Autumn, and where we’re at.

 

 

 

Chinese medicine has strong ties to the rhythms of nature. We often talk about the balance of natural elements in terms of Fire, Earth, Metal, Water, and Wood and pay close attention to the way the human body mirrors the interaction between these elements.  Most of us can recognize shifts in nature like the changing of seasons, an increase or decrease in barometric pressure, the waxing and waning of the moon, shifts in the humidity… All of these fluctuation happen in the body too, you just have to know how to recognize the way they manifest.

The onset of Autumn is a very strange time in our society. I’ve noticed in myself, and in the people I’ve talked to over the past few weeks that many of us seem to have the same sense of disconnect and a general sense of unsettledness . I’ve had many conversations with folks about how stress and emotions are running high right now, even though when looking at things objectively we notice that there are actually got less external stressors (in many cases, but not all, of course)  than maybe there were did last month. Fall is a beautiful time of year, you get to walk around in the cool crisp air, see the magnificent changing colors of the trees- what’s to feel stressed about?

Well two things are happening here, first, as the air cools, and the leaves change, we begin to instinctively recoil from the outside world a little bit. We curl up on the couch with hot tea and the book we’ve been meaning to pick up all year, as the sun stays hidden longer and longer, we find ourselves wanting to sleep longer too (think hibernation!). We begin spend more time reflecting on ourselves as we are no longer distracted by the high energy of the past summer. This is our time to take another look at who we are, what we want,  and where we’re at in our lives- all of the things that get pushed aside in the summer months.  Summertime is much more focused on living in the expansive and fun loving energy that everyone is swirling around in.

Imagine this (it’s been a while since I’ve jumped into an analogy!): You’re running on one of those “people movers” at the airport, in the same direction that it is moving- so you’re going really fast. You feel great, its always fun to fly! All of a sudden the end of the people mover is right in front of you, you take that last step off of the conveyer belt and onto the solid floor. That abrupt halt might be enough to knock you to your knees, or you might just feel really off balance without quite falling. You gather yourself up, and move down the terminal at a much slower pace that feels tedious at first but soon begins to feel comfortable too.

Just about the time the pace of Autumn energy begins to feel comfortable after hopping off of the high speed of Summer,  we start to notice holiday decorations popping up at the grocery store, advertisements start to kick in, relatives start calling to make plans for holiday visits, or we start booking plane tickets for our own trips. In a time when we are naturally inclined to have a slow, steady, introspective energy about us, we start to do our best to lovingly embrace the chaos of the holidays. Not to say the holidays are bad, not by any means, but the buzzing chaos that they tend to bring with them goes against our natural inclination at this time of year. This disconnect between nature’s seasonal cycle, which we are very much a part of, and the seasonal cycle of our society tend to clash right about now, causing us to be a little less adaptive to stressors than normal. It makes us feel scattered and unbalanced, sometimes anxious or depressed and can often lead to a flare up of pre-existing conditions or injuries.

This time of year should be joyful, as we spend time reflecting on ourselves, and enjoying time with the people closest to us, we have the opportunity to redefine our lives in whatever respect we might need to. We remember the little things that make us smile, the people who we don’t want to be without, and the things about ourselves that make us who we are. Though, too often this gets turned on its head and the winter season become a time of sadness or anxiety as we are unable to slide into that cozy place where time slows and we surround ourselves with careful thought and love, as nature would have it.

In the ancient Chinese Medicine text, The Neijing Su Wen, it is stated that the three months of winter are called closing and storing. This is the closing of plant life, at which time the energy goes deep underground. It is easily seen  in the transition from late autumn to winter that people are a bit tired, less ambitious, and more internalized as well.

The Neijing Su Wen goes on to recommend going to bed early in the winter and getting up late. “Everything must be done according to the light of the sun.” Contrary to what one does in summer, when our Qi expands outwardly, in winter our Qi is contained under our skin, as close to our surface as possible.  When our Qi (or energy) concentrates at our surface as it should this time of year, it is acting as a protective barrier between our bodies and pathogens in our environment that may serve to make us sick (it is the beginning of Flu season after all). This Qi can be can be likened to the western concept of the immune system. Chinese Medicine strives to protect this energy at our body’s surface in order to allow it to act as our first defense against an external invasion of Wind-Cold (meaning just that: cold wind), which often brings in the bacteria or virus that gives us a “Cold”.  See this previous Blog for an explanation of the body’s different layers of defense against pathogens (scroll about midway down the blog for a brief outline if you don’t have time to read the whole thing).

Chinese Medicine recognizes that in each season a different organ is most active, and most vulnerable. Autumn is the season of the element Metal, which represents the Lung primarily, and the Large Intestine secondarily. During this time the lungs are most responsive to treatment because they are most active. If you have pre-existing lung conditions this is the best time to start using Chinese Medicine to get to the root of the problem. Conditions such as Asthma, Lung Cancer, chronic Bronchitis, smoking cessation and detoxifying/regenerating your lungs (and SO many more!) will be most responsive to treatment at this time of year.

Taken on step farther the state of each organ has a strong influence, or “controls” a specific “sense organ”, and the Lungs control the skin. This is part of the reason the body’s Qi, at this time of year is at our body’s surface, because it is under the influence of the Lungs, and if you’ll notice the lungs and respiratory system are the first to be affected by a cold or flu. The emotion associated with the Metal organs is Grief or sadness

 

This chart  show the elements and some of their correlations to your body.

So what does all of this mean?

What are you supposed to DO?

Well, it means try to be aware of seasonal shifts or tendencies in yourself, and honor them as you would the seasonal shifts in nature.

Protect your protective qi, your lungs, and your emotional state. Acupuncture and Chinese Herbal medicine are invaluable in this part, so go see your Acupuncturist when you start to feel a little worn down, or a little blue, or notice old symptoms cropping up again. Don’t wait until you’ve become sick, sad, and stressed out. 

Part of protecting yourself means eating for the season. This means warming and pungent foods. Lung nourishing foods tend to be whitish in color, slightly spicy, and warm in temperature. For example:

• Garlic
• Ginger root
• Radish
• Onion
• White pepper

Foods to avoid: DAIRY. That means milk, cheese, yogurt, ice cream, hot chocolate, creamer…. all of those things create mucus, which collects in the lungs and respiratory system and provides the perfect environment for bacteria and virus to reside. 

