針灸、中藥粉 另類治癌療法

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中醫吳錦表示，李媽媽求診時年紀大、身體虛弱，無法承受西醫的化療等常規治療。

中醫吳錦表示，李媽媽求診時年紀大、身體虛弱，無法承受西醫的化療等常規治療。

從事中西醫結合治療疑難病症及癌症的吳錦指出，李媽媽求診時年紀大、身體弱，無法承受西醫的化療、電療等。她採用了針灸和中藥粉治療，最終令李媽媽回復健 康。

扶正固本　祛邪抗癌

吳錦表示，李媽媽當年來就診時，年齡很大，身體情況很差，全身疼痛、氣促呼吸困難、嘔吐黑血、身子非常虛弱，不能夠進行手術或化療、電療等對癌症的常規治 療，且已發生腹腔、肺等轉移，即使作化療等，身體無法承受。
在這種沒有辦法的情況下，她指出用中醫藥治療，治病原則是：扶正固本，祛邪抗癌，並根據患者病情的變化加入清肺、健脾、補腎等中藥調理；在治療過程中，癌指數逐漸降低，精神和身體狀況逐漸好轉，到現在患者身體良好，生活也很正常，說明了中醫藥抗癌是有明顯效果的。

Say Good-Bye to Insomnia

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Insomnia affects millions of individuals, their families, and communities. Sufferers have trouble falling asleep or staying asleep, or they wake up too early and are unable to get back to sleep. People who suffer from insomnia usually wake up feeling tired.

Insomnia happens occasionally to people who are experiencing very stressful life events, consuming too many caffeinated beverages or alcohol, or suffering from pain or other physical discomfort. Once the contributing factors are dealt with, these people will no longer suffer from insomnia.

Modern Treatment

Chronic insomnia affects the quality of life, mood, memory, and cognitive functions, and it impairs work performance.

Doctors may prescribe sleeping pills like Benzodiazepine receptor agonists that affect brain neurotransmitters. In addition to the possibility of developing physical and psychological dependence, long-term use of these medications often produces side effects such as residual daytime sedation, cognitive impairment, inhibited motor skills, and rebound insomnia.

Natural Supplements

According to traditional Chinese medicine, insomnia is a symptom of an underlying imbalance. (Thomas Lohnes/AFP/Getty Images

Melatonin is a hormone produced in the pineal gland, normally starting in the mid or late evening and diminishing in the early morning. It helps regulate sleep-and-wake cycles.
People take melatonin for conquering jet leg and insomnia. People should use only man-made melatonin with the guidance of their doctors rather then purchasing it on their own.

Melatonin may help immune functions as well. However, melatonin has side effects such as daytime grogginess, lowered body temperature, and vivid dreams.

Valerian root is an herb that has been used for centuries for relieving anxiety and initiating sleep. People with insomnia should take it right before bedtime. Valerian root needs to be used for a period of two to four weeks if the insomnia is chronic.

Possible side effects of valerian root include mild headaches or indigestion, abnormal heartbeat, and even insomnia in some people. Unfortunately, valerian root smells like sweaty socks.

Traditional Chinese Medicine

According to the theories of ancient Chinese medicine, insomnia is the result of imbalanced chi, involving multiple organ and meridian systems. The organ and meridian systems commonly involved in chronic insomnia are the heart, liver, kidney, and spleen.

Patients with chronic insomnia might have different types of chi imbalance or problems with a variety of organ systems and meridians.

That said, patients with chronic insomnia might have different types of chi imbalance or problems with a variety of organ systems and meridians. Therefore, they will suffer from different clinical symptoms and need to be treated appropriately.

 Susan is a 40-year-old woman who had trouble falling asleep and often woke up around 2 a.m. It was difficult for her to get back to sleep. However, she also suffered from occasional migraine headaches, pain all over her body, heartburn, and PMS. She complained about her irritable mood and had a chronically bitter taste in her mouth.

According to Chinese medicine, Susan suffered from stagnated liver chi and accumulated heat that affected her heart and liver. After roughly 30 sessions of acupuncture and customized herbal remedies during a three-month period, Susan was finally able to sleep through the night without sleeping pills.

