- Limb Tremors
- Nausea
- Headaches
- Involuntary twitching like you were a goth in a My Chemical Romance video
- Over thirstiness
Clenbuterol was originally designed to combat asthma.
It later turned into a performance enhancing drug that some kiasu Olympic athletes use.
Now pig farmers love it.
To feed it to the pigs means you get a mutant muscular Mr.Universe porkzenegger.
A very good thing for butchers who have silly customers who insist on lean pork.
Come on man,pigs were supposed to be fat and obese.
Not some Marie France slimming advertisement with King Kong muscles that can squash a bull like a mosquito in the blink of an eye.
For us sedantary humans to eat porkzeneggers,is like drinking 100plus isotonic drinks when all you do is exercise your eyes in front of the tv.
Meaning it is not going to be burned off effectively.
Anyway you put it,it screws up your system.
That is why it is banned for the sake of the kiasis and the kiasus.
I mean we're talking about steroids ok?Some will argue that clenbuterol is not a steroid.Others will insist it is a miracle diet pill.
Steroids was what some suspected to have driven a Canadian pro wrestler to slaughter his entire family.
To find out the full extent of its purpose and effects,since I am a mere laywoman and a certified doctor quack,don't just take my word for it,refer to wikipedia.
Meanwhile I will address this issue,by relating my personal experiences to you.
There was a time when the doctor misdiagnosed my accelerated heart rate,tremors,breathlessness followed by an outbreak of cold sweat and attributed my suffering to causes ranging from panic attacks to nervous disorders that he said could be partly due to stress,late nights and my irregular eating hours.
He said he could give me some pills to calm me down if I wanted.
I was aghast and adamant that he did not cos I did not want to get dependant on a couple of pills every now and then.
Then with a sinister tone he advised me to go for a thorough check up to identify if I could be having an underlying undetected heart condition or some medical condition which I most probably inherited and did not know about.
I asked Doctor Wang Besar,Wang Besar to go fly kite under my breathe.
When I related my problem to a non-smoking colleague,he swore that it could be due to the fact that I sometimes cavorted in smoky conditions that could have set off an allergic reaction to the chemicals entering my pores and messing up my system.Okay,more reasonable than the doc.
Because I was determined to put a stop to it and get to the bottom of the matter,I started eliminating the causes myself.
I ensured I ate on time and went to extreme lengths to avoid smokers to the point of almost loosing my job.I slept earlier than usual.
Tried every angle yet was still having the darned attacks.
At one point the frequency and intensity of the attacks became so great (every week,one attack)that I toyed with the idea that perhaps I was going nuts and perhaps Wang Besar was right.
Maybe I should go for a check up.
Maybe I do have a heart condition.
Maybe somebody in the family didn't tell me something about our medical history.
Until I read in the newspapers that our bodily tremors could be due to consuming pork fed with fat busting steroids.
Piglets were out of the question for me as I cannot stomach nor find any gastronomic delight in eating baby animals.For that same reason I do not consume veal.
On a last ditch effort I tried this 'theory' out.
If I had consumed a pork dish from one place I would not eat pork after that for 2 days.
It was then that my symptoms miraculously stopped.
I had found the root cause of my problem.
Pork!
If I had developed any heart condition,this was the cause of it.
I never buy pork from the moustached butcher in the Tanjong Bungah market anymore.
I fnd that I had this problem because I used to consume pork meat that he supplied to certain stall owners in the area.
Also,I never eat at a famous western near Jamal Tariq,one that just recently relocated anymore too,cos the last time I ate there,the tremors and attacks started again.
Just in case I was wrong,I gave it a second and third go.
2nd time I ordered just their chicken grill and the 3rd the all day breakfast set.
Yet still I 'kena' cos I suppose the grilling pan would also have this substance all over it to cross over and contaminate all other meats.
Lastly I tried a new choo char place near BHPetrol Air Itam and am swearing off that too.
Nowadays,I prefer to cook pork myself and I get my supply from 3 places ONLY....
an obese trading family at a corner shoplot outside Chowrasta market,a stall nearest to the chicken seller on seventh road market and a lean husband and wife's stall in Tanjong Bungah market.
So far,I still do eat pork outside cos I am an absolute flop at stewed pork trotters.
I find I have no problem with the pork leg in Loke Yuen nor Teik Senn.
There are other places too.Will list them down when I find the time to do so.
To date,no Malaysian has ever been admitted into hospital for Clenbuterol poisoning not even me but that doesn't mean it is not happening.
At least my body responded accordingly to warn me.
But our society is such that when we have a headache,some will blame it on accumulation of wind(angin),then when we are suddenly thirsty,aji will be the usual suspect.
When the doctor cannot find out anything wrong,some will blame it on black magic for goodness sakes.
Not once does pork come under the radar for causing the above.
The report below came out today.
Below it is another one taken from a fitness blog dated as far back as 2003 when many chinese were hospitalised.
The 2003 incident if I am not mistaken,was not reported here in Malaysia.
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Stricter Checks On Pork,Piglets From China
(The Sun-21.3.2011)
Health Minister Datuk Sei Liow Tiong Lai said the ministry will raise the inspection level on all pork and piglets imported from China following the detection of a banned substance in pork in the chinese province of Henan.
It had been reported that pigs in central Henan were fed an illegal additive believed to speed up muscle growth and burn fat resulting in leaner pork.
The banned additive clenbuterol,is considered hazardous to people and can cause nausea,headaches,limb tremors and cancer,the chinese media reported.
Authorities said they were investigating more than 1,300 pig farms.The police have detained more than 14 people and at least 6 government officials or employees have been suspended or fired,according to media reports on Friday.
Liow told Nanyang Siang Pau that Malaysia imports pork and piglets from China and there is a need to tighten inspection on these products following the incident on Henan.
He said the nspection will also include Chinese pork being sold in the market.
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From Correspondents In Beijing
10-24-2003
(AFP) -- Pork contaminated with a fat-burning chemical popular among body-builders has poisoned 39 people in northeast China's Liaoyang city, state media said today.
Of those poisoned, 29 had to be hospitalized with symptoms ranging from involuntary twitching to acute thirstiness, the China Daily reported.
It turned out they had all eaten pork containing clenbuterol hydrochloride, a chemical developed to fight asthma which has grown popular among body-builders because it also burns fat.
For much the same reasons, pig farmers like the product as it helps them produce leaner meat.
It is not the first time that this particular chemical has sent pork eaters to hospital in China. In 2001, it poisoned 484 residents of south China's Heyuan city, the paper said. Officials complained to the paper that despite random checks, it is hard to stop farmers from using the chemical, because of its easy availability.
Food poisoning cases happen frequently in China, and are mainly due to insufficient government monitoring of the food service industry and poor hygiene practices, although crime is also sometimes involved. 