Hot Topics
Healing Naturally
Stress is one of those constants that we all have in common, yet the type we experience and how our bodies and minds manage it is unique to each individual. Treatment varies, and when you have children, you must also identify the best ways to help them handle the stress in their young lives.
Expats in China have a unique opportunity to explore alternative ways to combat negative stress. Living here - where Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) originated – makes China a more credible source, especially if you’re a skeptic. Alternative choices include therapeutic massage and chiropractic care.
Traditional Chinese Medicine
If you’re familiar with yin and yang, then you’re familiar with the concept behind traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) – two things that appear to be polar opposites, but actually work together for the greater whole.
A Good Night’s Rest
I see a lot of adults and teens in the clinic who are chronically tired and have trouble both falling asleep and staying asleep. There are many reasons for sleep problems. Here are some common causes:
Stress and overwork. Many people lead stressful lives and cannot turn off their brain when they try to sleep. It is crucial to stop daytime-related activities at least two hours before bedtime, simply to allow your brain and body to relax.
Too much non-sleep activity in bed. It’s important not to spend hours in bed doing activities such as watching TV or playing computer games – which sets a bad pattern. It’s healthier to read, watch TV and use the computer in other rooms.
Stress Busters
Stress. We all have it; we often complain about it. Even the word itself generates an anxious reaction when you hear it. The American Institute of Stress states, “There has been no definition of stress that everyone accepts.” Knowing that it’s almost undefinable makes it difficult to measure and even harder to manage.
Winter Blues, Be Gone
December’s long nights and holidays are here, which may mean stress and depression for many. And some may have worsening symptoms, which is called seasonal affective disorder or SAD. This depression occurs only during the winter months, when the low amounts of sunlight affect circadian rhythms and lead to depression, which can often be severe. If you’re worried that it’s serious clinical depression, discuss it with your doctor.
Home Treatments
Not everyone who feels down needs to be given prescription medicine. Exercise is a great aid to lift many people out of their winter blues, and it also helps to manage stress. It usually takes at least three weeks of moderate exercising and at least three hours total each week before your brain’s chemistry starts to improve.
Your Local Apothecary
Every family should have a basic selection of medicines at home, but knowing what to stock up on in Beijing can be challenging – especially when it comes to the Chinese varieties sold in local pharmacies. Most are made from natural herbs and can be as effective as Western brands when properly applied. Here is a primer for some of the most common brands.
Eating Safely
Apart from air pollution, the hottest topic on my blog is always food safety in China. Newspapers cover the topic daily with the latest scandal, or a repeat of old scandals, and it’s a legitimate question to wonder what is safe to eat. As a doctor and a five-year veteran expat in Beijing, I’d like to share my tips.
Dairy Products: The most disgusting food safety scandal, by far, involved the contaminated infant formula in 2008 that killed six children and sickened 300,000 others, most with kidney disease. Unfortunately, since then, melamine has been discovered in a few dairy products, and thus all of China remains justifiably wary of the entire dairy industry.
Childhood Obesity
It’s no secret that children all over the world are putting on too much weight. In the US, an astonishing one out of three children are overweight or obese. Even in China, obesity rates for children are rising. Being overweight as a child can lead to many diseases as an adult, including heart disease, diabetes, arthritis, high blood pressure, and cancer. Also, overweight kids have lower self-esteem and higher risks for depression. So what can we do to stop this epidemic?
Necessary Protection
Parents in Beijing have many health questions, but one of the hottest topics is vaccinations. There are quite a few internationally standard vaccines, but there are also some Beijing-specific vaccines.
For routine vaccines, which start during childhood, most countries cover the same basics. If you are unsure if your vaccines are up-to-date, check your home country’s vaccination schedule. A typical problem with adults is that they may not know about adult boosters or new recommendations. For example, most need a tetanus booster every ten years. Also, many countries, including the US, are recommending a pertussis booster for adults. Fortunately, there’s Tdap, an easy combination booster for adults that combines tetanus and pertussis into one quick jab. Another common issue involves people who began their Hepatitis B vaccine series but never finished the three-shot series. It’s very important that people are fully vaccinated for this, as chronic HBV infections are a serious public health issue in China. Also, for all my patients, I recommend a vaccine against Hepatitis A. A combination HBV-HAV vaccine is most convenient.
Overly Defensive
How many parents, when they take their child to the doctor because of an ear infection or a cold, expect to get antibiotics? I’ve seen a fascinating variety of patients and illnesses during my ten years as a family medicine doctor, but the issue of antibiotic overuse never seems to end. Time after time, I have patients come in with common illnesses, and I often conclude that the patient has an infection from a virus and not a bacteria. Thus, I would not prescribe antibiotics and would give them mostly over-the-counter medicines to help their symptoms. Many people are reassured by my exam and explanation, but quite a few are disappointed or even angry because I didn’t fulfill their expectations of needing antibiotics. This is a very common cause of patient-doctor friction, especially among pediatricians and family medicine doctors when dealing with children.
A Mother’s Mission
It is no secret that services, facilities and therapists for special needs children in Beijing are woefully thin on the ground. Sitting opposite Jacqueline Chen at a Sanlitun café, you get a sense of just how desperate the situation really is. Chen is the mother of 4-year-old Eliott and 2-year-old Elizabeth. Although cognitively
on-target, Eliott was born prematurely with cerebral palsy at Beijing United Family Hospital.
Each time Chen described her disappointment at the neglected state of special needs care in Beijing (which was regularly) she rapped her fingers on the tabletop. While it’s obvious that Chen has had her share of roadblocks, her finger tapping punctuations were loudest when talking about how, with a small team of dedicated parents and therapists, she was going to succeed where others had failed.
