Chinese Medicine - A brief Introduction
The Chinese approach to Health
健康
Chinese Medicine - A brief Introduction
There are different interpretations of what Chinese medicine is. There are those who see it as an alternative medicine, especially when associated with acupuncture. China and Taiwan look to traditional Chinese medicine as an important part of their healthcare system. Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) was coined in the 1950s as a term to collectively refer to what was exported as ‘ Chinese medicine’ .
Today traditional Chinese medicine is the use of Chinese theories for the diagnosis and treatment of individuals using traditional Chinese herbal medicine, acupuncture, massage and Qigong.
Practitioners of TCM believe that the human body is in constant interaction with the environment. TCM can diagnose, understand and treat illness, and even prevent it by means of concentrating on the disharmony in an individual.
TCM theory is based on several philosophical, including the Yin-Yang theory, the Five Elements, the Meridian system, the Zang Fu Organ theory, plus. These theories or concepts are collectively used to come up with a diagnosis.
It is important when utilizing Chinese herbs that you do so under the guidance of a health professional. You will have questions regarding the preparation, dosage, interactions, when to change formulas, what to do if other symptoms would occur that you may not have expected.
Also learn how long to follow the herbal therapy. All of these questions are best answered by someone how really understands Chinese medicine. Knowing about Chinese medicine is more than just reading an article or book. It takes years of studying to understand not only the book knowledge, but also the inner understanding about balance and other Chinese theories.
Each herbal combination is specifically designed for an individual based on their symptoms, the consultation and diagnosis. The medicine is not mass-produced but prepared one at a time for a each individual. High quality and authentic herbal herbal medicine is not available in stores or the Internet. Those practicing Chinese medicine will prescribe a formula that the patient can take to a herbal shop.
Chinese medicine is not an exact science. Treatment varies and has many factors including the herbs to be used, dosage; the duration of the treatment and any additional treatment such as acupuncture all play a part.
The Causes of Disease in Chinese Medicine
Chinese Medicine philosophy holds that all disease has either an Internal or an External cause.
External causes are related to the place or locality, the weather and environment; the external environmental causes are called the "six excesses", and are classified as: wind, dryness, cold, fire, moisture and heat.
The internal causes of disease are considered to be generated by the mental states, and these are classified into the "Seven Emotions": joy, anger, anxiety, brooding, sorrow, fear and fright.
Chinese Medicine considers that disease develops due to a disruption of the flow and quality of Qi that results from being subjected to an excess of one or more of these cases of disease.
The seriousness and duration of the disease will be subject to the strength of the individual's constitution, and will be governed by the site of the symptoms, nutritional status, the physical circulation of fluids and blood, and the strength of Qi** (see below).
The causes of disease according to Chinese Medicine
External causes - The Six Excesses: Wind, dryness, cold, moisture, fire, heat.
Internal causes – The Seven Emotions: Joy, anger, anxiety, brooding, sorrow, fear fright.
These can generally also be linked to Dietary Imbalance.
The holistic nature of Chinese Medicine is demonstrated by many of its approaches and particularly by its emphasis on the emotional causes of disease.
In Chinese Medicine, it is considered that either excessive emotional stimulation or emotional suppression will lead to a disturbance of Qi which may injure the organs or the blood and thus lead to the development of a disease; this is called the internal cause of disease.
Emotions are categorised into seven types: Anger, Fright (or shock), Joy (or pleasure), Fear, Brooding (or depression), Anxiety (or worry) and Sorrow (or grief).
Disease Progression and the Six Paths.
Chinese Medicine practitioners observed around 1800 years ago that acute diseases tend to follow a specific course; they divided this course into six stages: three stages of excess, followed by three stages of deficiency.
The stages of excess are: Greater Yang, Sunlight Yang, Lesser Yang and Sunlight Yang; while the three stages of deficiency are: Greater Yin, Lesser Yin and Absolute Yin.
Greater Yang represents the first stage of an acute illness; its symptoms include headaches, fever and severe chills.
Sunlight Yang is the second stage, and manifests symptoms such as severe chills and constipation or diarrhoea.
Lesser Yang indicates either the resolution of the illness or a deterioration of the condition; its symptoms include a bitter taste in the mouth, a dry throat, dizziness, and vomiting.