Slicing up some fresh ginger root and boiling in water for about 20 minutes, adding a bit of natural honey to taste, and sipping on that through out the cool months is one of the simplest and tastiest ways to keep yourself protected. Staying bundled up, of course, and out of the cold wind is important too.

Key to a happy, health Autumn and Winter:

• Regular Acupuncture treatments
• Fresh hot Ginger tea
• Lots of Garlic in everything!
• Scarves, Scarves, Scarves
• Plenty of rest and time to reflect on yourself

Happy Fall My Friends!

New Website!

 

I will continue to update Wings of Vitality Blog and you can  still check it at this web address if you’d like, but it is now also a part of of my clinic’s official website:

 www.neweastacupuncture.com

Feel free to stop by and browse around!

Back to Basics- What to expect in the treatment room

A lot of you are already familiar with the style of Chinese Medicine that I practice and know exactly what to expect, so I apologize for being redundant but hopefully you find something new to you in this post anyway. I want to explain some of the “whys” of what I do, and I need to start at the beginning just in case, so stay tuned for the next post that will expand upon Chinese Medicine diagnostics!

Classical Chinese Medicine is a particular school of Chinese Medicine based on the teachings and experience of specific Physicians, mostly originating from the Han Dynasty in Ancient China (Dr. Zhang Zhong Jing specifically), and expanded upon and adapted by many modern Doctors and Scholars. It is sometimes referred to erroneously as Traditional Chinese Medicine but is actually much more complex, with much deeper roots.

When you see a Clinician that practices Classical Chinese Medicine (such as myself) you can expect to have your radial pulse felt on each wrist and examined in great detail, as they will be able to detect subtle changes in quality of the pulse that will indicate where in the body there is an imbalance, and what type of imbalance it is. They will ask to see your tongue, and possibly examine your eyes to gain further insight into the disharmony in your body. Finally they will ask you a number of questions that will provide them with the necessary information they need to make a complete diagnosis within the framework of Classical Chinese Medicine. They will then be able to determine the best course of action to correct the core imbalance that is giving rise to the symptoms you are experiencing.

The physician may decide to use Acupuncture, a custom-made herbal formula or a combination of both to correct the imbalance. If Herbal medicine is determined to be the best treatment for you, the Acupuncture Physician will write a customized formula that may be comprised of anywhere from 2 to 20 carefully selected herbs or minerals, to address the exact underlying imbalance in addition to immediate symptoms you are experiencing. Chinese Herbal Medicine may be prescribed in a concentrated powder form to be mixed with water (the most common and accessible form, I usually prescribe this in my practice), or the physician may put the powdered herbs into capsules for you. Other forms of Chinese herbal medicine are what we call the “teapill”, which is essentially a concentrated, dried and powdered herbal formula mixed with a type of honey-like natural sugar and rolled and dried into small BB sized “pills”. Another common form of Chinese Herbal Medicine is the raw herbal broth that you would boil and prepare per your physician’s instructions, though this is generally reserved in the modern clinical setting for very serious conditions that may require a particularly aggressive herbal treatment.

These herbal formulas are designed to solve imbalances in your body, much in the same way acupuncture works. Some herbal formulas will be used to detoxify your liver or kidneys, some will be used to strengthen different organs that may have a weakness, and some may be used to restore balance amongst specific organs or systems. Sometimes all of these approaches may be taken, depending on the complexity of your health situation.

In Chinese Medicine we work in terms of Yin and Yang, Yin being the structure or anatomy of the body, and Yang being the function, power and physiology of the body. The concepts of Yin and Yang can be applied to nearly any aspect of the universe, from night (yin) and day (yang), to the health and balance of a human body. When either Yin or Yang is either in excess or is deficient, this disrupts the normal function of your body, and can create blockages or weaknesses. The beauty of Chinese Medicine is that using specific diagnostic skills such as detailed observation, palpation, tongue and pulse diagnosis, and asking certain questions about your body’s functions, we are able to detect the imbalances in organ systems, and of Yin and Yang when they are still very slight.

Often times these minor imbalances that will create subtle symptoms will not be apparent on lab tests until they have become so out of balance that they have escalated into a full blown disease or condition. When you are able to detect things early, when they are still just a minor imbalance that is giving you only slightly annoying or uncomfortable symptom, you are able to correct and prevent disease in the future. This is a very strong point of Chinese medicine that conventional western medicine cannot generally offer.

Chinese medicine is an invaluable tool for both maintaining and restoring health; it simply works with your body to allow it to function the way it was designed to. Your body is a perfect machine; modern medicine cannot duplicate the intricate workings of the human body, and thus cannot restore the original state of health you are meant to exist in with its current approach of replacing “pieces” as they break. For example- replacing the weakened pancreas’ function with artificial insulin to control blood sugar, or replacing the degenerated cartilage in the knee with artificial materials to alleviate pain, or the function of the deficient kidneys with diuretic medication to control blood pressure, all of these things ultimately lead to further deterioration of the original organ or body part’s respective function. This approach begins an endless cycle of side effects and new medications, but by restoring the balance of your body naturally, with Chinese Medicine, this “band-aid” approach is not necessary, and your body is allowed to maintain its own health, breaking that cycle.

Next I will talk more specifically about the diagnostic techniques I use in my clinic and how they can help prevent serious health problems down the road while resolving the symptoms you are experiencing now.

Reaching out!

 

 

If you’re interested in an herbal consultation but are not in the Portland area, or know someone who you feel may benefit from Chinese Herbal Medicine that isn’t a Portlandian, point them in the direction of this form (see link below) and we’ll be in touch!

http://wingsofvitality.wordpress.com/contact-and-patient-consultation-form/

 

Also, for those of you who are currently working with me in clinic, this is a little promotion I’m running for now that will benefit everyone!

 

 

Making space for healing

 

 

Welcome to my Clinic.  I apologize for the lack of blogging lately, but I will be back with new articles before you know it. I have been a busy bee building my clinic from the ground up, and all of the hard work has finally paid off! It is a beautiful space and it feels great to be in.

