Dietary Rule # 1. Food Only Please.

Dietary counseling is an an integral part of my practice of Traditional Chinese Medicine. Chinese medical principals dictates a few basic common sense guidelines of how a healthy diet should be structured. Of course, there is no shortage of dietary advice of all orientations and prejudices.

I think however, that there is one obvious recommendation that any rational view of human dietary needs would agree on. A human being should only consume food. Substances that are not food should not be something that people are putting in their mouths on a regular basis.

Specifically what I am talking about here is the intake of pesticides, preservatives, chemical dyes, chemical additives, highly engineered substances such as aspartame, and the other various non-sugar sugars. Historically of course, Chinese medicine had nothing to say about these modern day substances. If one was pushed to identify the health consequences of these substances through the prism of the TCM model, they would be classified as a form of poisoning.

This may sound a bit harsh but how else would you classify a "diet" soda ?

The New Alzheimer's Disease Study

A new study released today on the causes of Alzheimer's disease caught my attention.

The new research shows that an insufficient supply of sugar glucose, transported by blood, sets off a biochemical chain reaction resulting in the accumulation of the neuron-attacking proteins that cause Alzheimer's.

"This finding is significant because it suggests that improving blood flow to the brain might be an effective therapeutic approach to prevent or treat Alzheimer's," said Robert Vassar, a professor at Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine, and lead author of the study.

"A stroke is a blockage that prevents blood flow and produces cell death in an acute, dramatic event," he explained. "What we are talking about here is a slow, invidious process over many years where people have a low level of cardiovascular disease."

"It is so mild, they don't even notice it, but it has an effect over time because it is producing a chronic reduction in the blood flow," he added.

Ancient and modern TCM practitioners have long understood the link between blood flow and mental function. In the ancient Ling Shu, it says, "When blood vessels are harmonious and uninhibited, the essence spirit can abide there." In the Xue Zheng Lun it says, "Whoever's heart has static blood will also be affected by poor memory".

Yan De-Xin is a famous contemporary TCM practitioner in China, who after 54 years in practice, has come to the conclusion that static blood is the chief mechanism of senility. He has written extensively on this topic and has formulated a number of herbal prescriptions that he tested extensively in his clinic. His work has laid the groundwork for a new systematic approach to geriatrics, including the prevention and treatment of Alzheimer's disease.

I will talk a little more about the clinical signs and symptoms of the TCM pattern of blood stasis in a later post.

An inquistive and open mind is valuable for both acupuncturist and patient.

Here is Dylan teaching me that thorough investigation and examination is important in order to get to the root of the problem.

TCM and Preventative Medicine.

One of the great strengths of Chinese medicine is that it is inherently preventative in nature. In ancient China it was generally thought that a wise doctor was one who worked with his/her patients to help them stay healthy and avoid illness. The less accomplished practitioner was one who allowed his patients' disease process to take root and deepen and thus have to spend his efforts tending to the sick.

I love reading the ancient Chinese texts. The Su Wen, which dates to approximately the late 1st century BCE, has this wonderful passage:

...for healing " the sages did not treat those who were already ill; they instructed those who were not yet ill. They did not rule those who were already rebellious; they guided those who were not yet rebellious."

"Treating an illness after it has begun is like suppressing revolt after it has broken out. If someone digs a well when thirsty, or forges weapons after becoming engaged in battle, once cannot help but ask: Are not these actions too late?"

It also should be noted that even though great emphasis is placed on preventive care and appropriate lifestyle, the text itself is dedicated primarily to the art of healing diseases. The ancients had obviously figured out that good advice is not always followed.

TCM, Fertility, and Egg Quality

It is well known that advanced female age is an important factor in low pregnancy outcomes. As a woman progresses through her reproductive years, her ovarian reserve diminishes, with an approximately 50% decrease in fertility rates in women attempting pregnancy at the age of 40 onwards, and a two to-three-fold increased risk of miscarriage. Common causes for a much reduced conception rate in women aged 40+ with her own eggs are:

1) diminished egg quality and quantity with poor endocrine readings such as high FSH or low estrogen levels.
2) Less frequent monthly ovulations or reduced cervical mucus secretions.
3) Reduced blood perfusion to the ovaries and uterus.

The question often comes up in the clinic if Chinese medicine can help when there is a suspected poor egg quality evidenced by a high FSH reading. While it cannot turn back time and improve egg quality in an older woman, Chinese medicine (which has to include the prescription of Chinese herbs) can improve the growth of the dominant follicle within an ovary as well as improve the environment an egg matures in, and thus indirectly influence its maturity and quality. Chinese medicine can improve the thickness of the endometrial lining (and thus the endometrial receptivity to the embryo), increasing the chances of a successful conception and pregnancy. Research as well as clinical experience has shown that both Chinese herbal medicine and acupuncture can improve ovarian and uterine blood flow, regulate the endocrine hormones FSH & LH (luteinizing hormone), increase estrogen and progesterone and normalize both the follicular and luteal phases of the menstrual cycle.

Cholesterol Part 3. It is all about yin and yang.

As I wrote earlier, high serum cholesterol levels are not simply a matter of high dietary cholesterol. Cholesterol levels are also a function of one's stress levels. Eating sugar, drinking coffee and alcohol are all stresssful to the adrenal glands. Chinese medicine would say that coffee and alcohol release a lot of yang qi. Since the body's inclination is to keep things in balance its response is to secrete more yin substance. Cholesterol is one such yin substance. When excessive, it becomes a pathogenic yin substance composed of dampness and phlegm. Therefore, the key to keeping it under control is to keep yang from being overly stressed and yin from being overly generated by avoiding the over consumption of simple sugars and animal products.

