Guest guest Posted February 27, 2003 Report Share Posted February 27, 2003 Dear folks, I am writing to ask your advice. I have a thorough TCM diagnosis of my health status, but no local access to competent TCM treatment. (I live in a small southern town.) I'd like to work toward better health, TCM fashion. Ideas about TCM herbal formulas, diet, exercise, lifestyle, etc. will be greatly appreciated. General information: 57 years old, male, Caucasian, 5' 10 " tall, 150 pounds, married, two grown sons. Have college degrees in engineering and management. Work in an office, at a computer, making maps. Previous careers: TV repairman, electronic design engineer and project manager. I have an esthetic personality type (INFP). The Tinnitus and balance problems have been around for 35 years. The cold sensitivity started about 14 years ago. The other symptoms have been added since then. I suspect stress and a susceptible genetic makeup caused my early symptoms, but over the last few years, the symptom list continued to grow, seemingly feeding on itself now. In early June of last year, while in the San Francisco Bay Area, I visited a TCM doctor. She earned an OMD from a TCM college in China, and served both internship and residency in hospitals in China. She carefully examined my pulse, on both wrists; listened to the description of my complaints and studied my tongue. She said my pulse was weak and wiry – especially the heart and spleen pulses weak and the kidney pulse wiry. About my tongue she said: pink – top and edges (yin and blood deficiency); with big, deep teeth marks (Spleen Qi deficiency); the coating was white (that's OK) and geographic – 2/9 not coated (stomach yin deficiency); thin coating. Her diagnosis was: Qi – blood – Yin and Yang deficiency. Whole condition. All five organs. Heart yin deficiency (insomnia and night sweats); Liver yin deficiency and blood deficiency (dry eyes); Lung Qi deficiency (skin rashes and swollen sinuses); Kidney Qi deficiency (low sex drive and poor urination); Heart and Liver Yin deficiency (worry and stress); Essential/deep Yin deficiency = equals very deep kidney deficiency (brain fog, tinnitus, weak back and knees); Spleen Qi deficiency (irritable bowel and sleepy after meals); Kidney Yin deficiency (tinnitus). Overall, she says my case is very complicated. My condition has not changed significantly since this TCM doctor saw me. I cannot tolerate adaptogens – whether taken alone or as part of a TCM formula - including astragalus, Siberian/panax ginseng, ashwagandha, rhodiola and schizandra. Even in moderate doses, they affect me like way-too-much caffeine (initial excitability, then sore/red corners of the mouth, followed by greater fatigue, after the herbs wear off). Emperor's Tea pills are nice initially, but end up affecting me the same way. Thank you for your help. Best wishes, John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 28, 2003 Report Share Posted February 28, 2003 Do you have (slightly) pimples or 'unclean' skin around mouth/chin/cheeks area? Difficulty falling asleep? Waking/Getting up at night? How often per week? Is the coating of the tongue in the back/rear area quite thick with a tendency to yellow? Is your tongue tip darkreddish? Do you have darker dots on the front part of the tongue? Symptoms aggravate... in the evening? morning? while lying? exercising? Tinnitus: is it like waves rumbling/gushing continuosly or a high deep thin sounds that aggravates when you are fatigued or a loud sudden noise that disappear again? Get angry quickly? Do you really feel sleepy all day and you are pale? feeble appetite? This is just the beginning of a series of questions... Greetings Tay Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 28, 2003 Report Share Posted February 28, 2003 Hi Tay, Thanks for responding. Here are the answers to your questions. Best wishes, John > Do you have (slightly) pimples or 'unclean' skin around > mouth/chin/cheeks area? Yes, just below the lip, at the right corner of my mouth. > Difficulty falling asleep? Yes > Waking/Getting up at night? Yes > How often per week? Every night. > Is the coating of the tongue in the back/rear area > quite thick with a tendency to yellow? It is not overly thick. The largest patch of missing coating is centered near the back. From the halfway point on back, in the places where there IS coating, it is thicker than anywhere else, with a moderate tendency toward yellow. > Is your tongue tip dark-reddish? No. > Do you have darker dots on the front part of the tongue? No. > Symptoms