Do you have a breast milk problem after having a baby? We’ve seen it before. In modern society, the stress of work can of overwhelm people. When a woman becomes a mother, there are more things than usual to be worried about, specifically at the beginning when you have a newborn. It is a good idea to breastfeed even with the wide variety of formula available. On one hand, formulas are good for mothers with too much work and those that cannot see the child too often. On the other hand, the new mothers may have opportunities to breastfeed their baby but do not produce enough milk. There are many reasons for not producing enough breast milk, such as stress and imbalanced hormone levels. If the mother lost a lot of blood during childbirth, her body will be focused on making more blood, not breast milk. In China, there are many natural ways to facilitate breast milk production such as fish soup (carp fish preferred), pig feet soup, vaccaria seeds, etc. For most women, this will help greatly. For some other women, this may not be enough. In that case, it is necessary to have acupuncture for help. Ancient Chinese doctors found a specific spot on both pinky fingers two to three millimeters away from the edge of the nail on the outer portion of the finger. It is called shaoze, the first point on the small intestine channel (in Traditional Chinese Medicine). What you need to do is acupuncture the points and some adjacent points on or around the breasts/chest after sterilization for twenty five minutes once a day for a week or once every other day for two weeks. It is highly recommended to combine this treatment with the foods mentioned above for the best results. Another issue for new mothers is sometimes they find themselves lactating too much, and it is annoying, or they want to stop breastfeeding for some reason. You can use herbs like barley sprout/malt to inhibit lactation. If you combine the pair of acupuncture points, Zulinqi, the results will be better. In the past years, we have seen quite a few patients like we mentioned above for help. So far, we have helped every body. The patient will definitely get better results if they combine acupuncture and herbal and/or diet changes together. One of the patients in particular (which is listed in Complex Cases under New Mothers) did not have enough breast milk for four months after her child’s delivery. She went to different specialists for help. After six sessions of acupuncture treatment, she said she finally had enough milk. This is still new in the USA. We hope that more and more people realize that many problems and conditions can be helped easily by Chinese medicine or acupuncture or a combination of both. In this way, more people can get benefits from an easier method.
Tag: acupuncture
Acupuncture for PMS
Premenstrual Syndrome (PMS) is one of the most common complaints for many females. Most females will experience this in their lifetime once or more times. However, about 5% of them will need to seek help due to very intense symptoms. According to modern medicine, the cause is still unclear. Therefore, the treatment is basically for complaints – in other words only to relieve the symptoms. Traditional Chinese medicine and Acupuncture (TCMA) uses natural phenomena and principles to describe our body in both physical and pathological ways along with the treatments. The treatment for diseases in TCMA is according to pattern differentiation. The pattern differentiations for PMS in TCMA are: cold/yang deficiency, liver stagnation, poor circulation/blood stasis, etc. The concepts of “cold/yang deficiency,” “liver stagnation,” and “blood stasis,” are very different from what people understand nowadays. For example, “cold/yang deficiency” here means the PMS sufferer does not like the cold (i.e. cold environment, intakes, food/drinks that naturally make the body cold, or our reaction to them is cold), for this reason you can see some of these patients have an onset of PMS or make their PMS worse if they are in a cold environment, or when they eat something cold. The “liver stagnation” type means PMS sufferers will have an emergence of symptoms if they are too stressed, or the stress will make their PMS worse. If the “liver stagnation” or “cold/yang deficiency” are not treated, eventually they will turn into “blood stasis.” The “blood stasis” type means poor circulation or blockage in the vascular system. This type is basically the utmost development of the previous two types or it can occur on its own without the previous two. The symptoms of “blood stasis” will be a very painful and darker period with many clots. Sometimes, the pain can feel like needles or knives cutting into you, some people even faint and end up in the emergency room. Any factors that affect the “liver stagnation” or “cold/yang deficiency” type can affect this type in the same way too. A patient can suffer from one or two types or even a combination of all of them. In addition, there may be some other types such as: Qi deficiency or kidney deficiency etc. These types mean the patient was either born like that or it could be something else. The acupuncture treatment we need to do for “cold/yang deficiency,” is to eliminate the coldness or tonify yang. Meanwhile, patients need to avoid cold environments or cold food/drinks, and instead take warm drinks/food, etc. The treatment for this type is usually acupuncture with TDP/moxibustion or tonification methods. For “liver stagnation,” we have to regulate and soothe the liver Qi, and eliminate the stagnation. For “blood stasis,” we need to regulate the blood and eliminate the blood stasis, and promote circulation. If it is two or more types combined you will need to mix the treatments described above accordingly. In terms of Chinese medical herbs treatment, it is very similar to acupuncture, but using herbs instead. There are different herbal formulas for each type. Most of the time, the formulas need to be alternated to fit the patients pattern better, and in this way, the patients will get the most benefit from the the herbal treatment. Overall, TCMA is the simplest, best and easiest method to treat PMS. The combination of Chinese herbs and acupuncture will give patients maximum benefit and quick results. Additionally, with a diet and lifestyle change, etc. the results will be better. We have helped many PMS patients from the age of 15. We know we helped because we have many new PMS patients referred by their friends who were cured in our office before.