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I am now accepting insurance as well, though I resisted the insurance billing world for quite a while the demand was high and I am able to reach more people this way. The providers I am currently working with are as follows: OptumHealth (Great-West Healthcare, Health Allies, Access One Consumer Health, Medical Resource, Secure Horizons, PacifiCare Health Systems, United Healthcare, Premera Blue Cross); AXIS HealthCare; Coventry Health Care; Worker’s Compensation. Please ask me about your particular insurance provider if you are interested and do not see it listed.

I’ve also got a proper website in the works (don’t worry, the blog will stay up!) and I am very excited about getting it going. Stay tuned for all sorts of new developments, they’re coming by the truckload.

movement

In keeping with the winds of change I’ve found myself on an incredible adventure in the past few months. Amazing opportunities cropping up both in the world of Chinese Medicine and healing, but also in the life I’ve been living day to day. Chinese Medicine aside for a moment, I came to Portland in search of answers and a lot of those answers are beginning to trickle in one drop at a time, not from professors and doctors, but from the encounters I have every day. Let me explain what that actually means.

I came to a new city, quite literally as far across the country as it could possibly be from everything and everyone I’ve ever known. The intention was simply to continue learning about myself, learning about my passion (and profession) and how all of it relates to the world and the people in it. I am seeing more and more everyday why I am here, both in the sense of being in Portland and in the field of Chinese Medicine. Through the open arms, kind words and generosity of strangers and acquaintances (that have quickly become much more) I’m understanding what it means to be a part of a community, and really, what it means to be human. Maybe I skipped ahead a few thoughts there, but I mean that I am understanding how much community, support and acceptance can impact a person. I have always been blessed with a very comfortable and loving support network of friends and family so that I’ve never really felt like I had nowhere to turn if I needed someone. It is a very easy thing to take for granted that everyone else has that kind of love in their lives, and I feel like now that I’ve experienced the absence of that comfort and the sincere need for strangers kindness at a very primal level I have begun to see human connections quite differently.

One way this is manifesting in my life right now is by pulling me closer to the people and world around me. I feel like Portland has kind of sucked me in as one of its own. Its been happening that the more welcoming and receptive people are to me as a new girl in town, especially as it seems to always be just when I need it most, I start to live more and more in this state of gratitude that leaves me sincerely needing to give something back. I’ve opened myself up more and am continuously amazed at what I’m capable of and what I’m being blessed with. The more you give, the more you receive and it just keeps getting bigger, the threads that knit together the people in the community get tighter, and hearts open up like nothing I’ve ever seen.  And I love it.

This, of course, got me thinking about the connection between patient and doctor and how it all ties in together. I feel like a big part of Chinese Medicine is building this relationship. As the practitioner I have always recognized the importance of getting to know the person who came to me for help, but maybe in a different context. Since beginning this adventure, I feel this amazing gratitude towards the people helping get my clinic on its feet and offering me the support and help I’ve needed, but also towards the patients that will be and have been trusting me with their health. Its a very simple thing, but I’ve never really stopped to think about just how grateful I am for the people that choose to come to me for help. I enjoy working with you, and for you, and just  wanted to take a moment to say thank you.

Starting Monday June 7 I will be accepting new patients at my very own practice. I will be offering Acupuncture this first week and the following week the Herbal Pharmacy will be up and running and I will be offering custom Classical Chinese Medicine herbal formulas as well. I am very excited about all of this and couldn’t have dreamt up a better work environment. My clinic is on the second floor of the King Chiropractic office in the SW of Portland.  Dr. King and her amazing staff have created a wonderful healing environment that I very much look forward to being a part of. I am offering a (very) discounted introductory special, so please take advantage of this while it’s available!

I will start writing articles again on specific health related topics, so again if you have any suggestions, as always I welcome your input!

 

 

 

Becoming Whole

Today my heart is aching for a few reasons, not the least of which is that a dear friend’s husband passed on a few days ago. He stood up against his cancer diagnosis, fearless, strong, and determined- and put his trust in his body and set his mind to recovery. While I understand that no medicine can guarantee anything all of the time, not chemo, not surgery, not herbal medicine, not energy medicine, it is still with great regret and sadness that I learned of his passing. He was an extraordinarily loved and loving man to his family and those whom he came into contact with, and I feel blessed to have known him and his family.

When I first began my journey into the world of Chinese Medicine it felt very much like today feels to me. I feel like this story wants to be told.

When I was a teenager, 15 years old maybe, my Granny, the strongest, funniest, most loving and supportive woman I’ve ever known was diagnosed with cancer. It wasn’t really talked about in our family, at least not with my brother and me, until she became visibly sick, but I knew that something was wrong. She began to lose some of her vibrancy, slowly, but steadily, and eventually I was told just how sick she was. I don’t really remember processing the thought that she could die. I just remember wanting to be with her all the time, I never really let myself think about why. She went through the conventional American standard cancer treatment- chemo, drugs, surgeries, radiation, of which I was told very little at the time, but I saw her losing her spirit.

One of the most powerful memories I have in my life was the day I was laying in bed with her looking through old photo albums. She was telling me who people were in these funny little faded square photographs with rounded corners. I wasn’t really concerned with the people in the pictures, and it was everything I had not to cry the whole time, but I just needed to be near her and know she was still there. I remember her getting a little confused and having difficulty remembering some of the names of people, and kind of getting frustrated with it, then in a sudden moment of clarity she looked up from the album and turned to me. She said something along the lines of, “Hayley, if I had this to do over again I would never have let them touch me”. I never asked what that meant to her exactly, though everything in my heart knew that she was talking about the cancer treatments she had undergone.

At this time I knew absolutely nothing about medicine, other than I was interested in it, and I certainly knew nothing about alternative medicine outside of its existence. Sometime shortly after that day my Granny passed away and left me thinking and wondering about what could have happened had her disease been handled differently. I fell into my own depression following her death, and was faced with an inner world of my own that needed to be healed. I was thrown from antidepressant to antidepressant, unable to sleep or wake, let alone smile; I was completely lost.

