Creativity, Classical Chinese Medicine and our right to be wrong
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The impact of this video should be experienced by everyone. How does it relate to Classical Chinese Medicine? How does it relate to this blog? Where do I begin?
All over the planet, there are people who think like I do. There are people who find a sense of hope in Classical Chinese Medicine, its way of treating human beings and its way of opening our minds to a perception of reality alternate to the one most of us are schooled within. I’m not talking about anything you can dismiss rapidly, so please, let rest your assumptions. For 20 years, I’ve been frustrated by the oppressive, soul killing, pervasive worldview that so dominates everything one sees through the mass media and through public education. This worldview says that the left brain is where it’s at, that logic (narrowly defined as it is in most University philosophy departments) should always rule, that there are no ghost or fairies or spirits, that something isn’t real or useful if it can’t be tested placebo-controlled and double blind and that intuition is a chemical reaction and nothing more. I’ve been frustrated by this worldview, but also enticed by it.
Why?
Because it brings the promise of security. Of safety. Of making the chaotic and gut-wrenching world into something that can be calculated, predicted, understood and dealt with. Also, because some of the most dynamic and interesting people in my life have been ruled by this worldview. Only sometimes I forget that they are dynamic and interesting despite their religious fervor for the elements of this worldview as described above. I’ve also variously drawn close to this worldview because sometimes the alternatives make me ill. It seems, at times, that the only choice is between what I’ve described and a kind of dreamy-eyed, crystal worshipping, close your eyes tightly and hope for a better future kind of stance. Neither is an option for me, and I guess the former seems more likely to be productive of something worth having.
Chinese medicine, for me, opens the door for an alternate interpretation. The world is both chaos and order. Both predictable and unpredictable. We predict with caveat and we accept unpredictability with tools to deal with the result of that unpredictability. We embrace chaos while seeing the beauty of the order within. We calmly respect order while allowing space for the chaos that whirls in the eddies of the human soul. We breathe in, we breathe out. We dream. We memorize. We try and fail. We fail and get back up again. I have learned all of these things and so many more in my brief three or four years seriously seeking to understand Chinese philosophy and its flowering in the most complex and promising medical system ever to grace our planet.
I know that for some of you all of this is easy to dismiss. But, I’ve grown tired of caring. I’ve grown tired of stifling myself for the sake of avoiding conflict with people who simply don’t think like me. Rest assured, this is not the abandoning of logic. It never has been, not for me. Watch that video again. Does that seem like a guy who has abandoned reason? Do his arguments ramble with no sense? Sure, you could probably find a way to logically refute his arguments - but what does that feed? Where does that go? I think we can all see where the worldview I have described is leading us. I refuse to walk that path.
Classical Chinese Medicine rests firmly on a scientific basis that accepts contradiction, embraces the totality of human experience and - perhaps most of all - makes a real difference in the lives of real human beings. It resonates deeply with the essence of the TED lecture linked above and, really, the essence of the entire TED project. That creativity and inspired intelligence are the deepest inheritance of humankind, that these traits are what will save our species and take us into a beautiful tomorrow. That color and sound and movement, art and introspection and perception, that THESE THINGS are what will lead us towards cures for disease - regardless of what else is necessary. That the symbols contained within Chinese characters are instructive, that symbolism in general is a language we can all understand. All of this I take to be self evident.
On a more personal level, I really feel that this lecture has unlocked the last little bit of reservation I have had about stepping into my power as a scholar, as a clinician, as a blogger and as a person. As you know from reading some of my recent posts, I’ve been struggling with what to write. This struggle has come primarily from my worry that others would attack me, would call me “wrong,” that I would make my teachers and my program look bad - a pervasive perfectionism shaped by a misguided sense of self preservation. I cannot always be right, and neither can you. But those of us who care about the world, who care about human beings, who love the beauty and the power of Classical Chinese Medicine (and, of course, other modalities) need to speak out, speak freely, and be willing to be wrong.
It’s our responsibility and our right.
Eric
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Tags: Blogging, Character, creativity, Learning, Personal Development, scholar, symbolism, TEDRelated posts
Understanding Chinese herbs using Classical Chinese Medical thinking
Sometimes I learn small things that turn out to be very useful. I would like to start sharing these as bite sized treats interspersed in between the thicker cuts that many of you are accustomed to here on Deepest Health. Today, I would like to offer one of those which is a way of thinking about herbs (and, thus, formulas) that I initially learned from my mentor, Dr. Arnaud Versluys. It’s a simple thing, maybe, but hopefully helpful to you.
