Paralyzed bed-bound woman unable to move with burning sensation
Multiple sclerosis/Scoliosis, Gynecological infertility/Fibroid/Menstrual disorder, Cancer/ leukemia
An “analgesic injection” caused excruciating pain to this female patient. According to the information she provided, it was a rheumatic analgesic commonly used among Western doctors in Hong Kong, namely “Voltaren”. A few days after the injection, she felt a burning sensation in her legs and couldn’t walk for half a year. She was bedridden and had to go out in a wheelchair. She couldn’t take care of herself. In desperation, she was speechless. With her firm religious belief and my treatment, she finally conquered the terrible disease. Every time she recalled the painful experience, which was vividly clear before her eyes as if it just happened yesterday, she couldn’t help crying.
A “miracle” brought me into contact with the patient, and her life had changed dramatically since then. One day, after the patient had just finished a Mass in the church, she left in a wheelchair pushed by her maid. Suddenly, she heard someone calling her name on the street. When she looked up, it was actually her friend, who was also my patient. She referred this woman in a wheelchair to me for treatment, and I rescued her from despair. Whenever we talk about this, the patient always smiles and says it was Virgin Mary who led her to me. I believe in the Buddha and she believes in the Catholic Virgin Mary. It turns out that even they are far apart in heaven, they had communicated with each other. Since then, we have become good friends.
Being optimistic by nature, the patient firmly believed she would get well. She prayed every day, “mother Virgin Mary, please take me to the best doctor to cure me”. Heaven helped those who helped themselves, she finally found me, who had given her a new life by curing her complex and intractable disease. Since then, her mentality has changed a lot that she often does good deeds to help others.
The patient first came to see me in 2006 in a wheelchair when she was 46 years old. Her complexion was average, and her lips were dry and flat with a tinge of purple. She said that half a year ago, she felt a pain in the upper part of her buttock, so she saw a private doctor. After an injection, she felt better. However, a few days later, when she was watching TV at home, her legs felt a little strange, as if there was a heat rushing up from her soles. She then rested her legs on the coffee table. When she tried to stand up, her legs were numb and did not obey her orders. In a panic, she called an ambulance. Since she lived alone, when the paramedics came, she crawled on the floor to open the door so that they could enter the flat to rescue her.
Clueless about the cause
She was admitted to a public hospital with her legs starting to feel unbearably painful. After three months of stay, with a lot of tests taken including bone marrow test and brain CT scan, the cause still could not be found. Instead, severe inflammation was found in her 12th thoracic vertebra, and a cyst measuring 2 cm in diameter was found in her ovary. Later, tests were taken on her ovarian cancer indicator (CA 125), which was very unstable with ups and downs. During this period, she could only take painkillers and antidepressants. Later, she went to Sanatorium & Hospital instead for a whole-body Pet scan examination, at her own cost, to find out whether there was any metabolic activity of cancer cells. The result was normal and all the specialists had no idea what was happening to her. She kept seeing famous doctors all around Hong Kong, but unfortunately it was all in vain. They all said that the painkillers and antidepressants from the public hospital were already the most suitable, so they did not give her any other prescriptions. Her legs were in pain all day, as if they were on fire or being cut by a knife. Every step she took caused a pain reaching deeply into her heart and lungs. Her lower limbs were paralyzed and she could not move, let alone walking. She stayed on bed all day long, feeling like useless person.
During this period, she could only rely on painkillers, acupuncture and physiotherapy to temporarily relieve her pain. It turned out that taking painkillers and antidepressants had serious side effects. Sometimes she would suddenly scream wildly at home for no reason. Her maid was so frightened that she hid. When she calmed down afterwards, she felt so helpless and called 999. Then she was sent to a public hospital emergency for examination. The doctor installed a heart monitor in her to monitor her heart rhythm 24 hours a day. She was admitted to the hospital twice for whole-day heart rhythm monitoring, which made her extremely frustrated and annoyed.
Before the onset of the paralysis, she had an about 6-cm fibroid in her uterine and a 2-cm cyst in her ovary. She also suffered from urethritis, which was cured after taking anti-inflammatory drugs. Soon after, she had hot flashes in the evening, which disappeared after taking Western medicine. Her greater vestibular gland was also swollen, which healed after an operation. Besides, she had serious constipation, defecating every three days, taking a long time each time. After learning about her conditions in detail, I thought that the occasional headache on her left brain was neuralgia caused by the accumulation of blood stasis. Taking too many painkillers must have damaged her heart. According to his elder sister, the patient’s lips were often purple. During the first visit, I asked her to show me how she walked after taking her pulse. She stood up from the wheelchair and walked with difficulty, holding a crutch in one hand and being supported by her maid in the other. She said it was difficult to lift her legs. With a burning pain, every step was very hard. Based on my experience, I estimated that after taking the medicine for three weeks, she would be able to walk again. I also instructed her to stop all Western medicines and physiotherapy such as acupuncture and massage.
After taking the medicine for the first time, her whole body became hot with a heat flowing from her abdomen to her legs. After going to bed, her head and neck sweated a lot and she couldn’t sleep soundly all night. She felt that the pain in her legs relieved a little, and her head was a little swollen. She called the following day and said when she lay down, the pain in her legs reduced by about 10%, but it returned after she got up. I told her specifically to lie down so that the medicine would go up to her brain and open up the blockage, then the pain in her legs would go away. I also asked her to look at the colour of her lips in a mirror and she replied red, meaning that her blood circulation had improved.
