Baby Coughing badly: What shld I do?

L

love_piglet

Member
Hi,
My bb is coughing badly and is affecting his sleep.Doc say he got bronchitis.He is having lots of phlegm and mucus. Doc place him on anti-boitics but it seems to cause him soft stools so mite have to stop it.We are using the nebulisation machine at hme 4X per day since fri but cough seems to b worse? Any advise on wat shld i do?follow-up wif doc is on tues.
 


Piggy,
how old is your bb now? My girl was admitted to hospital at 4 mths for bronchilitis too. The cough will not go off so quickly mainly because it's a virus infection. It will take a few days or even up to 2 weeks for the whole episode to subside. The nebuliser should help in relieving your bb with difficulty in breathing. If u think your bb has adverse reaction to the treatment given by PD, maybe u should bring your bb to KKH A & E immediately.
 
Thank u for your suggestion kikynss.Heard of pearl powder too but my mom say better not give my bb chinese medicine.
My bb is 1 year but he is preemie so considered 10 mths.His is born wif immature lungs.so i thnk he is more prone to all these stuff.Had stopped the anti-botics coz gave him real soft stools.He seem to cough mainly at nite.
I tot of bringing him to KK A&E oso but my hubby say monitor coz same as u he say mite take some time for medication to take effect.
Thanks gals
 
Hi Piggy,
I would advise you not to go to KKH A&E, they have many inexperienced doctors there and they like to admit your baby into the hospital for observation if they don't know what is wrong with your baby. I had bad experiences with them.

If it is really emergency, go to the 24 hour clinic at Mt Alvernia hospital. If not, then try to find a good PD to treat your baby.

My baby boy also had bronchitis, he was fine after using the nebuliser 2 times.
 
Hi tamarind,
actually i oso had bad experience wif KKH A&E which was during my pregnancy.
MY bb was seen by SBCC at GlenE.Seen doc 2X.follow-up tmr.Had been on nebuliser 4X a day since fri but still coughing and having phelgm...
So now thnking of alt solution if SBCC doc cant cure him.
 
maybe u could try bringing ur bb to see chinese doc, I can't rem which thread is it, they recommended a chinese physician, dun rem where liao.
Actually I feed my son with pearl powder when he's less than 1 mth old, think when's he 's 2 week old. He's 3 mth old now. I feed a little only, quite effective . You can get $10 portion, but ask the Med hall to divide it to 3 portion. Just mix with cooled boiled water and feed him.
 
Hi Piggy,
Try Dr Terence Tan in Mt Alvernia. He is recommended by other mommies in this forum. I have brought my baby boy to see him once for other problems. He is nice, even ask me to contact him by phone if I have any questions, don't need to go and see him. But the queue to see him is very long.
 
I'm also seeing Dr T. Tan. But his Q is always very long. sorry, i didnt know that KKH A & E has bad records. One mummy in the thread recom it though.

Just a question, does it mean that children who have recurring episodes of bronchilities mean they will get asthma?

kikynss,
Have u heard about ginseng powder? Someone told me is good. But yet to try it.
 
My baby was admitted to KKH when she was only 2 days old for diarrhoea. Everyday a different doctor came to see her, all young and inexperienced ones. Each doctor will then go through the medical records, and ask me the same questions everyday, so frustrating ! Each doctor then propose different kinds of treatments and tests everyday. My baby stayed in the hospital for 7 days for a simple case of diarrhoea.
Another time when she was a few months old, she vomitted like a merlion, and it was Sunday when the clinics were closed, so I brought her to KKH A&E, just want to make sure she is alright. Who knows they ask me to admit my baby again ! After one day, I insisted to bring her home. The doctor could not find anything wrong with my baby, and concluded that I did not know how to feed her properly !
Sorry for ranting here, but I am still very angry with KKH.
 
hi all, does the symptoms of your baby includes : dry cough and snorting ?

My baby nose sound blocked when he sleeps though he don't have to breathe through mouth.

