Guest guest Posted October 4, 2007 Report Share Posted October 4, 2007 Hi - I have only been practicing 4 years, but this is my novice response to your questions. My major paper at TCM school involved One on one interviewing of 20 master practitioners, determining treatment techniques they typically use for specific TCM diagnosis. The study yielded only one common denominator in all practitioners for all (not all, many) conditions- INTENTION. That single piece is the best thing I learned at school. That said, this is how I practice TCM in a small, conservative, provincial, stuck, industrial Midwest town. 1 - # of treatments. I tell them we don't know the answer - no one knows the answer until we experience it. Acu doesn't work for everybody, but it can make a significant improvement in most patients. A guideline to imagine is 3 treatments, about a week a part, to determine if acu is a good fit for them. It may not take 3 treatments or it may take more than 3 treatments. However, this guide gives us a chance to make momentum with the stuck energy from week to week and the patient will feel empowered to make the decision whether to come back for more treatments. I will always treat them if they want me to, but I will not push them to come. If making time for appointments or the cost is too stressful, then the treatment may be counter-productive. Most patients come for at least 3 treatments. One patient has been coming once a month for a long time. His neuropathy has not gone away, but he feels acu prevents it from getting worse, and that is what he wants. I give myself permission to work this guy over because he can handle it. I like him, as I do most of my patients and try to come up with something special and unique to ignite his qi (Hey! All within the proper scope of practice!). I say up front to my patients that I do not want to project on to them how many txs they will need. I want them to get better as soon as possible. 2. I get self doubts. But it seems just about that time, I get a patient back for their second treatment, and they begin with " You are a miracle worker! " Music to my ears. I never know until they return how things are going to turn out. 3. I have a standard spiel I go through to explain acu in lay terms. My background is Western medicine, so I tell them that the first couple months at TCM school had me rolling my eyes. I thought it was crazy too! However by hanging in there, I could reframe TCM and how it is taught, with its diagnosis of patterns, as a way to teach it to a large spread out population. If you followed the story, you could determine the right points to needle - whether the story was true or not. Since there is no definitive proof of how it works, yet it does work, it doesn't matter whether we have meridians or not - the point is to get better. Perhaps back then, people had keener sight than we have now...maybe the meridians and energy could be seen, maybe people had animal instincts that have been suppressed in modern times. Who knows? Another angle I learned in Western med involves dendritic cells. They are nerve cells in the skin. There are studies that flood and then harvest dendritic cells from patients peripheral blood. The dendritic cells are then treated to a stimulus, re-transfused into the patient, and their mission is to tell the lymphatic system to tell the stem cells that help is needed in the body. Revert to acupuncture - we directly stimulate dendritic cells - we don't have to harvest them - they work right where they are. For those patients that are doubters and yet they come for acupuncture, I treat them with the same intention I treat everyone with. I want them to get better. That said... I am not the patient, I do not know their path, and their path may include doubting acupuncture. Or they may need their illness subconsciously or consciously, to work their paradigm. I cannot judge that choice, because I don't know the details. We are all just people - doctors, acupuncturists, patients - we are not better or smarter. We know some things they don't know - likewise, they know things we don't know. So, Petra, I have a feeling the culture you are practicing in may hold clues to how you practice TCM. If the patients don't feel safe with you, it becomes harder to move their qi. I try to give the patients perspective the drivers seat, because I don't want to push them off their path - that is not my job. I do intersperse ideas and suggestions when I sense receptivity - and often times tell stories of real people discovering a key that changed everything - or even make humor out of how incredible this stuff works - it still surprises me how cool this is. I relate meridians to plumbing models - something this population can relate to. Hope this helps - I too am interested in other practitioners response to your questions. Janis ______________________________\ ____ oneSearch: Finally, mobile search that gives answers, not web links. http://mobile./mobileweb/onesearch?refer=1ONXIC Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 4, 2007 Report Share Posted October 4, 2007 Chinese Medicine , Janis Egan <janis3934 wrote: > > Hi - > > I have only been practicing 4 years, but this is my > novice response to your questions. My major paper at > TCM school involved One on one interviewing of 20 > master practitioners, determining treatment techniques > they typically use for specific TCM diagnosis. The > study