About heat, etc.

[Guest guest]

I'm watching the conversations about people being hot

with interest.

I don't believe that being hot is so much a

" constitutional type " as it is a symptom of system

imbalance.

The person who wrote about medication, liver damage,

and heat was probably right on the money for his/her

particular situation. But every person's situation is

different.

When I first started seeing an accupuncturist for my

skin problems, I was diagnosed with excess internal

heat. This is a common Chinese diagnosis. With herbs,

treatment, and dietary changes, we've been very

successful at rebalancing my body. Right now, I'm even

tending a little towards " cold and damp " .

In Chinese medicine (and auyerveda), there is belief

that different kinds of food can stoke up your

internal fire or cool you off, etc. I don't know all

of the answers, but I'm looking into this more.

Recently I have found myself craving hot, spicy foods,

especially Thai. But, my face breaks out when I eat

them -- I don't know if its from the spices or a food

additive that contains something I'm sensitive to...

My accupuncturist said it is because right now I'm

tending toward cold and damp and craving spicey foods

is like being tired and craving sugar -- you get a

momentary boost and then end up more depleted than you

were when you began.

I'm understanding a little more about how this all

works & I can't recommend finding a competent

accupuncturist or doctor of TCM (Traditional Chinese

Medicine) enough!

My dietary changes (giving up wheat and, now, cutting

back on dairy) have made a world of difference in my

skin, which looks absolutely fine. I get little

breakouts now and then (usually from some dietary

twist of fate), but mostly it looks really good and I

can go without makeup, etc.

I also avoid super-cold beverages, ice, etc. This

follows the same principal: If you're hot and crave

ice chips, they may relieve you for the minute but

cause your body to fire up in response. Your body has

a thermostat you can't alter through applied cold. You

might be able to cool down for a while, but it will

respond by heating up slightly more -- the same way

the furnace and theromostat in your home would work.

If your room was too hot and you opened the door, it

would cool off the room for a while and then the

thermostat would sense the imbalance and kick the

heater on full blast. You'd shut the door and then the

room would be too warm... same kind of cycle.

Actually controlling the thermostat is trickier in our

bodies than in our homes. It's a question of balance

-- excercise to help our bodies move internal energy

and release heat (I can't say enough good about yoga),

foods that balance our systems, and intervention (when

needed) through accupuncture, herbs, homeopathy, etc.

Drugs and lasers should be an absolute last resort.

Now, what this actually means, or why it works I don't

know. Maybe " warming " foods in Chinese medicine are

those that are likely to cause histamine reactions.

I'm doing some reading and will report back.

I'm not a spaced out hippie chick -- I'm a

professional woman with an open mind. I don't believe

everything everybody tells me. I only know that my

experiences with alternative medicine have served me

really well over the years. My physician has taken

note and encourages me to continue. Chinese medicine

has taught me to have respect for systems that are

much, much older than Western medicine, and therefore

developed without the Western medical language, This

is why diagnoses and descriptions sound goofy to our

MD-acclimated ears and brains that have bombarded with

the idea that prescription medicine must be better

than anything...

I absolutely believe that the " cure " for rosacea

doesn't come in a form you apply to your skin, or in a

drug that squelchs the symptoms. It comes in finding

out your body's own little quirks, recognizing

imbalances, learning to rebalance and stay balanced.

Suzi

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