Mary is a 50-year-old woman who started suffering from insomnia after she entered menopause. She felt anxious, irritable, and hot all the time. She would sometimes sweat profusely during the night.

Mary also suffered from lower back pain, and her heart would often beat fast with palpitations. Mary was suffering from “kidney yin deficiency” and had lost control of “heart fire.” Her acupuncture and herbal remedies focused on replenishing “kidney yin energy” and eliminating the heat in the heart meridian.

As result, her sleep improved as well as her mood, hot flashes, and night sweats.

John is 35 years old, works a stressful job that requires extra time in the evenings and weekends. He worries a lot about his work and family. He has trouble falling asleep and wakes up frequently throughout night. His muscles ache, and he has trouble losing weight. He looks pale and tired. He feels foggy-headed and has heart palpitations at times.
John was diagnosed with “spleen qi” and “heart blood deficiency.” Therefore, his acupuncture and herbal remedy treatment was designed to enhance his “spleen chi” and “heart blood.” He also has to make changes in his diet and work hours.

Everyone who suffers from chronic insomnia is somewhat different in the traditional Chinese medical perspective. The best course of action would be to be evaluated by an experienced Chinese medicine doctor and follow the treatment plan faithfully.

Insomnia is a just a signal of an imbalance in the human body. Treating insomnia does more than improving sleep; it improves health and prevents more serious illnesses from happening.
Dr. Jingduan Yang is a board-certified psychiatrist and a fourth-generation teacher and practitioner of traditional Chinese medicine. He practices integrative medicine in New York City, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey.

Acupuncture a Possible Treatment for Depression

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Moxibustion is traditional Chinese therapy. Moxibustion uses burning herbs, or Moxa, together with needles on accupunture points. (AFP/Getty Images)

SYDNEY—Acupuncture has been shown to prompt changes in the "mood regulation" area of the brain, pointing to a possible and potent treatment for depression.

The Australian-first research, conducted at the University of NSW, took in ten healthy patients who each underwent MRI brain scans while they received the ancient Chinese therapy.
Dr Im Quah-Smith said it was the first study to map acupuncture-related changes in brain functioning, while the study was designed to include an extra step to boost its scientific rigour.
"This the is the first time that a whole series of (acupuncture) points have been used together and the sum effect has been measured in the brain," Dr Quah-Smith told AAP on Tuesday.
"… We were interested to see if we use these points would it help any of our depressed patients? -- and it would because it is working in the part of the brain that is inherently involved in mood regulation."
Dr Quah-Smith said despite a growing body of evidence showing acupuncture to have a detectable effect on the body, there were many in the medical community who viewed it as a "highly alternative" therapy supported only by "poorly designed trials".
One of the major stumbling blocks to conducting a gold-standard randomised, double-blinded and placebo-controlled trial was that it was very difficult to administer a "sham" version of acupuncture.
"A true placebo has to be administered in such a way that you are not contributing to some of the real acupuncture effect," Dr Quah-Smith said.
She avoided this problem by using a form of laser acupuncture that can be dialled down to a level where it does not produce a skin sensation, but still exerts the necessary pressure on the acupuncture point.
"It is beautiful, because in a clinical situation you can have the delivery of the acupuncture without recipients knowing whether it is real or not real," Dr Quah-Smith said.
The study participants showed significant differences in their brain functioning when they were unknowingly receiving the acupuncture treatment, compared to when they were not.
Dr Quah-Smith said while the scans clearly demonstrated an effect in the brains of healthy people, it remained to be seen whether the results would be different in a sample of clinically depressed subjects.
"We also cannot predict from these results whether any acupoint should be preferred over others for clinical use. Both of these questions warrant further investigation."
The research results are published in the journal PLoS Online.