After a year or so of this terrible state of existence I started staying after class to talk to a teacher in one of my Health classes I was taking in high school. She had been through similar things in her life as was experiencing at the time and she sort of took me under her wing and helped me out. I’ll forever be grateful to her for showing me that kind of support and compassion. I began going with her to her Acupuncturist and getting herbal medicine, and got off the medication I was taking. It was a long way to feeling human and healthy, but I got there. Through this experience I realized that this may have been the alternative I was searching for in my mind, what Granny was talking about. I decided that I wanted to finish school and get my AA and Bachelor’s and go for my Master’s in Oriental Medicine. It was that simple. I started reading everything I could about health and nutrition and herbs and alternative medicine. I was on a mission of my own to heal myself in a very serious way, but I was driven by the need to make what happened to my grandmother at least some sort of sacrifice to help someone else’s life better. I couldn’t stand the thought of her dying just being the end of a struggle with cancer. That wasn’t good enough; it needed to be the beginning of a new kind of hope for the next person. I still feel that way.

Sometime thereafter I began an internship with Dr. Ni, quite randomly; I called a few different acupuncturists in the area to set up interviews and try to observe them in their practices as a part of some sort of “career class” I was taking at school. I was 17 at this time I think. Dr. Ni met with me and decided, for some odd reason that I will never be privy to, that I would be a good protégé, and he allowed me to observe him. He began teaching me more than I could have ever imagined, and I started putting in more and more time learning at his clinic. Long after the career class had ended I continued to spend my free time learning from him, and it came to my attention that he was one of the few Chinese Medicine practioners that was comfortable and confident treating cancer patients. In fact, a large percentage of his patients had been diagnosed with various types of cancer and were experiencing mind-blowing results with his medicine. I felt like I had been guided there by none less than my grandmother’s hands and I did everything I could to make the most of this opportunity.

As time went by I was hired to work in the herbal pharmacy, I learned more about the herbs and had a unique experience in understanding them on paper but also by touch. I became immersed in a Traditional Chinese culture that prized preventative medicine and lifestyle, and completely changed the way I looked at my health, my mind and body. I kept working toward my license to practice Chinese Medicine, one degree at a time until I got what I was after. (That was the super-abridged version; I won’t bore you with more rambling details.)

By the time I was a licensed Acupuncturist I had traveled China and Taiwan with Dr. Ni, seen the medicine at its deepest roots, and had experienced it like I could have never imagined. The more I learned the more I realized that I had to learn, and that this journey to understand and correct these diseases in the human body would never be over. There were so many aspects to the state of disease in one person that it took such a great understanding of thousands of years of medical knowledge to even follow how Dr. Ni was treating his patients, let alone do it myself. Eventually he decided to stay in Taiwan and mostly teach seminars and lecture over there, and had me begin seeing patients at his clinic in Florida with a few other physicians that he has trained over the years.

I am not treating cancer patients at this point, though when I feel confident in my ability to achieve the results Dr. Ni once did I fully intend to. That is where my heart lies in this medicine, but in the past few months I have come to realize that there is something more that needs to be sought after for me to get to that point. The foundation Dr. Ni has laid for me is absolutely invaluable in this endeavor but its only the beginning. As technology multiplies, toxicity grows, mind-body disconnects, and stress takes over our lives, this “modern disease” gives the proliferation of cancer a terrifying advantage over our healthy bodies. The problem with the degrading state of our natural resources and the increase of toxicity on this planet is that Chinese Medicine pulls its strength from herbs and energies directly from the earth. When the earth is sick it produces lower quality medicine, which provides less healing for the people who need it. There are so many aspects to this that I don’t even know how to begin thinking about it, let alone doing something about it.

Right now what I can tell you is that my search to finding the ultimate solution to this problem is bringing me to Portland, Oregon. I will be moving there May, 1. I will be working in a lovely space adjacent to a wonderful Chiropractic clinic and practicing Acupuncture and Chinese Herbal Medicine. I feel very blessed and excited to have this opportunity. A large part of my draw to Portland lies in the broad spectrum of holistic medicine practitioners found in such a city, as well as the communal attitude of the people. Everything in my life has felt like it has happened for such apparent reasons, all for the promotion of this cancer solution and I very much feel that Portland will offer me the next step that I am looking for. I will be eventually be studying with a handful of brilliant physicians out there that will hopefully lead me to some of the missing pieces I need and I am looking forward to exploring different modalities of natural medicine in the “Land of Naturopathy” that is Portland Oregon. Some of the physicians I will be seeking to continue to learn from are Dr. Heiner Fruehauf, Dr. Brandt Stickley, and Dr. Arnaud Versluys.

I am so grateful to have had the support from everyone here in Florida, and I am sure at some point I will be back home, but right now I’m being pulled to the other side of the country. With any luck I’ll be back with more answers to the problems we’re faced with in alternative medicine and probably more questions than I could have imagined. I will continue to update my blog and stay in touch, hopefully more frequently.  I hope that you will all follow me on this adventure in search of a more complete understanding, solution and practical application of alternative cancer treatment in this society, economy and state of ecology . Thank you for reading.

Sifting through mixed messages

I want to make a distinction as to how Chinese medicine differentiates from other types of natural medicine. Most [receptive] people seem to respond to it with something along the lines of, “oh, ok I’m into the idea of Chinese medicine, it’s all natural, so it’s good for you and it can’t hurt you”. While I respect and appreciate the open-mindedness, this is the same sort of mentality that gets people sucked into fad diets and the Church of the Multivitamin. It’s not so simple. I want people to turn to Chinese medicine because it leads them to a deeper understanding of their bodies and on some level enriches their lives, not because it’s up there with the latest health trends.

Chinese medicine stands out from most types of natural medicine in America because it is an entire system that explains the correlations of imbalance to disease and balance to health. It also explains the mechanisms behind these relationships and the effects that acupuncture, herbs (and other natural substances), herbal combinations, food, nature, emotions, circumstances and habits have on the balance of energy in the body. By understanding these cause and effect relationships Chinese medicine is able to explain what needs to be shifted, added or subtracted from each of these variable aspects in life in order maintain equilibrium. This is what cures disease- and it is just as much a mentality as it is a course of action.

There are many types of natural therapies out there and while most of them may be non- toxic, they still alter the body’s balance. That is the goal after all, if not they wouldn’t really be doing anything. That being said, if the body’s energy (Qi) is shifted too far in one direction with a supplement or natural therapy you can easily lead to another imbalance. Without the understanding of the mechanism of equilibrium that Chinese Medicine so meticulously outlines, and the without the knowledge of what to do to maintain it, there is certainly the possibility of harm. This harm will come in the form of a new, but slight imbalance that will over time be exacerbated to the point that it can become severe. Severe imbalance is “disease”, simple as that.

