Your own 太医

Yes I am a hypochondriac but I still maintain that no one knows your body better than you, yourself. In other words you are your best doctor (for general ailment excluding major illnesses at least). Of course you need to find out information from a qualified medical doctor to come up with a diagnosis from the symptoms you are experiencing. However beyond that you have to do more research (thanks to the internet) to fully analyse whether the doctor's diagnosis/prognosis is accurate because he is coming to a conclusion based on his medical knowledge, past experience from treating a general population. He doesn't really understand your body constitution unless he spends at least half an hour or more listen to all the details which come to your mind describing your discomfort in various parts of your body.

So I had this persistent cough which the GP prescribed antibiotics because I had yellow phlegm and according to him there is a prevailing epidemic caused by bacteria and many of his patients coughed for weeks. That (if the information from my research is true) is myth number 1, the colour  of your phlegm does not indicate the presence of bacteria. Still being a hypochondriac I readily bore the side effects of the full course of antibiotics. The violent urge to cough died down and all seemed well until the cough recurred again. Fearing being subjected to another dose of antibiotics I went to a sinseh which did not help either. Meanwhile I began to notice the acid reflux problem which I used to have 2 years ago had started to resurface, meaning that the cough was worse at night when I lied down.

While lamenting about my nagging cough, my sister in law described a person who was so frustrated with her persistent cough that she threw caution to the wind and drank coconut water instead. In our Chinese upbringing, coconut water is a no no if a cough is the 'cool' type. Miraculously her cough suddenly went away. I thought it too high a risk to try. However when I was researching about GERD ( Gastroesophgeal reflux disease) I was dumbfounded to find that coconut water is one of the natural remedies because of its alkaline nature. So I immediately gave it a try and bingo I didn't have any cough throughout that night . So I went on to take daily drinks of coconut water and it seemed to work while I am still keeping my fingers crossed.

I found out from my research that a persistent cough can be caused by a post nasal drip from sinus or an acid reflux or both which seem to reinforce each other. Most GP will not ask you whether you have sinus or acid reflux. I suspect the lady who drank coconut water and had her cough cured was probably having a GERD problem which she herself was not aware (many suffers apparently are clueless they have this problem).

My contention is you are your own太医 (imperial physician) who takes cue from your body reaction to various diet and activities including the texture of your poo. You have to form your own opinion what best treatment to take from all the information gathered from doctors and otherwise.