Chinese Medicine’s View of Stress

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A pleasant mood balances qi. (Patrick Lin/AFP/Getty Images)

In today’s society, people have to face stress. An appropriate amount of stress is helpful, but extreme physical and mental stress leads to health problems. People have seven kinds of mood: happiness, anger, worry, loneliness, grief, fear, and panic. Under normal circumstances that would not cause illness. However, excess emotion causes bodily discomfort.
Chinese medicine believes that the true aim of health is to keep the physiological and psychological balance all the time. A moderately pleasant mood will balance the qi and the blood. Excessive emotions will affect viscera, resulting in the chaos of visceral qi, which leads to diseases.
When people are excessively happy, their heart qi slackens, and their minds becomes disordered. Palpitations, insomnia, mental imbalances could appear. If it is severe, they could laugh endlessly and move aimlessly. That is: “Excessive happiness leads to loss of qi,” and “Excessive happiness hurts the heart.”
When people are startled, the heart qi becomes disordered, resulting in panic, palpitations, insomnia, anxiety, and even by mental disorders, which is called “Panic leads to qi chaos.”
When people are angry they become impatient, have a headache, red face, and may even faint. This can affect the spleen and the stomach, giving rise to symptoms such as vomiting and loss of appetite. That is called “Anger leads the qi up,” and “Ager leads to liver injury.”

With excessive grief, people will have a low voice and are unable to speak with strength, be depressed, have chest tightness, and have shortness of breath, which is called “Sadness leads to qi disappearance,” “Worry leads to gloomy qi,” and “Sadness hurts the lungs.”
With excessive fear, people will be pale, dizzy, or even collapse. Some will have urinary incontinence. That is called “Fear leads qi downward,” and “Fear hurts the kidneys.”
When a person appears to be in pain, appropriate medical screening is necessary, but do not forget to regulate the emotions. To be healthy, the most important point is to first cultivate the heart.
Getting appropriate exercise, having a proper diet, and maintaining an even temperament are the ideal ingredients for a healthy life.
Meiyi Lin is a doctor of Chinese medicine.

Chinese Medicine and Disease Prevention

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Chinese Medicine pays attention to disease prevention. The Internal Jing proposed “Treatment before being sick,” preventive thinking, and stressed “preventive measures.” Su Questiong said: “The saints treated disease before it came, stopped chaos before it formed. … When disease has become reality, then give medicine; when the chaos has become the problem, then try to stop it. However, that is just like digging well when one feels thirsty, “Isn’t it too late?”

Prevention Before Disease Occurs

Before the disease occurs, make various preventive measures to prevent the disease from occurring. The occurrence of the disease relates to two aspects, those of righteousness and evil. Evil qi is the major reason of disease, and the lack of righteous qi is the underlying cause of diseases. Outside evil elements affect through internal factors. To prevent disease, we must raise righteous qi and the ability to resist the evil elements. We also need to prevent the evil elements’ violations.

Prevention of Disease Development

If the disease has already occurred, one should seek early diagnosis and treatment to prevent the development of disease.

中醫防治六原則

一、預防
中醫學歷來就重視預防，早在《內經》中就提出了「治未病」的預防思想，強調「防患於未然」。《素問‧四氣調神大論》說：「聖人不治已病治未病，不治已亂治未亂。……夫病已成而後藥之，亂已成而後治之，譬尤渴而穿井，鬥而鑄錐，不亦晚乎」。
1.未病先防
就是在疾病未發生之前，做好各種預防工作，以防止疾病的發生。疾病的發生，關係到邪正兩個方面。邪氣是導致疾病的重要條件，而正氣不足是疾病發生的內在原 因和根據。外邪通過內因而起作用。因此，治未病，必須從兩個方面入手，一方面調養身體，提高正氣抗邪能力，另一方面要防止病邪的侵害。
2.既病防變
是指如果疾病已經發生，則應爭取早期診斷、早期治療，以防止疾病的發展與傳變。