By treating the body with therapies that ignore the Qi mechanism you will also face dependence on the substance that you are using. This happens because you are giving the body something it may be lacking but not correcting the underlying imbalance that put your body in such a state in the first place. Even though the supplement may be from a natural source and the symptoms are improved while taking the substance when you remove that supplement (or whatever it may be) from the person’s system the original symptoms come back and are often worse. The body has adapted to having that continuous support which means nothing was really healed or brought back into balance. The most obvious example of this is in patients with chronic digestive upset or constipation who take things like “natural enzymes” or herbal laxatives. They might solve the symptom for the time being, but as soon as they stop taking them they are right back where they started, and usually worse. The body stops producing its own enzymes when you over-feed it external ones, and the intestines start being lazy when they have a supplement that does the work for them. It’s a bad cycle that many people are familiar with.

Chemical drugs alter the body’s physiology, which is the western way of saying “shift the body’s qi and cause physical changes”. These drugs, due to their extreme potency, usually have the ability to cause a much more rapid and aggressive shift than a whole herb, or herbal formula. This isn’t always the case, but much more likely. The nature of a whole herb is complete in and of its self; it is made up of numerous chemical compounds that are necessary for its own survival, growth, and healing in nature. While a manufactured drug is an isolated chemical compound, or sometimes a synthetically engineered combination of compounds, the drug possesses no state of synergistic balance its self. This means the effect the drug can have on the body can be much more forceful and unnatural than a whole herb very quickly. This can cause a dramatic imbalance just as quickly. No nourishment here, just a forceful shift in the body’s balance.

Chinese medicine teaches us that in the human mind/body you cannot isolate a single action or change. When one thing is affected in a human being a near-infinite chain reaction of shifts will begin. From the physical changes you will feel to the biochemical changes you may not feel. This extends to emotional and spiritual shifts that will occur and to the social shifts that may follow. You cannot isolate the pieces of life, and Chinese Medicine teaches us about life.

“Natural” is a term used often by supplement manufactures when they start with a whole herb, mineral, or basically anything that’s found in nature and isolate specific chemical compounds in it. They then collect and concentrate these compounds into the form of a supplement. These supplements are decidedly less toxic than most pharmaceutical drugs but still have the same problem with a lack of synergy. When talking about pharmaceutical drugs, or concentrated supplements it is important to keep in mind that they are going to cause a change in the body’s balance which means that a chain reaction is set off and these unintentional shifts are what we always call “side effects”. As a general rule pharmaceuticals have more side effects than supplements because they have the ability to shift energy more forcefully and are prescribed by doctors who only understand the physical systems of the body, not the subtle balance of Qi that Chinese medicine explains. This means they have no way of countering that imminent imbalance that the supplements/drugs may be covering up or the ones they are causing. Most natural supplements are also recommended by doctors or other healthcare professionals who use that same western way of thinking. Even if they choose to use natural supplements these products were still created using only the knowledge of how they will affect the body’s physiology. This always leads to side effects or dependence on that particular substance- it’s just a matter of time.

Another thing very worthy of mentioning here is the ill effects of the super-concentrated supplement. The human body should be slightly more alkaline than acidic and most often when you super-concentrate something (vitamin, mineral, enzyme, etc.) even if it is an alkaline substance in its whole food form, it becomes an acidic after it is refined and concentrated. Often times these supplements are huge burdens to the liver and kidneys (especially if they are weakened already!) as your body tries to break them down. This leaves deposits of highly concentrated nutrition in the body that is sometimes unable to be metabolized by the body’s weakened cells. When this happens the extra nutrition is used instead by the much more aggressive cells (such as cancer cells or bacteria) or even viruses that your body may be harboring. So not only are these supplements making the internal environment of your body more acidic, which is perfect for the survival of cancer cells, bacteria and viruses, but they are leaving concentrated super-food laying around to give these bad cells or viruses a nutrition supply. All of this on top of over-stressed and over-worked liver and kidneys does not make for a balanced body.

Chinese herbal medicine (the way it should be practiced) circumvents this problem by choosing whole herbs and minerals instead of isolated chemicals. We also use these herbs in their whole form- not super concentrated forms to avoid altering the herb’s natural properties. Taking that a few steps further a Chinese Medicine practitioner will carefully select many whole herbs and minerals and combine them into an herbal formula based on the specific needs of the patient’s body- both physically and energetically. The ingredients of this formula will balance each other out and be adjusted periodically as the patient’s body begins to shift towards a state of balance. Recognizing the signs and symptoms of a patient’s condition as they near that equilibrium or state of health is vital in adjusting the formula. See “here’s to your health” for more information in that area. The practitioner of Chinese medicine will also explain how different aspects of the patient’s life may have contributed to their imbalance to help them avoid falling into those same habits in the future. They will recommend habits to avoid or adopt, foods to stay away from and include in their diet and how the different emotions, seasons, climates and many other factors may have contributed to their imbalance. Eventually the Chinese herbal medicine will no longer be necessary, and the patient’s body will be self reliant. The patient will have the knowledge of how to best stay in balance, and may only need maintenance herbs or acupuncture on occasion because life will always throw us off from time to time.

Medical Mysteries…really ?

Just because you can’t fly an airplane into space, doesn’t mean you can’t get there. You need another vehicle, and you need a different technology to get you to it.

It never ceases to astonish me when I pull up my homepage in the morning and see the latest “Medical Mystery” pop up on the news page. The latest one that peaked my interest was “Sleeping Beauty Syndrome”.Generally, when I see the word “Syndrome” I’m tipped off that these guys really have no idea what’s going on with this patient, but just recognize a cluster of symptoms that they’ve seen in someone else in the past. That cluster of abnormal and unexplained findings generally has no treatment, because there is no understood mechanism that caused the symptoms to appear. So what happens then? Doctors give it a name, and seem to be more on top of things because they can say, “oh yes, we’ve seen that before, this is what it’s called”. This particular syndrome is medically referred to as “Kleine-Levin Syndrome”.

More information on "Sleeping Beauty Syndrome"

This syndrome is characterized by bouts of extreme recurrent sleepiness and fatigue, lethargy and sometimes depression and listlessness that can last from a few days to a few weeks in some cases. This can happen to the extent that a patient, while experiencing one of their “sleep spells”, can be asleep for 2 weeks at a time, and only wake long enough to eat and use the restroom or shower, all the while remaining in an intense “fog” or daze.