Lifestyle and dietary modification along with the appropriately prescribed Chinese herbal formulas is a great way to not only lower cholesterol levels but to improve one's overall health and well being.

TCM and cholesterol....part 2. Stress !!

Cholesterol is a nutrient in foods. It is a hormone precursor and so it is found specifically in animal foods. In addition to being ingested when we eat, cholesterol is also manufactured in our bodies. Its production is directly related to our levels of stress. When we are under stress our metabolism is heightened. (Acupuncture of course is great for stress reduction.) The orders for such gearing up are dependent upon hormonal regulation and many important hormones are synthesized from cholesterol. This is evidenced by the fact that many hormones have steroid or sterol in their name, such as cortiocosteriods. This is the same sterol as in cholesterol.

The corticosteroids are manufactured in the adrenal cortex sitting on top of the kidneys. These corticosteroids are often referred to as flight or fight hormones. Their manufacture are the body's coping mechanisms for dealing with stresses of all kinds. Thus anything that stresses the body can cause an elevation of cholesterol.

Lowering Cholesterol with TCM...part 1

TCM using a combination of dietary modification and Chinese herbs can significantly lower blood lipid levels matching the performance of statin drugs while improving overall health and without side effects.

High cholesterol is a laboratory test result. As such, it is not a disease in and of itself but rather a risk factor for cardiovascular disease. Many people have no signs or symptoms of that condition per se. Therefore, there is no one-to-one relationship between between high cholesterol and a single, particular Chinese medical pattern. Nevertheless, Chinese doctors have identified the five or six most commonly presenting Chinese medical patterns in patients with high cholesterol. The fruits of this research now allows the Chinese medical practitioner to prescribe Chinese herbal formulas that work to lower cholesterol levels but do it in a way that is custom tailored to each individual and without side effects. In fact, Chinese medical treatment of high cholesterol not only results in a lowering of LDL and triglycerides but also an improvement in HDL numbers, something that statin drugs do not do.

The Heart and Soul of Traditional Chinese Medicine

Contrary to popular belief Traditional Chinese Medicine is not defined by it's therapeutic modalities and pharmaceuticals. There are many forms of acupuncture and many of the medicinals (herbs and such) are not native Chinese. What distinguishes Traditional Chinese Medicine from other forms of oriental medical practices and from western bio-medicine is that within TCM diagnosis and the resulting treatment protocols are derived through the process of "pattern discrimination" and also disease diagnosis. A patient's patterns are determined by a combination of clincial signs and symptoms, including tongue and pulse diagnosis. The collection and analysis of these signs and symptoms and their distillation in to professionally standaradized patterns allow the practitioner to treat the whole person and to address the underlying imbalances that in the TCM perspective are the underlying causes of specific symptoms or disease processes.

The ability of the TCM practitioner to treat the whole person without side effects is entirely based on pattern discrimination. I take great pleasure within my practice to describe each patient's TCM patterns, how they came about and how we are going to treat them.

Chinese Medicine and IVF

From "Acupuncture and IVF" by Lifang Liang:

"In clinical observation, the ultrasound shows that, after acupuncture, the color of a woman's ovaries change from cloudy to bright and clear. The follicles usually double in number, the lining of the uterus becomes thicker, and the number of embryos increases significantly. Patients express less side effects from the Western drugs and feel more at ease and happy.''

A typical evening after closing the clinic.

After inserting the last acupuncture needles, writing and filling the last herbal order and closing the clinic doors I headed down to Union Station to shake the hand of this guy named Barack Obama.

Dylan...aka Clinic Dog.

What is the use of having a blog about Chinese Medicine and acupuncture if you can't post a picture or two of your dog.

Introducing Dylan aka Clinic Dog. Dylan's sole duty, when he decides he wants to participate, is to sleep under the acupuncture table. Recently it seems that this is only a seasonal job for Dylan. In the winter time he can be found upstairs sleeping next to the radiator.

He is my buddy.

TCM. More than just acupuncture.

Welcome to my blog on Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). I hope to use these occasional postings to explain the medicine in more detail than what can be found on my two websites: www.DennisBarrow.com and www.HealthyConception.com.

One of the topics that I hope to explain in detail is when the different therapies that fall under the umbrella of TCM are most appropriately used. TCM includes the therapies of herbs (medicinals), acupuncture, dietary therapy, massage (tuina) and the meditative arts such as taiqi and qigong.

There has been a signicant amount of reporting in the popular press regarding the value of acupuncture in the treatment of infertility in women. I don't doubt the accuracy of these reported studies. It is my experience however, that using acupuncture alone in the treatment of infertility is not the way that Chinese medicine is practiced in China. Specifically, outside of using acupuncture to support a woman who is going through IVF treatments, the most effective treatment of infertility would have to include Chinese herbs. Most of the patterns that women present with in my clinic just cannot be sufficiently resolved through acupuncture alone. That is why in China, infertility and many other women's health issues are primarily treated with Chinese herbs. Acupuncture would normally be used as an adjunctive therapy.

In later posts I will provide some detail on what can be accomplished through acupuncture as opposed to Chinese medicinals in the treatment of infertility and women's health issues.