Strange but true…

Dear Friends,

You remembered me apart from profusely apologising to friends (and myself) for various snafu committed in rapid succession a few weeks ago. It was one hazy episode of my life that I think I was riding the Mass Rapid Transit on a VIP ticket to Tanjong Rambutan (no kidding here!). Of course, some would attribute it to some usual suspects such as office lethargy and old age. I did too but I begged with myself to disagree.

LOONY LOT: I was on my way to the nutty ville

To repeat an overused cliché (my boss uses it almost abusively), I ‘took stock’ of my situation, health wise. I am at just a corner before turning 33 years old. I don’t eat rice (because I am afflicted with Irritable Bowel Syndrome –  IBS). I control my intake of sugar, salt and fatty stuff. I can’t / don’t eat lunch because I don’t really have the time nor liberty to do such (ask the boss).

My daily routine consist of the following: I eat only oats with milk in the morning with two oranges and an apple (to keep the pesky doctor away) and a cup of coffee to alert myself. Before Maghrib or slightly after, a helping of plainly boiled mixed veggies is a norm. Sounds like a vegetarian but I do indulge rice (and then suffer a few days of bloated belly) with fish and stuff in the weekend as a kind of reward for myself. I can jungle trek 10 km straight or jog uphill 2 km non-stop. I sleep by 9.00 p.m. daily and wake up by 4.30 – 5.00 a.m.

Healthy… maybe: Yup, I’m eating like the kid minus the smile tho!

But approximately after Ramadhan last year, I felt a bit strange. The mornings are absolute torture for yours truly even if I slept earlier than 9.00 p.m. And when I say mornings, it isn’t the usual waking up time of 5.00 a.m. but just a modest 6.00 a.m. Even at  6 a.m., I am gifted with either a splitting headache or a double splitting headache. And speaking of sleeping early, the afternoons (I mean by 4.00 p.m.) will see me dousing myself with another cup of coffee unsuccessfully to tame the overpowering drowsiness.

By the time I reach home by 5.30 p.m. (if I manage to avoid the last minute stuff), I will be wasted by 6.00 p.m. lying on my skimpy bed oblivious to my surroundings only to wake up at 1.00 a.m. before helplessly again surrendering to the unexplained tiredness. Yup, ‘Asr, Maghrib and ‘Isya are lost much to my regret. But I couldn’t helped it. Thought-wise as I said earlier, was much blurry, uncoordinated and dry of ideas. Motivation was non-existence and socially I was a total outcast.

DOG TIRED: Sleep and rest weren’t helpful then

It worsen by November – I can’t perform the prayers or offer dua’ without my mind going completely absent. 2 raka’at became 3, 4 became 5 and it felt empty. It got even stranger when I find the office a wee bit creepy even by 8.00 p.m. (previously working at 3.00 a.m. won’t send goose bumps). But I brushed aside any supernatural explanations and concentrated on looking for a reason for my lethargic conditions in the late afternoons.

IBS as I found out is a condition where your bowels are irritated by certain foods due to one’s digestive systems failure to function normally. ‘Nuff said, some foods will send your immune system to over react and causing discomfort. In my case, I read somewhere, IBS sufferers tend to suffer also coeliac disease. Plainly, I can’t digest properly foods containing gluten or a type of protein from certain type of food like wheat. Great, because like sugar, our diet consist of food containing wheat – soya sauce, tomato sauce, ice cream and even oatmeals.

Suffice to say, I am avoiding gluten tainted food with varying degree of success (like where do you find food in Malaysia that do not have wheat in it?). My condition seemed to abate somewhat. I’m glad I watched House M.D. Now, what about these absent minded thing that is actually driving me crazy? Hard to admit and to fancy such thoughts especially in this day and age as well as being an IT junkie, several people hinted that I may have some problems originating from the one of the unseen realms.

WOT YE CANNA SEE…

Like most people, I am very sceptical of that notion simply because that hocus pocus in the Google age doesn’t help much in cases where the PC refuses to boot or there is a virus affecting your laptop. And to top it off, if you followed the 80s television, you’ll remember a series called The Millennium. It was about a man helping out the FBI whilst looking for his lost family. He was endowed with a gift of seeing in the eyes of the evil doer of a crime and thus can pinpoint crucial evidences to nab the culprit.

Without going into the gross details, some 6 years ago, I could do the same except I can see the unseen realm which was driving me crazy too. Anyway, after having several people advising me on my predicament (without me asking in the first place), I went out to search for a cure by end of December last year. My journey took me to Kuala Selangor to some remote area therein after getting a few recommendations. Well, the practitioner there confirmed my problems were from the other side.

But I didn’t continued the treatment there due to personal reasons but I am glad that I was able to be khusyu’ again in my solat. Alas, it lasted no more than a few days after my treatment. I then searched nearer somewhere in Kajang and found a man who was willing to help me out. He wasn’t a self proclaimed bomoh though but offered his services FOC. Now, I went to him not because he was FOC but rather he wasn’t a full time bomoh and thus easier to meet him. Anyway, he also confirmed the same even without me explaining much. He either could read my mind or really has the expertise.

It has been almost 4 weeks now, life at the office or home is still the same. My tiredness is under control thanks to a gluten – restricted diet. My solat seems to be back to normal. I can remember the rakaat and not too absent minded most of the time. I am writing these in the office now and the eerie creepy feeling is still there but much less. The house although is very creepy now especially in the store room since I rarely use it. My brain also have emerged from the haze of blurriness.

Hocus Pocus: It’s getting stranger right here in EPI!

I guess I can safely regard this strange episode done for now. Perhaps another chapter of the same theme would be written in my life in the future. Anyway, dad relayed his work experience and concurred the same has happened to him once. He managed to get help and I witnessed it when I was little. Actually, ICT is similar to black magic; you can’t really see it but you know it’s there. And you can’t explain it but it’s really happening. Until the magical wands of EPI is again waved casting some enchantments, I’ll see you guys sooner than later.