Anyone considering an alternative treatment for their health problems should read this article "Should you try acupuncture? from the Huffington Post. It explains what acupuncture is, addresses insurance concerns, and says that the new medical model of integrative medicine in patient centered and embraces any and all effective solutions to patient's health problems.
"According to the TCM view, a vital energy called qi flows through the body along channels called meridians. I like to think of these channels as a sprinkling system for the body, bringing qi to vital organs and extremities in much the way hoses bring water to your garden. In the TCM model of health and disease, when qi flow is blocked it stagnates. Stagnating qi causes illness. Acupuncture therapy unblocks the qi flow, strengthens or weakens the qi (think opening and closing the garden spigot) and directs it to areas of need.
A holistic practice, acupuncture seeks to re-establish the body's healthy equilibrium and function, as opposed to forcing healing using surgery or pharmaceuticals. Interestingly, Chinese practitioners were not the only (and may not have been the first) to identify these energy pathways in the body. The frozen body of a man recovered well-preserved from the Alps features tattoos that correspond to Chinese acupuncture's qi meridians."
"Some folks, including older Western M.D.s, still talk about whether or not they "believe" in acupuncture. Such thinking is ill-informed and outdated. One might as well speculate about whether to believe in aspirin, morphine, insulin, surgery or an MRI. The question is not whether acupuncture works, but how it works, and whether it is the appropriate therapy for a particular syndrome, problem, symptom, disease or patient. In a clinical setting and performed by a licensed professional (licensure is by state) acupuncture is effective for a variety of complaints."
Online English-Language Resource Designed Specifically
for Chinese Students
Beijing, China (January 6, 2010) --
Educational Testing Service (ETS) has launched a new Chinese-language version of the TOEFL® Go Anywhere website to assist students in preparing for the TOEFL® test, the most widely accepted English-language assessment worldwide. The newly released TOEFL Go Anywhere website, available at www.toeflgoanywhere.org/cn, presents an informative overview of the TOEFL test, valuable test preparation tips, and user-friendly academic tools for students.
Created specifically for Chinese students, the interactive portal serves as an effective planning tool and comprehensive resource to address frequently asked questions regarding the TOEFL test. Through the site's multimedia platforms, students also have the opportunity to learn best practices and study tips from English-language teachers and international students around the world.
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The Online Community for Traditional Chinese Medicine - Rootdown.us
Are you a professional acupuncturist, herbalist, or TCM Student? Sign up for a free account and connect with the Rootdown community. Meet other pros and students, submit articles and information, vote on submissions, take practice tests, and earn credits toward TCM certification. Grow with .US!
http://www.rootdown.us/
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Our mission is to expand the knowledge, understanding and accessibility of TCM by providing a globally accessible venue for interactive learning and the communal exchange of ideas.
At Rootdown.us we want YOU - the TCM community - to complement and expand on what you find here. We encourage you to add ideas, your first-hand experiences and new information to make Rootdown.us a living, dynamic, and interactive reflection of YOU and YOUR knowledge and contributions."
Diabetes was discussed in all the earliest ancient TCM tests, including Neijing. According to TCM overconsumption of fatty and greasy food, sweets, emotional disturbances, and a constitution that is too yin is related to developing diabetes. Clinton Choate then analyzes diabetes according to TCM theory, explains treatment according to the Three Burners, giving acupuncture protocol. He explains diabetic complications according to TCM including cataracts and night blindness, edema, skin infectins, neuropathy and strokes. He describes food remedies for diabetes.
This article is helpful to anyone suffering from diabetes who wants to understand it better, and helpful forTCM practitioners.
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I believe that in hard times, it has always been the way of people to
invest and enrich their lives.
We have done this in days gone by, by
investing in building some of the wonders of the world, as well as some
of the wonders of our local areas. Recessions are times of building and creating, so that at the next boom
time we have resources that we can rely on. The Database has been busy creating not only finished material, but
has also been busy sourcing and prepping Chinese texts for future use.
Without the support of our community, we would not be able to create and
build this gargantuan project.
What is available on the Database?
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Current Translated Texts
are:
Shāng Hán Lái Sū Jí 傷寒來蘇集: Renewal of Treatise on Cold
Damage
Qí
Jīng Bā Mài Kǎo 奇經八脈考:
Explanation of the Eight Vessels of the Marvellous Meridians
Shāng
Hán Míng Lǐ Lùn 傷寒明理論:
Treatise on Enlightening the Principles of Cold Damage.