In our Classical Chinese Medicine education here in Portland, OR, we are given a variety of types of information. I’ve talked about this several times before. We are sometimes told that truly Classical Chinese Medicine includes the information in the standard TCM system and includes information in the Western/allopathic system, but then goes outside of those reaching back to the Classical texts and cultivated ways of knowing. All of this information must be explored and, ultimately, integrated. We are encouraged to find that which really drives us and dive deep into that, but always asked to keep our minds open to the whole symbol field of information that human striving has uncovered.
In that spirit, consider the study of Chinese herbs. There’s a huge amount of information one could associate with any given single herb. The information has many different aspects - let us consider the relative materiality and the relative size (in time and/or space) of the information. We can create two axes. One from grossly material to highly immaterial, and one from microscopic to quite macroscopic. We can find useful information anywhere in the field created by these two axes. Let me provide a partial list of information along these two axes that I use to understand single Chinese herbs. The information will be listed from more material and more microscopic to less material and more macroscopic (obviously not a perfect gradation).
- Specific biochemical constituents, chemical bonding (for example, discussion of specific alkaloids)
- Classes of biochemical constituents, herb-herb interaction (for example, what are alkaloids?)
- Western medical physiological understanding (for example, discussion of the endocrine system)
- This might include information from Western medical studies/clinical trials
- Habitat and other botanical information (what kind of plant is this?)
- Chinese herbal category information (qi, flavor, channel affinity) and dosage information
- Contradictions (both Chinese and Western)
- Use of the herb through history in China (what formulas? what doctors? what contexts?)
- Understanding via various systems of differentiation (Ba Gan/8 Pillars, 6 Conformations, 5 Element)
- Information in various Classical texts concerning this herb other than what’s already been covered in another category
- Symbolism behind any of the previous categories of information (for instance, given the relevant habitat in which the herb grows - how can we understand it symbolically)
- Use of categories of information associated with the organ clock (If this is a Spleen herb, how can the symbolism of the snake help us think about it?
Let’s just look at a quick example on a very basic level using just some of the partial list above. Bai Shao, anyone?
白芍 Bái Sháo (Yào)
Biochemical constituents/other minute level Western information
- Paeoniflorin, albiflorin, oxypaeonifloring, benzoylpaeoniflorin, paeonin, hydorxypaeoniflorin (glycosides), gallotannin, d-catechin, eugeniin (tannins), benzoic acid, proteins and other constituents
- To extend this into the next category, we might be interested to look more deeply at the general function of glycosides and tannins, their function in the body and the families of things on the planet that either create or use them in high amounts. Of course this must all be evaluated symbolically.
- Herb-herb interaction? We might consider that Bai Shao is often paired with Gui Zhi, look into the chemical constituents of Gui Zhi and investigate, from a Western standpoint, what those interactions tend to produce.
- Herb-drug interaction? What drugs does Bai Shao resemble? What drugs does Bai Shao work poorly with? For instance, one is asked to have care when using Bai Shao for patients on anti-coagulants. What does this mean?
We could definitely find many clinical studies about Bai Shao and isolate what pharmacological effects allopathic medical researchers have found. A quick look tells me that some researchers have found that Bai Shao has:
- CNS suppressant, gastrointestinal, antibiotic, antipyretic, anti-inflammatory, anti-platelet and cardiovascula effects
Habitat and other botanical information
Bensky tells us that Bai Shao is Paeonia lactiflora with the bark removed and that Chi Shao is a wildcrafted version of the same species - with bark intact. It would be interesting to know more about this distinction and to understand whether this distinction held during the Han dynasty. Anyone with information to that effect?
It is native to a large part of the area from Tibet through China up to Russia. It enjoys a wide range of habitats and the entire plant can be used medicinally or as food. This may help us to understand its rather broad range of effects and its extensive use in the classics.
