Making a Chinese diagnose in my practice
Before being able to effectively treat and cure illnesses and complaints an extensive diagnosis is necessary. For this my practice uses its knowledge of both Western and traditional Chinese medicine.
Methods from the West and East
Every cycle of therapy starts with a questionnaire and a detailed anamnesis (a patient’s history). You will be asked questions about your current complaints, previous illnesses, laboratory results, x-rays and other health issues. As a specialist doctor for internal medicine with longstanding clinical experience I know that Western medicine plays an important part in your health during the preliminary examination.
One part of the questionnaire also regards your well-being, temperature behavior, individual circumstances as well as your diet. These questions in particular are based on the traditional Chinese diagnostics. Your answers will enable me to form an opinion of you as an individual not only your symptoms. After this I will assess the condition of your pulse and tongue and then make a diagnosis, by means of the Chinese channels, which will give details for the best form of therapy for you.
Diagnoses from the pulses
The pulses taken from the wrist is like a mirror who shows our actual Qi energy.
Is the Qi in balance or is it unstable ? How is the the rhythm, strength and volume of our pulse? Is there an influence on our body or spirit? To all this questions the experienced doctor tries to put his attention on the beginning of each session.
Imagine your pulses as an exciting book! The depth of the pulse represents the letters, the pulse height the punctation mark and the 12 meridians with the Qi are the pages of the book.If you start reading and turning over you will understand the story thats going on.
It takes a lot of time, concentration, sensibility and attention learn the ABC of the pulses and an experienced master is the key of success.Who learns and understands the meaning of the pulses right, get to know a lot about the patient and his problems.
Diagnosi of the tongue
The second typical and important examination in TCM is the interpretation of the tongue.
Looking for the color and shape of the tongue body, the tongue coating and other parameters tell us something about the inner disharmony and discomfort of the patient.
How does traditional Chinese medicine help?
Chinese medicine is a theory that regards body and soul as one. It eases physical as well as psychological complaints. The main idea is that it will not only treat the patients’ illnesses and symptoms but also acknowledge one’s special needs that taking one’s life style into consideration.
Acupuncture is recognized internationally and effectively relieves the following illnesses and complaints:
Muscles and joints
Acute and chronic back pains (CS-, TS-, LS-Syndrome), chronic joint pains (e.g. shoulder, knee, hip, elbow), arthritis, rheumatism, heel spur and lumbago.
Digestion and internal organs
Stomach pains, constipation, indigestion, diarrhea, food allergies, Crohn's disease, colitis, heartburn and reflux disorders.
Mind and nerves
Headaches and migraines, stress, insomnia, stroke rehabilitation, multiple sclerosis, intense face pains (trigeminal neuralgia), Parkinson’s disease, bulimia, tinnitus, carpal tunnel syndrome, depression and anxiety.
Respiratory tracts and eyes
Hay fever, allergies, asthma, colds, chronic bronchitis, failing eyesight, cataracts, glaucoma, ear infection (otitis) and sinusitis
Women and birth (gynecology)
Premenstrual Syndrome (PSM), period pains and disorders, breast tenderness, fertility disorders, preparation for and ease of birth, menopausal complaints and loss of libido.
Heart and circulation
High blood pressure (hypertension), circulatory problems and deviation of heart rhythm
Chinese medicine and acupuncture is also used for treating chronic tiredness, incontinence and irritable bladder syndrome, for potency dysfunctions, vertigo, addictions and sleeplessness. It is also used parallel to cancer therapy and for other areas.
This is not a complete list. When in doubt if traditional Chinese medicine is able to treat your complaints, I am at your disposal for advice over the telephone at any time.
More information on specific conditions:
Stress
The term stress is essentially used too frequently. Fact is that the pace of life is becoming faster and balancing one’s work with one’s private life is becoming more difficult. Of course stress is not the cause for all complaints but in many cases it is able to make problems seem more complicated. Those who are constantly stressed may suffer from e.g. anxiety, migraine, depression, breathing difficulties, heart trouble and insomnia or feeling continuously overtaxed.
How can traditional medicine help in this case?
TCM recognizes the causes and effects of stress and due to a detailed Chinese diagnosis can treats them specifically.
In doing so, importance is attached to two things: On one hand the general constitution is strengthened so that in future you will be able to manage stress, on the other hand the immediate effects of stress are treated.
Which TCM-therapy works best?
Acupuncture particularly can support relaxation and well-being. A thought out therapy generally leads to a significant improvement of all indications of stress.
Furthermore, if you want to assist your bodys self regulation and influence it’s QI, I advise learning Qi-Gong exercises from a well trained teacher.
What is the duration of therapy?
Acute stress can be successfully treated in just a few sessions. However, chronic stress can only be resolved by longer treatment.
Migraine
Migraine is more than an average headache. It is a permanent agony that can detrimentally affect the victims as well as their family’s quality of life. Some migraine attacks can weaken patients to such an extent that they are incapacitated for several days.
Research assumes that people with a very sensitive central nerve system suffer from migraines which are then intensified by stress, noise and the wrong diet. Rather than extremely bad headaches, migraine has symptoms like nausea, vomiting or sensitivity from external stimuli (for example bright light, loud noises, strong smells). Mostly women suffer from migraine, though men can also be affected by these headaches.