Traditional Chinese Medicine Acupuncture and Seasonal Allergies
Ancient Chinese doctors knew about allergies, and passed this knowledge to future acupuncturists.
They noticed that when spring came, some people would have problems like skin rashes, sneezing, itching, runny nose, watery eyes, etc. In general, these complaints would come and go very fast just like the wind. During that time, scientists considered spring to be the wind season. Therefore, combining the factor of the time (season) and characteristics of the complaint – coming and going as fast as the wind – they named this kind of problem: wind type or wind like problems.
Although the liver is usually associated with wind problems, in this case the lungs are actually the organ related to the wind, because the material we are allergic to bothers us mainly through either the skin, nose, and sometimes the eyes. In Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) acupuncture system, the lungs are a combination of nose, bronchial, skin, hair, partially circulatory system, partially the immune system, partially the metabolic system and the lungs themselves.
This TCM and acupuncture system was formed about 2,000 years ago and has been a key player in Modern Chinese disease prevention medicine. Nowadays, it is spreading worldwide more and more because of its effectiveness and good results through a natural way. In recent years, much more scientific research has proven that TCM and acupuncture can regulate and improve immuno function in both cellular immunity and humoral immunity. Most importantly, scientists also found they have what is called “both direction regulation,” which means if anything in the body is “higher than normal” then TCM and acupuncture can lower it until it is back to normal, vise versa.
Clinically, for patients with allergies, the common pattern could be “wind cold” sometimes combined with Qi deficiency. For “wind cold,” the complaints will be: feeling cold easily, allergies accompanied with chills, clear watery mucous from nose, sneezing, watery eyes without swelling, becoming worse in the morning or when the environment is colder. For “wind cold and Qi deficiency,” patients usually complain about tiredness and catching a cold easily and the allergy will get worse or onset more often when getting too tired, these happen simultaneously with the symptoms mentioned earlier. Of course, there are some other uncommon types too, such as “wind with poor circulation,” “wind heat,” etc. which we will not go into detail in this article.
Treatment
The treatment involves a diet change, acupuncture, and herbs if you want a quick relief. For the diet change everyone is different, it would be a good idea to talk about this face to face with the acupuncturist, but one thing is for sure: adding more fresh ginger root juice and mung bean in your diet, avoid the cold stuff are always a good idea. For TCM and acupuncture treatment, it completely depends on the patterns that you have. The acupuncture needle could go on the face, extremities, back, stomach, depending on the situation. At times, TDP and cups need to be involved as well. However, for a few people electrical acupuncture may be better. In terms of herbs, it is more complicated, you would need to speak face to face with an acupuncturist. We started to see seasonal allergy patients in the U.S. in 1995. So far, we have helped many sufferers. For most people, after treatment they will not need to come back. We followed up with patients for five years and there was still no need for them to come back.
Rebecca’s Story: Acupuncture and Constipation
Case Study
Constipation is one of the common complaints we hear about on a daily basis. There are many reasons for this kind of digestive problem. One of the causes is: Ignoring the urge to have a bowel movement or delaying it until later. However, in daily practice, both professionals and patients often neglect this as a cause. At our office, we’ve helped many patients like this.
