Most people in rural areas run to quack doctor when something irritable grows in their skin like allergies, bumps cause by air and insects. When an itchy bump grow in my face I treat it with ointment for skin irritation rather than going to quack doctor like what my family has told me but the itchiness didn’t subsides so I have asked my mother to verify if the bump is a pimple since I can’t fully see it, she said it was indeed a pimple.

A few days passed nothing has changed the bump is still quite itchy so I scratched it without hesitation until it grows bigger, so I immediately search online for alternative medicine aside from using coconut oil and creams. Through searching online I have found out the benefits of oil and turmeric. Coconut oil is anti-fungal and anti-bacterial, and nourishes skin cells to inspire softness while turmeric kills bacteria on and beneath the skin’s surface without damaging healthy cells or drying the skin out. According too, to Taiwanese study, coconut oil was found to be the most effective carrier for the curcumin (turmeric) to enter the skin cells. Since I have only small amount of coconut oil I have asked my mother and sister when they went to town to buy me old coconut as well as turmeric in the market.

A coconut oil is made from cooking the coconut milk, I crushed and cut fresh turmeric and mixed it with the coconut oil and treat the itchy bump in my face but since I scratched it a lot, the bump isn’t a simple bump anymore, when I checked it in the mirror it looks like a fungal infection already. I treat with the mixture I have made and the itchiness subsides a bit and it is drying overtime but there is new tiny pimple blisters growing again and the affected area is becoming even larger once the bad skin is treated. Annoyed with the outcome and how my face looks like that I can’t even go to church without putting band aid in it.

One day, when it itches again I rub salicylic acid without hesitation. The burning feeling made me crazy that I didn’t stop until it hurts a lot without thinking I am treating my face, part of my skin that everyone can see. After treating it with salicylic acid I treat it with pure coconut oil after few days the skin dried out like how it looks like in a wound but a new itchy pimple grew beside it so I treat the new bump with salicylic acid again and it is gone but a new itchy bump grew at the other side and what I did this time is different method I treat it with a crushed garlic for a few hours.

Treating fungal infection is very irritating, sometimes I have wondered where did I got it from, I bath every day and clean our house regularly that my family is even annoyed with me for being clean and germs freak. So I guess I got this from interacting with our cats especially it is my nature to pick and bring home abandon kittens from the street, or buying used clothes from thrift shop because according to some health articles that I read online if your immune system is weak you can easily get it from animals or individuals who has it including their personal things.

Well, I have found out too that the coconut oil with turmeric is a good treatment for ant and insect bites after using it to treat my ant and mosquito bites.  Coconut oil and fresh turmeric when mixed together had a foul smell overtime so I wonder if dried turmeric is better than fresh ones.

Originally posted at my health blog on January 29, 2016

With the rainy season, a lot of bugs, insects and ants in the field moved to a dry place so it is not surprising to see crawling ants in the corner of your house and get insect bites. I have previously blogged buying a cream to alleviate itchiness brought by insect bites. It was very helpful to avoid scratching and such.

The first time I felt something itchy in my leg 3-4 inches from my sole, I saw a small pimple in it that looks like an ant bite, I started putting cream on it but I have noticed the itchiness gone and keeps coming back until a group of three pimple marks developed. I scratched it from time to time and no matter how many times I put a cream it keeps coming back maybe because I always have my feet dirty when I am outside. One day, I felt uneasy that I keep scratching it, the old red pimple marks was gone but a new itchy red marks grow and when I looked at it closely I noticed something strange after thorough scratching, the red mark is forming like a circle.

[Photo credit: © Biophoto Associates / Science Source]

When I showed it to my sister and mother they said it is “buni” an allergy you get from eating too much chicken, they told me to avoid eating something fishy like sea foods, chicken and eggs.  So for few days I have avoided eating those things, they said I need it to be measured by going to a quack doctor then I will be given a medication.

To avoid the hassle of going to a quack doctor I have searched online for home medication,  I have found out the cause of this is fungi,  yes it was a fungal infection and not chicken allergy like the belief of the old folks.