I'm concern as he sounds as if he has a permanent mucus nose block at night.. thanks...
 
rayray, are u saying symptoms of bronchilities? When my girl had it, she started with dry cough and a runny nose. Then subsequently that's phlegm when she coughed. sometimes block nose could be due to temperature in the room.

tamarind,
the problem with gov hospital is all these MO and housemen. Rather pay a bit more to go private hospitals.
 
my girl used to hv alot of phelgm and western medication did not help. it always come back after we stopped the medication. Finally, we brought her to the ch physician whom I always consult with, n juz one bottle ok liao.
So nowadays, in fact, she contracted cough n flu from my sis and we juz brought her to the physician today...
ch medication is better to be given as prescribed by an experienced physician, not advisable to give, esp young babies without having a physician check on him/her(everyone of us is made up of diff body structure, thus not every herb, pearl powder, etc, is suitable and to feed anyone anyhow can be dangerous - even if suitable, the concern of how much to give is also a grave one)
 
Hi mummies,
my son is finally off the neubiliser after being 'tortured' by it for 1 week!wat a relieve!but he still having cough and a bit of phelgm so doc put him on ventolin and singulair.So long as no more neubiliser!Hmm...pearl powder seems to b qt highly recommended!mite try it!

rayray,
my son have sort of permanent block nose at nite so he is on zyrtec and nose drop most of the time.If your kid is still very young, it cld b due to the nose passage too small?or allegic to certain thngs?Chk wif ur PD?
 
piggy, my girl's PD also prescribed Zyrtec on top a couple of other medications to her but it didn't help very much or rather they helped abit but only for a while.
I cant rem which but one of it, after taking, the side effects is that the one will feel 'aggitated' which my girl experienced, I was worried as my girl was only few mths old then, so I called her PD and was advised to stop.
After a while on the western medicatin, the cough/blocked nose stopped but it always came back after I stop the medication... that's when I decided to bring her to the Ch Physician...
 
Hi mum05,
bb was ok for a while but these two days seems to have stuffy nose agn...ur girl feel aggitated ah?no wonder sometimes bb seems to have restless sleep...will c wat the doc say when we go for follow-up in 2 weeks.
 
can go to medical hall n buy Pearl powder with chuan bei. The staff will grind the pearl into powder form n add in chuan bei powder.Mix in water or milk.
last night my boy drank it and he slept very well(gd for sound sleeping also)
 
ya, she got aggitated abit. Was ok after we stopped e medication. Why dun u give e doc a call instead of waiting for another 2 wks?

It is actually better not to self-prescribe chinese herbs/powder. Not everyone(least bbs) can take it.

Now I bring her to a renowned ch physician at Thomson road when she's not well...
 
It helps to put a humidifier in the room when baby gets stuffy nose..helps to give more moisture in the room, especially when room is air-conditioned. I always turn on the humidifier when my baby gets a cold...Also put a few drop of Olba (available in pharmacy) to help relieve stuffy nose.
 
i also feel that giving pearl powder or chinese herbs may not be a good option as the baby body is still developing.

One of my relatives bought expensive herbs or tonics to feed her baby and ended high fever and died of complications.

If there are other alternatives to comfort a baby to sleep, it is wiser to try them instead. Soothing music or give baby sense of security all help.
 
Just to share with all mummies.
My boy has been having blocked nose and bad coughing with phlegm for two weeks and is not getting better even taking medicine from PD. Then his nanny introduced me to take this fruit powder from Nutrifresh and after taking for a few days, he gets well.
Any mummies interested, can email me at [email protected] for more details.
 
Is there anyone here?

hi mum05,

can u recommend the name and address of the Chinese phyisian to me?
 
Hi mum05,

Can you also recommend the chiese physian to me? My daughter have been sick for 8 weeks liao with flu,fever and cough, brochitis and asthma.


thanks a lot.
 
cincin: is your girl taking any antibiotics like Klacid? There's a mycoplasma epidemic going on now and many children are down with it. It is a strain of pneumonia virus, and is characterised by very violent spasms of coughs, phlegmy, chest pains from the violent coughing (so kid tends to cry), vomitting,fever. Usually prolonged for weeks if not treated.
 
hi Kris,

My boy has complained chest & tummy pain on Sunday & Monday and temperature went high and low on Sat evening till yesterday. Seen PD on Monday who said he has throat infection that caused the fever. He has been down with cough for slightly more than a month with thick muscus, phlegmy. Last nite, PD just given him the anitbiotic which I think is the one mentioned by u. PD said he is breathing fast so suggest to increase the ventolin puff from 3 times aday to every 4 hours for 24 hours.
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At first boy is coughing and flu for about 3-4 weeks, then suddenly one day he came back from playgroup with slight fever, 2 days later developed to high fever, really very lost. We sent him to GP on Sun after he complaint pain on chest and the GP said he could have caught with unknown virus thus fever and pain.