Painkilling medicine can generally provide quick relief. The effect, however, is not of long duration and in some cases may even be totally ineffective. Acupuncture offers a gentle method of treating migraine powerfully and without side effects.
How can acupuncture help?
According to traditional Chinese medicine all pains, including migraines, are caused by blockages in the meridians. Acupuncture therapy supports the QI’s energy flow and eliminates the blockages to ease or completely remove the developed symptoms.
How long does therapy last?
Many patients that constantly suffer from migraine try numerous methods of Western orthodox medicine before getting to know and appreciating acupuncture. Some patients can be helped in just a few sessions, whereas others require a more thorough treatment before showing a significant improvement.
Allergy and hay fever
More and more people suffer from allergies. These are caused by a list of stimuli for example pollen, house-dust mites, animal hair, everyday diet or specific chemicals. The symptoms are just as numerous: Intolerance, stinging eyes, asthma, itching, runny or blocked nose and many more.
Chinese doctors do not try and blame pollen and co. for their patient’s complaints. They rather perceive unfavorable influences such as wind, cold and heat as the allergy trigger. These enter the body and unbalance the Qi which can be restored by a suitable TCM treatment.
How can traditional Chinese medicine help?
Despite the variety of complaints TCM can do a lot of good especially in allergy treatment. Chinas’ doctors understood early on which measures can be used against the causes of allergy and at the same time strengthen the immune system.
In an allergy treatment the whole palette of traditional methods of treatment can lead to very good results.
That way for example acupuncture together with Chinese herbalism works well for hay fever and asthma. For dietary allergies and the frequently occurring food intolerances acupuncture together with Chinese dietetics will provide achievements.
Premenstrual Syndrome (PMS)
Premenstrual Syndrome (PMS) mostly takes place two weeks before regular menstruation with women between the age of 30 and 40. It is often accompanied by intense mood changes and normally ends at the beginning of the period.
Until this day modern research has not been able to determine all causes of PMS. It is suspected that the hormonal balance is disturbed in which a low level of progesterone and a high level of other hormones lead to a buildup of water and the PMS-typical feeling of being bloated. Another explanation is based upon the wrong diet and lack of vitamin B and magnesium.
Which are the most common symptoms of PMS?
A long list of symptoms is classified as belonging to PMS. Most of these begin one to two weeks before the next period and present themselves as unpleasant feelings of fullness, weight gain, an uncomfortable feeling in the breast and stomach area, irritability, tension, tiredness and concentration problems.
How can Chinese medicine help with this?
Menstruation is a normal and natural process for women before the menopause. Many women believe PMS is normal and that nothing can be done against these complaints. Thankfully this is a mistake and symptoms can easily be treated.
In traditional Chinese medicine most of these signs are understood as blockages of the lifeline Qi. Acupuncture and Chinese herbalism restore the flow of energy making the complaints subside.
Back pain
Traditional Chinese medicine has an extensive knowledge of back und hip pain and therefore classifies these as different patterns of pain depending on the diagnosis. These patterns are very diverse and have to be treated accordingly.
How can Chinese medicine help with this?
Acupuncture and the Tunia-massage are both very well suited to treating back pain quickly and without side effects. Both of these methods are applied, among other things, for damaged posture as well as acute or chronic back pain, or back pain due to pregnancy.
Digestion problems
Many types of digestion problems can be treated with traditional Chinese medicine. These are two examples that my practice frequently deals with:
Diarrhea, for example, is a very unpleasant and often painful illness that should not be played down. Here, stools can take a soft or rather watery form partly enriched with mucous membrane, blood or undigested food.
When treating constipation, everyone knows numerous, partly incorrect theories on what a “normally functioning digestion” should be. Ideally every healthy person should go to the toilet once or twice a day at the most and have a well formed stool. If the stool is very firm, infrequent and even painful, this is generally known as constipation.
How can traditional Chinese medicine help with this?
Chinese medicine is familiar with four main reasons that cause indigestion which have to be carefully differentiated and worked out when diagnosing.
The main questions of an examination are if your complaints are about “a disturbance of fullness or emptiness” or rather if your indigestion is suffering from too much “heat” or too much “cold”.
Incontinence and Urethral syndrome
Urological complaints by a man can often lead back to the prostate or by a woman to the bladder or the pelvic floor. It is not uncommon that these types of problems (e.g. bladder weakness) develop in old age.
How can traditional Chinese medicine help with this?
Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) sorts the different symptoms of different bladder problems into a clearly separated illness pattern. This is why some symptoms are caused by say bladder or kidney weakness and others by too much heat or cold inside the body.
Which TCM-therapy works best?
Many urological complaints can be treated with acupuncture after a TCM-diagnosis but may have to be supplemented with a Chinese medicinal therapy.
Ear complaints (e.g. tinnitus)
Ear complaints include deafness, ear noise (tinnitus), ear ache, acute hearing loss, vertigo and other illnesses. All these problems can be acute or could be a chronic development.
How can traditional Chinese medicine help here?
Ear complaints usually occur during colds, when certain organs are affected or in general if the energy of the Qi cannot flow freely. The signs and symptoms of your complaints can be examined and exactly diagnosed with a TCM diagnosis.
Which TCM-therapy works best?
Acupuncture helps many acute ear-ache complaints, and long-term problems can be supplemented by a Chinese medicinal therapy.
If your ear-ache complaints have occurred acutely in the present then I would advise you to go to your local Ear Nose Throat doctor at the same time.