Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM): Characteristics,theories, and treatment principles

There are some important differences between Chinese herbal medicine and prescription or over-the-counter Western drugs. Since many people in the U.S. are unfamiliar with traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), it is important to point out some of the basic general differences between Chinese herbal medicine and Western drugs.

Characteristics of Traditional Chinese medicine

Long History of Healing

China is one of the many ancient civilizations that originated excellent medicines. Traditional Chinese Medicine has a history that can be traced back over three thousand years. It is most famous for the use of herbs and acupuncture. Generations have continued to refine and develop the rich medical traditions that can be traced to classic ancient texts, many of which are thousands of years old.

A Complete Medical System

Traditional Chinese medicine offers an entire theoretical and scientific system. It is a medicine with its own theory of the body that underpins explanations of how and why certain treatments are used and how and why sickness originates and resolves.

Reliable Clinical Results

TCM has its own medical schools, clinics, and hospitals. Half-a-million TCM doctors in China and thousands of acupuncturists and herbalists outside of China treat billions of people internationally. Hundreds of medical journals record and assess clinical results. More and more TCM practitioners and researchers are using modern research techniques to conduct systematic and extensive research. When herbal formulas are used properly, practitioners have found time and again that they offer reliable clinical results.

Gentle, Natural, and Safe

A growing number of medical consumers are interested in natural medical treatments. They want herbal remedies with few side effects. Chinese herbal formulas are powerful yet gentle treatments that offer patients natural alternatives to pharmaceuticals. Even when consumed in dosages five times that of what is recommended, most herbal formulas are safe and non-toxic.

Increased Strength Through Formulas

The saying "power in numbers" makes good sense when applied to herbal formulas. For thousands of years Chinese doctors have realized the advantages of using combinations of herbs to treat illness. The healing properties of individual herbs are strengthened and nuanced when used in correct combinations.

Excellent Complementary Treatment

Chinese herbal formulas will generally not interfere with Western pharmaceuticals. They should not be taken at the same time, but should be ingested two hours apart. In some cases Chinese herbal therapy will actually increase the effectiveness of allopathic treatments. For example, more and more research confirms that certain Chinese herbal formulas increase the effectiveness of chemotherapy and radiation while decreasing side effects and protecting healthy tissue from damage.

For certain conditions, acupuncture alone can produce quick and dramatic results. In the West, most patients come to acupuncturists with long-term chronic complaints. For these problems, acupuncture and herbs together can provide better and more expedient results.

Inexpensive and Proactive

Chinese herbal formulas allow patients to bring their treatments home. They offer medical consumers a proactive approach to their health care.

Targets the Underlying Condition

Many Western herbal and allopathic treatments are aimed at treating symptoms. Chinese herbal formulas target the underlying conditions that lead to symptoms. Once the underlying condition is treated, the symptoms will subside, and treatment can be stopped.

No Side Effects

Unlike Western drugs, Chinese herbal treatments are taken in a whole food form. For example, teas are decocted from whole roots, stems, and leaves and capsules are filled with crushed whole food material. Western medicine is made by locating active chemical compounds and creating medicines from these compounds. When reduced to its chemical fundamentals, pharmaceuticals have side effects.

When used appropriately, Chinese herbal treatments will cause no side effects as long as they are used in their whole food form. Because TCM treatments have not been reduced to their active compounds, they must be consumed in larger quantities and more frequently than most Western pharmaceuticals.

Formulas Rather Than Single Herbs

Many people familiar with Western herbal medicine think of herbs as they do Western pharmaceuticals, that is, a single herb is good to treat a single disease: for instance, echinacea is good for colds. In TCM, single herbs are rarely used. Formulas may contain as few as two and as many as 15 or more different herbs. In combinations, the individual herbs have different roles. Some may augment or limit the potency of others. Some may concentrate on one specific area of the body whereas others work on a different area.

Through thousands of years of practice and research, TCM practitioners have found formulas to be the most effective, most powerful, and safest way of using herbs.

No Need to Take Indefinitely

With Western drugs, it is not uncommon for individuals to take certain medications indefinitely. In TCM, a person takes a set of formulas for a limited period of time. When the person's underlying condition is treated, she will no longer have symptoms and treatment is completed. At that point, there is no longer a need to take herbs. The purpose of treatment is not to control symptoms, but to restore balance to the body. Once balance is restored, the complaints will disappear and there is no longer any need for treatment.