yielded only one common denominator in all > practitioners for all (not all, many) conditions- > INTENTION. That single piece is the best thing I > learned at school. > > That said, this is how I practice TCM in a small, > conservative, provincial, stuck, industrial Midwest > town. > > 1 - # of treatments. I tell them we don't know the > answer - no one knows the answer until we experience > it. Acu doesn't work for everybody, but it can make a > significant improvement in most patients. A guideline > to imagine is 3 treatments, about a week a part, to > determine if acu is a good fit for them. It may not > take 3 treatments or it may take more than 3 > treatments. However, this guide gives us a chance to > make momentum with the stuck energy from week to week > and the patient will feel empowered to make the > decision whether to come back for more treatments. I > will always treat them if they want me to, but I will > not push them to come. If making time for > appointments or the cost is too stressful, then the > treatment may be counter-productive. Most patients > come for at least 3 treatments. > > One patient has been coming once a month for a long > time. His neuropathy has not gone away, but he feels > acu prevents it from getting worse, and that is what > he wants. I give myself permission to work this guy > over because he can handle it. I like him, as I do > most of my patients and try to come up with something > special and unique to ignite his qi (Hey! All within > the proper scope of practice!). > > I say up front to my patients that I do not want to > project on to them how many txs they will need. I > want them to get better as soon as possible. > > 2. I get self doubts. But it seems just about that > time, I get a patient back for their second treatment, > and they begin with " You are a miracle worker! " Music > to my ears. I never know until they return how things > are going to turn out. > > 3. I have a standard spiel I go through to explain > acu in lay terms. My background is Western medicine, > so I tell them that the first couple months at TCM > school had me rolling my eyes. I thought it was > crazy too! However by hanging in there, I could > reframe TCM and how it is taught, with its diagnosis > of patterns, as a way to teach it to a large spread > out population. If you followed the story, you could > determine the right points to needle - whether the > story was true or not. Since there is no definitive > proof of how it works, yet it does work, it doesn't > matter whether we have meridians or not - the point is > to get better. Perhaps back then, people had keener > sight than we have now...maybe the meridians and > energy could be seen, maybe people had animal > instincts that have been suppressed in modern times. > Who knows? > > Another angle I learned in Western med involves > dendritic cells. They are nerve cells in the skin. > There are studies that flood and then harvest > dendritic cells from patients peripheral blood. The > dendritic cells are then treated to a stimulus, > re-transfused into the patient, and their mission is > to tell the lymphatic system to tell the stem cells > that help is needed in the body. Revert to > acupuncture - we directly stimulate dendritic cells - > we don't have to harvest them - they work right where > they are. > > For those patients that are doubters and yet they come > for acupuncture, I treat them with the same intention > I treat everyone with. I want them to get better. > > That said... I am not the patient, I do not know their > path, and their path may include doubting acupuncture. > Or they may need their illness subconsciously or > consciously, to work their paradigm. I cannot judge > that choice, because I don't know the details. We are > all just people - doctors, acupuncturists, patients - > we are not better or smarter. We know some things > they don't know - likewise, they know things we don't > know. > > So, Petra, I have a feeling the culture you are > practicing in may hold clues to how you practice TCM. > If the patients don't feel safe with you, it becomes > harder to move their qi. I try to give the patients > perspective the drivers seat, because I don't want to > push them off their path - that is not my job. I do > intersperse ideas and suggestions when I sense > receptivity - and often times tell stories of real > people discovering a key that changed everything - or > even make humor out of how incredible this stuff works > - it still surprises me how cool this is. I relate > meridians to plumbing models - something this > population can relate to. > > Hope this helps - I too am interested in other > practitioners response to your questions. > > Janis > > > Hello again and thanks to those who responded. I feel somewhat relived to know i am not alone. it seems it has come to light that the biggest struggle is actually with my own expectations for results. I guess also it doesn't really help when you compare where you are at as an individual with various characters from the classics. It's great to be in touch with you all and i look forward to further conversations and support. Many thanks Dan. > > > ______________________________\ ____ > oneSearch: Finally, mobile search > that gives answers, not web links. > http://mobile./mobileweb/onesearch?refer=1ONXIC > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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