Rebecca Tillman, female, 46 years old, came to our office with a 20 year history of constipation. During this time she would only have a bowel movement every 3-6 days. The problem started at the age of 26, when she started her PhD program. The program required her to study hard, read a lot and write many essays. Although eating carefully and healthy at the time, she started to develop an irregular bowel movement. She ignored these signs and then soon enough the constipation started to affect her daily life and studies. Ever since, she went to many doctors and specialists. No one could find anything wrong with her, they either told her to take laxatives or change her diet. However, the results were unsatisfactory.
In our office, we went through all the details about her daily life, from early morning until she went to bed. In terms of the details regarding her bowel movement, she told us she developed a habit, during her PhD program, to read necessary information for her work or exams during her bowel movement to save time. At times she would even forget to go to the bathroom, even though she was sitting on the toilet. Once we combined the diagnosis from the other specialists with the details of the bowel movement habit, we realized what the problem was. It was obvious she developed a bad habit with her bowel movement. She would be distracted so much while she was using the bathroom that her nervous system would concentrate more on reading instead of the bowel movement. At the time, the nervous system became used to dealing with two things: reading and going to the bathroom. As a result, the bowel movement was no longer as easy as a normal one.
We suggested to Rebecca, that in order to change this habit she should concentrate on the bowel movement, to not read or think about anything else, until she finished. Meanwhile, we gave her some Shen(spirit and mind) related acupuncture points such as: Si-Shencong, Shenmen plus Chengshan, Zhigou, Tianshu and Siguan. After 12 sessions, within a month and half period, her constipation improved significantly, she would have a bowel movement either once a day or once every other day. She was very happy with these results. We followed up with her for half a year, her bowel movement was fine ever since.
What you should take away from this case study:
Although she suffered for a while and it looked like a complicated case, it was actually very simple. As soon as we found the cause we treated her with acupuncture points for regulating and re-balancing her nervous and digestive system, then her bowel movements became normal. TCM and acupuncture has a long history of treating constipation either simple or complicated cases. In fact, there are many acupuncture points and herbal formulas that are good for constipation issues. If you do have a complicated case, you would really need to follow the TCM and acupuncture rules, which are pattern differentiation and treatment. Only in this way can you really get good results.
Many People, Including Professionals, Still Don’t Know Acupuncture is Good for Infertility
Like anything else, when it comes to the topic of acupuncture everyone has an opinion. It’s scientifically proven that acupuncture can help or cure many diseases and conditions, but still many people don’t believe it. For acupuncture for infertility, tremendous scientific research has been done in China over the past 60 years indicating that it can affect our body in every way such as molecular, cell, tissue and system levels, etc. through regulating the nerve system and the endocrine system directly or indirectly, specifically the reproductive system such as ovary function, pituitary gland and adrenal gland function etc. The details can be found in the book Scientific Foundations of Acupuncture and Moxibustion by Zhu Bing Ph.D (Qing Dao 1998). There are many more books and publications about it, this book is just one example.
Many countries have started to use acupuncture for medical purposes. The National Institute of Health (NIH) of the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services published a Consensus Development Statement on acupuncture in 1997, which concluded that acupuncture can help many diseases and conditions. About 10 years ago, there was research done in Europe that stated acupuncture increases the pregnancy rate at a 50% chance. However in recent years, a study stated acupuncture can only relax people instead of helping them become pregnant.
There are many theories in medical fields that continuously change over time, depending on the latest developments. Take the CPR procedure and the principal of dealing with shock patients for example, these theories go back and forth, proving and disproving each other as the time goes on. We don’t think one or two scientific studies are able to represent the whole truth about acupuncture for infertility. The reality of acupuncture helping infertility issues in daily practice indicates that it works very well, otherwise acupuncture clinics for infertility wouldn’t have survived.
In the past years, just like other clinics, we have helped many infertility patients conceive with acupuncture and Chinese herbs treatment without IVF or IUI, aged from 30 to 45. Some of them are diagnosed by other specialists that they can not pregnant naturally or at all in their life time. We even helped patients get pregnant naturally with our protocol at ages 45, 47 and even 49.
