People ask us all of the time, "What can I take for....., Can I take this for......" But, that simply is not the way Chinese medicine works, which, is the complexity as well as the simplicity of this ancient medical art.
For example, if ten people have the same condition, they may easily require ten different protocols. Why? Well, first, we come into this world differently. We have different genetics, and perhaps even our soul may influence that even further (but that is for a different blog ;) ) Secondly, we had different household environments growing up, both emotionally and environmentally, thirdly, our diets and medications were different throughout our lives, fourth(ly) all of these things and perhaps additional factors played a part in setting our imbalance into motion, and lastly, our current emotional and environmental surroundings also impact us. With this many variables, how could we all require the same treatment? It is impossible.
But, this is the beauty of Chinese medicine. We are not limited to a one solution per problem paradigm which removes the person's individuality from the picture. Chinese medicine also has a completely different paradigm through which to view disease which allows us to treat conditions that would otherwise have no treatment. One of my favorite stores was a 24 year old young woman who lost her period for four years. She went to every doctor. One after the other told her that she had emotional problem and needed antidepressant medication, or she needed to regulate her period with birth control pills, or simply turned her away saying there was no plausible explanation and perhaps she just would have no period and be unable to have children.
This young woman eventually found her way into the office of a Chinese medicine doctor. He listened for a long time to her history. He examined her pulses (we use may in CM). He examined her tongue, we can determine many things from the examination of the tongue, he palpated different areas of her body. He then prepared one week's worth of carefully weighed and measured raw herbs with which to make medicinal tea. When she got home that night she called her sister who is very Western and kind of smirked at the idea that drinking tea would do what Western medicine couldn't in four years. The next morning she woke up with her period and it was regular ever since.
This is only one of many many miraculous stories owing to Chinese medicine. You see the reason that the teas worked in this case was because Chinese medicine is not limited by the results of blood work or other means of diagnosis. We are also not limited by the concepts of conventional medicine when diagnosing. After examining this woman it was very clear she had blood stagnation and Kidney deficiency that emanated after a life altering surgery she had had not long before the period ceased to occur. He could tell this by the many questions he asked and by her tongue and pulse.
Of course she was not miraculously healed of her entire imbalance all in one fell swoop, but she regained her cycle which was the first and most important step in the beginning of her healing journey.
We fell in love with Chinese medicine over 30 years ago and have never looked back. It offers solutions where they would otherwise be absent. We are healers and we are teachers, and as we help people, they in turn will help guide their children in ways they would not have if not for this knowledge. This is our way of endeavoring to change the lives of as many people as possible.
If you would like to learn more, we have several YT videos on our ICAMA channel, where we discuss this and our concepts of how we approach IC and other chronic inflammatory conditions.
Dr. M
