Luminosity on Chinese Medicine

I've used Chinese Medicine and its diet and lifestyle it to help me go from a wheelchair to walking. I'm not a practitioner, but I I have used it as a patient for over twenty years. I studied on it informally on and off over this time. For ten years I headed a support group for people with chronic illnesses. I also am a published writer with an interest in health. Here I hope to explain Chinese Medicine so the average person can understand it.

Chinese Medicine and its diet and lifestyle can help with many physical issues. It can also help with mental issues. It can sometimes work when Western medicine doesn't. Sometimes people have a bad experience with a particular Chinese Medicine practitioner. They are a mixed bag. Don't let that stop you looking into the diet and lifestyle that goes with Chinese Medicine. Those alone can up your vitality which can heal some conditions. In the West, we do many things everyday that run our health down that we don't even know about, such as drinking ice water. Some of the fasts, diets and cleanses health-conscious Westerners partake of harm our health too. I write more about this further in this article.

What are the best books about Chinese Medicine?

Asian Health Secrets

The Complete Guide To Asian Herbal Medicine

by Letha Hadady, D. Ac.
Three Rivers Press
New York 1996

Asian Health Secrets has been a very useful book for me. I can't say I agree with every single thing it says. I don't think that vegetarian cleansing diets are the way to go (and I tried them), but she has a lot of wisdom. The writing is more accessible than many books on the subject.

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Total Health the Chinese Way

An Essential Guide to Easing Pain, Reducing Stress, Treating Illness, and Restoring the Body through Traditional Chinese Medicine

by Esther Ting PhD
Da Capo Lifelong Books
Boston, MA 2009

This the second most accessible book I've seen on Chinese medicine. It is worth reading.

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Your Guide To Holistic Beauty

Using the Wisdom of
Traditional Chinese Medicine

Better Link Press
NY, NY 2016
by Zhang Yifang, TCM practitioner, associate professor, licensed herbalist and acupuncturist.

This book is actually about Chinese Medicine as a whole. In spite of what appear to be some translation errors, this is another valuable book for those trying to understand Chinese Medicine.

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Suggest some Chinese Medicine I can try to start out that isn't scary.

You could buy Loquat or Fritillary cough syrup to keep on hand in case of need. There's nothing scary in there. Plum Flower is one good brand. Some health food stores sell this product.

Does acupuncture hurt?

Not as much as you think. The needles are smaller than a human hair. Most points don't hurt that much.
Overall, it's well worth it.

Is it safe?

I've found it to be safer the Western Medicine. I would not personally let them put needles into an injured area. That has not worked for me. I would put it nearby or seek other types of treatments. All the acupuncturists I've been to now use sterile disposable needles.
Feel free to inquire about it.

You probably don't have to spend a lot of time boiling up teas. I've asked to avoid that. They have alternatives like herbals pills and liquid medicines.

How do you find a good acupuncturist?

I've found that only half of them have the necessary skill or talent. This is probably because of liberal admissions policies in US acupuncture schools, which can be money-generators for the owners. You can ask around in your community. You can also go to one and see how you feel. If you do not see a distinct difference in one to three treatments, that person is probably not good. If you have a good one, you will know. There are also cultural differences. You might not want to go to a person who is too brusque or hard to talk to, if you have a good alternative. You might find it necessary to sometimes find an acupuncturist you can really communicate with, or whose office is comfortable for in terms of noise level, music, incense exposure. Not all settings work for all people. A good practitioner will set up an environment which is not uncomfortable so the patients can absorb the treatments.

If you get an acupuncturist from China they might not require appointments. In Asia, some medical appointments are handled like haircuts at Supercuts; you just go. Be sure to ask that practioner what their policy is. I like just zipping into the doctor like it was McDonalds. It's liberating.

One of the things that most people don't know is that:

ICE WATER IS BAD FOR YOU

As is eating cold food and too much raw food. Why? According to Chinese Medicine, your body has to divert vital energy from your internal organs to warm up the food, and your cold stomach. This vital energy is special, and it should be used to run your metabolism. Every time you drink a cold drink or eat cold food, you are distracting your body from its workings, leading to less radiance and vitality than you might have enjoyed. It will make you less healthy, and eventually you may not look as young as you could look. Raw and cold food is "yin" so excess of it can contribute to to "yin" diseases like chronic fatigue, and fibromyalgia. Consuming too much cold and raw foods feeds inflammatory conditions because it causes what Chinese doctors call "damp heat." They implicate "damp heat" in inflammatory diseases.

