Guest guest Posted April 27, 2009 Report Share Posted April 27, 2009 Yehuda, Maybe not but there sure are lots of negative tendencies and acceptance of these is part of the problem. I would like to point out that our world is facing some interesting and accelerated changes brought about by man (climate change). We have successfully created many things that are not of the natural world and therefore nature does not know what to do with them either. I am not sure is so understanding and accepting. My faves though are the many things that impact our health and yet we tend to treat them as unrelated. I would like to remind us that we have created some wonderful endocrine-blocking substances (xeno-estrogens) as a result of our need for bottled water. I am not sure how one can approach this in any way but as an all-or-nothing type of event. There really is not any middle ground unless we look at it from an economic or freedom type of issue. We really need to become those with the natural wisdom of the ancients, which I am hopeful Asian medicine can do or we will continue to see more decline. Michael W. Bowser, LAc Chinese Medicine Sun, 26 Apr 2009 14:26:41 -0700 RE: Re: Re: COMBINE acupuncture with western medicine? I firmly believe, Mike, that as far as any creation, be it of G-d or man, there are no absolutes, and that every substance has relative value. Just as with herbs, or minerals, there are extremely toxic substances, which nonetheless do have clinical applications, albeit in micro-doses (perhaps even homeopathic dilutions?), so too, there can be potential benefit (without harm!) of pharmaceuticals. The key must be though extensive studies with adequate evaluation of different effects with different dosages, as well as the interactive chemistry, in-vitro as well as in-vivo, of these substances together with herbs. But, that being said, the other key must be promoting balance and building up the internal milieu with proper nutrition, exercise, air, sleep and joy. Our goal should be to have our medicine and all medicine, for that matter, obsolete. If our patients are in balance, then they won't need medicine will they? But if they are out of balance, then we need to use everything at our disposal to maximize our potential to put them in balance. --- On Sun, 4/26/09, mike Bowser <naturaldoc1 wrote: mike Bowser <naturaldoc1 RE: Re: Re: COMBINE acupuncture with western medicine? Chinese Traditional Medicine , Sunday, April 26, 2009, 1:32 PM Yehuda and all, I am unsure as to the why we would want to encourage substances that are extremely toxic to our health to be included. In addition, many have a very clouded past as far as really working. I really see little good support for it. Petroleum based substances work against life and TCM is supportive of life. Sometimes there is no middle of the road, I find this is true with many man-made substances. Michael W. Bowser, LAc ; traditional_ chinese_medicine Sun, 26 Apr 2009 01:52:20 -0700 Re: Re: COMBINE acupuncture with western medicine? Dear Phil, I totally agree with you, but in my rush to finish posting late Friday afternoon before it got to be too late (you see, I turn into a pumpkin every Friday at Sunset), I left out one important point in my presentation- -that I have no problem using or combining western Meds as adjuncts to herbs and/or acupuncture, but only if and when their properties (temperature, flavor and channel) are indicated in treating the patient's pattern. When they are used from that paradigm, I think that they can be very useful, potentially. What we must never do, though, is use any medicine or therapy to suppress symptoms. Pain relief, for example, is not necessarily synonymous with pain suppression. Dosage also, as with Chinese medicine can make a tremendous difference in terms of a harmonizing treatment. Micro-doses of NSAIDS or steroids, for example, might have wonderful benefits when integrated into herbal formulas, but not without adequate studies and research. Bottom line that I am suggesting, is that every medicinal substance should be evaluated in terms of its actions, interactions, indication and contraindications, specifically in conjunction with other herbs and substances, (and not just Chinese herbs, mind you!) just as Chinese medicine rarely uses single substances as formulas. I can see some of our more traditionalists cringing, but just as over the centuries, new substances from thousands of miles away, have been introduced to the Chinese pharmacopoeia, why shouldn't Western medicinals be viewed the same way? www.traditionaljewi shmedicine. net www.traditionaljewi shmedicine. blogspot. com --- On Sat, 4/25/09, < (AT) tinet (DOT) ie> wrote: < (AT) tinet (DOT) ie> Re: COMBINE acupuncture with western medicine? Saturday, April 25, 2009, 4:34 PM Hi Yehuda & All, Yehuda wrote: > I believe that we need to make a clear distinction between combining > two modalities and integrating western biomedical substances into the > Chinese medical model. ... The question really is one of the model we > use for diagnosis and treatment of our patients- -do we treat symptoms > and needle local points to ameliorate pain or discomfort, or do we > treat based upon the patient's differential diagnosis, constitution and > history. The former is pure bio-medicine, which I contend in years to > come will be viewed as a dinosaur--an extinct remnant of an ignorant > past ... Getting back to the original question, this is the same > problem with combining Chinese medicine or acupuncture with > Western medicine. If we are using any medicine to treat sympoms, we > are not treating the whole person, and usually the " whole person " will > not get well. ...We are the torchbearers of a wonderful medicine. Let > us not lower ourselves to using our tools wrongly, for using a > sophisticated electronic devise as a hammer. Yehuda, I see no essential conflict in combining acupuncture and most (at least the safer) western medicines, especially if the acupuncture ALONE has not solved the problem. One CAN select relevant acupoints to treat both Root and Branch. If that does not produce rapid and good clinical results, one can ADD other modalities - rubs, homeopathy, NSAIDs, steroids, antibiotics - as needed. Am I wrong? 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