aggravate... Fatigue, sleepiness, worry, brain-fog are worst in the morning. Insomnia, night sweats, and dry, swollen sinuses are worst at night. Tinnitus is worse when tired, or after taking aspirin, acetaminophen, caffeine or herbs that fatigue me. My dry, swollen sinuses are worse when lying down. My general fatigue level, and my sinus pain, are greatly aggravated if I am exposed to cold air (anything below 80F). Vertigo (and skin rashes) get worse during (right after) a strong stress. Night sweats suddenly, briefly, increase immediately after just a few sips of room temperature water. A brisk, half-hour walk sometimes increases my fatigue level shortly after I finish the walk. I feel it in my lower back the most. Any sustained, physical work - even just standing for long periods, is very draining - my lower back gets weak and sore, my muscles get fatigued. > Tinnitus: is it like waves rumbling/gushing continuously > or a high deep thin sounds that aggravates when you > are fatigued or a loud sudden noise that disappear again? A thin, high-pitched, continuous sound that is aggravated by fatigue. I have had a little bit of it since I was a teenager, but it is quite a bit louder now. Sudden noises startle me. > Get angry quickly? Yes, but I suppress it because the adrenaline rush is very hard on me. Also, I'm unreasonably anxious all the time - occasionally bordering on a panic attack. > Do you really feel sleepy all day and you are pale? Sleepy in the morning at work - usually worst about two hours after breakfast. Sleepy, to a lesser extent, in the late afternoon. Sometimes I get a quick energy boost about half an hour after lunch, but it fades within another half hour. Very hard to get to sleep or stay asleep at night, even with valerian and other sleep aids. I am paler than I used to be. Sometimes it looks like I have a very, very slight case of jaundice. > feeble appetite? I would enjoy eating more at breakfast and lunch, but don't because I don't want to fall asleep afterwards. I don't hold back at dinner because I rarely get sleepy in the evening. I usually can't resist snacking after dinner (popcorn, nuts, milk, grape juice). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 2, 2003 Report Share Posted March 2, 2003 --- " john2williams <john2williams " <john2williams wrote: > > My condition has not changed significantly since > this > TCM doctor saw me. I cannot tolerate adaptogens – > whether taken alone or as part of a TCM formula - > including astragalus, Siberian/panax ginseng, > ashwagandha, > rhodiola and schizandra. Even in moderate doses, > they > affect me like way-too-much caffeine (initial > excitability, then sore/red corners of the mouth, > followed by greater fatigue, after the herbs wear > off). > Emperor's Tea pills are nice initially, but end up > affecting me the same way. Tay is getting lots of important details from you, and I believe it's clear that you shouldn't be taking any tonics to begin with. Reducing the liver congestion would eb the first thing I would try to do. Have you tried acupucnture, meditating? See you, Hugo > Thank you for your help. > > Best wishes, > > John > > Everything you'll ever need on one web page from News and Sport to Email and Music Charts http://uk.my. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 3, 2003 Report Share Posted March 3, 2003 Hi Hugo, Thanks for responding. > Tay is getting lots of important details from you, > and I believe it's clear that you shouldn't be taking > any tonics to begin with. Reducing the liver > congestion would eb the first thing I would try to do. > Have you tried acupucnture, meditating? No more tonics for me - at least not as single herbs. The best local acupunturist diagnosed " kidney meridian deficiency " and " sinus infection " . I went for roughly 25 acupuncture sessions. Most of the time he was working on sinus and kidney. Once in a while he also worked on anxiety. He said his sinus treatments (acupuncture and patent medicines) were usually very successful. They had no effect on me. The kidney acupuncture treatments seemed to help a little, in the early sessions - but, by the 20th session or so, these treatments were actually increasing my fatigue. Two or three times he included acupuncture for anxiety. These were very effective - for a few hours. I have not tried meditating. It sounds interesting. If you don't mind, please elaborate a little on that aspect. Best wihes, John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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