Our first patient of this kind was a 35 year old woman from Brazil. In the initial visit, she told us her OB/GYN and the IVF specialist informed her that she will never get pregnant, according to her situation. After consultation and examination with Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) methodologies, we concluded that she was not hopeless and she still had a good chance to get pregnant naturally. After 15 sessions of acupuncture treatment with TCM herbs, within two months she became pregnant naturally. Twelve months later, she surprised me by coming to my office with her baby in the stroller. She told everyone in the office that we made the impossible possible. This patient is just one of many examples. We’ve also helped many M.D.’s themselves from different medical specialties in different medical facilities, such as: New York Presbyterian Hospital, Mount Sinai Medical School Hospital, New York Hospital, etc. to become pregnant in similar ways. One of our physician patients from New York Hospital was referred to us by her patient, who got pregnant by our acupuncture treatment, after experiencing three failed IVF procedures. We found that she had an irregular period, and was always tired with ice cold extremities, which means her hormones were imbalanced. We told her to stop trying IVF until her body was ready in terms of TCM diagnosis. Within two months she had 12 acupuncture sessions. Her period was regulated and she stopped experiencing ice cold extremities. We suggested that she should continue acupuncture treatments with IVF procedures, and in four months she was pregnant. Ten months later she gave birth to a healthy baby. Some physicians have tried IVF as many as five times without any results. Many of them after combining IVF with acupuncture treatment became pregnant too. We’ve had a patient from Australia that told us she tried IVF 18 times without any results, which is far too many times for one person to try. If the body is not well balanced and not ready, it is useless to try IVF again and again.
In the last 40 days, at our clinic, we’ve had four out of the seven couples we treated get pregnant. Three of these couples became pregnant naturally, at ages 34-37, who had been heading for IVF procedures. One couple had 12 acupuncture sessions and became pregnant within two months, the second couple got pregnant in the 3rd month, the third couple tried 24 sessions and within four months they were pregnant.
To understand why acupuncture can help infertility we must first become familiar with Chinese culture and tradition. One of the most important rules in Chinese culture and the tradition is: you must reproduce. Otherwise, it’s a sign of disrespect to your parents, family and ancestors. Essentially, you would be blamed for discontinuing the family lineage. Therefore, one of the important duties for Chinese doctors is to help patients conceive and have their own babies. This kind of practice dates back at least 2,000 years. Chinese doctors have spent centuries developing methodologies for infertility issues in both men and women. The procedures for female reproductive health include the care of: menstruation, pregnancy, breast feeding/lactation, inducing labor, and diseases and conditions related to postpartum; while for males this includes: ED, ejaculation problems etc. According to TCM and acupuncture theory, unless your missing an essential organ(s), some fundamentals to becoming pregnant as a woman are a healthy body and a regular and normal menstrual cycle etc.
Last year there was a book published in China by a colleague of mine from medical school. After reading the book I realized we have similar experiences regarding infertility issues with Chinese medicine and acupuncture. The book gives us many examples of cases labeled by specialists as ‘impossible’ without the help of IVF who got pregnant naturally with acupuncture and Chinese herbs treatments. I couldn’t agree more with one point of view from the book that the lab results are one thing, but the balance of the body is another. As long as the body is well balanced the lab results are not the most important as what is supposed to be, at least in terms of infertility issues. Otherwise there shouldn’t be so many so called impossible patients eventually getting pregnant and having healthy babies.
Nowadays, specifically in the United States, the cause of infertility for women, according to our clinical experience – apart from having organ problems – are: stress, aging, too low Anti-Müllerian Hormone (AMH) etc. Other factors include an imbalance of hormones due to diet, drugs, and other related diseases such as thyroid problems etc. If the related diseases and conditions are not our specialty, we do refer the patient to corespondent specialists. We found that many of our patients do not have a clear picture about their infertility issues even after seeking treatment from other infertility specialists. We also found from our patients some infertility specialists, do not suggest to see acupuncturists for help. We don’t know why, maybe because they don’t have enough information about acupuncture as a beneficial infertility treatment. Whatever it is, professionally and morally for the patient’s benefit it is fair to let the patients try acupuncture or combine acupuncture with IVF treatments. We truly believe from clinical experience that to let the patient understand what we are doing is important. If the patient cannot get the whole picture of this process, the results of the treatment will be poor. We also truly believe that the cooperation between patient and doctor is very important. That is why, in our clinic, when we see patients we always give them a clear picture of the whole procedure in a very detailed way according to our knowledge and experience, then the patients can comply.
