Depression

I’ve recently seen a few clients with varying degrees of depression. The first two I’m going to mention are in their 60’s who have been suffering from depression for more than twenty years and have been taking anti-depressants for just as long. Both of them wanted to try some alternative treatments to help them feel better. My purpose was to not only help them feel better, but to also try and wean them off their medication. With TCM, we believe that any medicine is toxic for the body. I knew that this would be a long term treatment and it would take some time before they would feel a difference. I spent quite a bit of time with each of these clients during their first treatment session, explaining how TCM treats the problem, how acupuncture and herbs work for it, what to expect and so on. Unfortunately, both cancelled their appointments before even seeing me for a second treatment. The interesting thing is that they both called me between 10-11pm to cancel. (Keep in mind that these people don’t know each other at all!) I didn't persuade them to continue treatment because I knew that for this kind of problem (these two cases in particular) and because they have already suffered with depression for so long, it would take an extended period of time for them to feel any difference. What they need is family support and belief in TCM. I couldn’t help but think about why they both called so late at night to cancel. My guess is that when night falls and it becomes dark, a feeling of hopelessness starts to set in and so they began to believe that no alternative treatment could help them. So, they decided to give up and cancel.



I had another client in her 30’s who, shortly after giving birth, felt depressed, sad, insomnia and not herself. I treated her with acupuncture and after just one session she felt a difference. This reminds me of another client; same age group and situation, but with a more serious case of depression. She was feeling sad, hopeless and felt as if she had nothing to live for. After less than ten treatments, she was back to her normal self.



All three cases make me wonder why some people can see a difference more quickly than others. Age is definitely one factor. Acupuncture uses the body’s own healing power to help cure the problem. When you are younger, the body's ability to recovery is stronger; thus a quicker recovery rate. In the case of the two young women, they only suffered from depression for one to three months and didn't take any medication. There are also other factors. We know that from Western medicine, depression is caused by low levels of monoamines. Anti-depressants are used to increase monoamines level and relieve the symptoms. However, this medication also suppresses the body to produce monoamines. With my two older clients, after being on anti-depressants for so many years, their bodies were so used to relying on the medication to produce monoamines. It's as if their body’s natural ability to produce monoamines went into hibernation. This is why it would take some time before their bodies would be able to produce monoamines naturally.



If you are experiencing any symptoms of depression, you may want to consider alternative methods of treatment in order to avoid possibly taking anti-depressants on a long term basis. I hope I can help bring the sunshine back into your life.

H1N1 Flu

With weather changing,flu season is coming,too. Specially this year,except for the regular seasonal flu,we have another type of flu – H1N1 flu.
H1N1 flu is different than the seasonal flu. People have no natural immunity to protect against this virus. It is affecting more young and healthy people than the regular seasonal flu, which normally affects seniors and young children. People with underlying medical conditions and pregnant women may be at a greater risk for severe illness.
The symptoms of H1N1 flu usually have cough and fever,also you can have sore throat,headache,runny nose,muscle aches,decreased appetite,fatigue,nausea,vomit and diarrhea.
Vaccination is suggested for preventing from the flu. We also have some good Chinese medicine formulas for preventing. There is one formula recommended by a famous Chinese medicine doctor:
For adults : Flos Lonicerae ( Jin Yin Hua) 15g
Radix Scrophulariae (Xuan Shen) 10g
Pericarpium Citri Tangerinae( Chen Pi) 6g
Radix Glycyrrhizae ( Gan Cao) 6g
Black Date (Da Zao) 5 pieces
One package per day,3-5days one treatment course
For Children: Flos Lonicerae ( Jin Yin Hua) 3g
Fructus Crataegi (Shan Zha) 10g
Radix Glycyrrhizae( Gan Cao) 3g
Herba Menthae (Bo He) 3g
One package per day,3-5 days one treatment course

For my own opinion, I would add some herbs to these formula,like Radix Astragali (Huang Qi),Rhizoma Atractylodis Macrocephalae (Bai Zhu), Radix Saposhnikoviae(Fang Feng),to boot the immunity system.
Of course,enough rest,healthy diet and free of stress will help.

Tongue

At the last step of TCM examination, we always ask you to stick out your tongue. What we are looking for ?
We look at the colour of the tongue and the tongue coat. Normal tongue colour supposes to be light red. And there shouldn't have tongue coat. Some clients told me that they are sorry not to scratch away the tongue coat. Actually it's an evidence of internal sickness.
Pale tongue: means Qi or Qi and Blood deficiency. When Qi is deficient, it couldn't delivery Blood to the upper body,that's why there is lack of colour in the tongue.
Red tongue: most means heat inside the body. If the tongue tip is red,that means heat in Heart. People can have sores in the tongue, feel restless,insomnia. If the tongue sides are red,mostly means there is heat in Liver and Gall Bladder, usually these people have a hot temper,easy to get irritated, headache, dizziness,ear rings,hypertension. If the middle tongue is red, it means heat in Stomach. People can easy feel hungry, burning feeling in the stomach. If the back tongue is red,people more have heat in Kidney, can have frequent urination, burning feel when urinate,little amount of urine.
Dark red tongue: means more heat in the body.
Purple tongue: Usually means poor blood circulation.
Blue tongue: means extreme cold in the body. It's also happen on people who have cardiovascular problem,or drug,food poisoning.
Of course, this need combine with symptoms and pulse checking,we can get acute diagnosis.