This is the initial news clip I saw on Yahoo! news that got me interested in finding out more:

15 year old girl with Kleine-Levin talks about her Syndrome

So now the next question would naturally be- “Western Medicine admittedly has no answer for this girl- but does Chinese Medicine?”

Of course we do. Let’s explore that. Now, I can’t be terribly specific, because  most Western diagnoses are often umbrella terms that can encompass many different underlying imbalances from the Chinese Medicine perspective. With out actually talking to this patient and finding out specific details about symptoms, it will be difficult to come up with a complete explanation of the disorder’s mechanism and treatment, but I can generalize based on the information I’ve gathered. To fully diagnose and treat her I would need the answers to questions such as:

• Her emotional state and patterns during and outside of her “sleeping spells”
• Details regarding the initial “cold” she caught at the onset of her “Sleeping Beauty Syndrome” including the types of medications she was taking to treat that “cold”
• Does she dream?
• Can she sleep regularly and easily when she is not caught up in a sleeping bout
• how is her energy through the day when she is not in a sleeping bout
• are her hands and feet warm or cold
• I would need to feel her pulse to get information about the state of her internal organs and the internal environment
• I would need to see her tongue, which would also show me certain qualities to give me clues as to her bodies internal imbalances
• How is her digestion? Regular Bowel movements?
• Is she thirsty? What temperature water does she prefer?
• What does her diet consist of?
• How is her appetite? Any cravings?
• are there any particular times during the day or night that she finds herself repeatedly waking up or falling asleep? This gives me more insight into what organ systems may be affected.
• What color is her urine- clear, light, dark yellow?
• I would need information about her menstrual cycle- when did it begin? Is it regular? Is it painful? Are their a lot of blood clots? Do the “sleeping spells” or fatigue seem to be associated with her cycle?

There are probably some more things that would come up as I spoke to her, but that’s where I would start.

My initial thought upon seeing this video was, “Oh! I know I know! Ma Huang Fu Zi Xi Xin Tang!” ::dusts off hands with a satisfied grin:: Done.

Of course it’s not that simple, but I do think Ma Huang Fu Zi Xi Xin Tang would be the best place to start. My inclination is to assume that, because she stated that back in 2008 she had caught a bad cold and the overwhelming sleepiness began and really never stopped, that this syndrome is directly related to that “cold”.

When we look at the human body in terms of what the Shang Han Lun teaches us we know that there are 6 different layers, so to speak, that pathogens can exist in. Each of these layers will show a different set of symptoms when it is negatively affected by the presence of a pathogen, causing an imbalance. Think of it as an onion- each layer gets peeled away to reveal the next, deeper, layer. They are kind of like barriers too- each layer is trying to prevent the pathogen from being able to pass to layer underneath it. These pathogens can be any number of things, but right now I’m talking most specifically about bacteria and/or virus, and the chain reaction that their presence in the body can set off. Even when the bacteria is killed- say with antibiotics, or a virus becomes latent, the effects of its presence can be felt long after its activity. Like dropping a pebble into a pond- the pebble will immediately sink to the bottom, becoming one of many, no longer moving or affecting anything. Its disruption of the water’s stillness as the pebble splashed and sank, however, will continue spreading ripple after ripple, layer after layer, to the entire span of the lake.

So starting with the most surface layer of the body and working our way to the deepest we have

• Tai Yang (surface)
• Yang Ming
• Shao Yang
• Tai Yin
• Shao Yin
• Jue Yin (deepest)

Now, when you catch a “cold”, what’s actually happening, in terms of Chinese Medicine, is that Tai Yang layer is being invaded by a foreign pathogen and its energy flow is disrupted. Your body will begin to try to use it’s energy to push this pathogen (bacteria, virus, whatever) out via the most superficial mechanism possible- sweating. If Tai Yang layer can clear its self of this pathogen on its own because your body had strong  enough energy to begin with, then all is well, you will get over the cold and go on with your life.

Unfortunately, in a world of antibiotics and super-bugs, coupled with the “go, go,go, we can sleep when we’re dead” mentality, it is rare that a person is strong enough to circumvent the need for some sort of assistance in expelling this pathogen. Even if the symptoms of the cold eventually go away on their own, often times the bug has just moved deeper to the next layer, and the symptoms begin to change as it disrupts the natural flow of the Yang Ming or Shao Yang and so on. Even if the patient treated her cold with antibiotics, the condition could have done lasting damage- Dr. Ni has always said that the properties of these drugs are very cold, and from a Chinese Medicine perspective, antibiotics injure the Heart Yang.

One possibility, which I am assuming to be the case with our Sleeping Beauty patient here, is that the Tai Yang pathogen actually bypassed the other layers and was transmitted directly into the Shao Yin, which can happen with a person who has weak Zheng Qi. This basically means the energy (qi) that circulates at the surface of their body, and in the interior of their body, is insufficient to protect pathogens from moving deeper and affecting vital organs.  This energy can be weak due to prolonged illness, medication, aging, lifestyle, or a congenital disposition. At any rate, when the Zheng Qi is weak, Shao Yin can be affected directly as a result of a Tai Yang external invasion, because these two “levels” have a direct interior/exterior relation.

Tai Yang is comprised of the Small Intestine and Bladder, which are directly related to the organs of the Shao Yin-the Heart and Kidneys.

[I know this is confusing if you have never been exposed to this information before… I’m trying to do my best to make this relatable to everyone regardless of their knowledge of Chinese Medicine I hope I am somewhat succeeding.]

A disorder of Shao Yin transmitted directly from Tai Yang means that there is probably still a disruption of the Tai Yang that needs to be corrected.  Using herbs to promote sweating to help to release the exterior and expel any remaining pathogen may still be the best way to do that. Now, though, because we also have a disorder in Shao Yin level, we have to address that too. Once the Shao Yin level is impaired you will end up with an accumulation of cold, stagnant fluid. Basically once there is an imbalance between these levels you’ll find that heat stops being transmitted to the ministerial fire (or the temperature of the small intestine) from the heart. This causes yang to fail to get to all of the abdominal organs, and eventually cold fluid stagnates as movement and heat stop, the cold fluid gets into circulation and gets back to the heart, which further impairs/cools heart and pericardium yang- and the Shen starts to diminish.