How do they know about this?

Chinese medicine is based on 5,000 years of observation handed down from generation to generation. By studying on the human body for that long and in such detail, they have figured these things out.

How do I know this is true?

You can try modifying your diet for a month and see if you look or feel better. Expect an improvement in your looks, energy, a lessening of any inflammatory conditions, less bloating and under eye bags. Over time you may notice enhanced digestion or a lessening of food allergies and sensitivities.

How could I do this?

Drink room temperature or hot drinks. Let chilled foods and drinks come to room temperature before eating them. Eat some warm, cooked foods each day, preferably with at least two meals. Try to have a hot drink and hot food as part of your breakfast especially. In Chinese medicine you are kind of sluggish in the morning and the heat will help get you going. Toast bread and warm up baked goods. Consider toasting nuts, or crackers in the oven to warm them up. If nothing else, having hot tea with a cold meal is better than nothing. In view of the heat wave, if you need a cold drink due to usual weather now and then, listen to your body. Outside of that, if you drink cold drinks all the time, it does more harm than good. It feels good at the time but it sets up inflammation and "damp heat" in the body. This actually feeds the craving for cold drinks, which seem refreshing temporarily, but have bad effects over time. After about a month, you will likely loose much of your craving for cold foods and drinks. You will probably look and feel better too. If it's real hot where you live right now, you could consider starting all this in the fall so you aren't adjusting to a new regime in the August heat.

Fasts, cleanses, low calorie weight loss diets and skipping meals are usually bad for you. Read more about this here:

http://www.longecity...g-with-fasting/

What is Chinese Medicine really good at?

There's not much it can't help with, but it really shines when applied to kidney issues and female issues/infertility/pregnancy.
In Chinese Medicine, the kidneys are the seat of the life force. They see many things we don't as kidney issues, in addition to the ones we see.

More on how to tell a good acupuncturist

A really good acupuncturist/Chinese herbalist will ask many questions on your first visit. This should take some time. S/he will ask detailed questions about your bodily functions, metabolism, sleep habits, etc. If you plan to see an acupuncturist in the future you should take note of stuff like that. S/he may ask you the color and texture of your urine, feces, menstrual blood, how heavy your menstrual flow is, how long your period is, how many times a day you urinate, etc. Yeah, it's gross to talk about those things, but in asking those questions, s/he can tell exactly what is going on inside your body. It's better than having to bring that stuff in as you might have to do in a Western doctor's office. All acupuncturists will look at your tongue and take your pulses. If the practitioner you went to only asked two or three questions on the first visit, s/he isn't the best. It should take at least fifteen minutes to half an hour of questions before the treatment begins on the first visit.

Hopefully s/he will set up an appropriate environment and not say negative things. I've been to some who did otherwise. I went to one who had a red plastic sharps container overflowing with used needles. He constantly said dark and negative things even though I specifically asked him to stop that. I never went back to him. There was a celebrated acupuncturist in my area. All the smart people went to her. Her skills were the best although unfortunately she did play abrasive Chinese marching band music, burn incense twice a day, and inhabit a space with an extraordinary amount of traffic fumes. After many years of practicing, she became an alcoholic, which very few Chinese immigrant/Taoist monks do. She would come to work each day high as a kite. Her treatments lost their effect. Her waiting room became empty. She is still in practice and operates an acupuncture school. Like any other group of people, acupuncturists can have problems. Most are not alcoholics, but it could happen. Mostly the problems are a lack of sufficient skill, no rigorous diagnostic work, being unsuited to the work, being abrasive, not speaking English, poor communication skills, or setting up a contrary environment. At times you can get the help you need from someone who doesn't speak that much English. As always, when you are dealing with new-agey people, some have complicated personality problems.

You can sometimes get help from someone who doesn't ask a lot of diagnostic questions, or who isn't a great communicator. Personally I would try to find someone who is top notch but if you can't find that person there are other practitioners. If the person is a compromise, just be aware of that and don't go back to someone like the guy with the overflowing sharps container, or the alcoholic monk.

To find my other posts about health, go here: http://www.longecity...92/cat-5-health