At the first follow-up visit, the patient had pink cheeks and plump lips. Her pulse was even and strong, with her heart beating faster than before. She felt tired and weak all over her body, indicating the drugs were opening up her heart. During this period, she defecated more than before. She didn’t sleep well and she was easily woken up. Her walking was no different from the previous time, with her legs still hurting badly. She said that after she took the medicine and lay down after dinner, There was a flow of heat that reached her knees, and her legs twitched and shook violently. The same happened after taking medicine in the afternoon. The flow of heat then became stronger day by day until it stopped at her groin. After a week of oxidation, the urine samples she brought in turned into dark brownish red, dark purple-brown red and dark purple-black red, indicating there was severe accumulation of blood stasis in her heart, liver and brain.
Her legs had also undergone special changes. Previously when the patient lay down, her calves felt relaxed, but this disappeared quickly and the pain in her thighs and calves remained the same. From time to time, she felt a flow of heat reaching her knees and her legs twitched vigorously. Sometimes, her legs alternately stretched laterally. Due to the pain in her legs, she was reluctant to move. She spent most of her time on bed and only got up to go to toilet. However, whenever she got up, her heart beat very fast that she felt out of breath, like having walked up five floors.
The night before the fourth follow-up visit, after drinking the medicine, the patient reacted violently with both legs twitching at the same time or alternately. Since then, after each medication, the pain in her legs further reduced. In the past, when she pinched her calves, they were as painful as being cut by a knife, but now they were not too painful even being pinched hard.
Later, she gave me the name of the analgesic injection that the Western doctor gave her, which was Voltaren, also known as Diclophenac. I looked it up in a medicine book. This medicine was commonly used as a pain reliever, but it had many side effects that could seriously damage the cranial nerve and produce burning sensation and pain. I had a cancer patient who had already recovered. Later, due to a sprain, he was injected with the above painkiller by a Western doctor. After a while, his whole body was in pain and he couldn’t get up. A large cyst was found in his liver and he passed away soon, demonstrating how serious its side effects were. At the fifth follow-up visit, the patient developed a dry cough after talking for too long, which might be related to her weak heart. This time, I added some medicine in her prescription to strengthen her heart and lungs.
Walked on her own without crutches
After taking the medicine at noon every day, the patient’s legs would suddenly twitch. After that, the pain would alleviate. After taking the medicine at night, the twitching recurred, sometimes more violently, sometimes less, so I suggested her increase the dosages to morning, afternoon and evening. The following day after taking the medicine 3 times a day, a pseudo fever syndrome occurred. Her head was swollen and she had nausea, making her very uncomfortable. Three days later, she called and told me saying she was in very good spirit and filled with energy. The location of the pain in her legs kept moving. I thought it was the reaction when the stasis in her brain was being discharged. At the sixth follow-up visit, she still coughed. I told her to drink white pepper powder water immediately. It really worked and the cough stopped. However, this could only cure the symptoms and drinking it too much would result in dryness and heat. After her heart was strengthened, the cough would disappear automatically.
Although I had estimated that the patient would be able to walk again after three weeks of medication, in fact it was not until one month later that the patient could walk slowly without crutches. There was one time when she came to my clinic, her legs kept twitching for three hours and she had to use a crutch when she went to the toilet, supported by her maid. When she came back, I asked her to raise her crutch and let her maid gently support her walking. This time it really succeeded, which made her so emotional that she hugged me and cried heavily, letting out the long-standing depression in her heart. On the following day when she came to my clinic, she abandoned her crutch and walked on her own. After a while, she took a short rest and then learned to walk again. She walked back and forth many times very happily. This was a breakthrough that her ability to walk had restored. From being paralyzed to resuming walking, it only took five weeks.
Western doctor surprised and called for inquiries
Ten days later, her progress was good. There was no longer pain in her right leg, and even if there was, it was very mild. Her painful muscles began to relax and had soon returned to normal, in a state same as that before she had the disease. The condition of her left leg had not improved. I asked her to do stand-up and sit-down exercises to strengthen her back and knees. She increased it from 30 times at first to 100 times a day. Finally she did it 100 times in the morning and 100 times in the afternoon. At the twelfth follow-up visit, she was able to go up the stairs holding the handrails, but she still had difficulty going down and had to do that step by step.
I admired the patient’s resilience and perseverance. Besides coming to my clinic to exercise for three hours, she never missed any opportunity after returning home. She practised whenever she had time and exercised on the stairs every day. She progressed at an amazing speed. There was one time when I went back to the United States to visit my relatives, the patient called and said that there seemed to be a thorn in her throat. Every time she swallowed, she felt pain. Since she did not eat fish, it should not be a fish bone. In a panic, she went to a private hospital. The doctor said there could be a tumor in the affected area, which put her in a bad mood. I kept comforting her on the phone, and she began to calm down. She said she had went to the Physiotherapy Department of the public hospital and talked with the doctors and therapists for a long time. I suspected her sore throat was related to her talking too much, so I asked her to eat snow pears. Sure enough, after eating five snow pears, the pain in her throat suddenly disappeared. Snow pear has always been a panacea for the throat.
Even the doctors and therapists from the Physiotherapy Department of Tung Wah Hospital who saw her before were surprised by the rapid progress of her conditions. They took the initiative to invite her to the hospital for observation. She demonstrated some stretching exercises, and the physiotherapist had talked to me on the phone for a while. Actually, the two young doctors also wanted to ask how I cured her, but to protect their reputation, the therapist asked me instead. The patient’s psychiatrist also called me, hoping to get to know me and learn from me, as he was so surprised when he saw the patient walked into the consultation room like a normal person. Being inquired, the patient told him in detail the treatment process, which he had carefully recorded. (To be continued)
This article was written by Dr. Sik-Kee Au
August 15, 2017
For enquiries, please email to sikkeeau@gmail.com
Medical case number: 060630