If you read back to my previous blog entry, “Here’s To Your Health” you can find a more detailed explanation of the function of the heart and kidneys in the eyes of Chinese Medicine. This basically explains how the heart’s energy is needed to warm the kidneys, and create the energy they need to metabolize fluid. If the heart’s yang is weakened, the kidney’s energy will be weakened and cold fluid will be retained in the vessels. This causes typical symptoms of feeling sleepy all day, as the burden of the cold fluid on the body gives the sensation of feeling “heavy”. A desire to lay and sleep, often curled up, because the natural tendency of cold is contraction, as opposed to the expansion of heat. Other symptoms would be cold hands and feet. Dislike of cold temperatures. The mental and emotional symptoms associated with all of this are due largely to a diminished Shen (mind/spirit)- as the heart and pericardium lose their vital heat, the Shen (which is rooted here) is effected.

Numerous web sources on Kleine-Levin Syndrome include these symptoms as well:

1. confusion and disorientation
2. lack of energy
3. apathy (lack of emotion)
4. hypersexuality (mostly in males), depression and/or mental agitation uncommunicative, even when awake
5. hypersensitivity to sound and light
6. excessive eating
7. episodes can be triggered by menses in females

I want to explain each of these in relation to my take on this syndrome.

1. Confusion and disorientation:
   • The kidney function is impaired, they are burdened with an onslaught of cold fluid that they are unable to process. The kidneys control mental function- memory, comprehension, focus, mental clarity.
2. Lack of energy:
   • Again, the cold water acts as a burden to the body and fluid retained in the vessels makes the body feel heavy and lethargic. Adequate amounts of good quality blood is not circulating to the vital organs. Kidneys also play an important role in energy level, if kidneys are weak, your energy will be low.
3. Apathy and lack of emotion:
   • The heart is the center of all emotional processes in the body. According to Chinese Medicine all organs have an emotion attached to them, and this is true of the heart as well, but it is also has the additional task of processing all of the emotions. When the heart is blocked by a stagnation of cold fluid, it is unable to process these emotions effectively, leading to disconnect and apathy. Again, the Shen losing its root and becoming weakened.
4. Hypersexuality,Mental agitation,Depression, Uncommunicative even when awake
   • As written by Dr. Heiner Fruehauf in his essay “All Disease Comes From the Heart”  which points out that according to Wang Fengyi’s “System of Five Element Associations”, the heart (fire element) corresponds to the positive qualities of “understanding and connection”. On the other hand, the heart also corresponds to the negative association of “inappropriate sexual behavior”.Weakness of the kidneys often plays a role in sexual dysfunction, though it is generally has more to do with impotence or lack of libido, not the hypersexuality. It is possible though, due to the dual nature of this “syndrome” that during “sleeping spells” the patient experiences hypersexuality and the opposite outside of these spells. I would have to ask.
5. Hypersensitivity to sound and light
   • The hearing is controlled by the kidneys, and so are the pupils. A healthy pupil reaction (constricting in bright light, dilating in dim light) is indicative of good Kidney Yang. On the other hand when the pupil is unable to have to energy to constrict in bright light, it takes in an overwhelming amount, causing discomfort. This tells me there is a weakness of Kidney Yang, or function/heat. 
6. Excessive eating
   • Most patients don’t seem to express hunger, but are simply driven to eat. I’ve seen this to a certain degree with people who have an impaired nutritional absorption in the past. It can be something as simple as your body’s natural way of telling you that it is lacking nutrients.  The patient misinterprets this signal by being driven to overeat. Of course the cold fluid retained in the body is going to impair the spleen function, which helps to create blood and qi from the food you eat. If your spleen isn’t able to do those things because it lacks the yang it needs, this a likely cycle to see. 
7. Episodes can be triggered by menses in females
   • Because the spleen is unable to create blood from nutrients the body become blood deficient. This exacerbates the problem of proper blood circulation and cold in the system. When more blood is lost during menstruation, the patient is further depleted and feels more fatigued and an episode is triggered.
   • Because the Shen is rooted in the blood of the heart, mental distress is a common symptom in blood deficient patients.

I would start with Ma Huang Fu Zi Xi Xin tang or some variation of it, of course depending on specifics and see how she responded. Hopefully it would be by having a larger volume of urine as some of the cold fluid was eliminated and by feeling more well rested upon awakening. After seeing a shortened frequency, duration and severity of these “sleeping spells”I would continue using this as a base formula until her pulse and other symptoms indicated that we had cleared the Shao Yin stage. This might manifest as the original pathogen working its way back to the Tai Yang, giving her the symptoms of that original cold or flu that she had a few years ago. I would give her the appropriate herbs to  expel it from Tai Yang, most likely via inducing sweating. Then once all of that was cleared I would focus on strengthening the underlying weaknesses she may have had in the beginning that allowed a simple cold to wreak such havoc on her system. This would  include herbs to strengthen the heart and kidney yang, of course, in addition to whatever other deficiencies she may present with- that’s a hard thing to guess at this point. 

I suppose this is all I really have to say on the topic. If anyone has any feedback, please comment. I’m curious what other Chinese Medicine minds think.

Cancer, Clearly

This is the second installment of the Cancer discussion. This time the focus is more on how Chinese Medicine views the process of cancer and what can be done to change it. If you haven’t read the previous blog entry, “Cancer, Generally”, please read that first. Lets jump in.

When you have what most people will call “poor circulation”, evidenced almost always by cold hands and feet, this leads to an accumulation of stagnant fluid in your body, eventually becoming an environment that cancer cells thrive in. Often times the failure to eliminate waste from your body, by not having regular or complete bowel movements you will accumulate “garbage” in your system that allows toxicity to seep into your blood and body fluid. This provides the perfect condition to allow otherwise healthy cells to replace themselves with slightly mutated cells, eventually becoming cancerous. Of course the foods you are putting in your body play a major role in what type of internal environment you are harboring as well.

I’ll make a separate blog dedicated to diet to go into more detail; I just have to touch on it here.