Chinese herbal category information, inclusion in formulas
- Wei/Flavor: Bitter and sour
- Qi/Temperature: Slightly cold/cool
- Channel affinity: Liver and Spleen
- Dosage: Typically 6-15 grams
A quick search at Rootdown.us shows us that Bai Shao is included in 48 formulas. As the formula database is not complete on that site (it’s growing every day!) I’m certain the number is much higher. We could look at the usage of Bai Shao in each of those formulas and come to some conclusions about what kinds of effects it has and use those findings to further dive into the symbolism associated with the herb.
Use of the herb through the history of Chinese medicine, inclusion in various Classical texts
How did Zhang Zhong Jing use Bai Shao? How is this different from the way later physicians used it? What is said about Bai Shao in the Shennong Ben Cao Jing? This entry is getting a bit too long already, so I won’t delve into these questions — but you can see how the information would be very useful in coming to a full understanding of Bai Shao.
Understanding some of the above information more symbolically
Just as a quick example take the broad habitat adaptation of Bai Shao. It’s a relatively easy plant to grow - and it grows quickly. The Earth seems to want to give it to us in abundance. An herb that adaptable has to be important for the basic physiology of the body - one might think. Perhaps it lends itself to a certain adaptability in us as well.
Various systems of differentiation
Again, to save time I will be very brief. One way to understand Bai Shao is that it backs Wood off of Earth. This doesn’t mean that Wood has to be very excessive. Earth merely needs to be a bit under the weather (so to speak) and the normal amount of Wood will be too much for it. This is part of the way we can come to understand Bai Shao’s use in Xiao Jian Zhong Tang. One symptom one might find in a XJZT syndrome is mild muscle cramping or mild abdominal cramping due to a weak Earth being unable to resist the basically “normal” Wood energy. Bai Shao mildly backs Wood off of Earth so it can recover.
Organ clock and other high level theoretical constructs
Bai Shao is basically a Wood herb. How can we use the symbolism behind the Wood organs - Liver and Gallbladder, to come to a fuller understanding of Bai Shao? We can consider, perhaps, the symbol of the Ox or the Wood constellations in Chinese astronomy. We could look at the clock pair of the Liver and try to uncover any mysteries there.
—
Ok, so this turned out a little longer than I expected. My gut level instinct is simply this. While I am not personally interested in going down every little rabbit hole that the current information culture serves up for me, I am certainly open to embracing a wide variety of information sources. I find that when I am able to see an herb (and by extension a formula) from many angles, my relationship with it deepens. I can only assume that this is molding me into a better clinician. I’d be very interested to hear anyone else’s thoughts on this topic in the comments. Go on - take a chance!
Eric
Tags: chinese-herb, chinese-herbs, formula-science, formulas, herbs, integrative-medicine, scholar, study-methods, studying, western researchRelated posts
Multi-disciplinary herbal study - Huang Qi
Last term at NCNM, the Classical Chinese Medicine students in my class took a course with Paul Kalnins, an anthroposophical researcher and natural medicine superstar, about the pharmacology of natural substances. We were asked to write a paper about a particular herb, bringing together Chinese and Western information about it. I asked my class if anyone would be interested in bringing their paper public, and one brave soul took me up on my offer - Danit Polunsky. Below find the results of her research - lightly modified from the original. It’s been a while since I’ve talked about a single herb, so I thought this would be welcomed. I’ll put my paper up next - on Wu Zhu Yu.
Huang Qi: Astragalus Propinquus - aka: Astragalus membranaceu
Kingdom: Plantae
Division: Magnoliophyta
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Fabales
Family: Fabaceae
Subfamily: Faboideae
Genus: Astragalus
Species: A propinquus
Botany:
Huang qi prefers sandy to loamy soil, which is well drained, or even dry. Huang qi likes soil that is neutral & alkaline, in a sunny location; it will not grow in the shade. Huang qi, Astragalus membranaceus, is an herbaceous perennial with a deep straight tapering taproot.
Each flower has five petals; the banner is large and envelopes the rest of the petals in a bud, often relaxing when the flower blooms. The two adjacent petals are the wings, surrounding the two bottom petals with claws one and a half times the length of the limb. The two bottom petals are fused together at the apex, remaining free at the base and forming a boat-like keel. Together the petals are whorled into a bell shape (calyx campanulate), 8 to 9 mm long, forming a tube 3 times longer than the linear subulate lobes. Each flower is hermaphroditic with 10 stamen, 9 fused and 1 free. They are pollinated by bees, moths and butterflies. Huang qi’s flowers turn into legumes that are 10 to 13 mm long, papery and glabrous. The seeds are dark brown, kidney shaped, and 7 to 8 mm long.
