Chinese Medicine

[keithworrall]

Just wondering if anybody has been down the Chinese medicine road, and if there were any promising results?

Cheers

[billi]

Hi and NO not yet. My sons girlfriend is Chinese and she has been on at me for sometime as she feels sure they could help. She did stress not the ones on the High Street. I think we should all be open minded and try other cultures ideas and after my holiday I just might give it a try!!

Smiles

Billi

[nurse_ratchet]

Hi there,

Soon after my 2 nd big flare (2012), I did seek acupuncture with a 3 rd generation Chinese medicine doctor (the real deal !). She was lovely, sweet and smart gal that I saw for almost a year straight. When I first told her what I had "behcet's" , she knew right away what it was. That was a first for me! She actually called her mother in China for me to see what treatment would be best for me , as behcet's is not uncommon amongst the Asian population. The first session included an assessment- looking at my tongue first thing and she was bang on about my constipation (since childhood I might add!), she also noted my kidneys and spleen were weak. She had recommendations of types of foods I must eat to make them stronger (pears, squash, any berries). She performed the tens type of acupuncture where she has control of how much stimulation to give. I walked out feeling different then when I had arrived:relaxed, pain to my lower back (sacroiliac joints) relieved and a calmness and clear head! The second appt I had with her, she had info from her mother (2nd generation Chinese medicine md). She flat out told me that we would do 2 to 3 sessions a week in combination of herbs and teas she supplied me with for a total of 2 weeks and if it didn't work we would stop because she did not want to "drain my $ for nothing". Right off the hop, I had a good feeling about her. So for 2 weeks I choked down the herb mixture with tea (nearly threw it up a few times it tasted nasty), I had some bursts of energy and was able to have BM's!! But other than that...my flare continued so we stopped, but I continue to go every once in a while just for the relaxation and/or pain relief. There has not been a drug , massage or chiropractor that could ever relieve my back aches- but this girl has the magic trick ! I figure we have nothing to lose, go for it and try it out, who knows what it will do for you!

Best of luck Gen

[lesleyg]

I'm a bit like Gen. I did give it a pretty good go pre-diagnosis.

Even got down those awful black teas!

Can't say that it did me any good spectacularly.

I asked for some help from one of my medical terminology students because I remembered the doctor saying something about foods and warming the blood. Angela is Chinese and studying to be a doctor in Australia. This is her reply below. (I'll put a disclaimer in and say that I'm not saying whether it is right or wrong - just very interesting regarding foods). Lesley

Hi Lesley,

'Warm blood' in Chinese medicine doesn't mean the temperature of the blood. It means the blood runs quickly, which makes the toxic in the body become more and stronger.

Chinese medicine believes that some food can make the blood warm, such as spicy food, fried food, alcohol, cigarette, peanut, red bean, red meat (such as beef and lamb. They believe all the red stuff in the world are hot. For example, if your urine are yellow, they think it is a sign of hot/warm of your body.) What's more, sleep between 11pm to 6am and avoid sun bathing, and you need to drink plenty of fluids if sweating a lot.

Some food would cool down your blood and help digestion, such as banana, pear, wholewheat, green bean and green vegetables （because they believe green and white in the world are cool.)Soft drink is not a kind of cool food, they think it is always bad for healthy.

Anyway, It doesn't mean you can't eat the hot food at all. If you always just eat cool food, your body will become too cold. The concept is quite complex, but an easy idea is that everything can't be excessive.

I search some websites about " Chinese medicine cold and hot" on the Internet. There are some information below and you can get more information by searching these words. I hope these will help you.

benefits-of-honey.com/heaty...

humanisticperspectives.word...

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chine...

jadelotuswellness.com/2011/...

Kind Regards,

Angela

[Dan_NY]

A good number of years ago, 1996 or 97, one of my last HUGE oral ulcer flare ups, I could not stand it any more. I had a number of Chinese friends and asked one to take me to the herbalist, which were about everywhere. I recall the concept of "fire" coming out in our conversation. (Most of my friends spoke of hot and cold and watermelon is supposed to have a cooling effect FYI) I was given some very very awful herbal conncoction and choked it down I think for a week, maybe two. It didnt seem to do much of anything. My ulcers went away eventually, though I think it was just the course of Behcets and not the herbal remedy. This herbalist had no better idea what was going on than any of the other doctors I went to.

My roomate at the time, who very very oddly enough came down with oral ulcers at the same time as me, went the herbal remedy route and I do not think it did much for him either. We went to different herbalists FYI.

I have also been to the accupuncturist many times for back issues. Most times it helps in the sense of its a very relaxing time. Depending on the method, warm air/heat is applied to your body, relaxing music is played, and you are still and calm and relaxed. Its a half hour or hour of "you time". Has it helped with the pain? Once. I was hunched over, crunched over, walking funny like i had something seriously wrong with me. Standing from the bus seat hurt like nothing I really experienced before and would scream out loud in pain to nobody but everyone around me. Walking hurt and I was vocal about the pain as I could hardly stand it. I would walk so very very slowly, shuffling my feet in baby steps. This was the only way the pain was somewhat standable. Yes, I was one of those crazy people you see walking down the street talking to themselves for no apparent reason. People would see me and give me a wide berth and try not to look at me. I went to the accupuncurist and was able to walk out, mostly standing straight, after a half hour session. It seriously helped that time.

I have also travelled fairly extensively to various parts of China. I had to once get my INR level checked at the hospital. It was a challenge explaining to the doctors what I needed. I did have a printout, in Chinese, of what I needed but they were not familiar with what this was. Language was not the issue, understanding of medical tests was. After some time, someone finally told me they got it. I went to the blood giving location and placed my arm on a blood stained cushion. ( A small stain, but very visible..) I watched intently as the woman picked up a needle. It was packaged and clean, luckily. If it was not packaged I was walking away. To pick up your results, there was a small box on a counter. As results were available someone would place it in this box. You would wander over to the box and shuffle through everyones tests until you found yours, or until you grew tired of reading other peoples results. I found mine mixed in with everyone elses. Interesting experience.

[lesleyg]

Hi Dan

Saw your post re walking hunched over muttering to yourself and I had to laugh!

I've always had the habit of talking to myself and the other day I was groaning and muttering away and I saw a horrified look on a lady's face beside me.

Hate to know what she was thinking!

Lesley

[Dan_NY]

[keithworrall]

Thanks for the responses all......

I have stopped my meds (except for the prednisone which I will ease off shortly) for now and have started some herbal products...I actually started to fell better within a day or 2... However I do still get symptoms but not as bad or certainly no worse than what they have been since I started the meds 7 mths ago....any we will see how things progress for a while!

Take care all....will keep you posted on progress........................

[andreafm]

Just a little thought on this subject for those who use Immune Suppressants as their treatment. A lot of the herbal combinations have an immune booster, which will act against the Immune Suppressant.

The other thing is that when approaching herbalists and in particular Chinese herbalists, you should be very careful who you choose as there have been contaminated herbs which can damage your liver.

I am not against herbal medicine at all and in fact use it a lot myself for various symptoms, but please be careful where you obtain them from and be sure that the herbalist knows that you are taking Immune Suppressants.

Good Luck Keith