二、治則
治則是指疾病的治療法則。它是在整體觀念和辨證施治精神指導下制定的，對臨床治療立法、處方、用藥，具有普遍的指導意義。
1.治病求本
是指尋找出疾病的根本原因，並針對根本原因進行治療。在臨床運用這一治則時，必須正確掌握「逆者正治，從者反治」和「急則治標，緩則治本，標本兼治」等情況。
2.扶正與祛邪
疾病的過程，是正氣與邪氣矛盾雙方相互鬥爭的過程。因而治療疾病，就要扶助正氣，祛除邪氣，改變邪正雙方的力量對比，使之有利於疾病向痊癒方向轉化。
3.調整陰陽
疾病的發生，從根本上說是陰陽的相對平衡遭到破壞，出現偏勝偏衰的結果。因此，恢復陰陽的相對平衡，促進陰平陽秘，乃是臨床治療的根本法則之一。
4.調整臟腑功能
人體是一個有機的整體，臟與臟，腑與腑，臟與腑之間在生理上相互協調、相互促進，在病理上則相互影響。因此，注意調整各臟腑之間的關係，使其功能協調，才能收到較好的治療效果。

5.調理氣血關係
氣血是各臟腑及其它組織功能活動的主要物質基礎，氣血各有其功能，又相互為用。調理氣血是以「有餘瀉之，不足補之」為原則，使它們的關係恢復協調。
6.因時、因地、因人制宜
由於疾病的發生、發展和轉歸，受多方面因素的影響，如時令氣候、地理環境等，尤其是患者個體的體質因素，對疾病的影響更大。因此，在治療疾病時，必須把這些方面的因素考慮進去，對具體情況做具體分析，區別對待，以制定出適宜的治療方法。

How Acupunture Relieves Pain

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Thin needles are used for acupuncture. (Cat Rooney/The Epoch Times)

Experimenting with mice, researchers at the University of Rochester learned how acupuncture activates receptors that suppress pain.
The levels of adenosine, a natural painkiller, increased in the tissues near where acupuncture needles were placed. Adenosine plays several roles in the body: regulating sleep, reducing inflammation, and acting as a natural painkiller.
Researchers conducted a 30-minute procedure on the knees of mice that caused them discomfort in the legs. In mice with normal levels of adenosine, the pain was reduced by more than 60 percent as measured by sensitive nerves.

During and immediately after the acupuncture treatment, the level of adenosine in the tissue near the needles was 24 times higher than before the treatment. Dr. Maiken Nedergaard, the scientist who led the research, said that although acupuncture has been around for thousands of years, it is not well understood. The study, which was published in the journal Nature Neuroscience, showed how acupuncture reduces pain in the body.

Related Articles

• Chinese Medicine and Disease Prevention
• Chinese Medicine’s View of Stress

Acupuncture Affects How Brain Perceives Pain

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(Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

Researchers from Germany have found that acupuncture is effective in altering how we perceive pain.
The study used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to capture images of healthy volunteers’ brains when they received electrical pain stimulation on the left ankle.
“Until now, the role of acupuncture in the perception and processing of pain has been controversial,” lead researcher Dr. Nina Theysohn of the University Hospital in Essen, Germany, said in a press release.
“Functional MRI gives us the opportunity to directly observe areas of the brain that are activated during pain perception and see the variances that occur with acupuncture.”
During the study, the volunteers first underwent fMRI while electrical pain stimulation was applied to their left ankles. Acupuncture needles were then placed on their right side between the toes, below the knee, and near the thumb, and the fMRI was conducted while the subjects were exposed to electrical currents again. The captured images and resultant data were then compared.
The fMRI specifically revealed a change in activity in the brain’s pain-processing areas during acupuncture.


“Activation of brain areas involved in pain perception was significantly reduced or modulated under acupuncture,” Theysohn said, according to the press release.
In addition to these findings, Theysohn also found that brain regions related to the expectation of pain were also affected.
The findings were presented at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA).




