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Chinese Medicine Times - eJournal
Summer 2010 Volume 5 Issue 2 ISSN 1750-4414

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Dear Colleague,

Welcome to volume 5, issue 2 of the Chinese Medicine Times (CMT) ejournal.

Articles in this Issue

The Use of Acupuncture in the Management of Cancer

by Henry McGrath

Introduction

In TCM hospitals throughout China, herbs are considered the treatment of choice with cancer patients (see other article1). However, in the West not all cancer patients are able or willing to take Chinese herbs, for reasons such as these:

  • concern about toxicity
  • some patients are not able to tolerate herbs (particularly if their digestive system has already been compromised by chemotherapy)
  • concern over the interaction between the herbs and other drugs. Some consultants prohibit their patients from taking herbs during chemotherapy, due to concern over the high level of antioxidants in some herbs
  • sometimes a fully qualified and experienced herbalist will not be in the local area.

For all these reasons it is important that acupuncture is offered to those with cancer, because a huge amount can be done with acupuncture to support those with cancer. This article will discuss what acupuncture can realistically achieve.

We will look at two distinct areas:

  1. managing the side effects of conventional treatment (chemotherapy, radiotherapy and surgery)
  2. addressing the underlying patterns of cancer

Acupuncture treatment usually involves working with both aspects. During conventional treatment, one often has to focus on dealing with its side effects. When this treatment is finished, one can begin to focus more on treating the underlying patterns which led to the cancer developing, in order to help the patient back to full health, and to lessen the chance of recurrence. [read more]

Pairing the Extraordinary Vessels and the Extraordinary Fu - Part Two

by Thomas Richardson

Abstract

In this article, the ying qi cycle is used to examine the way in which the paired extraordinary vessels and extraordinary fu may relate to the evolution of consciousness and the art of humanity. This investigation is a coalescence of two previous articles—one which examined the way in which the diurnal unfoldment of the extraordinary vessels (following the ying qi cycle) may have a relation to the evolution of consciousness (CJOM, Fall/Winter 2009), and one which proposed a theoretical model in which the extraordinary vessels and the extraordinary fu are paired together in a one-to-one correspondence, similar to the manner in which the zangfu and primary channels are paired together (Chinese Medicine Times, February 2010). [read more]

Constitutional Types within the Ten Key Formula Families

by Michael Max

The idea of prescribing herbs based on presenting symptoms and patterns is not a new idea. Indeed there are books that can be found in Asia whose table of contents is arranged simply by formula presentation. Dr. Huang has taken this idea a step further by demonstrating that the primary function of certain herbs can be mapped to constitutional dispositions, and that there are specific signs that point clearly toward the safe and effective use of certain herbs and formulations.

The reality of constitutional types is obvious. Western physiology recognizes endomorphic, ectomorphic, and mesomorphic body types. In Chinese medicine we are all familiar with the five-phase peculiarities that sift us into one of five tribes. Even the parameters of the eight-principles can be applied to clinical work as we filter our patients into familial groups according to their tendencies toward yin deficiency, dampness, excessive heat, etc. I suspect we all have clinical experience with seeing how some people share certain differences and similarities, and found value in how this has assisted in sharpening our clinical gaze. [read more]

Ecology in Chinese Medicine - Part One

by Leon Hammer

Definition and Purpose

Human ecology concerns the relationships between human beings and their natural and social environments. That relationship also concerns the internal environment of a person and the messages that emerge from that internal environment to inform itself of events therein that may concern its survival. We call these messages symptoms, and it is the thesis of this paper that from these messages we can learn not only the condition afflicting an individual, the aetiology of that affliction, but most importantly, the best way to intervene in the resolution of that affliction. Symptoms are our natural friends and our natural enemies are those who invent ways of eliminating them before we learn.