One of the major, and most controversial aspects of diet in our culture is the MEGAVITAMIN the MULTIVITAMIN, SUPERFOOD PILLS… let me explain what I was taught on this topic, and what I’ve seen. These supplements are generally synthetic versions (meaning man-made chemicals) of the vitamins and minerals that would be found in foods naturally. Your body knows the difference. As a general rule, any type of chemical is metabolized as a strong acid. Part of what we are trying to achieve is regulating the Ph balance of your internal environment. This means being more alkaline than acidic. Natural, unrefined, unprocessed foods help to make your body more alkaline. There are diets out there that pick and choose based on the initial Ph of the foods themselves, but Dr. Ni has found that natural foods, even acidic ones such as lemons and vinegar, help to bring the body to an alkaline state when ingested. It is the refining process, the synthetic drugs, and chemicals that make our bodies acidic. Not only are vitamin supplements acidic, they are also FAR too nutrient dense, and in a person with cancer, the cancerous cells are consuming nutrients, multiplying and overpowering the healthy cells in order to survive. The body’s healthy cells have to work very hard to break down and digest these densely concentrated vitamin supplements, but when the healthy cells are already undernourished and weak, they spend all of their energy on breaking the supplements down, become further drained of energy, and the cancer cells, with their high metabolism, use all of these nutrients to feed themselves.  Basically, vitamin supplements function to make your body acidic, are a burden to your healthy cells, and feed your cancer cells. This same principle applies to refined sugars, chemical sweeteners, food additives, basically anything man-made or tampered with by some sort of “processing”. Even the supplements that claim to be “from foods” are refined (you cannot put 10,000 blueberries into a pill without processing it and altering it somehow, I don’t care how good your intentions may be), and cause the same sort of problems to a certain degree. It is better to avoid, especially when you are dealing with cancer cells.

I’ve always been taught that very simply- the more whole the diet, the more whole the person. A largely plant based diet chocked full of whole grains, fresh, lightly cooked (steamed or quick stir-fried) veggies, NO DAIRY, minimal meat, and when you do eat meat it should be organic and fresh as possible, is best for maintaining health. Lately though, I’ve been noticing a trend in cancer patients being treated with Chinese Medicine, and I went back to look at a few old files of previous patients that had had very successful treatments with us. Of those patients the ones that made the choice to eliminate all animal proteins (all meat and dairy) from their diets, seemed to respond most quickly to their Chinese Herbal Medicine regime. That was interesting, because I am not an advocate, nor is Dr. Ni, of complete veganism in most people. It’s held true that people in certain situations need animal products to heal, but there are also some who don’t, and there are certain states that the body can be in that require a lack animal protein in the diet all together.

I found a study by Dr. T. Colin Campbell that was documented in his book The China Study, which showed just that. His findings were essentially that- carcinogens such as pesticides, preservatives, flavoring agents in foods, cigarettes, exhaust fumes, pharmaceutical drugs, whatever you want to name off that infinite list- act as the seeds for cancer. When you expose yourself to these things, you plant the seed for cancer to be produced, but very rarely is this enough to actually produce and reproduce cancer cells at a detrimental rate. Your body needs a catalyst to activate this process. He was able to determine that this catalyst is strikingly often animal protein, AND the most aggressive “fertilizer” to these cancer seeds, the strongest and most consistent catalyst is casein- which is a protein found in milk and other dairy products. Essentially, his conclusion was that you CAN, in fact, reverse the process of cancer (we knew that), but not until you stop producing it, and in order to do that you have to eliminate the cancer’s fertilizer- animal protein. This is what Dr. Ni has been saying for years, but wrapped up in a nice published study and written in English, and perhaps taken one step further to emphasize meats nearly as much as dairy.

That’s not Chinese Medicine, but I find it relevant, and interesting.

So now we are discussing the environment of the body. Basically the approach we are taking is to change the environment of the body in such a way that you make it uninhabitable to anything but the healthy cells that should be there. We accomplish this through the use of diet, of course, but also by including the use of Chinese herbal medicine. This is very important because most often by the time your cancer has become predominant enough to show up on lab or imaging tests your body has already been reproducing cancer cells for years. Diet change alone, is generally not enough to reverse the negative effects of cancer and restore your body’s balance, though it is absolutely necessary too.

As I explained in “Here’s to Your Health!” the heart function is one of the most vital processes in the body, for obvious reasons, but also because it is largely responsible for keeping the internal environment such that cancer is not able to survive. As long as the heart is working in top condition and is in balance (against the criteria of Chinese medicine, not your Cardiologist) you will not have cold hands or feet. This is the key sign that your body’s circulation is adequate and the heart’s fire is warming the furthest tips of your body, and you can be sure that there is no stagnant cold lake breeding cancer cells anywhere in your system. Of course the other health criteria I mentioned are necessary signs to follow as well.

Chinese medicine calls cancer Yin Excess. This means yin (being structure and form, cold and dense) is in excess. In other words, there is more of it than there should be, and so it accumulates where it shouldn’t.  Yang (opposite of yin, for purposes of this example) should be the driving force behind the structures of the body. Yang is the energy, movement, strength and function of it all. Yang should be strong enough in the body to generate the constant movement of the heart and other vital organs preventing any type of cold stagnation. A lack of movement and temperature allows fluid to accumulate, over time becoming a thick, nutrient dense substance that can congeal to form cysts, tumors, or- if all other factors are there, cancer. Adequate Yang should prevent Yin from ever becoming excessive and accumulating, but in this type of situation Yin excess generally follows a long term Yang deficiency, which happens to be a very common problem in our society.

One of the most important principles in Classical Chinese Medicine, as opposed to the modern version of Chinese Medicine that is primarily taught today, is that Yang needs to be supported above all else. To treat cancer, this is certainly a key. We will, generally speaking use a combination of herbs (specific herbs will vary depending on the exact symptoms of each person) to achieve the following:

1) Support Yang, Strengthen heart function (increase circulation)

2) Eliminate old, stagnant fluid (change the environment & cut off nutrition supply to cancer cells)

3) Break up Yin accumulation (break up and eliminate tumor)

4) Strengthen, harmonize, or tonify the organs that have been affected (rebuild the weakened body)

From here I think I need to focus on specific types of cancer, I’m not sure how to explain in more detail the Chinese Medicine approach to treatment while staying on such a broad topic. In my next blog I’ll begin to discuss Breast Cancer as it seems to be the most common concern amongst people I’m working with right now. I really hope you are finding this helpful in some way.