The duration of treatment varies depending on the nature and severity of a person's complaints, how long they've had the complaints, and how quickly their body responds to treatment. Depending on your complaints and condition, you may notice a difference within two to three days.

If you feel no changes within ten days, you should make an appointment with your practitioner. This does not indicate that Chinese herbal medicine cannot help you, it simply means a different approach to your conditions must be taken.

If You Catch a Cold or Flu

The cold or flu must be treated first. Keep a cold and flu remedy such as First Defense on hand and use it at onset of any symptoms.

TCM approaches healing as restoration of internal body conditions to their normal ways of functioning, which are in line with the ways in which other things in nature behave.

Theories of Traditional Chinese Medicine

Yin-Yang Theory

TCM uses Yin-Yang and Five-Elements theories as the basis of a model for understanding the various processes that go on in the body, as well as for diagnosis.

Symptoms and conditions are characterized according to Yin -Yang Theory as being external or internal, hot or cold, and due to excessive attacks by pathogens or deficient resistance. The major organ systems are the Heart, the Liver, the Spleen, the Lung, and the Kidney.

External and Internal Causes of Illness

TCM theory understands that various pathogenic factors that originate in the environment can attack the body. These are generally classified in TCM as external pathogenic factors, and include atmospheric changes, epidemics, and injuries.

In addition to pathogenic influences and toxins, TCM also understands that things like excessive emotion, improper diet, and physical exhaustion can also cause illness or injury that may lead to disease. Pathogenic atmospheric changes can be seasonal, they also include wind, dampness, dryness, and excessive heat.

Diagnosis and Treatment Strategies

TCM has a unique way of diagnosing illnesses that involves observation, inquiry, perception of bodily aromas, and the evaluation of the state of various pulses in the body and palpitation of abdominal areas.

TCM therapies or treatments do not interfere with the body's normal functions. This is one of the most important features of TCM, and comes out of its philosophy of putting even greater emphasis on disease prevention, instead of merely offering treatment.

Thus, TCM strives to prevent an illness from becoming worse, and tries to protect the parts of the body that are still not affected. Every illness is a struggle within the body between the forces of the illness or disease pathogens, and the resources and abilities of the body to fight them off.

Work on Underlying Conditions

Since TCM addresses the struggle between the individual's health and the attacking illness, rather than the illness itself, TCM treats conditions, rather than diseases.

TCM treatments, whether involving herbs or acupuncture, involve the rebalancing of Qi Blood, Yin and Yang, and other life processes in the body. TCM emphasizes that the free movement of good Qi and Blood throughout the body is essential to health and immune function.

Since TCM treatments are to support health and to not cause additional harm, they tend to work on underlying conditions more than symptoms, If the underlying conditions is treated successfully, the chance of recurrence or metastases will be dramatically reduced. Therefore, for some symptoms TCM works more slowly than Western pharmaceuticals, although for some disorders TCM can be quite powerful. Herbs are nearly always used in combinations that augment, limit, or direct their effects to various parts of the body.

How to Take Traditional Chinese Medicine

Boiling Dry Herb Materials

Boiling teas are the fastest acting form for herbal formulas. They are also inconvenient, requiring time and dedication; and many of them taste and smell bad. Most people find boiling teas impractical and find it difficult to use this form for extended periods of time. But for acute conditions, they are undeniably the best choice.

Granule teas

After boiling teas, granule teas are the next best option with regard to effectiveness. The advantage of granule teas are that they are easy to prepare; they come in individual foil packs that can be taken to work or on a trip and simply require the addition of hot water. In addition, they taste and smell much better than most boiling teas.

Tablets

Tablets are more convenient for chronic conditions and cost less than granule teas. For some conditions, including chronic Stagnation and chronic Deficiencies, tablets are more effective.

Capsules

For certain herbs and formulas, it is best to keep the herbs' original properties and therefore avoid any process that would heat the contents. For these formulas, capsules are used, filled with raw powder for best possible results.

The above article is excerpted and edited from "A Guide to Life Rising's Basic Formulas"

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