Ecology as Universal

Ecology is a subject with which I have been consciously engaged on the most elevated and most banal plane for almost fifty years. The lesson that I learned about the interrelatedness and interdependence of all existing phenomena, living and dead, began in the town hall of the Springs Ladies Village Improvement Society [East Hampton NY] in 1961 where I met a bayman, a fisherman named Milt Miller, and an older blind farmer named Ferris Talmage. The subject was a Harbour, Accabonac, around which both men had been raised, a cornucopia of sea life that thrived during much of their lives and for thousands of years before, and where I had just bought a cottage and small house. [read more]

Fire and Water - Part Two of an Introduction to the Five Elements

by Richard Bertschinger

There is a creation myth of the Chinese which states:

When our oldest ancestor Pangu died, his four limbs became pillars marking the four corners of the world. His breath became the wind; his left eye the sun and his right eye the moon; his solid body became the mountains; his bones the rocks; his bone marrow, precious gems; his voice the thunder; his blood, the rivers; his muscles, the fertile lands; his hair, the plants and trees; his fur, bushes and forests;; his teeth and nails, metals and minerals; his sweat, rain and dew; and the fleas on him, the fish and animals on the dry land.

In this picture we see the oneness of man and the Universe: the idea of the organic - which unpins the traditional Chinese view of the world. Five-element (wuxing) science, the oldest science of mankind – is tied to nature, into a transformative view of the world, with its roots in the mesolithic, the dawn of agriculture, hunting, cooking, medicine and cosmology. Fire (red, summer, the heart), water (blue-black, winter, the kidneys), and their like, concern the passage of the seasons, the cooking-pot, our aggressions, fears, suffering, the warming sun, the waxing and waning moon. [read more]

Latest News

Acupuncture beats aspirin for chronic headache

Acupuncture works better than drugs like aspirin to reduce the severity and frequency of chronic headaches, U.S. researchers reported. Click here to read more.

Effects of acupuncture stimulation on recovery ability of male elite basketball athletes.

The results showed that the acupuncture group (PC6 and ST36) has significantly lower HR(max), VO(2max) and blood lactic acid than both the sham and normal groups at the 30th min post-exercise. Click here to read more.

Acupuncture helps pregnancy symptoms

Acupuncture can help relieve the symptoms of indigestion in pregnancy, new research suggests. Click here to read more.

Acupuncture May Relieve Joint Pain Caused By Some Breast Cancer Treatments

A new study, led by researchers at the Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center, demonstrates that acupuncture may be an effective therapy for joint pain and stiffness in breast cancer patients who are being treated with commonly used hormonal therapies. Click here to read more.

Acupuncture 'helps women have babies'

One in three women given the ancient Chinese therapy - which involves the insertion of needles into specific points on the body - alongside their IVF treatment successfully conceived, scientists from the University of Southampton discovered. Click here to read more.

Acupuncture in the management of anxiety related to dental treatment: a case series

Acupuncture prior to dental treatment has a beneficial effect on the level of anxiety in patients with dental anxiety and may offer a simple and inexpensive method of treatment. Click here to read more.

Acupuncture May Help Restore Lost Sense of Smell

Acupuncture may help people who lose their sense of smell after a viral infection, researchers say. Click here to read more.

Acupuncture for runners

The marathon superwoman, Paula Radcliffe, admits to being a fan. Click here to read more.

Why acupuncture aids spinal recovery

Acupuncture's scientific credentials are growing. Trials show that it improves sensory and motor functions in people with spinal cord injuries. Click here to read more.

Scientists use light beams to prick mystery of acupuncture

Chinese scientists are using the country's most expensive ever science project, a light-emitting synchrotron, to solve the mystery of acupuncture points. Click here to read more.

Scientific validity of traditional Chinese medicine for pain treatment receives support

The scientific validity of traditional Chinese medicine for pain treatment of pain received a nod of support in the May issue of Anesthesia & Analgesia, official journal of the International Anesthesia Research Society (IARS). Click here to read more.

Iraqi doctors use acupuncture

Iraqi doctors faced with a shortage of drugs in a capital city hit by years of conflict have successfully used acupuncture to treat mothers during caesarean section births. Click here to read more.

Estrofil menopause supplements rely on a combination of herbs that has been safely used in Traditional Chinese Medicine

strofil menopause supplements rely on a combination of herbs that has been safely used in Traditional Chinese Medicine for centuries and has been shown to be effective in stimulating a woman's own body to resume the production of estrogen. Click here to read more.

Japanese pin hopes on acupuncture as beauty secret

Forget cosmetic surgery. The ancient treatment of acupuncture is gaining new popularity as a beauty secret in Japan about 1,500 years after it first came there from China. Click here to read more.

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