I am very upset now as he is not taking his food well and refuses milk totally
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Why do u mentioned about Klacid?
 
2hot: Klacid (same for adults and children above 6 months)is the antibiotic that's given when mycoplasma is suspected. Actually the only way to determine if it's mycoplasma is thru either blood test or chest x-ray (I think). It's hard to get rid of mycoplasma, and it spreads fast. My 2 girls are also down with it now. My older girl is on ventolin and flixotide puffs but she has improved tremendously from the horrid hacking cough of last week.

Maybe your boy is refusing food and milk cos his throat is sore from all the coughing? My little girl is practically living on soup now as she too is refusing food. But lucky for me she loves clear soup.

I think your boy has hypersensitive airways? (Like my older girl) Do you give him any chinese herbs like cordyceps or ginseng? I find that these really helped me girl.
 
btw, if your boy's on Klacid and starts to have diarrhoea you can give him probiotics or let him drink Yakult/Vitagen (at room temperature) thru the day. Antibiotics kill all bacteria in the gut, including the good ones, and so sometimes cause loose stool in children (and even adults). It's usually just an inconvenient sied effect and really probiotics will help a a lot. BUT they must be taken at least 4 hours apart.
 
Hi kris,

I used to give childlife colostrum w probiotics to be added into his milk but now he is not taking any single drop of the milk at all, so couldnt find ways to pump in the probiotic
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How do u give probiotic to ur girl? Do u give both probiotic and vitagen/yalkult or just either one for the day?

I have forcing boy to drink as much water as he can. Wat kind of soup and can u share?

Yes, he has very sensitive airway. I have not given any chinese herb except from TCM which he has rejected totally...really bohpian...can u share how to give cordyceps or ginseng ? My mum told me to give ginseng but worried about heatiness since he has already got fever...

My boy has been puffing since last Sun and more cough yesterday and fast breathing and that's y pd suggested to increase puffing. How long do u have to puff for your girl? I am so worried about brochitis and asthma, eventhough I am not too familiar with them at all
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Do your girl attending childcare? I am considering to stop playgroup for time being, wat do u think?

Really at lost about the virus thingy, pls share more with me, thks. Pls excuse me for my message as it looked quite messy cos I am really feeling very upset
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btw my boy's temper seems to be very quick, get aggitated very easily, wonder is it caused by the ventolin?
 
Kris:

May I ask is your girl suffering from fever when she is down with this mycoplasma? If yes, how long does she take to recover? How high is the temperature? Btw is it that her doc gave her ventolin and flixotide puffs only when she is down with mycoplasma? My boy is giving b4 the virus attacked, as GP heard wheezing sound due to his blocked nose and phlegmy cough. How are both of your girls improving from this mycoplasma now? My boy is very resistant to the Klacid, so even we give him other than Klacid, he also rejects them altogether.

Did your doc suggest to stop the dairy product since the Klacid is causing loose stool?

Abt the cordyceps and ginseng, is it to give only after recovering from the illness? Can u share how to give them to kids?

Label on the bottle of the Childlife probiotics suggests to give half a teaspoon a day, your suggestion for 4 hours apart is it only applied when taking Klacid? May I know wat brand of the probiotic u r giving to your girl?

Sorry, too much questions for u..but really hope u would find some times for me, thks.
 
My daughter was having fever and it shot up 40.2 that we took her to kkh a&e in the mid night, dr says her throat is red and sore. Unable to collect any urine from as she dun drink, we went back after few hours of waiting. She vomit twice without any reason. that increase my worried. Could it be stomach or the pneumonia virus as what you said. My girl haven go on the pneumonia vaccine, will it be very serious if her problem persist, what can i do? Im very worried now.
 
cincin: Has your girl been vaccinated against rotavirus? Whatever is the problem the most urgent thing to take care of is prevent dehydration. How old is she? If she is abt 1 yr old you can consider giving her pedialyte oral rehydration pops. They are like ice lollies and children tend to like them. Otherwise you prob have to consider syringing water into her mouth. Dun hesitate to bring her back to A&E upon sig of dehydration - lethargy, sunken eyes, dry lips and mouth, little or no urine output, sunken fontenal (for very young children).