Wú
Jū Tōng Yī àn 吴鞠通医案:
Case Studies of Wú Jū-tōng
The
Nán Jīng 難經:
The Classic of Difficulties -- Difficulties 1-17
The
Zang Fu Biao Ben Han Re Xu Shi Yong Yao Shi 臟腑標本寒熱虛實用
藥式: Viscera and Bowels, Tip and Root, Cold and Heat,
Vacuity and Repletion Model for Using Medicinals
Bèi
Jí Qiān Jīn Yào Fāng 備急千金要方: Essential Prescriptions Worth a Thousand Gold Pieces
For Emergencies. vol. 2
Bèi
Jí Qiān Jīn Yào Fāng 備急千金要方: Essential Prescriptions Worth a Thousand Gold Pieces
For Emergencies. vol. 3
Bèi
Jí Qiān Jīn Yào Fāng 備急千金要方: Essential Prescriptions Worth a Thousand Gold Pieces
For Emergencies. -- vol. 4
Wēn
Rè Lún 温熱論:
Treatise on Warm Heat Disease
Shāng
Hán Shé Jiàn 傷寒舌鑒:
Tongue Mirror of Cold Damage
Xǔ
Shì Yī àn 許氏醫案:
Case Histories of Master Xu
Fǔ
Xìng Jué Zāng Fǔ Yòng Yào Fǎ Yào 輔行決贓腑用藥法要: Secret Instructions for Assisting the Body:
Essential Methods for the Application of Drugs to the Viscera & Bowels
Biāo
Yōu Fù (annotation) 標幽賦（楊氏註解）:
Indicating the Obscure
Liú
Juān Zǐ Guǐ Yí Fāng 劉涓子鬼遺方:
Liu Juanzi's Formulas Inherited from Ghosts
Shèn
Jí Chú Yán 慎疾芻言:
Precautions in Illness: My Humble Thoughts: Essays "
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Those coping with cancer and other forms of disease often
look to acupuncture and other alternative therapies to provide relief for pain,
stress and anxiety. Practiced as early as the Stone Age, acupuncture has been a
source of relief for numerous conditions for thousands of years. The exact way the
technique was discovered or developed is not well-understood, but one legend
claims that Chinese soldiers receiving arrow wounds in battle reported relief
from pain in other body parts, which inspired further research.
Acupuncture
The National Cancer Institute (NCI) defines acupuncture as
the "application of stimulation such as needling, moxibustion, cupping, and
acupressure on specific sites of the body known as acupuncture points." They
report that acupuncture may work by inducing physical response in nerve cells,
the pituitary gland and certain parts of the brain.
Some notable conditions that acupuncture has been known to
treat include allergies, gastrointestinal conditions, back pain, migraines and
infertility. Some proponents of modern Western medicine continue to doubt the
effects of acupuncture, but a growing body of scientific evidence has prompted
many medical professionals to consider the benefits of this treatment.
The World Health Organization (WHO) published a scientific
review of controlled clinical trials on acupuncture in 2003, and concluded it
was an effective method of treatment for 28 conditions. Some of the listed
conditions include adverse reactions to radiotherapy or chemotherapy,
depression, hypertension, nausea and vomiting, and postoperative pain. They
also found evidence that suggests acupuncture could be effective for several
dozen more conditions, including abdominal pain, cancer pain, insomnia and
whooping cough. Due to the relief of symptoms associated with cancer, breast,
colon and mesothelioma cancer patients,
among others, have turned to acupuncture for relief of their cancer symptoms
and side effects.
Acupuncture and
Cancer
Acupuncture can be used as an additional and complimentary
treatment for the side effects that cancer patients experience, such as overall
pain and nausea (caused by other cancer treatments like chemotherapy). NCI
reports that clinical studies of acupuncture as a treatment for cancer show
that acupuncture can reduce vomiting and nausea caused by chemotherapy. They
also found that acupuncture may improve the immune system, helping cancer
patients to fight their condition and its side effects.
