Beware of Herbal Basic TCM Clinic

supperdad

New Member
All parents please beware of Herbal Basic TCM located at 727 Havelock Road. My son age 4.5 years old has health history of bronchitis and sensitive nose. On 23 Jan 2017, the childcare center called to inform us that my son is running a fever 38.2 C and was slightly coughing too. We brought him to Herbal Basic clinic for his conditions to be treated. On the way to the clinic, I gave my son Paracetamol to relieve his fever (to prevent him from running a high fever as his temperature was already 38.2 C). When the TCM physician knew I gave my son Paracetamol, she scolded me for giving my son medicine as it would suppress his fever. However, I told the physician that my son's fever was 38.2 C an hour ago. The TCM physician firmly told us not to give my son any western medicine as she would use TCM treatment (bio-light to treat fever and cough and nose spa to treat cough only), my son was having sore throat as well. The bio-light treatment required 3 conservative days for my son to be at the clinic.

The physician told us that my son may cough badly during day 1 night and or day 2 night which is common for bio-light treatment and she told us only give one dosage of Paracetamol and use the TCM massage oil (to treat cough) at night.

Day 2 (24 Jan) - My son still having fever (his temperature fluctuate between 37.5 to 38.5 C), his cough and sore throat didn't get better. The physician told us children having fever for 3 days no need to be worry, no need to give western medicine as their young body is fighting with the infection. That is the way to build the child's immune system so that he can be stronger and not fall sick easily in future. However, I told her that my son was coughing very badly (almost every few seconds cough) in the night and all family members can't sleep well. After hearing this, she told us to give 1 dosage of cough mixture to my son at night (day 2) to relieve his cough so that all of us can sleep. We listened to her instruction (and continue to give 1 dosage of Paracetamol at 2nd night as my son still has fever).

Day 3 (25 Jan) - My son's conditions still no improvement and his fever 38.7 C in the late morning. We brought him back to the TCM clinic and the physician examined my son's throat and nose, used stethoscope to check his chest and back and said no wheezing sound when breathing and his lung was fine. His conditions haven't developed into bronchitis yet. But she said that since there was no improvement after three days of bio-light and nose spa treatment, she suggest we send our son to consult a western doctor for antibiotics. She acknowledged that my son's conditions had worsen (by then his fever was 39.2 C) and the TCM clinic will close on 26 Jan due to Lunar New Year and open only on 31 Jan. The TCM clinic can't continue to treat my son's conditions to full recovery.

On that afternoon, we brought my son to see a pediatrician at a hospital as he may need a blood test. The pediatrician used stethoscope to examine his chest, she could hear that my son was breathless and suspected his lungs got problems and ordered for a blood test, urine test and x-ray for my son. She diagnosed my son having lungs and throat infections (based on blood test results) and phlegm were found trapping in his lungs (based on x-ray results). The pediatrician told us that my son needs to be admitted to hospital immediately for treatment. She questioned us what took us so long to seek medical attention because his conditions were not developed over just one night. We told her about the TCM treatment over the last 3 days and she confirmed there is no scientific proof on using bio-light to treat fever and cough. My son was warded on 25 Jan late afternoon and on the same night his fever shot to 40.2 C.

26 Jan - Till today my son is still having high fever 39.6 C and is treated in the hospital. We as parents have diligently bring my son to the TCM clinic for treatment, trusted the physician and willing to be scolded by her during consultation. The TCM physician gets to enjoy her Lunar New Year and my son (including us as parents) have to spent our Lunar New Year in the hospital.

We learnt our lesson hard at the expense of my son's health. We hope to share our experience with you so that you can avoid what we had went through in our TCM journey and by the way TCM treatments do not come cheap.
 
Dear Supperdad,

We are sorry to hear that your child had to spend his Chinese New Year at the hospital.

There seems to be some misconception about the treatments administered in our clinic hence we would like to take this opportunity to clarify these misconceptions and share some pointers to all readers in this forum.

On Jan 23, your child was diagnosed with vigorous coughing, blocked and runny nose, as well as, fever. Hence, the following treatments were prescribed:

· Bio-Light Cough Therapy (BLC) – To enhance the penetration of cough medication to relief cough and expel the phlegm from the body.
· Herbal Inhalation Therapy (HIT) – To treat his nasal symptoms and prevent post-nasal drip which may pose to worsen his cough.
· Fever Relief Therapy – Combining TCM Pediatric Massage with ‘Cupping’ and ‘Gua Sha’ to clear internal heat and relief fever.

Our Physician specifically informed you that BLC requires minimum 3 consecutive treatment sessions, and may extend to 5 or 7 sessions, depending on the development and condition of the patient. She also advised you that in between the treatments, the patient may appear to be coughing more, due to phlegm being expelled from the body.

Being natural therapies, treatment results may vary subject to certain external factors such as, diet, weather, activities, etc. It was noted that after heavy rain on the night of Jan 23, there wasn’t much improvement on your child’s condition, and therefore, on Jan 24, our Physician prescribed another round of Fever Relief Therapy to your child, in addition to the BLC and HIT.

We fully understood your concern about your son’s persistent fever. Therefore, on Jan 25, as your child’s fever had not dissipated, our Physician advised you to send your child to hospital for a blood test as the cause could be due to bacterial infection, which could be treated with antibiotics. Under normal circumstances, our Physician would prescribe another course of BLC in conjunction with the western medication to speed up the recovery (we had similar cases before and patients recovered in 6 sessions of BLC). Unfortunately, our clinic is closed the next day for CNY, and we regrettably missed the chance to continue treating your child till full recovery.

It’s important to note that fever by itself is not an illness – it’s usually a symptom of an underlying problem. How high a fever is does not indicate the severity of the illness that is causing the fever.

According to the U.S. medical studies, suppressing children’s fever at early stage may in fact extend the illness. Hence, it is out of good intention that our Physician questioned and advised you not to give your child fever medication so soon as 38.2°C is not considered harmful. On the contrary, giving medicine too early could deprive the child’s immune system the chance to ‘fight’ and negatively impacting the child’s health.

We also would like to clarify that we do not use Bio-Light to treat fever in our clinic. Bio-Light is used to complement cough treatment due to its ability to enhance the penetration of herbal ointment into the body. The treatment effect for cough comes from our cough ointment and not the device itself. Bio-Light Cough Therapy is one of the most popular treatments in our clinic since its introduction in Year 2012, and 70% of the patients require only 3 sessions of BLC to treat their cough, without oral medication.

Incidentally, we note that you have been bringing your child to our clinic for his allergic rhinitis condition on a regular basis since mid 2016 (more than 20 times); we would hope that this is testament to the efficacy of our treatment or we wouldn’t have been honoured with your extended patronage.

We regret to learn of your dissatisfaction in your recent visit, as we always strive to do our best for each and every patient. We hope your child has recovered well.



[References on children fever]:

“Fever in and of itself is not harmful. Even more than that, it can actually be helpful since it prompts the body to churn out more infection-fighting white blood cells. Because fever decreases the ability of viruses and bacteria to reproduce, it can actually shorten the duration of an illness.” ………. - Journal Pediatrics

“It is generally very helpful for kids to get robust fevers, as it signals a strong immune response which can quickly eliminate pathogens (the bad bugs). A fever isn’t intrinsically dangerous until it reaches 108° F (42°C), as that is the point at which brain damage can occur.” ………. - NaturopathicPediatrics.com

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/health/news/8351085/Parents-warned- against-giving-paracetamol-and- ibuprofen-for- mild-fever.html
 

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