tooironic Posted December 31, 2014 at 02:56 AM Author Report Share Posted December 31, 2014 at 02:56 AM Michaelyus, considering your knowledge and expertise, why don't you tell us a bit about your experiences with TCM? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michaelyus Posted January 5, 2015 at 01:37 PM Report Share Posted January 5, 2015 at 01:37 PM Hehe, I had a large-ish post stored on it, but I thought I rambled way too much. I'll have another go now! I'm not a practitioner of any form of medicine, but I've had a lot of experience with it coming from a 华裔 family. I will say that medical traditions are usually extremely heterogeneous, and both "Western medicine" and "TCM" are labels for a wide range of related techniques and theories. My experience with what I like to call "evidence-based biomedicine", as distasteful as that is to some, is very much a tale of a family against the system, and the horrible inefficiencies of the practice of large-scale healthcare coupled with the inevitably disappointing fact that a condition like mine (basically a form of atopy) is not curable, is barely treatable with a lot of effort, and costly. Having an interest in bioscience, finding out that humanity as a whole at the frontiers of knowledge on the matter and about the immense but necessary slowness that this bench to bedside translational process was also disheartening. But I still have the greatest respect for this tradition of medicine, even if I choose to stay away from corticosteroids, topical or oral, for as long as I can. The various types of herbology and dietary therapy I know better from the "traditional Chinese" theories; the aspects applicable to diet are mainly derived from organ function 五脏 more than meridian theory. The various types of new dietary therapies / new diet fads which are broadcast on Western media are hilarious sometimes, and I love a good mental workout looking through the theory behind some of them, as they are also meant to be based on the tradition of biomedicine. However, diet, gut and the immune reaction are among the most pertinent "known unknowns" in current scientific medicine. What I would love to research is the relation between the concepts of organ function and organ symptom presentation in Five Organ theory with dietary advice, and how this corresponds if at all with actual physiological / biochemical processes. That said, though I have fairly adventurous taste buds, and can stomach quite a lot, I've personally never seen a noticeable improvement with any form of dietary advice. Only extreme deterioration with some of the more obvious ones (that most traditions agree on): 油炸的 / fried fatty food, 过辣的 / hot spicy food, as well as my allergies. The jury is out on lots of others, so I'm actually on a regime for that at the moment! Acupuncture and meridian-theory based methods (moxa, acupressure): I've had these done quite a few times, and in the past it has actually been quite effective at clearing my skin within a couple of weeks. However, the symptoms inevitably return when the acupuncture is discontinued, usually a little faster. It is (probably?) well known that the efficacy of needling in pain relief and relieving nausea has been demonstrated consistently now, and that adenosine A1 receptors mediate part of the painkilling effects. Real acupuncture has been shown to more effective than one form of sham acupuncture on meta-analysis for several conditions, again mainly pain-related. Acupuncture studies are very often criticised for lack of rigour, regardless of results. However, the lack of double-blind randomised clinical trial evidence for anything being particularly helpful for my inflammatory condition is again frustrating. As to TCM theory itself, it is a lot more complex than the split between meridian and organ theory of course, with 气 being the uniting concept. I've not had training in this theory in the same way as I've had for biomedicine (well, specifically biology), but I have read enough to know that there's still a lack of basic standardisation within these theories, an almost complete lack of quantification, and a bit of a 恋旧情结 attitude. I for one really want to know if the açaí berry / 巴西莓 is 热, 凉 or 中性 (and more importantly, how one would know)! As biomedicine tries to usher in the era of personalised medicine, the importance of diagnostics becomes ever more important, and I find that this is something where Chinese medical practice has been a lot more rigorous and frankly a lot more effective than the medical establishments in Britain. Making the patient (and family!) aware of the condition and letting the patient understand what is happening and what is to be done was always much better communicated on the Chinese side. However, that is probably more a feature of individual circumstances. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jamasian Posted July 12, 2015 at 05:45 AM Report Share Posted July 12, 2015 at 05:45 AM Only because I'm quite curious in herbal remedies, I'd like to share with anyone that lives in Shanghai that there is a new-ish health center (Shanghui Health Management) that is doing a general consultation and one therapy session for only 128yuan until August 31st. You can also add an SI (sensitive imago) scan for a total of 268yuan. I tried their acupuncture and I hate needles but I didn't die haha You can find them on WeChat at ShanghuiTCM (The English website is Shanghui Health .com) We also have enough English speaking doctors and staff to assist non-Chinese speakers in understanding exactly what they're getting. After your experience please update~!(Not sure if this is allowed but mods feel free to edit.) Call +86 215-2833059 or PM me here. Open 7 days a week from 9am to 6pm. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Demonic_Duck Posted July 12, 2015 at 06:56 AM Report Share Posted July 12, 2015 at 06:56 AM I tried their acupuncture... We also have enough English speaking doctors and staff... It seems you're confused as to whether it's "they" or "we". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jamasian Posted July 12, 2015 at 07:19 AM Report Share Posted July 12, 2015 at 07:19 AM Jamasian said I tried their acupuncture... We also have enough English speaking doctors and staff... It seems you're confused as to whether it's "they" or "we". Though I work here, I'm not a doctor. I didn't want to imply that I am. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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