08 - Re: Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM)

March 4, 2010

I promise this is the last of my big fat alternative medicine posts...

I think for us Westerners it's hard to buy into holistic approaches is the very

idea of the body as an interconnected " whole. "

We know that the hip bone's connected to the thigh bone, but there are few

doctors who will intuitively make a connection between bacteria and ulcer, as

Ellen pointed out. We're learning everything piecemeal. If we can't see it, it

doesn't exist. This isn't bad - in fact it's proven heroic in so many ways -

just different.

In TCM etc. there's a belief in underlying, interconnected forces of energy that

keep the body in balance. I don't know Dr. Tien, but I can see how he might not

be interested in the particulars of CLL if he's got a pulse (literally) on what

he considers more essential forces -- like " liver chi stagnation, " which might

relate to the liver, or a course of energy known as the liver meridian. Until I

took some time to understand this alien concept, it was easy to dismiss the

" logic " behind it and get just a little freaked out when I first visited a

chinese doctor who prescribed a pile of herbs that looked like a bird's nest.

The other thing is that, unlike Western medicine which aims for a quick fix,

many alternative approaches take time to undo what might be a lifetime of

accruing toxicity that finally reached a tipping point to change our DNA. This

might be why with TCM you really have to buy into a regimen - cause people like

us are in it for the long haul. Conversely, Western medicine is really really

good at treating things like infections, which often hit quickly and need to be

fixed quickly.

I tried TCM before I even knew what was wrong with me - I just felt rundown. The

doctor gave me herbs. After a bad bronchitis, I saw a regular MD and found out I

was in Stage 4 - RBC of 5 and platelets around 30,000. The miracle was that I

could still climb the 3 flights and care for my kindergartner. It didn't cure

the CLL, but I'm positive that it helped keep me going. There's always been a

nagging belief that, if I'd stuck with it, I might have slowly returned to some

healthier balance.

nuff said!

>

> From: esractellen <rhudy@...>

> Subject: 08 - Re: Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM)

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> Date: Wednesday, March 3, 2010, 3:34 AM

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