The most unique part of Chinese medicine, for thousands of years, is the pure trial and error based only on human beings without the testing on animals. That is why the principals and treatments of TCM and acupuncture, some people believe, are closer to the reality of human being’s diseases and conditions. Many Chinese follow the Chinese medicine rules in their daily life activities for well being and to maintain their well being, especially, when they have medical problems such as infertility and it’s related problems. That is why some people say that Chinese medicine and acupuncture contribute to the Chinese population, obviously it shows today with its large size.
Different Uses of Herbal Tea and Pills in TCM
In the medical field, it looks like all the procedures make us uncomfortable. Medicine-wise, if we don’t swallow quickly enough, it also makes us uneasy. Chinese medicine in particular can make us feel even more uncomfortable than that. Chinese herbal tea generally helps people, so people tolerate the temporary discomfort and bad taste. That’s why the Chinese have a common saying “liang yao ku kou li yu bing” meaning generally “good medicine tastes bitter but it helps with your illness.” What if good medicine helps our problem but doesn’t taste bad? Wouldn’t that be great?
In TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine), there are many ways to deal with diseases like using Chinese herbs, acupuncture, massage, qi gong, diet, etc. Acupuncture with needles may be uncomfortable for most people at the beginning, a healing massage for medical purposes often hurts, with qi gong you feel very awkward at the beginning, and sometimes we need to sacrifice our favorite foods for medical reasons. People try to avoid having these treatment if they don’t need them. That is why there are many ways to administer herbal medicine that can best fit the patient’s needs and preferences. For acute diseases or situations, herbal tea or acupuncture are the best choices. For chronic diseases or situations, herbal pills or powder are the better choices because patients need to take the herbs for long term on a consistent basis. It is convenient and they don’t need to boil the herbs everyday. The taste of the pills is much better than the tea. This means that the medicine that is supposed to help us does not have to taste bitter like the saying says. For kids or people who just don’t like the taste of herbs, honey is added to the herbal base for a better flavor and texture of a syrup.
For most Chinese herbs, they are not harmful to our bodies when taken for a long time. However, some of them are important to pay attention to the effects on our bodies. For example, ephedra is not supposed to be taken for a long time. If it is, the user will end up sweating profusely. Even though some other herbs can make us stronger, that doesn’t mean we should take them for longer or even at all. Another example is licorice. It is not a good idea to have it consistently for a long time, especially if you don’t have any medical issues. Otherwise, it could cause palpitation, sweating, anxiety, etc.
It is always a good idea to consult a Chinese herbologist about herbs you’re considering taking, either for medical purposes, beverages, or other purposes. This is because even a small dosage of some herbs can be very harmful. Herbal or so-called natural healing products do not mean they are without side effects.
Acupuncture for Acid Reflux
Reflux is a common complaint people have when it comes to their stomach and digestive system; related diseases or other diseases can affect the digestive system or CNS. In Chinese medicine and acupuncture the nature of the reflux, nausea, even vomiting is about the same. Therefore, the treatment used is very similar. Here, mainly, we will focus on the condition associated primarily with digestive problems.
Generally speaking, it is very beneficial to use Chinese medicine including acupuncture for reflux, such as for GERD, digestive ulcers, stress, nerves, and associated bad food consumption. China is one of the biggest countries with the largest population in the world. Historically, fighting for food was common in the Chinese nation. In the past, Chinese people did not have enough to eat. Some people only ate one or two meals per day, most foods were so scarce that a person would eat the bark and flowers of an elm tree, Chinese grasses, and even soil. Chinese doctors realized that stress, anxiety, an irregular diet, overeating or starvation, etc. can really cause digestive and nutritional problems or diseases that include: nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea, etc. That is why one of the main tasks for Ancient Chinese doctors was to develop a good system to treat these problems.
