Photo by Adam Nieścioruk on Unsplash

Seronegative arthritis

Witness : Dr. Ma Huilian  (former director of the Surgical Department in St. Martin De Porres Hospital)

Symptoms : Seronegative arthritis

Three Miracles Changed My Life by Dr. Ma Huilian 

Magic Needle, Indeed Magic

                                                         (Three miracles can change the world (selected from movie The Saint)

By the end of October 2003, I felt pain in my left buttock, and from then on my life entered into darkness. All nine joints have hurt eversince, with only my left hand still healthy. This April, my friends introduced me to Doctor Wen and after taking the acupuncture therapy, now I feel much better in my joints.

Let me introduce my disease first, which is a really painful sickness. Even though I am a doctor as well, I have never heard about seronegative arthritis before I suffered this disease. It was a kind of autoimmune disease, which caused dropsy, tumefaction and pains in my big joints, thus affecting my mobility. My immune system destroyed my joints one by one as if they were enemies. Sometimes, four to five joints get damaged at the same time. During these eight years, I had undergone three operations on joints, and   drug therapies of rheumatism immunity branch, and took even the Chinese traditional medicines, but my symptoms didn’t get better but worsened. The most terrible pain I had suffered was when I couldn’t even stand up and had to stay in bed when the joints are seriously injured. I thought no pain will be worse than mine except that caused by giving birth. 

In recent 1~2 years, the joints in my spine were also affected. The stiffness in my neck and waist made me more inflexible. For instance, my neck couldn’t be stretched; I couldn’t stand up if I sit too long (vice versa). In addition, ever since the third year of suffering this disease, the immune system in the skin were also affected, which had break outs especially every spring and autumn. Pruritus occurred in every part of my body, and I had to be treated with steroids.

As recommended by my friends, I went to Dr. Wen for therapy with an attitude of simply trying, since it never got better as I had suffered the pain and also been treated for so long. Ten days later after stopping taking steroids, I went to Dr. Wen with prutitus occurring in my whole body, right knee joints and hip joints pain, and left ankle joints swollen to my toes. 

Miracle 1

It was on April 16when I entered Doctor Wen’s clinic for the first time, and been given scalp and abdominal acupunctures. There were no effects for the first two or three days after feeling tired from traveling from Jiayi to Taipei. On the fourth day of the course, I felt the pain in my joints alleviated, and on the fifth day I found that I could twist and turn my neck. I told my wife immediately that I could look around freely. It has been two years since I couldn’t look around freely instead, I squint or turn my body around.

Miracle 2

In the second week, I still came to Doctor Wen from Monday to Friday. Although the progress of curing joint pain was slow, I felt that the pruritus had gone. It was the first time when I didn’t feel itchy without taking steroids. I thought it was quite significant since I had to take steroids for three months to treat the skin itch, which already made me afraid. Therefore, it was quite significant to get this problem solved.

Miracle 3

Due to the distance and slight progress , Doctor Wen permitted me to change my therapy three times a week from the third week of the course (every Monday, Wednesday and Friday), lasting for two weeks. At the end of this course, I found the pain in my joints reduced to almost  half, and the edema in my left ankle and right knee joints reduced to almost half . The toes of left foot could be seen finally. Since the left ankle joints worsened two years ago and the tumefaction extended to my toes, I couldn’t wear leather shoes on my left foot and had to replace it with Birkenstocks or slippers. In addition, the left foot seemed like a piece of flour dough. Now, the toes can be seen again two years later. While the most important thing is that I don’t feel that painful. Now I feel relaxed a lot. In the past, I feel pain every day, every hour and even every minute and second, but now it only pains me occasionally and slightly.

Three miracles changed my life

Maybe it is impossible to cure my disease completely, but Doctor Wen’s magic needle indeed reduced my pains and greatly improved my life quality, which is what I dream about. I have nothing else to seek, and what I only want is less pain, and that my symptoms will not worsen, and that I am able to take care of myself on my own. Thanks to Doctor Wen for alleviating my diseases and improving my life quality.  Now I feel hopeful about the future.