Chinese Medicine for Cold and Flu Prevention

I've been getting questions about flu vaccines and Chinese herbs for flu.The decision to vaccinate is a personal one. One must weigh the risks of side effects from the vaccine against the risk of contracting the flu. For those who are weak, frail or immune deficient there is a stronger argument to vaccinate. Those who are healthy and could mount a strong defense against the flu might want to forgo the vaccine and the risk of side effects incurred.Chinese medicine can support you in 2 ways:Acupuncture and Chinese herbs can strengthen your overall health and immune function, better preparing you to ward off an attack.Chinese medicine can treat the flu symptoms should you contract it. Patients are generally pleased, even amazed by the results of acupuncture and…

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Study Shows Qi Gong Effective for Cancer Patients

A recent study published in Annals of Oncology shows that medical Qi Gong improves the quality of life, mood and inflammation in cancer patients. There is no definition given for medical (vs non-medical?) Qi Gong, but I understand that the patients in the study practiced 2x/week with an instructor and were asked to do additional practice at home between classes. If you are interested in taking qi gong classes with a teacher be sure to tell the instructor about your disease and purpose for learning qi gong so that more specific instruction can be tailored to your needs. In fact, a private or series of private lessons, interspersed with group lessons might be optimal. If for whatever reason working with an instructor in person is not an option…

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Boundaries Create the Ego

Boundaries create the ego.Or put another way: the ego is comprised of boundaries between self and other.To weaken or destroy the ego, one must first dissolve the boundaries, carefully. The id and ego do not take well to threats, and due to this fear will fight hard to protect their existence. This inner struggle can be quite difficult to endure. KB

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Study Shows Acupuncture as Effective as Drugs for Carpel Tunnel Syndrome

A study published in May 2009 in The Clinical Journal of Pain compared acupuncture to the steroid drug prednisone for treatment of pain in carpal tunnel syndrome. The study concluded that:"Short-term acupuncture treatment is as effective as short-term low-dose prednisolone for mild-to-moderate CTS. For those who do have an intolerance or contraindication for oral steroid or for those who do not opt for early surgery, acupuncture treatment provides an alternative choice."This is big for a western medical study to recommend acupuncture as an effective alternative to drug therapy. For the symptoms of night time awakening due to pain and for motor function, the acupuncture group had better results. I've included an abstract of the article below.Carpal Tunnel Syndrome is a repetitive use injury, commonly caused by excessive…

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Could Women Use Smaller Vaccine Doses?

The decision to vaccinate is a personal one. Do your own research and weigh the side effects and disease risks against the benefits of the vaccine. Keep in mind that those who are immuno-compromised, weak or frail are in a higher risk group than healthy young and middle aged adults. The authors of this NY Time's Op-Ed piece contend that clinical studies are showing that women produce as many antibodies to half the dose of flu vaccine that men do at the full dose, and that the rule holds up for other diseases such as measles, mumps, rubella, hepatitis A & B and herpes simplex. If women were given a lower dose they might suffer fewer side effects than they do at the higher dose. In the…

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Stanford Research Study Shows Acupuncture Reduces Hot Flashes

Here's a study published a few years ago by a Stanford researcher showing the benefits of acupuncture for hot flashes. The study followed patients for seven weeks of treatment. In Chinese Medicine we treat in courses: a clinical course of treatment being 10-12 visits or weeks of herbal medicine. I have found in clinic that the first course of treatment tends to be 10-15 visits. In that amount of time I can usually get mild or acute symptoms resolved, and more chronic symptoms reduced and under control. Inexplicably this study tracked patients for only 7 visits. I'm sure the results would have dramatically increased had the patients continued treatment for a full course, or longer.I have noticed that studies usually show a lower percentage effectiveness than what…

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Food for Thought: Better to Eat a Cow than a Fish

I am vegan; however I often talk to folks who are sometimes vegetarians, or those who abstain from red meat. I think for them, the idea of eating a mammal is abhorrent, but occasional fish or chicken seems a tolerable or even desirable protein source. Even for those on an unabashed meat-based diet, the following discussion about which meats to eat may be insightful:I was fortunate to attend a reading of a discourse read by Ven. Zhaxi Zhuoma Rinoche a couple of Sundays ago. Periodically, she paused to add in editorial comments and take questions that further illuminated and clarified the text. At one point she made a comment which spoke to me. That is that if one is going to eat meat, it is preferable to…

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Studies Show Acupuncture More Effective than Drugs for Headaches

In a December 2008 two doctors from the Department of Anesthesiology at Duke University Medical Center published the results of their systematic review of 25 studies on the use of acupuncture for treatment of headaches in Anesthesia and Analgesia. The authors concluded that acupuncture is more effective than drug therapy in relieving headaches. Here's a short NY Time's piece on their work. KB

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Common Cold Remedy

Dr. Tan, with whom I study, recommends this implausible remedy for common cold. I'm assured it is effective. You must do it early, when you first notice symptoms:1 clove garlic1 lemon, juiced1 shot hard alcoholYou eat the clove of garlic, mix the lemon juice into a glass of water and drink it and the shot of alcohol. You can do this in any order, but you might want to do the garlic first, and follow it with the lemon water. Or you could chop the garlic into small pieces, and then swallow it like a pill using the lemon water. Go directly to bed, and when you wake the cold symptoms should be relieved or gone. You must do this in the early stage.This NY Times Really?…

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