Just go and see Dr Anantha to check you out properly for a second opinion,
regardless of how you are next week.
His charges won't be very high, and his assessment would be well worth it.
I don't know his consultation fees these days, but the last few times I saw him
maybe five years ago, it was just about $ 35. He's also very considerate, and
asked me if I wished to buy the medication he prescribed for me outside, since
the cost would obviously be higher at the in-house pharmacy.
After that, you could always follow up with him on this, or any other future
problems. He's really an experienced and reassuring surgeon.
He's the surgeon I should have gone to in December 2004 for the cellulitis infection
at the bottom of my left big toe, but my elder brother took me to Sunway instead
because it was nearer, where an orthopedic surgeon, Lee Chong Meng, did an
extremely painful I & D (incision and drainage) surgery on it to drain out an abscess
there. I was left hopping about for two months with a one and a half inch OPEN
wound there, which looked like a huge gunshot wound.
I also saw Anantha to assess that after I came out from Sunway.
I intend to see him one of these days too, for this persistent pain on the right side
of my right lung, after the chest drain for the pleural effusion done by my schoolmate,
Yap Boon Hung, in November 2011.
You may have fecal impaction. You can't be drinking too much fiber as I said.
You'll just be causing more stools to form inside with no means of pushing it out.
It's like pouring more rubbish down a clogged drain.
And what do you think will happen if the opening of the drain has narrowed too,
as with rectal stenosis ? How are you going to push it out a pencil-thin opening ?
There are two main types of laxatives :
1. Bulking agents, which is fiber. Lactulose and probiotics would also cause more
bulk (and gas) to form, but without any assistance of peristaltic effect.
2. Peristaltic agents, which stimulate your colon to propel out the stools.
Senna, bisacodyl, sodium picosulfate.
The elderly, for example, need the second type, because their colon have become
immotile with age.
Obviously you won't become dependent on artichokes. It's just a vegetable.
It stimulates bile movement from your gallbladder, which accounts for the
yellowishness of the stools passed out.
Thus it is not recommended if you have bile stones, because the flow of bile
may cause the stone to move and get stuck at the bile duct opening. I have
long wanted to give it to my father, but was afraid this might happen because
I know he has a small stone in there, from an ultrasound done at Tung Shin
about 15 years ago.
In a sense, it is also a bulking agent, causing the formation of more stools, but
safer than fiber, which just attracts water to the stools, causing them to swell up,
which are obviously going to make things worse if your colon is obstructed
with fecal impaction, or stenosis at the end of the rectum.
35 only? That's really cheap because I understand at very least the consultation alone is 60 or above.
I went to Dr Lim today. He inserted finger and moved around but there's no pain, so it means no stenosis. Just swelling and (unfortunately) I was given Daflon again for the swelling. Plus the Daflons I got from KPJ and Mediviron, I think I have half year supply already if I eat 2 each day. Luckily my Guarantee Letter is still in effect, so I don't have to pay. The swelling causing the urgency to move my bowel.
I am trying prunes now despite the experience with cramps from it. If possible, I am trying to swear off whatever packaged fiber or laxatives cause I read somewhere in lowyat, a girl depending on a certain supposedly natural laxative/fiber (based on her doctor recommendation) and ended up with very inactive colon. She had to remove part of her colon. Prunes seemed to bring a little diarrhea effect on me so I'm going to cut down on it (yesterday I ate around 6-7 pieces of them). If still having diarrhea from it, I may move on to try figs. I am a bit worry to try out the artichoke since you mentioned it's not recommended for ppl with bile stone. I don't think I have bile stone, but since I've never got there checked, I'll never know for sure.
The bad news is, I have developed a skin tag and I may probably have to live with it for the rest of my life. I am very saddened by this, because the first week after the surgery, the place where the hemorrhoid used to be, was healing fine, no tags nothing. I thought I had got rid of that ugly irritating thing for life!
As for the sensitive skin there, no one seemed to be able to give me a solution. I think I may try natural healing like some i read on other pages - to restore the PH balance for the skin down there and see if anything works. Any idea where can I buy PH litmus paper?
Sentosa Medical Center is now KPJ Sentosa (as I searched online)? Does he has clinic outside? Can't find Dr Anantha in the list of General Surgeon.
Did you ever fully recover from the cellulitis drainage you did? My friend did such drainage before 5 years ago, and never really recover from that. He ended up couldn't stay on any job for long (as he can't walk much). Every time he work for a few weeks, the symptom came back and he has to resign and rest at home. I feel very bad for him.