The taproot grows 30 to 100 cm long and 0.5 to 2 (rarely 2.5 ) cm in diameter. It is twisted near the crown, wider at the top, and generally stripped of secondary rootlets. The outer surface is light grayish-yellow to yellowish-beige with longitudinal wrinkles irregularly dispersed throughout horizontal lenticel-like patterns. A cross section of the top portion of root reveals 2 to 3 mm thick light yellowish-white outer cortex surrounding light yellow xylem that look like cracks in larger roots. The root has an overall fibrous texture, making it difficult to break, a slightly starchy aroma, and a starchy, mildly sweet slightly acrid, bean-like taste. Many of the Fabaceae host diazotrophs in their root nodules. Diazotrophs take nitrogen gas out of the air and convert it into a form of nitrogen that is usable to the plant, such as ammonia, nitrate, and nitrogen dioxide, in a process called Nitrogen fixation. Nitrogen fixation is important for replenishing the soil nutrients
Traditionally, the roots of 4 to 5 year old plants are collected in the spring or autumn; the autumn harvest is superior to the spring harvest. In the autumn the qi is descending and internalizing in preparation for winter, which is reflected in the qi of the root herb. The spring qi is emerging upward and outward, striving for growth and spreading from the root into the leaves. After gathering, the roots are cleaned and graded according to size. Some roots are dried whole, while others are cut and sliced. Most authorities report increased potency and increased root size from plants in the Shanxi Province and Mongolia in western northeast China. The Huang qi samples from Shanxi province and Mongolia show high astragaloside I and II concentrations in fingerprint analysis tests.2 Comparative chemical analyses of roots of varying age show that the isoflavone and astragloside concentrations, the constituents correlated with activity, decrease as the diameter of the roots increases. Increasing age also correlates to a decrease in concentration of most constituents.
High quality roots are dry, but still supple and resistant to snapping. The outer surface is relatively unwrinkled, with a floury texture and a solid deep yellow core — in contrast to material which is lacking a core or roots in which the core is black or pithy.
Western Perspectives on Huang Qi activity:
Huang Qi is known for three main groups of active constituents. Flavonoids and isoflavanoids, which give the root slice a yellow color, are metabolized on the Shikimate pathway. Flavonoids are generally known for anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidative effects which assist the body’s reaction to allergens, viruses, and carcinogens. It is believed that isofavanoid activity will help restore impaired immune systems. Saponins are common ingredients of Fabaceaea family members. Saponins are triterpenoids, formed through the mevalonic acid pathway. Saponins are common adaptogens, known to enliven blood circulation and resolve phlegm. Huang qi also has long-chain polysaccharides with potential medicinal benefit mediated by white blood cells.
The majority of Western research on Huang qi is focused on its immune stimulation activity and its ability to restore the activity of a suppressed immune system. In an epidemiological study in China, 1000 individuals were administered Huang qi orally or as a nasal spray to test its preventative effects in upper respiratory illnesses. The incidence of common colds decreased on the whole, and the duration of the colds contracted was shortened dramatically.
Huang qi’s remarkable ability to restore the functioning of a suppressed immune system has been labeled within Chinese medicine as fu zheng gu ben, “restore the correct and secure the root.” It is used to enhance non-specific immunity, protect adrenal cortical function during radiation and chemotherapy, and ameliorate bone marrow depression.4 Studies report general immune stimulation that include increased stem cell generation of blood cells and platelets, increased lymphocyte proliferation, increased numbers of antibody producing cells, increased numbers of spleen cells, stimulation of phagocytic activity by macrophages and leukocytes, and increased cytotoxicity by natural killer cells.