Greater Yin represents a movement towards a debilitated and more serious condition, it is characterised by intense diarrhoea, or vomiting together with dysentery.
Lesser Yin represents a further waning of the physical resistance; its symptoms include severely debilitating chills and cold hands and feet.
Absolute Yin is the final stage and is associated with a serious loss of physical resistance and manifests symptoms such as oliguria (low output of urine), thirst and complete exhaustion.
Chinese Medicine considers that diseases do not necessarily follow each of the six stages, but may first manifest at a particular stage, resolve at a particular stage, or remain (get stuck) at a particular stage. Diseases may also pass so quickly through a stage, that its symptoms do not have adequate time to manifest. Therefore the concept of the six stages of disease is primarily a foundation system for the classification of disease that serves as a baseline for further diagnostics.
The Eight Conditions of Chinese Medicine
Yin/Yang
Cold/Hot
Internal/External
Empty/Full
When determining the nature of a disease in Chinese Medicine, the first aspect to be considered is whether the condition is a Yin or a Yang type of disease. Yang type conditions are those that appear acutely, actively, progressively and by producing heat (fever). Yin type conditions show themselves as being cold (e.g., by producing stasis and cold swellings), slow, passive, debilitating and degenerating. For example, when a person contracts a cold, which is a Yang condition, the pulse rate increases, the temperature rises, and the face looks red; the throat becomes sore, there are body aches and there is thirst. On the other hand, in the case of chronic bronchitis, which is a Yin condition, the person loses energy, the pulse becomes feeble and its rate slows, the face turns yellow, and there is little fever or inflammation.
Yin conditions take always longer to cure than Yang conditions. Yang diseases will be treated by sedating methods of acupuncture and perspiration inducing or fever reducing medicines, while Yin diseases are treated with stimulating methods of acupuncture and tonics.
The Concepts of Hot and Cold
The concepts of Hot and Cold relate to specific aspects of the symptoms and do not necessarily relate to body temperature. Cold symptoms can result from exposure to one of the six excesses, namely excessive cold. This may result from exposure to unseasonably cold weather, from drinking too many cold beverages, from a lowered vital force with, a lowered metabolism, or a decrease in energy such as that experienced in old age.
Cold conditions are associated with a generalised sensation of coldness, a lowered immune responsive and a reduction in the speed of healing. Cold symptoms improve with applications of heat to problem areas, with hot or spicy foods, with warming drinks and with warming herbs.
Hot conditions may also results from one of the 6 Excesses, namely excessive heat. Excessive heat may be caused by exposure to unseasonably hot weather, excessive metabolic activity, or feverish or inflammatory conditions. Hot conditions show as: fever, sensation of heat, excessive thirst, flushing of the face, restlessness, yellow concentrated urine, dry stools and a bright red tongue with yellow furring. Hot conditions are treated with cooling applications, cold food, cold drinks and cool or cold herbs.
COLD SIGNS HOT SIGNS
fear of the cold aversion to heat
cold extremities hot red skin
white face red face
slow movement rapid movement
quiet behaviour excitability
lack of thirst excessive thirst
desire for hot drinks desire for cold drinks
lack of perspiration excessive perspiration
large amount clear urine dark, concentrated urine
loose bowel motions dry constipation
watery stool hard, dry stool
slow or tight pulse rapid pulse
pale, white coated tongue red, yellow coated tongue.
The Four Classifications of Disease
Chinese Medicine philosophy also classifies diseases as external or internal and as empty or full. External diseases are those that affect parts on the surface of the body, especially the skin and muscles, and conditions that have not penetrated to affect internal organs and structures; while internal disease are those that affect the organs or internal structures of the body.
Empty and Full describes the amount of Qi in the body during the course of a disease: Empty diseases are characterised by lack of strength and muscle tone, a soft pulse, slight abdominal tension, a soft voice and depression; while full diseases are characterised by muscle tension, a rapid pulse, a loud voice and mental overactivity.
These conditions may manifest together and in any combination, thus giving the four types: external full, internal empty, external empty or internal full.
The Internal/External qualities, form four compound qualities in combination with Hot and Cold - these are:
Conditions Symptoms
i. External Cold Chills and fever, Acute conditions.
ii. Internal Cold No fever, Chronic conditions.
iii.External Heat Acute fever with fear of wind.
iv. Internal Heat High fever, more or less chronic, no fear of wind.