Ring worm is caused by fungal infection in the skin and can be acquired through dump places like the bathroom and from people having this type of infection; it can also be acquired through pets like dog and cat. I have first thought I have got it from staying outside, in our outdoor faucet where I always soak my feet when washing dirty rags and our pet bowls especially it has been raining lately, and flooding but then I remember every time I sleep at night it was my habit to put a cushion in my feet and when I wake up in the morning a cat is sleeping in the cushion at my feet so I have thought I’ve got it from them.

Anyway, the medication that is useful for this type of fungal infection were coconut oil, turmeric, garlic and etc.,

Calmoseptine cream was also good for fungal infection as written in the packaging, since I have started putting cream in the infection in my leg it alleviate the itchiness and redness, but since it still occasionally itch and I have found more alternative medicine for it, I have tried it in different days. I first tried garlic, by cutting it in half and rub it through the mark, then the next day I tried rubbing salicylic acid which is a bit painful but surely the itchiness stops and faded a little. To take care of the skin and have the mark to disappear completely we cooked coconut milk to make coconut oil as a new alternative medicine.

Originally published on Herzline/ Sep 2, 2015 at 02:45

It was been a long time since I posted in my blog, if I we weren\’t asked to share or to let others know the location of the training center, I wasn\’t able to update this blog. Wish me luck that in a few days before the training I can do backlogs, back dated posts.

Well, there are times I felt bored, I felt bored with the slow internet connection that I wanted to fly to Mars (lol), felt bored reading horror stories because they sounded like just the same old story, watching Korean drama series and even living at times I felt bored (lol), in short I felt bored talking to myself alone (haha), I wanted someone to be friends with and to talk with. Then, I remember I have created a profile online and after guessing many times what was my password I was able to login and saw many messages I wasn\’t able to open and replied back then. If you think, I have opened them, well I let them as they were and started to browse profile to profile from males to females, young to old ones. It was entertaining knowing people in their profile, giving them encouragement, praising and applauded them for the things they have accomplished like helping a community and etc., It was good thing at first but it becomes tiring browsing and browsing and no one to talk too (well I do talk to one). I just felt I need to recharge, sleep a lot and maybe in a few days, a one or two I will have a full battery again (lol).

Anyway, my younger sister came home yesterday with sets of tablets and capsules. It turns out they were given to them, each employee was given different kinds of medicines and since they are too many for us, we have to share them in our neighborhood. Their office owned a pharmacy and a store, but it is going to close because it wasn\’t performing well. They will just focus on space rentals and loans.  As I look through the medicines they were for colds, pain relief and fever, I wish there is a medicine to be happy and to be comforted because the world needs it.

I wasn\’t feeling well these past few weeks, I have indigestion and acidity to deal with, painful upper back and hips and then these past few days I felt a discomfort on my left foot and since yesterday my knee hurts like it was dislocated.

My mother told me that I drink too much coffee that\’s why my hips is painful, she encourage me to drink a herbal coffee, I have been drinking it for sometime but I got tired of the taste of it so I switched back to 3n1 coffee and since a few days ago I drink the herbal coffee again but the pain didn\’t still go away. I guess, it is already sign of aging, the perks of getting old.

[Photo courtesy of Kaboompics // Karolina/pexels.com]

Early this morning I did cold compress into my left foot, it was very painful but to no avail my foot didn\’t feel any better, my knee hurts even more especially when I stand up from sitting.

Anyway,  I have feed my cats and dogs at lunch and I accidentally slid with my left foot (like someone push me) while carrying their food, I have already thought of getting a broken bones but surprisingly my foot got better, it fixes my foot and knee, the discomfort was gone and my knee didn\’t feel that painful anymore. I have wonder how did I slid but I didn\’t think much of it anymore, I am just thankful that it made my foot and knee better.