Chinese medicine and acupuncture treat reflux, nausea, vomiting, etc. differently according to the accompanying symptoms. This is called Pattern Differentiation/Individual-Based-Fit-Treatment, which is a unique part of Chinese medicine and acupuncture. In this case, the pattern-differentiations could be 1. Stomach Cold – patients do not like to take anything cold, if they consume cold things, it can worsen the complaint. The patient will also feel cold easily – 2. Stomach Heat/Fire – patient does not like to take anything warm, spicy, or hot if they do the complaint will get worse. The patient may feel warm easily – 3. Liver Stagnation – frustration or stress can make the situation worse, happy and easy situations will make the complaint better. Patients may also become irritated easily with no reason – 4. Spleen Deficiency – patients may feel tired easily, especially their extremities, or tiredness will make the situation worse. Patients even have no energy to talk. – 5. Stomach Yin Deficiency – this is similar to stomach fire/heat, except that the body is much weaker than those within the stomach fire/heat category. – There are other pattern differentiations too but the above 5 patterned categories are the main ones and they can appear separately, or at times there can be a combination of two of them or more.
For the treatment, it completely depends on the pattern-differentiation. If anyone has the same or a similar situation as the above patterns, it is a good idea for them to go to a Chinese medicine and acupuncture specialist for a comprehensive diagnosis and treatment. They can help you accordingly, especially if you’ve been dealing with this situation for a while.
If your situation is far less complex, then there are some simple ways to deal with this for temporary relief. For example, a diet change will help. If you do not want to visit a specialist, you can take the following suggestions and see if they help: 1. Fresh ginger root juice – this is typically good for any stomach problems, but especially for nausea, vomiting, and reflux – 2. Avoid sweets, greasy, or very dry food 3. Avoid food that is difficult to digest such as beans, nuts, etc. 4. Eat food that is well done and not raw, with the exception of salads and juice or fruits 5. Avoid cold food, since you don’t want your stomach to serve as a stove to heat the food 6. Avoid hot/spicy food and drinks, this includes alcohol too.
In regards to acupuncture, there are many points that can help as well, even if you put pressure on them. This can sometimes give you relief too. An example of an acupoint is Pericardium 6 (PC 6, Neiguan) which is 2 units above the wrist crease between the tendons of palmaris longus and flexor carpi radialis (these are based upon the 12 units between the crease of the wrist and the inside of the elbow). Another acupoint is Spleen 4 (SP 4, Gongsun) located at the median aspect of the foot, in the depression distal and inferior to the base of the first metatarsal bone. These are major acupuncture points that help the digestive problems we have described. Once in a while, you can put pressure on these points and it should give you some relief. Of course, there are many more acupoints that can help too.
If nausea and vomiting are due to morning sickness, then acupuncture and Chinese herbs will definitely help. If these symptoms are caused by a tumor, CNS, etc, it would be best to go to a correspondent specialist such as an Oncologist or Neurologist instead of first visiting a Chinese medicine and acupuncture specialist, even though acupuncture and Chinese herbs can help relieve symptoms too.
How Does Western Medicine Explain Acupuncture?
Even though acupuncture has been practice in China for about at least 2-3,000 years and spreading in the adjacent countries such as Japan, Korea, etc. as the time goes on. For the rest of the world it is maybe only acknowledge less this 400 years and the spreading of it is much slower than the origin area. It is being said that Japanese, in the early 1950s declared that even though acupuncture was orientated in China, the explanation with modern medicine theory would be done in Japan and there ambitious is to develop acupuncture furthermore then that of Chinese. This stimulated Chinese government to organize a big acupuncture program from 1950s and on until in the end or 1980s for about thirty years. Chinese government wanted to do the research with the modern medical theory, bigger, stronger, wider and faster than that of Japanese.
What they have achieved so far:
1. Develop a new method of anesthesia with acupuncture for operations in the head, neck, etc. even though it isn’t perfect yet.
2. We found about 10% of Chinese are general sensitive people which means if you put needle on one point on one channel then the sensation are for the chi movement or sensation can go through the whole channel which approved the existing channel. Even though we do not know the nature of it.
3. They have found the traditional acupuncture points area/spot are higher electrical resistance than the none acupuncture areas/spot. Which proved the existing of acupuncture points.
4. They also found 90% of the acupuncture points are more or less are associated with the nerve system.
5. This speed of chi traveling in the channel slower than nerve but quicker than the endocrine system. They assumed that channel system is another balancing system in our human body other then nerve and endocrine system – the third balancing system.
