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Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has thousands years history. It has unique basic theories and diagnostic methods. It is a very effective therapy in treating many chronic diseases and some acute diseases. If you are interested in TCM, welcome to pop in to this TCM forum, let's discuss on any topic about Chinese herbal medicine and acupuncture. You are welcome to visit my clinic at Hanover square London. W1S 1BN

Sunday 18 November 2012

Acupuncture Pain Clinic in Whittington Hospital

Tiejun Tang

Acupuncture pain clinic in Whittington hospital was established in 2002, just one year after Asante Academy funded. This year is its ten years anniversary. At beginning it opened 2 half days per week, and gradually developed to 4 half days every week. Many current and former Asante staffs used worked in Whittington hospital. I covered one half day weekly since 2005. I am the only person which worked in this pain clinic more than 7 years. I should have something to sum up.

Currently, we provided about 2000 acupuncture treatment every year in this pain clinic. The total number of the treatment in the past 10 years should be about 15,000.

The patients suffered from different kinds of pain. The western medicine diagnosis including: chronic and acute lower back pain, sciatica, arthritis, tennis elbow, frozen shoulder, carpal tunnel syndrome, migraine, trigeminal neuralgia, endometriosis, fibromyalgia, and pain after surgical operation etc. All the patients were referred through their GP. Most of them had got a clear diagnosis through blood test and CT or MR scan. Many of them have taken pain killers for a long time.

We applied acupuncture in every patient and plus cupping in some severe cases. Most of patients have got some improve after 5-10 sessions. In some cases, they have got a significant improvement.

Why acupuncture can release pain? Traditional Chinese medicine theory believes the pain is caused by obstruction of meridians. “There is a blockage there is a pain”. The reason of the obstruction can be different in individual cases. Qi stagnation, blood stasis, pathological cold and phlegm are the common reasons. Acupuncture can regulate the function of Zang-Fu organs, balance Yin & Yang, regulate the circulation of qi and blood and dredge the meridians. “When the obstruction is removed the pain will be subsided.”

About the mechanism of acupuncture release pain, many modern researches have been done. In 1980 there was a report from St. Bartholomew's Hospital of London. The author use Low-frequency electroacupuncture to treat patients with pain. After electroacupuncture the β-endorphin levels in cerebrospinal fluid were rose significantly in all subjects. A recent study showed after electrical acupuncture stimulation at Hegu (LI4), it will cause simultaneously response at blood oxygenation level dependent (BOLD) and cerebral blood flow (CBF).

Except pain clinic we also have cooperation with labour ward of Whittington hospital. We use acupuncture to release the pain before and during the labour. In recent years Asante had opened two more pain clinics in North Middlesex Hospital and Royal Free Hospital. I am sure in the future more and more patients will have chance to get acupuncture service in NHS hospitals.

Reference:
Vicky Clement-Jones(1980). Increased β-endorphin but not met-enkephalin levels in human cerebrospinal fluid after acupuncture for recurrent pain. The Lancet, 316(8201): 931-988.

Yue Zhang (2012). Simultaneous CBF and BOLD mapping of high frequency acupuncture induced brain activity. Neuroscience Letters. 531(1): 1-62.

Sunday 14 October 2012

Get to know TCM research update online


Tiejun Tang     

If you are a student of TCM or acupuncture, this link will be useful to your study.
If you are a practitioner, this link will be helpful to your practice.
If you are a patient who is doubtful about TCM, this link may be able to give you a new opinion about acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine.
As a research executive of ATCM, I edit research updates for our members. Many of our members may think that they are just practitioners and are not interested in research work. This should not be the case. As a practitioner, you all hope to be able to help as many patients as possible. When we tell our patients verbally how effective TCM and acupuncture treatment is, not all patients will believe it straight away. In fact, many of them would like to know evidence as to why and how it works. Maybe some of our members are too busy to have time to research on this information, now ATCM provide research information on a regular interval.

May I suggest every ATCM member to disseminate this information to 10 patients each month. We have over 700 members, in this way, within a year there will be over 80,000 people who can get to know about TCM as a scientific based medicine. This will create a strong voice in the public, strong enough to be heard by the government, by the Department of Health, by the decision makers of statutory regulation. In this way every ATCM member will be able to gives their contribution to statutory regulation of TCM in UK.

TCM education is facing a set back recently. Some universities have even ceased their TCM programme and some are considering it. Universities have heard too much negative aspects from some western medicine scientists. They consider TCM being not an evidence-based medicine and that it should be eliminated from higher education in the UK.

Our research updates will be a positive approach to convince the public of the efficacy of TCM. And such information will need your help to be circulated to your patients and your friends. Let's work together to set up a good impression of TCM to the public.

Sunday 17 June 2012

How to treat urinary tract infection with Chinese herbal medicine?

Tiejun Tang
Urinary tract infection (UTI) is a very common disease. It might occur in any age groups. It is more common in women than in men - it's estimated that half of all women in the UK will have a UTI at least once in their life and one out of every 2,000 healthy men will develop one each year.

If you’ve got urgent frequent urination and pain or a burning sensation when urinating, you might have UTI. A urine sample test can diagnose this disease easily.

Most of UTI are easy to treat if the patients have a good reaction to antibiotic. Many acute UTI can be cured in couple of days. But in some cases, the antibiotic seems no effect or less effect when you use it at second time. Why antibiotic doesn’t work? That is because the pathogenic bacteria can be different in different patient, or even the same patient’s different infection. Usually antibiotic only target on a certain bacteria, if the antibiotic doesn’t match the bacteria, it will no effect. The other reason is bacteria get resistance to antibiotic. In this condition acute UTI will change to chronic one. Mild urethritis might develop into cystitis or even pyelonephritis. What can you do when you facing this situation? Traditional Chinese medicine can help you to get rid of UTI.

Chinese medicine believes the symptoms of UTI are due to bladder damp-heat. Many herbs have a good function to expel dampness and clean away the heat from bladder. When antibiotic doesn’t work on UTI, Chinese herbal medicine often reveals a good effect. To release bladder damp-heat, Bazheng San is the first choice. This traditional formula was original recorded in He Ji Ju Fang -- an authorized pharmacopoeia of Song Dynasty (1151 A.D.) The original formula of Bazheng San contained nine ingredients: Cheqianzi, Jumai, Bianxu, Huashi, Zhizi, Gancao, Mutong, Dahuang and Dengxincao. In this formula Mutong should be removed because it might cause kidney function damage. Tongcao can be selected as an alternative. Huashi is a mineral, it should be removed if there is a legal limitation in some countries. Pugongying and Diding can be added if more white blood cell in the urine. Daji, Xiaoji and Baimaogeng can be added if more red blood cell in the urine or hematuria. According to patients individual constitution more modification on the ingredients and dosage should be done about this formula.

Chinese herbal medicines have a multiple target effect on many bacteria, it never cause resistance. When you have above troubles in UTI treatment, why not to try something new?