perfectly rightly-driven methods acquainted with vast usage of excerpts from the Qur'an.
So while his wife was watching a drama at TV3 and it was lightly raining outside, not really far from us, Pak Cik Ghazali asked for my name, recited a few verses of the Qur'an, and blew some light breath to the back of my ears repeatedly, before he began to cut a lime into two pieces. He then took one of slices and smeared it on all over my upper body, especially in the parts where the rashes were still visible.
It was stingingly painful, if you ask me. And it went on just like that, until he completed, and then he offered another two bottles of air penawar in which he had uttered some recitations too. Pak Cik Ghazali stressed again that I was terkena teguran and was, in all manner, dihembus - exhaled, or blown - by any particular spirit or other unseen creatures. This 'phenomenon' called hembusan is very distinct from rasukan - possession, although initially they work in a similar way - but seriously, for God's sake, we don't want to get anywhere near there.
Later, back home, I took the usual medications and bought Vitamin C and a cough medicine at Guardian. I am also expected to smear sliced limes Pak Cik Ghazali has given to me for a number of times, after showers, for until at least tomorrow.
Anyway, I'm not sure which method really worked out, but right now as I'm writing this, thankfully, the rashes are receding, gone away together with the severe itchiness. Interestingly I still haven't figured out my reputed allergies (which I am rather very eager to know, so that I may avoid it in the future, if it's avoidable). Again, I'm not sure which one of which has helped in fighting away the disease. However I am to continue on taking my medications until I am fully recovered.
This matter of the clash between modern and traditional never fails to make me wonder - a lot. Sometimes it confuses me a lot, but I will please myself - for awhile - with the thought that both sides always practice knowledge that belongs to God. Maybe that is the way of how science works, or maybe I'm just blabbering again.
Oh well, what do I know?
Listening to: Arctic Monkeys - A Certain Romance (fine, not a really suitable track, but this song lingers in my head a lot as I was typing this) PICTURE Modern pills and lotions, alongside limes - which have always been a key medium in traditional healings and medications.
Upon arriving in Shah Alam that very night, I immediately went to see the nearest doctor at of course the very near DEMC. The buoyant Dr. Maznor gave me an injection and some precautions, while suggesting that I was having an allergy. I went home soon after that as the injection will cause me to get sleepy, and I was driving alone. Though the rashes didn't make a disappearance the morning after, I was not disturbed as I have yet to take any further medications given.
Later that day I went to see Dr. Kaur at Seksyen 2's Klinik Anis, to get a backup MC. The cold doctor also suggested that I may be having an allergy, in which it may have been caused by something that I have eaten, or the environment, or any insect bites. However the green insects I mentioned earlier were not something new, and I have yet to know what I'm allergic of, so by the end of my visit with another set of medications I was still clueless about the disease I'm having.
Assuming that I was fine and I have to catch up with some classes I went back to the campus on Tuesday morning, with bad coughs along the way back. It was later that I found out that I am still not very well. Back in the studio while I was doing my work itches were starting to ravage, and by the end of the day, red rashes have taken place all over my body, to the extent of my face.
I went back to my hostel only to find a horrible reflection in the mirror. The rashes were, in fact, very horrible, and I'm not getting to the itchy part of the story yet. But really, I was rather horrendously shocked (yes, it was that exaggerative), and I know I must get a treatment immediately.
On Wednesday morning Abang Alil picked me up, together with his other two friends and we went to the Batu Gajah Hospital for a check up. As it was Thaipusam, only the emergency unit was open. The adamant Dr. Yeoh unsurprisingly suggested the same thing, told me to stay away from what I am allergic of, gave me an MC for two days and a packet of medication - another anti-itch drug - a limited stock, as it the larger pharmacy was closed due to public holiday.
At Abang Alil's hostel in UTP, I Wiki-ed, for awhile, and later discovered I was having a form of hives, or urticaria - a form of rashes - which is to be caused by allergic reactions, and the 'rashes' I was referring to are properly called welts. The occasional coughs were also related to the symptom.
But what the hell, correct me if I'm wrong - especially you medical students.
So it was then when Wan, my grandmother, was fast in telling Mama that I was encountered by a situation called teguran - that I was 'greeted' by an unseen being, which could probably happened anytime during my recently taken excursions.
I was hesitating in dismissing that thought. True, I was rather 'wild' for the past two weeks whereby I ventured for weird places and passed by the gruesome darkness of the jungle along the way. But spirits? Not again! Either way, I have to go back. So on Thursday afternoon, I went back to Shah Alam from Ipoh to really settle my unstable health conditions - which were getting more physically problematic.
I drank a few mugs of air penawar - literally, water for curing - given by Wan and Atuk to Mama for me to drink, alongside with my usual medicine prescriptions. Air penawar is usually an amount of water that has been recited certain excerpts from the Qur'an, however, it is absolutely wrong to regard it as something as holy. Today, after Friday prayers, Ayah brought me to PJ to meet up with one of Atuk's close friends, Pak Cik Ghazali, for berubat - to heal my illness.
Pak Cik Ghazali is the usual pakcik you'll encounter especially in mosques and places like that. With his white kopiah worn on his head, a pagoda shirt and kain pelikat, he behaves grandfather-like, just like Atuk, and speaks sternly rather in a pleasant way. He is thin in his late 60s, with cheekbones and wrinkles most visible when he talks.
To think of him as a shaman, or bomoh, is perfectly wrong. He just apparently has the knowledge to traditionally cure people, and by that, using perfectly rightly-driven methods acquainted with vast usage of excerpts from the Qur'an.
So while his wife was watching a drama at TV3 and it was lightly raining outside, not really far from us, Pak Cik Ghazali asked for my name, recited a few verses of the Qur'an, and blew some light breath to the back of my ears repeatedly, before he began to cut a lime into two pieces. He then took one of slices and smeared it on all over my upper body, especially in the parts where the rashes were still visible.
It was stingingly painful, if you ask me. And it went on just like that, until he completed, and then he offered another two bottles of air penawar in which he had uttered some recitations too. Pak Cik Ghazali stressed again that I was terkena teguran and was, in all manner, dihembus - exhaled, or blown - by any particular spirit or other unseen creatures. This 'phenomenon' called hembusan is very distinct from rasukan - possession, although initially they work in a similar way - but seriously, for God's sake, we don't want to get anywhere near there.
Later, back home, I took the usual medications and bought Vitamin C and a cough medicine at Guardian. I am also expected to smear sliced limes Pak Cik Ghazali has given to me for a number of times, after showers, for until at least tomorrow.
Anyway, I'm not sure which method really worked out, but right now as I'm writing this, thankfully, the rashes are receding, gone away together with the severe itchiness. Interestingly I still haven't figured out my reputed allergies (which I am rather very eager to know, so that I may avoid it in the future, if it's avoidable). Again, I'm not sure which one of which has helped in fighting away the disease. However I am to continue on taking my medications until I am fully recovered.
This matter of the clash between modern and traditional never fails to make me wonder - a lot. Sometimes it confuses me a lot, but I will please myself - for awhile - with the thought that both sides always practice knowledge that belongs to God. Maybe that is the way of how science works, or maybe I'm just blabbering again.
Oh well, what do I know?
Listening to: Arctic Monkeys - A Certain Romance (fine, not a really suitable track, but this song lingers in my head a lot as I was typing this) PICTURE Modern pills and lotions, alongside limes - which have always been a key medium in traditional healings and medications.
1 comment:
syukri, if this itchy thingy happened to u again, apply aloe vera gel kat red spots tuh. bende tu sejuk n hopefully will reduce the itchiness lah.
get well soon!!
:)
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