In the body, Astragalus increases the activities of Th-1 cytokines and decreases Th-2 cytokines. Th1 cytokines protect against intracellular pathogens like viruses and some bacteria, and are implicated in organ transplant rejection and miscarriage. By inhibiting the production of Th 2 cykotones, Huang qi inhibits the defense against extracellular pathogens, but may exacerbate allergies and asthma.5
In China, Huang Qi is used widely in treating cancer, both as a primary treatment and as an adjunct to chemical and radiation therapies. Most frequently Huang qi is combined with Chuan Xiong (lingusticum wallichii). In a number of randomized prospective clinical studies of cancer patients using a combination of Huang qi and Chuan Xiong, it was found that breast cancer patients given a combination of these herbs as an adjunct to irradiation treatments showed a decrease in deaths from 1 in 2, to 1 in 10. The exact formulas and ratios are not recorded, and in practice may vary due to individual constitution. In another study of patients with advanced non-small-cell lung cancer, the effectiveness of conventional chemotherapy was compared to the effectiveness of chemotherapy in conjunction with the Huang qi and Chuan Xiong formula. Patients with squamous carcinoma showed a significant increase in survival time averaging 204 to 465 days; patients with adenocarcinoma showed a less significant increase in survival from 192 to 324 days6.
Huang qi’s antioxidant activity has been studied in its benefit to the cardiovascular system and has shown improvement in clinical parameters associated with angina, congestive heart failure, and acute myocardial infarct. A number of isoflavonoids have been identified with free radical scavenging activity, and Huang qi’s polysaccharides also report prevention of free radical damage.
A Classical Chinese Medicine Perspective:
Huang Qi’s recorded use dates back to the first century AD in the Shennong Bencao Jing, the Divine Husbandman’s Classic of Materia Medica, in which Huang qi is classified as a “superior herb.” The superior herbs are “rulers…they control the maintenance of life and correspond to heaven. They do not have a markedly medicinal effectiveness. Taking [Huang qi] in large amounts or over a long period of time is not harmful to man. If one wishes to take the material weight from the body, to supplement the influences [circulating in the body], and to prolong the years of life without aging” these herbs should be used.1 Crude Huang qi extract tested on rats and mice confirm Huang qi’s safety - no toxic reactions or mutagenic effects occurred.
According to the Ben Cao Bei Yao, Essentials of Materia Medica “When used in harmonizing preparations, it tonifies and supplements; in sweating preparations it relieves the surface; in cooling preparations, it drains pathogenic heat; in moistening preparations, it nourishes the yin and blood.”
Wang Haogu, an herbalist of the Jin-Yuan reform period, maintains that “Huang qi replenishes the defensive and, therefore, is a medicinal for the exterior. It boosts the spleen and stomach and, therefore, is medicinal for the center. Since it is able to treat cold damage with the cubit pulse not arriving, it supplements the kidney origin and, hence, is medicinal for the internal.” Through this explanation, Huang qi is seen as a broadly useful tonic ingredient to include in prescriptions.10
Huang qi’s sweet flavor and slightly warm nature tonifies the Spleen, Lung, and Zheng qi. It aids in replenishing the blood, uplifting yang, securing the exterior and reinforcing wei qi. It promotes growth of new tissue, urination, and suppuration. It circulates qi, reducing edema, and it drains yin fire. 8
Huang qi strongly tonifies the yuan qi. It restores both of the Spleen’s major functions; transformation and transportaion of yang qi drawn from the food into circulation via the Spleen’s other function of building new blood. When qi is strong it can more effectively impel the circulation of blood, which in turn helps resolve disease. Strengthening qi to move blood indirectly eliminates blood stasis without injuring zheng qi, as applied in the Bu Yang Huan We Tang: Tonify Yang to Restore the Five Decoction. The chief herb is Huang qi at 120 g, while the supporting herbs are dosed at 3 to 6 g to give the blood an extra, gentle push. 11 It is also often used to assist in recovery after severe blood loss and to promote healing. It is especially helpful from its Lung affiliation in enhancing eliminative functions of skin, especially promoting healing or elimination of non-healing or non-festering chronic sores or ulcerations. 8
The five best know formulas utilizing Huang qi are
|
Formula name |
Uses |
Astragalus |
|
Buzhong Yiqi Tang |
Spleen/stomach deficiency with symptoms of fever, spontaneous sweating, shortness of breath, fatigue, organ prolapse. |
20 g |
|
Yiqi Congming Tang |
Qi deficiency and failing of yang to rise with symptoms of impairment of vision or hearing. |
15 g |
|
Guipi Tang |
Qi and blood deficiency with symptoms of anxiety, palpitation, insomnia, night sweating, fatigue, bleeding. |
30 g |
|
Shiquan Dabu Tang |
Qi, blood and yang deficiency with symptoms of fatigue, asthmatic breathing, bleeding |
15 g |
|
Yupingfeng San |
Qi deficiency with symptoms of spontaneous sweating and susceptibility to wind invasion. |
30 g |
|
Danggui Buxue Tang |
Generates blood in severely deficient patient, usually after excessive uterine bleeding |
30g 83% |
Resources:
1. Upton, Roy. Astragalus Root.American Herbal Pharmacopoeia and Therapeutic Compendium August 1999.
2. Wagner, Hildebert; Bauer, Rudolf; Peigen, Xiao; Jianming, Chen; Michler, Hans. Radix Astragali Chinese Drug Monographs and Analysis. Vol. 1, No. 8 1997
3. Chang HM, But PH. Pharmacology and Applications of Chinese Materia Medica vol. 2. Singapore World Sci.
4. Lau, BH; Ong, PY; Tosk, JM. Macrophage chemiluminescence modulated by Chinese medicinal herbs Astragalus membranaceus and Lingustrum lucidum. 1989.
5. Phaneuf, Holly. Herbs Demystified. Herbs Demystified, Marlow and Company, 2005.
6. Marazzoni, P; Bombardelli, E. Astragalus membranaceus (Fisch) Bunge. Scientific documentation 30 Mar 1994.
7. Wang, D; Shen, W; Tian, Y; Sun, Z; Yuan, S; Jiang, C. the effects of the three components isolated from Astragalus mongholicus Bunge on scavenging Free Radical. Zhongguo Yaolixue Tongbao. 1994.
8. Bensky, Dan; Gamble, Andrew. Chinese Herbal Medicine Materia Medica revised edition. Eastland Press, Seattle.1993.
9. Zhang, WD; Zhang, C; Liu, RH; Li, HL; Zhang, JT; Mao, C; Moran, S; Chen, CL. Preclinical pharmacokinetics and tissue distribution of a natural cardioprotective agent astragaloside IV in rats and dogs doi:10.1016/j.lfs.2006.02.032
10. Dharmananda, Subhuti PhD. ASTRAGALUS, Practical Aspects of Administering the Herb. Institute for Traditional Medicine, Portland, Oregon http://www.itmonline.org/arts/astragalus.htm
11. Bensky, Dan; Barlet, Randall; Formulas and Strategies. Eastland Press, Seattle 1990.
Tags: Character, chinese-herb, chinese-herbs, chinese-medicine-research, guest-post, herbs, huang qi, pharmacology, western-scienceRelated posts
Why should Chinese medicine students learn Western science?
I don’t have the answer to that question. But, I’ll do my best. To be honest, studying Western science can be pretty interesting. As an intellectual exercise, nothing beats having to go from learning to read and translate passages of the Shang Han Lun to attempting to comprehend the importance of Th1 and Th2 responses in the body. It’s… rigorous, to be sure. As the second part of my “term in review” series, I’d like to briefly discuss my Immunology class (Fall term 2007) with Dr. Heather Zwickey.
As part of our Classical Chinese Medicine curriculum at NCNM, we learn a variety of Western subjects. We learn anatomy, physiology and biochemistry first. We move on to learn some Western pathology, Western oriented CPD (clinical physical diagnosis) and most recently, immunology. We will also learn pharmacology, microbiology and a Western approach to public health. Our professors attempt, with varying degrees of success, to integrate these subjects with the insights we are collecting in the Chinese medicine oriented majority of the curriculum. Their efforts are greatly appreciated, but the fact of the matter is that we are still doing a lot of memorizing and seeking to understand information within the materialist scientific framework. Why should we learn about this stuff as students of Classical Chinese Medicine?
First, maybe I should answer the question, “Why shouldn’t we?” Well, first - It’s outside the LAc (licensed acupuncturist) scope of practice for the most part. We’re not able to make, or even confirm or question, Western diagnoses. So while we can receive information that a person has been diagnosed with fibromyalgia, we are not supposed to suggest that fibromyalgia might or might not be an appropriate classification for a patient’s symptoms. Further, very difficult (if not impossible) to make particularly good predictions about Chinese medicine diagnoses based on a Western disease name. Thus, for the average Chinese medicine school graduate, Western medical information isn’t going to be particularly helpful in Chinese medicine diagnosis and treatment. So, why? Why do we have to learn this?
