response to wallace sampson

[Guest guest]

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/08/31/NSGDOIM5RJ1.DTL & type\

=books-

an article quoting Wallace Sampson, MD, and below are some responses

of

mine:

 

" There are two major misconceptions about acupuncture, Sampson says, and

both contribute to the misunderstanding of its worth as medical treatment.

First, most people assume that it's an ancient Chinese cure that has

existed, unchanging, for centuries. Not so, says Sampson, noting that

" acupuncture was formalized in a complex way over the past 100 years, mostly

in Europe and France and after the Communist takeover in China. Before that

time there was no consistent formalization of acupuncture points or what

each place was supposed to do. It was largely regional, and the thinking

varied from city to city. "

 

Comment: no one assumes that Acupuncture has gone unchanged for centuries.

Like western medicine, it has gone through trial and error, evolution, and

different degrees of standardization. If one is to fault acupuncture for

being non standardized, the same argument may be made against western

medicine! As for being regional, one must understand that TCM places much

more emphasis on environment and diet and lifestyle than western medicine.

As those variable vary from city to city, so must treatment. Migraines in

the cold north usually have different etiologies than the warm humid south,

for example, necessitating different treatment.

 

" The other mistake people make about acupuncture, Sampson says, is that it

offers specific cures. " It is nonspecific, " Sampson says. " If it has the

effect of, say, releasing endorphins through the application of needles,

well, many things release endorphins -- a walk in the woods, a 5-mile run, a

pinch on the butt. " "

 

This is a valid attack on acupuncture ONLY if JUST releases endorphins. It

doesn't. Can endorphins alone explain stroke recovery? can it explain

immediate relief of muscle spasm?

 

" Clinically, it has been shown that acupuncture can have counter-irritative

effects. The basis for this is simple: If you have a headache and someone

applies pressure through needles to your arms and neck, you get distracted

from your headache. " It has no effect on disease process, " Sampson says,

" but it can affect perception of symptoms through these nonspecific devices,

such as attention diversion or the desire of the patient to please the

treater and feel benefits. "

 

Again, such ideas are INSULTING to the patient. Acupuncture can relieve

pain that the pills cannot. Who are we to deny that it works? I treat

patients with acupuncture and there are indeed tangible results such as

lowered blood pressure and cholesterol levels. A person wish frozen

shoulder can have IMMEDIATE and LASTING relief sometimes just after one

session. It would be a tragic slap in the patient's face to say this is

only due to him wanting to " please the treater " .

 

" " I look at it this way: what if acupuncture didn't exist? " he says. " Would

medicine or society be any worse off? If no one knew about it, nothing would

change. You would still have ways to apply counter-irritation, through

massage or rubbing. "

 

If acupuncture didn't exist, then many people would have kidney and liver

failure from too much drugs. People would spend more time and money on

rehabilitation for stroke. And more people can't sleep well at night.

 

" In general, he says, one of the biggest problems with the whole notion of

" ancient Chinese medicine " is that it falsely pits itself against " Western

medicine. "

 

In reality, it is the bigots such as Sampson who falsely pits Chinese

medicine with Western Medicine. Many people like myself integrate the two

disciplines with little problems - most coming from the aforementioned

bigots. I work in the Philippine General Hospital. I work in a

Rehabiliation Clinic. No clashes so far! In fact, I can help keep stroke

patients compliant with therapy!

 

" Western medicine, on the other hand, has grown up as the world rejected

those ancient notions. "

 

I ask, so why are so many patients and practitioners embracing these

" ancient notions " again?

 

Dr. Philip Nino Tan-Gatue

Department of Family and Community Medicine

University of the Philippines College of Medicine