2hot: I can completely understand your frustrations. I give my girls Reutefene probiotics in tablets form. It's a lemony tasting tablet so it's like a sweet and my girls take to them quite well. Reutefene also comes in liquid form and you only need to drop a few drops of it into any liquid. There's no taste or smell to it as far as I know. You can get it from the GP or PD. When my girl spits out the Reutefene tablet half eaten I will give Vitagen. Basically it's ok to keep giving Vitagen the entire day cos at their age they dun really drink all that much.

As for giving cordyceps and ginseng, I double boil the cordyceps and serve to my girls once a week AFTER they have recovered and I taper that down to once a fortnight when they seem to be completely fine. I do this for about 2 months after their illness. The same goes to ginseng. I actually find that my girl's immunity improved after I started her on the ginseng. I use only 1 small stalk of it for a small bowl of soup. One thing we need to take note of in giving chinese herbs is that we should give only when they are generally well and have NO FEVER.

As for mycoplasma, my older girl is almost perfectly well now and I just need to carry on with the puffs for about a week or 2. I've been withholding putting her on the puff even though the pd suggested it much much earlier but gave in this time as I feel that she really is in distress and giving a low dose of inhaled steroids beats taking a high dose of oral steroids any day. My younger girl is not responding to Klacid (she ran a high fever last nite) and she's now on Augmentin instead, so they really may have different viruses after all. And no, the doc did not suggest withholding dairy products when the girls are having loose stools as a side effect of antibiotics, but I choose to half their milk strength as giving thick milk seems to increase their phlegm.

The 4 hours apart between Klacid and probiotics applies to ALL antibiotics, not just Klacid alone. maybe you wanna consider switching to Reutefene drops, afterall, it's only a few drops you need to give? Again, it's dependant on the age of your boy lah. Btw, Klacid tastes BAD, which is why most children dun like to take it.
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Kris, My girl is 14 mth old having brochitis at age of 2 mth and asthma after that. Brochitis have been attcking her almost every month. she on the puff 4 hrly for 8 weeks. I have been giving colostrum and vitmain c for abt 2 weeks and i dun see any improvement on her immunity.(probably becos she's still sick).Too sad to say She din had any rotavirus vaccine as we really had no chance to give her any vaccination as she's sick every mth. I really so loss, don't know what i can really do to bring her health back.
 
cincin: I can imagine how you must be feeling. I remember the 1st time my 1st girl fell ill I was so worried I lost 3kg in 2 days! (But secretly I was very happy for myself! Kekeke..)

I'm not a doctor so I can't really comment on whether or not she may have contracted a stomach virus, but since she is already 14 months you can try giving her the pedialyte pops. You can buy them from Guardian Pharmacy. They come in 2 forms, the pops which you need to freeze and serve like ice cream, or a bottle of liquid which the kid needs to drink. I give both my girls Nordic Natural's Omega3-6-9 Complete on top of Vitamin C daily. The Omega3-6-9 really does seem to build up the immunity and it also improves skin conditions like eczema. Personally I have seen the improvements in my older girl who has been on it for almost 2 years. I'm starting my younger girl on it. It is ok for 14 month olds to take the oil, they only need 2.5ml a day, but it'll take abt 8 weeks for you to see any improvements. And maybe you really should consider giving some cordyceps?
 
cincin

do u happen to have pets at home? try to keep the air as dust free as possible. I have been diffusing Belair oil for my son since his first ever bronchitis attack last June.. so far so good.
 
cincin: just to share...

My boy has stomach flu back on Jan this year. He puked many times in a day which I dunno why until I eventually brought him to NUH. Only then, I realised he is down with stomach flu. However, your gal's symptom doesnt sound to me like stomach flu since she is having throat infection.


Kris: thanks for sharing..