The Eight Principles of Treatment.
The formulation of treatment in Chinese Medicine utilises the same concepts of Yin, Yang, emptiness, fullness, external, internal, cold and hot.
Internal, cold and empty conditions are considered to be Yin, while external, hot and full conditions belong to Yang.
Even though at first glance this system appears somewhat simplified, in its real application complex interactions arise between Yin and Yang diseases, such as a conditions that are halfway between External and Internal or Cold and Hot. Further, conditions can be mixed, that is, there can be Empty Heat or External Cold.
Summary.
The philosophical concepts of Chinese Medicine are based on a holistic and spatial perception of the individual in their environment rather than upon the simplified cause and effect principles of Western Aristotelian logic. Thus the patient is seen as being a part of a continually interacting World, where mental states, environmental factors, diet and lifestyle play an important role in health. Ill-health ensues when the natural balance is disturbed, and the natural energies supplied by herbs and through treatment by acupuncture and other means must be utilised in order to restore health.
Although in recent times there has been a greater recognition in Western Medicine of the interaction between mind and body in disease, there has not yet been an attempt to produce the comprehensive holistic approach which treats the body and the mind as one unit, that is so much a part of Chinese Medical philosophy.
** Qi (Qi could be called ‘energy’ or ‘life force’ in the ‘western’ sense).
Generally speaking, Qi is an essential substance that is full of vigour and flows fast. Blood is the red liquid circulating in the vessels and nourishing the whole body, and Body Fluids are a general term for all the water necessary for life. Qi is attributed to Yang, because it is mobile and functions to move and warm; while the Blood and Body Fluids are attributed to Yin because they are motionless and function to nourish and moisten the human body. In this sense, Qi is also named Yang Qi and the Blood and Body Fluids, Yin Fluids of the body.
Concept of Qi Qi was originally a philosophic concept. The ancients believed that the world changes and things in the world can transform from one to another, so when they tried to explain the world with a common substance, they determined that the substance must have two properties: invisibility and motion. As it is invisible or has no certain shape, it can create various kinds of things; and as it is moving, things in the world are always changing and may transform from one to another. Air, the original meaning of Qi, is just such a substance which cannot be seen but the movement of which, as wind, can be felt. This was extended to mean that the most basic substance of the world, and its movement and change can explain the generation, development and change of all things in the world.
Qi of the human body also has two patterns of existence. The coagulated Qi is manifested as various visible or structural components of the body, such as viscera, body figure, sense organs, Blood, Body Fluids and Essence; the diffused Qi is manifested as the Qi that flows in the body, but takes no certain form (it could be called ‘energy’ or ‘life force’ in the ‘western’ sense).
Qi of the human body comes from the combination of three kinds of Qi, i) Primordial Qi inherited from parents, ii) the fresh air inhaled by the Lung and iii) the refined food Essence transformed by the Spleen. Primordial Qi is derived from the Congenital Essence of the parents and is the primary substance to produce an embryo. So it forms the basis of the human body and its life activities. Without Congenital Essence, there can be no human body. After birth, the congenital Essence is stored in the Kidney to promote development and to control the reproductive activity of the human body. The refined food Essence is generated by the food which is taken in after birth and is distributed all over the body to produce nutrients and Qi and Blood under the action of the Spleen and Stomach. Fresh air is inhaled by the Lung after birth and is the main source of Qi of the human body.
From the process of formation of Qi, we can see that Qi of the human body is closely related to the functional activities of the Kidney, the Spleen and Stomach, and the Lung, in addition to the congenital constitution, food and nutrients, and the environment. Only when these organs function properly can the Qi of the body flourish. Conversely, dysfunction of any of these organs will influence the formation of Qi and the physiological function of Qi. For example, dysfunction of the Lung will weaken respiration, leading to failure of fresh air to be inhaled and the turbid Qi of the body to be exhaled, with the resultant inadequate formation of Qi.
The transformation and transportation of the Spleen and Stomach play a particular role in the formation of Qi, for man relies on the nutrients transformed and transported by the Spleen and Stomach for his life after birth. On the one hand, the Spleen sends up nutrients to the Lung to be dispersed, on the other, it sends down nutrients to the Kidney to supplement Kidney Essence. So, the function of the Spleen and Stomach influences all three elementary substances that produce Qi.
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