My back still hurting though, I don\’t know if it is because of acidity. I was washing the dishes when I tried to burped and puked many times, when I did I tasted acidity in my mouth. I am feeling anxious about my upper back pain because I inhaled a lot of muriatic acid fumes almost a week ago when I cleaned our bathroom and living room. Morbid thoughts about my lungs is disturbing me, huhuhu.

About a month ago I was infected and sick with chikungunya virus, a viral disease transmitted to humans by infected mosquitoes. It hits me by surprised because it wasn\’t viral yet in our village and I didn\’t hear any one had it, in neighboring village yes but to ours none.

I have visited a herb doctor thinking I was bewitched by unknown being, I felt better after doing so but the next day, upon waking up I can\’t get up, my legs and my knees are very painful.  I was in severe pain and feverish as well, my family doesn\’t believe me, I guess they are thinking I am making up things. It was a very hard for me to get up and dragged myself to the bathroom, I can\’t get up without crawling and looking for something to hold on to.  I have told my family that I have chikungunya virus but they insisted I am only brewing a flu. My sister even get angry when I keep insisting that I have the mosquito virus, I think they can\’t accept the truth that I am sick.  I have never been sick this grave so I guess they have the perception that I am made of steel so they are on denial that I am indeed sick because at first, they wanted me to get up and do things like I usually do.

They knew that I never failed to attend church during Sunday so things sink in to them that I am really sick especially when I show them the rash that are developing, my mother even says they looks like measles rash. Anyway, I have asked my sister to buy paracetamol tablet for me I took it after they force me to eat lunch.

Chikungunya Virus Infection Symptoms & Treatment

Symptoms of Chikungunya usually begin 3–7 days after being bitten by an infected mosquito and below are some of the symptoms when you have the virus –

• The most common symptoms are fever and joint pain.
• Other symptoms may include headache, muscle pain, joint swelling, or rash.
• Chikungunya disease does not often result in death, but the symptoms can be severe and disabling.

When I took paracetamol my fever subsided but the pain in my feet and wrist still there so I research more about the virus and I have found out that there is no vaccine to prevent or medicine to treat chikungunya virus. All you can do is rest well, drink plenty of fluid and take paracetamol to reduce fever and pain.

The pain is really disabling, it feels like you just had a stroke. I experienced a lot of pain on my right leg and knee, I read somewhere that when you are sick with chikungunya virus it will ache a lot in the part of your body you had an injury, my right leg was hit by a motorbike in Jeju while crossing the street so imagine my horror when I can\’t walked and felt a severe pain on my right leg, I got so anxious and almost got panic thinking my feet will be cut.

On the second day of getting the mosquito virus my skin was quite dark, bit feverish and feet, legs, knees and wrist is still painful but I can move a bit.  I heard my younger aunt asked my mother if I am already well and what is my sickness because an older cousin has it too, he has red rashes all over his body but no fever.

On the next following days I was covered by red rashes that looks like minor burns and on the sixth day the rashes became worst  and when I was accidentally got wet by drizzling rain I felt itchy so I thought the rain drops were just so dirty so I took a bath and there I itched even more, I have thought again the water in our bathroom is dirty because it was so itchy that I don\’t know which part of my body should I scratched first, and there I found I have rashes all over me.  I dry myself immediately and pour lotion into my body and uses the ointment I have bought online for treating allergies, the itchiness wasn\’t that severe anymore.

My fever was gone after 2-3 days by taking paracetamol tablets, the pain didn\’t disappear right away.  When I wake up in the morning my joints felt so painful, even until today.

You know what is ironic? My mother who keep insisting I only have flu also got the chikungunya virus the after two days I had it, it was terrible when she had it because she suffered stroke a year ago and she was disabled for a day that my father didn\’t go to work so he can carry her.

Anyway, when I was a bit well and can go out I have found that an older cousin was sick too before us but they didn\’t know it was chikungunya because they just said he has a high fever, and less than a week after, another older cousin had it, I thought he didn\’t suffer a fever but he did actually before me.

Maybe if  we only knew that a cousin in the neighborhood had chikungunya infection we are able to do some prevention not to be infected as well.