Like to check w you about the fever: how long till now your younger girl has started with the fever? Mine around 1 week now since last Friday. Am checking caused worried of the prolonged fever he has. Last evening his fever up to 39+, am wondering after I go for second opinion.

As for cordyceps and ginseng: how much do u use to boil the cordyced? Why not powder form? Wat other ingredients to add to the soup for boiling ginseng and cordyceps? At wat age can we start these cordyceps and ginseng? My boy is 28 mths now.

Ya..i will go and get the Reutefene probiotics, but wonder is it same as the childlife colostrum w probiotics? How much is the Reutefene probiotics? Else vitagen..I will do that too, since boy refuses milk entirely, no harm giving him other supplementsK btw some ppls told me vitagen/yakult will cause phlegm, is it true?

As for mycoplasma: may I know why your girl has to go for the puff? My boy is on puff becos GP heard him wheezing and have been coughing and flu for a month or so. He runs into fever only after he has been puffing for a week, went to GP again who said he might have some unknown virus but never give antibiotic until we sent boy to pd on the third day with fever still running high.. Anyway, pd only mentioned that he has throat infection thus giving him the Klacid. No one mentioned to me about the name of the virus Btw do u know how long can we stop puffing? Pd told me to continue for 6 months with initial intensive treatment. Is that the same as your pds instruction?

So your younger girl has stopped Klacid entirely? Tot we have to complete the full course of antibiotic? Is Augmentin antibiotic? How do u give Klacid? My boy screams and yell when I hold the syringe near him, cried out loud when I forced down the anti.. really heartpain..

I am upset like cincin struggling what can we can do to bring our kids health back..
 
Kris,2hot, thanks for your advise to me. will try the cordyceps after she recover.

Fun, My house doesn't have any pet. Btw why did you get the diffusing Belair oil, how is it like?the cost?

thanks for sharing
 
Fun: I am thinking of that too! but just dunno what brand is most effective? plus also worried that eventually if the air is too clean, would it be another problem when going out like to another countries?

Btw. how does the diffusing Belair oil work?
 
I just chk with eu ren seng's sales lady abt my son not sleeping well, she suggested 'Ba Bao San' and i also ask her abt pearl powder isit good for stablising nerves, she ask my bb gal or boi, she said if boi, dun give pearl powder.

Just for yr info
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Belair

Currently Belair website is down, i tried Belair cos my frd intro to me. so fair so good lor.. I recently bought eucalyptus oil for my boi.. its for improving respiratory system and boost immune system.
 
2hot: My little girl's fever lasted for about 2 days. maybe you can give the pd a call and speak to him about your concern over the prolonged fever? Something's not quite right if the fever has been going on for a week! I speak to my pd over the phone whenever there're any concerns.

My little girl is 22 months now and I started giving her cordyceps and ginseng after her 1st birthday. But of cos at that age I gave only 2 tablespoon of the soup. Now she takes half a small bowl though she always asks for more.

This is how I make the cordycep/ginseng soup -

Ingredients:
1. Abt 5-6 pieces (average ones, not the fat fat ones) of cordyceps or 1-1.5 stalks of ginseng
2. 1 piece 4cm lean pork
3. 10 seeds of wolfberries
4. 1-2 red dates (seedless)
If using ginseng I also add:
5. 2 rolls of shihu (to neutralise the heatiness)

Instructions:
1. Blanch the lean pork
2. Rinse all herbs
3. Place all ingredients into a double boiler and fill with hot water (abt 1 small rice bowl or less)
4. Place pot into slow cooker filled with hot water that rises to half of pot's height, leave to double boil for 6 hours.
5. Serve only soup and wolfberries with dash of soya sauce or without any seasoning.

The amount I've given above actually makes enough soup for both my girls as they should only be drinking a small amt, e.g., half a small bowl.