6. In session of acupuncture needle and manipulation can affect our body in every level meaning from organ to tissue to cell to molecule.
7. One of the most important finding about acupuncture is what is called both direction regulations which means making the high abnormal level lower until normal level or vice versa. This explains why the same acupuncture points on one person it can make the high blood pressure lower until to the normal level, and on the other low blood pressure person it can increase the blood pressure higher to the normal.
8. About 450 conditions under diseases can be helped by acupuncture. Overall during that 30 years period of time almost all the medical schools and the other related scientist were involved in this program which is one of the biggest in scientific work research because of this the first world wide scientific organization were headquarters in China in November of 1987 in Beijing.
Ever since the spreading of acupuncture is getting quicker. Many scientist including doctors all over the world started to do more research about acupuncture because of its treatment results. Acupuncture is based upon channel theory according to traditional Chinese medicine. Even though we can see the channel existing with instrument, but we still don’t know what is the nature of it because of the restriction of science and technology. Acupuncture is not perfect explained by modern medicine yet. However, it has many advantages over the modern medicine theories such as it always promotes our bodies ability for fighting diseases with no side effects if you perform it right it stresses the connections and affects each other of the body It also stresses individual differences so in turn it is always tailored treatment procedure. We hope modern medicine can borrow some ideas from acupuncture to make modern medicine perfect.
Looking “Outside the Box” for Acne Treatment
Dr. Wang was recently featured in the Dermatology Times article “Looking ‘outside box’ for acne treatment“. You may read the article online (as a registered user) by clicking here or download a printable PDF of the article by to download the Dermatology Times Article in PDF.
TCM Therapies
Shaobai Wang, M.D., uses a combination of acupuncture, herbs and diet to treat acne. In traditional chinese medicine (TCM), he says, “We consider that everything is related. The weather, diet, and season and other such factors can have pathological effects on human functioning. For TCM science, everybody is different; every problem is different. … We treat disease according to the method of differentiation.
(Missing Picture)
The above patient is a female, age 25 with acne around mouth area, shown with acupuncture needles in the facial area and lower extremities area.
“Here in the United States they treat according to diagnosis: acne,” he says. “With TCM, acneform lesions may result from one of a variety of imbalances. We observe and analyze the imbalances to get at the cause of the lesions; this is differentiation.”
Dr. Wang is a New York State-licensed acupuncturist who, in July 2004, left his position of 13 years as visiting professor and research scientist in the department of medicine at Columbia University in New York City.
Dr. Shaobai Wang
Dr. Wang considers several factors when choosing a course of treatment for his acne patients, including how the acne responds to changes in season, hormonal cycle, mood and diet, as well as where acne occurs on the body. Based on the principles of TCM, every acne patient receives an individualized therapy, he says, so it is not possible to conduct a clinical trial examining a specific, uniform TCM treatment for acne, as is done with Western medicine. Clinical trials of TCM treatments can be performed only if the study incorporates the standard procedures for TCM diagnosis and differentiation.
Combo Effective
Dr. Baker also looks at the big picture when treating acne with acupuncture and other TCM tools. “It is also important to treat the patient’s underlying TCM imbalances for optimal results, which translates into treating problems like an irregular menstrual cycle first, and then observing the effect on a patient’s acne,” he says. “… Patients who have an incomplete response to antibiotics but do not want to take Accutane can benefit from combining topical therapy and monthly acupuncture as maintenance therapy, while using doxycycline for acne flares.” Dr. Wang, who was educated in China, doubts whether most Western physicians truly appreciate the amount of training that is necessary in both TCM theory and practice. In China, doctors of TCM must undergo a minimum of five years of intensive training, including one yearof clinical internship. He does not believe that a few hundred hours of training in acupuncture or a similar TCM treatment is enough to permit doctors to use these tools correctly. Thus, he says, it would be best for Western dermatologists who want to incorporate aspects of TCM into their practice to work in collaboration with a TCM practitioner who has spent several years studying TCM full-time and is familiar with Western practices. In the wrong hands, he says, TCM, like any medical therapy, can even be dangerous.
For more information:
Additional information about TCM can be found on Dr. Wang’s Web site at acupuncturechineseherbs.com. The role of vitamin B in acne is described on the Web site for Evolution-X at www.b5supplements.com