TCM is abbreviation for traditional chinese medicine.
though 'scientific' and 'holistic' therapies each have their merits - i have to strongly caution that unregulated medicine will have adverse effects if the maker uses unscrupulous means, ie - the use of steroids in the medication + 'tradtional herbs'... unwary patients will feel better & credit it to the 'traditional supplements' they are taking - unaware its actually the steroids used by the unscrupulous vendor that is making them feel better - but comes at a great cost to their long term health. imagine sum1 powdering ponstan with neem leave powder & prescribing it 2 u as a 'natural pain killer'.

thats the actual danger here - use of unregulated/dangerous medicines & supplements that will have a temp beneficial impact, but an adverse/irreversible long term impact.

even certain unscrupulous private clinics here with their license to make their own medicine do this unscrupulous practice. patients keep flocking back to them because they feel great... until they get organ failure from long time use

it would be best for you to source the base ingredients & make the herbal remedies urself. best to skip any tauted pills, elixirs, etc... just ask for the ingredients list & dosage frequency when consulting the TCM practicioner, go to TCM shop & they will provide all the ingredients stated. u can then make the actual product urself & have peace of mind that ur not risking/further jeopardizing ur child's health.

do note also that certain TCM medicine will clash with certain conventional medication. this pairing will cause adverse effects. there was an article in star newspaper few months back of the dangerous conbos - pls look it up online.

re skin prick test - slightly odd no mention of it yet. it would have been one of the top tests as its easy to do & is very wide spectrum. maybe inquire about it with them as to why they think it may not be of relevance.

re extended periods - to be clear = i mean days, not hours. if he feels fine days out of the house = triggering event could be the house. ex: toxic mould, dust mites, etc. which comes to my next clarification...

re journal - to clarify, the journal should state things like all his meals, time he ate, amount; log of when his fever started/ended, what medications taken when & what time, dosage frequency; bowel movements - visually check each time consistency, colour, etc;  what physical interactions he had (exercise, play with pet, climb tree etc) & anything else pertinent. if all goes well - a patterns should emerge > maybe certain foods are triggers (gluten, shellfish, dairy, food poisoning,etc), maybe a plant/tree he plays with is the trigger (poison ivy, pollen/hay fever, poisonous sap/latex, etc), maybe interaction with an animal is the trigger (CSD @ cat scratch fever, animal dander (you dont have to have a pet - even a neigbours pet 4 houses away can cause issues, also if you have animal skin/fur/feather products at home - its the same thing. even that that innocuous peacock feather decoration or chicken feathers duster may be to blame). using these methods have sucessfully identified instances where it was discovered that the fabric softener/detergent was causing issues, the saliva of the pet hamster was to blame & even the neighbours vibrant flower garden next door was causing issues (high pollen count & heavy pesticide use)... so due to so many variables - a journal detailing is day to day ongoings will help pinpont whats causing the issue. it might even be a dirty/clogged air con filter to blame or dust mites.

pls take wateva i say wid a pinch of salt - & wateva ever1 else says too. good intentions should be tempered with cautious forewarning against rushing into any course of action.

as i'm still noob, i have to shotgun my posts with as much info as can due to my daily post limit, hence i'm jam packin so much here. so, kindly bear that in mind when readin my loooong posts. hope this helps you.

i'm afraid ur generalising.

firstly, not ALL do.

next, pls refer my post - even private clinics helmed by multiple certified MD's are doing unethical practices like adding steroids into their medications... what oversight is the lesser conventional tcm industry subject to? realistically minute.

malaysian legal framework does not come into the equation of TCM offerings as it relates to the content of their offerings. pls show me which MoH subsidary vetts ALL their offerings for ALL tcm practiconers?

having a medical degree does not make one immune to unethical/misinformed behavior. anyone can literally prescribe a combination of 'herbs' for any ailment & cover themselves under the guise of being a alternative therapy practitioner.

i would take a heavily regulated medical industry anyday over promising, but yet nouveau & semi/unregulated emerging medical alternatives.

rule no 1 - do no further harm.

its seems u have bias & are making subjective statements with only anecdotal evidence.

worse, u seem to have missed my point/objective completely despite having 'read' the 'long' post.

worse still, u were selectively cherry picking statements & twisting it to adhere to ur (erroneous) narrative - even then, u got it wrong. no quoting of actual hard facts to back up ur claims & a seeming disregard of the objective way my points were put forth (neither pro or against, just cautioning wateva course of action to be taken). ur statements are so filled with erroneous generalizing, over simplifications, outright misquotes, etc that it would take too long to actually address each of them, even if i was so inclined.

and your statements 'to chill', etc come across as being condescending. forums are meant for exchanging ideas/viewpoints objectively. being threatened when ur view is challenged & resorting to anecdotal statements and personal attacks is unscientific.

here are my hard and verifiable facts:

for every this >
http://tcm.moh.gov.my/en/

https://www.thestar.com.my/opinion/letters/...d-out-in-phases

there are also this >
https://www.malaymail.com/news/malaysia/201...n-leave/1100841

https://www.forbes.com/sites/stevensalzberg...e/#24f6cdbf6418

https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamesconca/201...r/#273708685bd3

... to counter ur anecdotal 'evidence', 3 data backed paragraphs from the above are of particular note:

1) "the major motivation for TCM is money:

"[China] has been aggressively promoting TCM on the international stage both for expanding its global influence and for a share of the estimated US$50-billion global market.""

2) "Critics view TCM practices as unscientific, unsupported by clinical trials, and sometimes dangerous: China’s drug regulator gets more than 230,000 reports of adverse effects from TCM each year."

3) "As the Nature article points out, TCM has been a scam for decades: it was revived and heavily promoted in China by former dictator Mao Zedong, who didn't believe in it himself, but pushed it as a cheap alternative to real medicine. I won't go over that again here, but see these stories from Alan Levinovitz in Slate and David Gorski at Science-based Medicine."

... so recommending alt therapies vs conventional ones should come with a HUGE caveat - it is def riskier due to the lax regulations and untested long terms effects. I MAKE NO MENTION WHATSOEVER OF ITS EFFICACY - thats not my concern.

with that said, this will be my last post here. i'm not inclined to waste my limited post allotments debating biased/close mindedness further.
   
original objective was to aid a parent in distress - i believe ts has enough prelim info to objectively decide next course of action. can pm me if want referral to a qualified pediatrician. i will not be further visiting this topic. gecmis olsum.