Keep a even mood

Keeping a even mood maybe the most difficult to reach. Good things,bad things happen,we always have a reaction. We just need to control the reaction in a certain range. Overreaction will cause sickness.
Overhappyness will effect on heart. the symptoms can be losing concentration, distracted,tiredness,palpitation, absent-minded ,even frantic.
Oversaddness will hurt lung, can cause cough, short of breath,heaviness on chest. There is a story. One of my friend,his father died. And he didn't get a chance to go back home to see him for the last visit. He was so sad. Then later on,he developed a chronic cough. A few months later,after he went over the sadness,the cough went away. He is a Chinese medicine doctor,too. This time,he really understood oversaddness can effect on your lung.
Overworry can effect on your spleen,you will have low appetite, stomach blockage, diarrhea, weakness , losing weight and so on.
Overangry can effect on liver, people will have dizziness,headache,red face ,ear ringing, even vomiting blood. passing out.
Overscare can effect on kidney, can cause weakness on legs,losing control on urine and bowel movement,nocturnal emission. We can see on TV and movies,when people were frightened, they lost control on urine and bowel movement.
Our mood shouldn't be effected by outside stuff. Keep peaceful in mind. Good or bad things are just part of life. Nothing will be perfect. Good things follow bad,bad things follow good. So take it easy, try your best to enjoy your life.

Good Sleep

We fall asleep fast, get through the whole night,when we wake up in the morning,we feel fresh. That's a good sleep. We all know,for an adult,most of us need 8-9 hours sleep. But when is the best time for sleep?
In TCM,we divide 24 hours into 12 time period:
5am-7am (mou)--Large intestinal : As a doctor,we know this is a dangerous time. According to a study,60% stoke,heart attack, sudden death happens at this time. Because at this time , people's blood pressure,body temperature is at the lowest level,and blood circulation is very slow. Yang is at the lowest level. Ying is at the highest level. Later on,Ying will reduce,Yang will increase. So this time,better to rest. Don't do exercise during this time.
7am-9am(chen)---Stomach: This time,Stomach Meridian has the most Qi and Blood. This is a good time for breakfast.
9am-11am(yi)---Spleen: Spleen help to deliver nutritions to other organs,include brain. So it's a good time for studying and work.
11am-1pm(wu)--Heart: We always say using heart to study. This is still a good time to study and work.
1pm – 3pm(wei)--Small intestinal: Good time for lunch. This time,most Qi and Blood go to small intestinal meridian to help digestive food. The best,we can have a little snap during this time to let small intestinal work better.
3pm-5pm(shen)--Bladder : This time can drink more water to detoxify.
5pm-7pm(you)--Kidney: Usually dinner time. Eat light but good.
7pm-9pm(wu)---Heart Membrane: It's time to calm down.
9pm-11pm(hai)--San Jiao:Hai,in Chinese,means restart. It's time to go to bed. We can drink some milk,soy milk to help falling asleep.
11pm-1am(zi)--Gall bladder: Gall bladder support all the other organs. Very important to have it get enough rest.
1am-3am(chou)--Liver, 3am-5am(ming)--Lung,5am-7am(mou)--Large intestinal. From 11pm to 7am is the best time for sleep. Body use this time to recovery and build up immunity system.

Some Thoughts

I’m reading a very good book about Chinese Medicine. When I read it, I’m still amazed by TCM, by how deep and wide it is! After practicing TCM for more than 10 years, I still feel like I’m at the beginning. I will spend my lifetime studying it, trying to understand it fully and using it to help others. I wish my English were much better so that I could translate all this information and let more people know about TCM. Thank God I have so many people helping me, like Alyssa, Monica and especially Madeline who has 2 little ones, a full time job and tons of housework. I truly appreciate everything they’ve done for me so far.

Thank you so much.

Chronic Urinary Tract Infection

One of my clients, a 65-year old woman, came to me with a chronic urinary tract infection that she had for more than 10 years. Her symptoms would come and go, but when she did have them, she would experience the frequent urge to urinate and with it, a painful burning sensation in the bladder or urethra. The treatment of this would be antibiotics. After so many years of suffering this condition, she decided it was time for an alternative treatment.

According to TCM, the symptoms of a chronic urinary tract infection are caused by heat and dampness in the lower part of the body. To help clear away this heat and dampness, I prescribed some herbs and within 3 days, her symptoms were gone. From this point, the most important part of the treatment was preventing this infection from coming back. So, I checked my client’s tongue and pulse and discovered that she had a Kidney Qi deficiency. Knowing this, I prescribed some herbs to improve her deficiency. After taking these herbs for more than half a year, my client has been doing very well and has been infection free ever since.

This is why I say that Western medicine is more about treating symptoms and Eastern medicine, like TCM, is about treating the root of the problem.