TCM and Bitter medicine

My left ankle is still slightly swollen and it still hurts a little when I walk at certain angles. I remember a colleague in a department who is a TCM practitioner and volunteers at some free clinic, so I called him on Tues morning if he could take a look at my ankle when he was free. Before the end of the work day, I was in his cubicle with 3 needles poking into my ankle for 15 mins. The accupuncture did help to reduce the swelling a little. As I am comfortable to the sensation of the needle poking me when I donated my blood, the needles don't disturb me. My colleague said such swollen ankle is common. I told him I don't think other people are as clumsy as me. He said I have high tolerance of pain to only approach him then. Hee.

On Thurs, he prescribed me some Chinese herbs and for the first time, I visited a medical shop near my place to get the herbs and brew them that evening.


Angel was curious what I was doing in the kitchen :)
I think I downed about 400 ml of the bitter slightly sourish liquid and had to suck on 2 rock sugar immediately.

I'm not sure if it's psychological effect but I feel alert and good even though I have been only getting about 6 hours of sleep.

However, my ankle hurts a little more when I had to carry the carrier with the female cat I managed to lure into for sterilisation on Thurs evening. Mum helped me to brew the medicine and after drinking it, my ankle seems to feel a little better.

I was able to meet my dear friends yesterday for lunch, to do our hair and dinner because I wore my sports shoes which are comfortable and provide good support. However, my ankle acted up again when I collected the sterilised cat from the vet clinic just now. Mum was very nice to massage my ankle and after "awing" a few times, Mum managed to remove the tight painful knots and my ankle doesn't hurt as much.

I usually try to derive meaning when I have to undergo some kind of suffering. For this experience, I think it's just telling me that I'm not as young anymore and can't afford to fall! :) I also find TCM cool and I think it's great it could be an alternative way for me to explore when I fall sick or in pain. Come to think of it, the past few times when I was done with sore throat and cough, I went the TCM way and it have been effective.