West effecting East?

[Guest guest]

>I am curious --- do most doctors in China tend to use Western medicines

>in these categories? Or is TCM still the mainstay for treating serious

>infections, hypertension, diabetes, and pain? Do TCM doctors worry that

>the West is improperly effecting TCM with the West's modern drugs?

 

There are doctors in China who practice Western medicine exclusively,

doctors who use TCM exclusively, and those who use both. I heard that

Chinese patients are given a choice on what they wish to use. Dagmar could

tell you more as she is in China.

 

>Sam, hopeful that there's a way to take the best of both schools of

>thought and fit them together

 

I believe this is what the Chinese are doing. It's not an either/or thing

to many of the Chinese healers. They will use what works the best for the

individual patient at a given point in time.

 

The Chinese strike me as extremely practical. They don't stick with

something for very long that doesn't work, and they're not afraid to evolve

things in the pursuit of them working better. Thus, the use of electrical

currents in some acupuncture applications. The use of prescription drugs

when appropriate.

 

In the process they're figuring out some things that that enrich Western

medicine - like when the prescription drugs are likely to be the most

effective.

 

As you learn more TCM you're going to find that it will give you insights

into Western medicine, and Western medicine will give you insights into TCM.

You may find yourself automatically wondering about the thermal energy of

a particular prescription drug, and wondering if it's the best treatment for

a particular individual. For example, antibiotics tend to have cooling

energy, and you may have limited success in using them with a patient who

has Deficiency Heat. In some cases the antibiotics may create problems for

people with Deficiency Heat. The Deficiency Heat will need to be addressed

via means specific to treat Deficiency Heat - Yin tonics.

 

You'll discover that together they're greater than the sum of their parts.

You'll be able to fine-tune treatment in ways you never dreamed possible.

You'll understand so much more. You'll understand why something works so

well in one patient but not in another. One example I've given on here

before is the use of psyllium seed based bulk laxatives to treat

constipation. They can work really well in some cases - where the

constipation is due to Heat and Dryness. But they will create more problems

for people who are too Cold. Why? The thermal energy of psyllium seed is

cooling. People who are too Cold already don't need, can't handle any more

Coldness. The constipation is coming from them being too Cold, and the

psyllium makes them even cooler, thus increasing their problems. Possible

solutions: Instead of taking the psyllium with water, take it with ginger

tea since ginger has warming energy. Or, better still, find one of the few

laxative herbs that has warming instead of cooling energy. Or use something

like a formula for Yang Deficiency constipation.

 

Victoria

 

 

Victoria

 

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[Guest guest]

<< I am curious --- do most doctors in China tend to use Western medicines

in these categories? Or is TCM still the mainstay for treating serious

infections, hypertension, diabetes, and pain? Do TCM doctors worry that

the West is improperly effecting TCM with the West's modern drugs?

 

TCM Doctors use herbs here in the states I will not speak for in the East.

The DO that my father used for diabetes used only herbs and we cannot find a

trace of the diabetes. Now this DO is also trained in TCM. My fathers

family doc wanted to manage with pharmaceuticals and told my father that he

would be on insulin at some point. Thank God sorry Buddha <G> that we did

not listen to him and sought out nontraditional alternatives. I used the

same doctor when my son was 4 the pediatrician told me that he had asthma (he

had pneumonia just 5 weeks prior) well I thought she was full of it and took

him to the DO who said that he needed to build his lung qi and gave him an

herb (which is what I suspected). He is now 5 yrs old and is not on anything

since the one bottle of herbs. The pediatrician wanted him on a Nebulizer

(?sp) (the breathing machine) and an inhaler 3x a day. If you give the lung

a drug to stimulate it, does it have to get well so that it can function on

its own, the answer no, because it knows the chemical will breath for it.

 

The Asian Community couldn't care less what we westerners are doing they

expect that we will modify because we want quick and simple. It is our

responsibility to keep it real and honor the tradition.

 

Shane