 

How to Find a Good Acupuncturist

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Acupuncturists need to be able to see the body through “quantum glasses” in order to understand this ancient system of treatment. (Credit: Cat Rooney/The Epoch Times)

Many people wonder how to find a good acupuncturist. To answer this simple question, it is important to understand what acupuncture is and how it works.
Acupuncture is a treatment modality of ancient Chinese medicine. Along with the modern version of traditional Chinese medicine, ancient Chinese medicine is a complete medical system passed down to us from an unknown prehistoric civilization. Traditionally, Chinese people believed that the art of Chinese medicine was a gift from the divine.
This medical system recognizes the anatomy and physiology of the human body as modern medicine does; yet it also maps out and explains the energetic network of human beings. Although this level of human existence is still invisible to us, we are always experiencing it throughout our lives.
The energy that traditional Chinese medicine has mapped out is called qi, a vital life force that keeps the body functioning well physically and mentally. The system of qi circulation is referred to as meridians—a network of energy pathways centered in the major internal organs. Today’s imaging technology has not yet been able to see these meridians.
A sufficient, smooth, and directional flow of qi keeps the body functioning normally. Any physical, chemical, or emotional stress will compromise the qi and block the meridians.
Consequently, this stress causes dysfunctions and symptoms affecting the areas of our body, mood, and mind associated with these meridians. The compromised qi can manifest as chemical, physical, and even structural abnormalities that modern medicine can detect and attempt to treat.
There are specific points or tiny areas on the surface of the body that are connected with specific meridians and organ systems. If we stimulate these points with the insertion and manipulation of fine needles, we will be able to open the blocked meridians, redirecting and facilitating an adequate flow of qi. Thus, we can reduce the dysfunction and symptoms the patient is feeling.
The treatment will prevent the symptoms from developing into serious illness and disease. However, the most important work is done before needles are inserted. It is the diagnosis and evaluation of what meridians are involved and how the qi is imbalanced.
The diagnosis and the qi evaluation determine the selection of the points and techniques of needling. This diagnostic process requires clinical skills, including tongue and pulse readings that are unique and powerful diagnostic tools in Chinese medicine. The doctor needs a solid and comprehensive knowledge of the energetic systems and their functions to diagnose the patient well.
Although the symptoms and dysfunction may respond to the acupuncture treatment immediately after the first session, any chronic condition will require a course of daily treatment to achieve significant improvement. (However, in the United States, patients usually can only afford and commit to two or three sessions per week.)
Thirty sessions of treatment are needed to significantly improve most chronic cases. Furthermore, the acupuncturist should be able to recognize and address the causes of the qi imbalance, provide tools for self-care, and help patients make lifestyle modifications.
Just as in choosing any professional for a service, referrals are important. The best types of referrals are ones from your friends and people you trust who have had a positive experience and outcome with the practitioner.
If you do not know anyone who can refer you to a practitioner nearby, you may want to find a few different acupuncturists in your local area and set up some time to interview them.
Some good questions to ask them would be how they diagnose their patients and what their treatment plan would entail. You may also want to ask what their experience has been in treating conditions like yours.
The bottom line is you want to see if they care about their work and their patients and if they are confident about what they know. A good acupuncturist will use acupuncture as a tool of a complete medical system, rather than use it as a simple needle for simulating your skin, muscle, or nerves based solely on the modern understanding of anatomy.
A good acupuncturist is no different from any other health care professional in terms of having a caring heart, sound knowledge, clinical skills, and the ability to communicate effectively. The acupuncturist needs to be able to develop a therapeutic alliance with patient.
In addition, a good acupuncturist must be able to appreciate the energetic system of the human being as ancient Chinese medicine describes. Because there are no external tools to be able to see this system, the practitioner has to be able to “see” it with a pair of “quantum glasses.”
Understanding the energetic nature of a human being is critical for the treatment process. The human body is an open system that constantly exchanges its energy with that of the natural environment and people around it. An acupuncturist can advise patients to be mindful of their surrounding climate changes, behaviors, and interpersonal relationships.
Since energy circulates in the meridian systems in an orderly and timely fashion, the acupuncturist should advise patients to maximally live a life congruent with the energetic flow of nature. This includes clear instruction on a good time to rise, rest, exercise, eat, and cleanse.
An acupuncturist’s own energy is also important when interacting and intervening with the energy of the patient. A good acupuncturist must cultivate his or her energy to a healthy level and remain very focused during the treatment.

Dr. Jingduan Yang is a board-certified psychiatrist and a fourth-generation teacher and practitioner of traditional Chinese medicine. He practices integrative medicine in New York City, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey. His website is taoinstitute.com.