Tag: oriental medicine

Tu Youyou, an 84-year-old Chinese scientist, was recently awarded the 2015 Nobel Prize for Medicine for her discovery and development of artemisinin, a malaria treatment that has saved millions of lives over the past few decades. Tu’s team of researchers rediscovered the drug, which has been known to Chinese medicine for at least 2000 years, in …

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So many people are looking for meaning and challenge in their lives. We spend so much time at work; shouldn’t you love what you do? For me, I had to make a change so I could start loving what I do. This article is for those people who ask why you should go to school …

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By Suzanne Robidoux, PhD, CM, DOM, LAc As practitioners, we always want to bring the quickest, most effective treatment at the lowest price possible. In TCM, sexual disorders are mainly due to either liver qi stagnation, liver and kidney depletion, or the kidney and heart not communicating. What can we offer our patients, however, once we …

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By Bob Damone In the early 1980’s, a few years before it ever occurred to me to pursue a career in Chinese herbal medicine, I became interested in “Western” herbal medicine.  I read everything I could get my hands on, including “The Way of Herbs” by Michael Tierra. I immediately devoured it, and immersed myself in …

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By Elisabeth Rochat de la Vallée THE CHARACTER On the left hand side of the character for essence, jing, 精, we find the grain of rice or husked seed, 米, ready to be ground, kneaded and cooked. On the right, a green color is added, 青, qing. This is the green of young growing plants, …

Continue reading “Jing, or Essence: A Brief Attempt at Elucidation of a Key Notion in Chinese Medicine”

By Andrew Gaeddert What are medicinal mushrooms? Medicinal mushrooms are fungal organisms that are used in traditional Chinese Medicine, nutritional supplements and drugs. It is estimated that China is responsible for 70 percent of the world’s mushroom production. Shiitake cultivation is reported to have begun in China in the 12th century. It is estimated that …

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Traditional Chinese Medicine can provide an alternative treatment for seasonal allergies and sinus problems. Most medical practitioners will recommend using decongestants, non-steroidal nasal sprays, allergy shots, antihistamines, or nasal corticosteroids to combat these sinus problems. While these options have been successful for many patients afflicted with burning throats, itchy eyes, inflamed eyes, and stuffy nose, there are many individuals that do not respond well to these treatment plans, or who would like to go a more natural route.

Katy visited our center with a seemingly disparate collection of symptoms that were causing her distress. She described a pattern that was episodic in nature and involved abdominal bloating, belching, acid reflux, loose stools, shallow breathing, and palpitations. A cardiologist had ruled out serious heart disease and she’d been offered beta-blockers for what had been diagnosed as pre-ventricular contractions (PVCs) and occasional tachycardia.

The classical Chinese medical system views health and disease through the “eight-principle and six-syndrome” differentiation methods. In ancient times, Chinese medical experts identified groups of symptoms as patterns, and associated them with specific formulas. Eventually, with repeated clinical success they recorded these patterns as “formula patterns”. Later, during the Eastern Han Dynasty between 40 to 200 AD, Zhang Zhongjing recorded all of this clinical experience handed down from generations in theShang Han Za Bing Lun (Treatise on Cold Damage and Miscellaneous Diseases), which was later edited and separated into the Shang Han Lun (Treatise on Cold Damage) and the Jin Gui Yao Lüe (Essentials from the Golden Cabinet).

Our health landscape is changing rapidly and we find ourselves in a new era. An era of degrading food supply, systemic inflammation, and overuse of drugs, including antibiotics. Living in our modern world takes its toll and we see it in our practices everyday. Antibiotics are failing, superbugs are on the rise, and digestive health is compromised by food and lifestyle choices. Society is at a new crossroads. On one side, antibiotic-resistant bacteria are currently killing approximately 23,000 people every year and the number of antibiotic resistant superbugs is climbing. On the contrary, long-standing and pervasive over-prescribing of antibiotics is at an all time high.