Reutefene: this is expensive though I can't recall the price right now. I've never tried other probiotics as my pd is the one who recommended it based on taste and effectiveness. As for phlegm from Vitagen so far that does not seem to have happened with my girls leh, and such drink are really good for children's digestive system leh.
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Mycoplasma: My older girl (turning 4 yrs on Monday) has hypersensitive airways and she used to come down with a cough every month. eventually with the Omega3-6-9 Complete and all the herbs it became once every 2-3 months. So though the pd had always suggested that I put her on the puff I've been resistant and my pd respects my decision. So together my pd and I have been trying to put her on as little medication as possible. But this time it is really bad and I've never seen her cough so badly before. The treatment was either oral steroids or inhaled steroids and I felt inhaled steroids is way better due to the much much lower dose compared to if it were given orally. Steroids have a multitude of side effects and I dun want her to be exposed to steroids if I can help it. Knowing my concerns, my pd decided to put my girl on what is known as 'rescue therapy' in which my girl uses the puff only when she has a bout of cough. Once she recovers I will take her off the puff. However you need to note that my girl is on Ventolin puff (not steroid) as well as Flixotide puff (this is the steroid). I can just take her off teh Ventolin the moment she is well but because Flixotide is a steroid I have to taper the dose when I withdraw it from her. Sudden withdrawal of long steroid therapies can be very dangerous.

Klacid: This is an antibiotic that's prescribed for mild to moderately severe infections of the respiratory system which includes chronic bronchitis and community acquired pneumonia. When one is on the right type and dose of antibiotics there should not be any flares of fever. A fever signifies an infection and so when one develops a fever while on antibiotics you should speak to a doctor and get the person assessed again to see if the antibiotics need to be changed. My little girl's antibiotics has been changed to Augmentin as it's possible that she caught a secondary infection from some other children.

My little girl is terrible with taking medication and I have to disguise it in milk. For strong and bad tasting medication like Klacid I give each dose separated into 2 small milk feeds. Other types of med like oral ventolin and rhinaramine I will just mix all into milk and she will drink cos she can't tell the difference. When she was slightly younger (a few months ago) or even now when I really do need to force feed her med, I will mobilise maid and hb to hold her and I will syringe into her mouth 1.5ml at a time. Anymore than that and she is sure to gag, cry and vomit everything out. I'm basically quiet a cruel mommy, if the medicine has to go down it HAS TO GO DOWN. Even if it's gonna take me 1 hour to get all the med into her body, I will. :p No need to be heartpain, it is for her own good! At this age they are unreasonable, and frankly BEYOND reason anyway, so just do what you've gotta do.
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Oh, and if you dun see ANY improvement or very little improvement 3-4 days after the antibiiotics, it is definitely time to visit the pd again.
 
Finally I found back this thread couldnt find it
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thks Kris. btw. how r your girls now?
I have asked my Chinese physician and she doesnt encourage kid to take herbs leh..She only suggests "Si Shen".
I have saved the recipe for future. May I know how to buy the cordycep and ginseng? any grade or origin to consider?

cincin: how r u getting?
 
2hot:
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My girls are fine now.
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Actually my chinese physician and my pd both encourage children taking herbs like Cordycep.

To buy cordycep you should get those that have a 'fat' body. There is no need to get those v high end type. Just a mid range one will do. If you go to Eu Yan Sang or Hock Hua they will be able to advise you on both cordycep and ginseng. Pple say cordyceps from Qing Hai is the best, but I usually will settle for the mid range one.
 
Kris: I dun have double boiler. Can I just use slow cooker? and wat is shihu?
Why do u not giving the ready powdered cordycep huh?
 
Hi all,

Phew...My kids are fine now after two month of flu and cough and the bonchitis. Im giving them Vitamin C and colostrum from GNC. Doing fine...
but i haven start on the codycep.
 
2hot: If u have a very small slow cooker then can use the slow cooker itself, but if your slow cooker is big then v hard to cook just for one or even two small kids.

As for cordyceps powder, I was a bit stupid (that was abt 2 years ago) then and didn't know abt cordycep powder. Now I have a bottle but I hardly use it, somehow I feel using the herb by itself and boiling for hours would release more medicinal benefits. Hee..

Shihu (sounds like 'ten fox' in chinese) looks like ropes. Er.. not very helpful I know. :p I also dunno what it's called in English, but you can go to the medicinal hall and ask them to show you some.
 
hi cincin,

Thanks for the update and great to hear that your kids are doing fine now
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Kris: is pao-sen same as ginseng? Wow! just realise the cordycep is soooo X le....
 


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