Despite my well-documented resistance to accepting these courses as a valid part of Chinese medicine education, I can think of a few benefits:
1. The ability to recognize emergency situations that would be better handled by the facilities and expertise of Western urgent care and emergency room physicians.
2. The ability to understand potentially life threatening herbal interactions with medications and patient conditions.
3. The opportunity to make attempts at finding correspondences between Western and Chinese concepts, thus potentially building bridges between these disciplines. Without having some basis in the Western sciences, moving toward this kind of understanding is impossible.
4. The ability to carry on basic conversations with Western practitioners about a patient’s symptoms, disease categorization, lab results and pharmaceutical intervention. This could increase the possibility for cross referrals, as people tend to trust people who “speak their language.”
Despite these potential benefits, I think that this part of the education should be kept to a bare minimum. If particular students are very interested in the Western medicine aspect of things, there are plenty of educational opportunities for them outside of our Chinese medicine schools. In our case at NCNM, interested students are fortunate to have the ND (Naturopathic) students and faculty in the same institution. This is helpful because NDs are required to be far more conversant in contemporary Western medical science.
All of this aside, Immunology with Dr. Zwickey was a great experience. As a researcher, teacher, natural medicine enthusiast and medical philosopher she is a dynamo, make no mistake. Dr. Zwickey is the director of the Helfgott Research Institute, an incredible resource for the natural medicine community and recipient of grant monies from a variety of prestigious sources. She infects (no pun intended) everyone around her with a love for research, for the general spirit of open inquiry. She is able to break very complicated biochemical processes down into simple language that anyone can understand. She’s also one of the kindest and most genuine people I have ever met. Because of these and other admirable personal characteristics of Dr. Z, the course was engaging and tricked me into spending countless hours trying to understand the particulars of immunological reactions and interactions.
I am interested to hear from you, kind readers, about any insights you have obtained in Chinese medicine by deeply studying Western medical science. Do you feel that studying Western medicine has greatly enriched you as a scholar and/or practitioner of Chinese medicine? Please let us know in the comments.
Eric
PS: Because I am doing a somewhat “lighter” version of my January commitment in the Year of Sagely Living until school starts, I will not do a real update until a few more days have gone by. More frequent updates will occur after January 7, as I discussed before. Thanks!
Tags: Character, curriculum, education, heather zwickey, helfgott research institute, immunology, Learning, ncnm, studying, western-scienceRelated posts
Integrative medicine: What is the purpose of two kinds of medicine interpenetrating?
At NCNM, we learn Western medicine as part of our Classical Chinese Medicine education. Part of that is simply because a working knowledge of biomedicine is necessary for licensure. Part of it is because it’s good to be able to talk to Western physicians and Western educated patients about things that they can easily understand. Part of it, for some people, is more than that. Our Western classes are, for the most part, taught by Naturopaths. These are folks who are already in deep dialogue with contemporary Western medicine since they represent both its past and its future. So it is natural for them to try to help us see how Chinese medicine and Western medicine theory can come into conversation.
This has been the effort of integrators in Chinese medicine for a long time. A slapdash and ill-informed effort to accelerate the conversation resulted in TCM, narrowly defined. The idea is interesting, truly. In theory, we are all talking about the same thing just emphasizing different portions and using different language. In the West, I think we are particularly interested in explaining Chinese medicine concepts through our own language because we seem to have such a hard time understanding other people’s languages. Materialism and dualism are powerful mind altering substances, to be sure - they make the mind cloudy.
But what, really, is the potential benefit of describing Chinese medicine concepts in Western medicine terms - and vice versa? What could be gained by melding these two medicines together? I already know the dangers. The most persistent danger and the one that has been most roundly realized is the possibility that Western medicine will come to dominate the relationship. In this way, Chinese medical professionals will be mandated to learn well everything in Western medicine - Chinese medical research will be required to meet Western standards. The parts of Chinese medical theory and practice that don’t fit easily into a Western context will be discarded. The reverse will not be true. Or, at least, it hasn’t been.
So what is to be gained by this relationship and how can we avoid, or counteract, the negative forces inherent in it? I’d love to hear your thoughts. I am well aware that there are examples of good interactions between the two medicines and I’d like to hear your stories concerning them.
Eric
Tags: chinese-medicine, integrative-medicine, Theory, traditional-chinese-medicine, western-science
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