The physical responses acupuncture can induce in nerve
cells, the pituitary gland and parts of the brain can cause the body to release
hormones, proteins and certain brain chemicals that affect a range of bodily
functions. Through this response, it is proposed that acupuncture can affect
blood pressure and body temperature, enhance immune system function, and
prompts the body to release natural pain killers (such as endorphins).
Considered a natural form of treatment, acupuncture can help
to treat side effects of cancers that are caused by exposure to natural,
environmental forces, such as UV rays, radon or the toxic mineral asbestos.
Clinical research currently suggests that a number of cancers are caused by
exposure to environmental forces in those who happen to be genetically
predisposed. A notable example includes skin cancer, but other lesser-known
cancers, including the rare cancer mesothelioma, are also caused by exposure to
environmental toxins. Asbestos exposure is one of the only mesothelioma causes and it is
even linked to ovarian and prostate cancer. Patients coping with the symptoms
and side effects of these cancers have reported relief after receiving
acupuncture.
Though the benefits of acupuncture are still questioned by
some medical professionals, numerous cancer patients have attested to the
healing effects of this age-old treatment approach. Acupuncture, along with
other forms of alternative medicine such as massage, meditation and yoga, have
certainly gained support from countless cancer patients, and clinical trials
continue to provide scientific evidence of the benefits of this treatment.
TCM Student provides reference tables for acupuncture students. See Acupoint Tables, Ear Acupupoint Chart, Extra Vessel Patterns, Flow of Qi in Meridians, Ghost Points, Pulse Qualities Charts and sample TCM theory exams.
I found an article in the Meet the Herbs section of Everydayhealthtcm blog about making a summer drink from corn silk. It looked delicious, but I decided to try it before posting about it. It was delicious, like drinking a fresh ear of corn.
"According to Bensky's Materia Medica,
Yu Mi Xu promotes urination, reduces edema, and unblocks painful
urination. It also clears damp heat from the Liver and Gallbladder in
connection with hepatitis, cholecystitis, or gallstones."
I did as they suggested, putting the light golden raw cornsilk into a jug overnight. It turned pale yellow color. My ankles swell a little in the summer, so I think I will drink more and see if it does reduce edema.
As a soothing diuretic, Corn Silk is helpful in any irritation of the
urinary system. It is used for renal problems in children and as a
urinary demulcent combined with other herbs in the treatment of
cystitis, urethritis, prostatitis and the like.
Contemporary herbalists recommend corn Silk for the following conditions:
catarrhal cystitis,
lithaemia (stones),
bladder irritation,
gonorrhoea,
all catarrhal conditions of the urinary passages,
dropsies due to heart disease, and
edema.
The
stigmas should be collected just before pollination occurs, the timing
depends upon climate. It is best used fresh as some of the activity is
lost with time.
Infusion: pour a cup of boiling water onto 2 teaspoonfuls of the dried herb and leave to infuse for
10-15 minutes. This should be drunk three times a day.
Tincture: take 3-6 ml of the tincture three times a day.
A Remedy for Bedwetting
Methods of stopping this bedwetting (enuresis) include having the child exercise
during the day, drink fewer beverages in the evening, and drink a cup
of cornsilk tea one hour before bedtime. Cornsilk could be the only
ingredient in the tea. However, cornsilk can be part of an herbal
combination if bedwetting is caused by lack of nervous control of the bladder. It is also a remedy for urinary
conditions experienced by the elderly. http://www.answers.com/topic/cornsilk
Are you new to acupuncture? Do you know what to expect with your first acupuncture treatment? NCCAM, part of NIH, introduces you to acupuncture in this article.
"Acupuncture is among the oldest healing practices in the world. As part of
traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), acupuncture aims to restore and maintain
health through the stimulation of specific points on the body. In the United
States, where practitioners incorporate healing traditions from China, Japan,
Korea, and other countries, acupuncture is considered part of complementary
and alternative medicine (CAM)."
Rootdown is a new online community for TCM practitioners and students; there is a database of herbs, case studies, formulas, and you can create your profile. They said it was like a Facebook for TCM practitioners and students.
"Rootdown.us is a comprehensive online resource and forum for current
and aspiring practitioners of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). Our
goal is to provide the TCM community with a forum that provides a
living, searchable and free resource for students, teachers, and
practitioners.
Our mission is to expand the knowledge, understanding and accessibility
of TCM by providing a globally accessible venue for interactive
learning and the communal exchange of ideas."
According to 
