Chinese Medicine students learn about how every aspect of our lives (from bowel movements to emotions) relate to one another. We learn to relate to every kind of person.

Patients Can Push Your Buttons

Patients sometimes push our buttons, and this give us opportunity to interact with ourselves. This is not always easy. We don't always like what we find! But if you commit to growth through interaction, helping, and self-examination, you can deactivate your buttons, grow past your limits, and increase your usefulness to others.

More specifically:

* Some students may realize they came to medicine for a selfish reason and decide to put helping others first. * Some students find they are people-pleasers and have to learn how to set boundaries and be more assertive (not aggressive or passive-aggressive!). * Others are more confrontational and aggressive by nature and need to learn compassion and patience. * Some are analytical and live in their heads - they need to learn to focus on their hearts, gaining rapport and loving their patients.

Letting Go of Bad Habits

Your bad habits are called into question. At one point in my training, I went back to smoking cigarettes. It was a guilt-laden 6 weeks! It seemed hypocritical to want to be a healer while destroying my health. And I felt like I had to hide it. I quit to be a better example to my patients, and not to have to hide anything.

I also had to quit coffee. I knew from chinese medicine that it wasn't helping me with my impatience and irritability. It was worsening my liver qi stagnation! I had to give it up and take herbs instead. I had to practice what I preach.

When you know something is bad, it seems like fun to do it anyway (it gives you illusion of power and control). But eventually you give in to wisdom, do what is right, and get to feel even better. Then you can help others with same struggle.

Your Victory can lead to their Victory

Occasionally, your own personal growth and commitment to self-examination helps your patients directly. At one point, I saw a woman with fears of abandonment. I had just discovered and confronted my own similar fears 6 months before. She was able to feel understood and heard and I was able to offer her solutions, strength, and hope.

In this way, we are trailblazers- pioneers in growth. If we remain shallow, so will our healing interactions. If we grow deeper, we can lead people to greater healing.

#7 It Benefits YOU Too!

As was just explained, by helping others you get to grow too.

Save on Health Care Costs

By giving yourself know-how and resources to keep yourself, your friends, and your family well, you can save money. One acupuncturist said on an email list that it saved her family tens of thousands of dollars in medical costs. It can be practiced inexpensively - for many years it treated millions of poor peasants in China who had no access to western medicine. Chinese Medicine may be a large part of solution to our healthcare crisis.

Professional Courtesy

Some acupuncturists trade treatments with one another to stay in good health. I've received hundreds of treatments from fellow students, practitioners, and my wife! It's helped me with anger, irritability, migraines, light sensitivity, fear, over-thinking, colds and flus, and cold sores, among other things.

#8 It's Traditional and Ancient

It's natural for us to look for reassurance, especially in dealing with our health. Biomedicine reassures by requiring studies of treatments for safety. Chinese medicine has been tested for safety and efficacy (especially acupuncture), and it has thousands of years of experience behind it to show what happens to people it treats. It is inarguably a positive influence in our world. Biomedicine, on other hand, is only 50 years old, and full scope of side effect phenomenon (short and long-term) has yet to be grasped.

Not every chinese remedy has been through full rigors of Randomized Controlled Trial (biomedicine's gold-standard), but neither have all of standard biomedical treatments. The millions of hours and patient visits through hundreds of years establish traditional chinese treatments as safe and effective. More and more studies are being done to confirm them and understand how they work in biomedical terms. I have written extensively on acupuncture safety and how it works here.

#9 Its Theories have Broad Implications

Since it integrates many different disciplines and realms, CM concepts could be used to reorganize and give insight to psychology and psychiatry, pharmaceutical medicine, and sociology. These insights could guide and suggest future research in all fields.

12. Kelp Kelp as a source of iodine may interfere with thyroid replacement therapies.

13. Echinacea

Echinacea could cause liver toxicity and therefore should not be used with other known liver toxic drugs, such as anabolic steroids, amiodarone, methotrexate, and ketoconazole

14. Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs may negate usefulness of feverfew in treatment of migraine headaches

15. Kava when used with alprazolam has resulted in coma

16. Evening primrose oil and borage should not be used with anticonvulsants because they may lower seizure threshold.

17. Both Rhubard and Aloe cause loss of potassium through stool... this may increase side effects of cardiac glycosides and antiarrhythmic drugs.

18. Astragalus (huang qi) may oppose immunosupressive drugs, because it tends to improve immune function.

Some of these herbs are not chinese herbs (feverfew, gingko, valerian, kava, echinacea, everning primrose, borage). If you saw a Chinese herbalist, they wouldn't be an issue. Plus, chinese herbalists prescribe more balanced formulas, not single herbs, so potential interactions with single herbs are reduced.

Positive Drug Herb Interactions

Gan cao increases effectiveness of prednisone. This benefit can be used to reduce dosage of prednisone in patients who have to take it long term. This reduces serious long-term side effects (bone density loss, adrenal insufficiency, etc.).

In typhoid fever, research showed that those given an herbal formula (xue yang mei) plus a sulfa drug did better than those just given sulfa drug. Both groups had a 100% cure rate, but combination group experienced few or no side effects.

In mastitis, those given a heat and toxin clearing herbal formula (jin yin hua, pu gong ying, yu jin, chi shao, dan shen, qing pi) plus penicillin/streptomycin injections did much better than those only given injection.

In adult primary nephrotic syndrome, one group was simply given corticosteroids, while another group was also given an herb formulas (dan shen, di gu pi, gui ban, han lian cao, hong hua, nu zhen zi, gou qi zi, sheng di, zhi mu). The steroid only group had a recovery rate of 56%, while combined group's recovery rate was 85%. In another study with nephritic patients, patients given predisone, zhi mu (anemarrhena), shu di huang (rehmannia), and gan cao (licorice) experienced less of corticosteroid side effects.

Late-stage gastric cancer patients were studied. All patients were given a drug chemotherapy combo of either methotrexate, fluoroacil and vinblastine, or methotrexate, MFC, and fluorocil. One of two groups was also given herbs (huang qi, tai zhi shen, caulis banthalobi, ji xue tang, bai zhu, fu ling, niu zhen zi, gou qi zi, tu su zi). Side effects were cut in half or eliminated in chemo plus herbs group.

Solving Multi-Drug Problem with Herbs

Many patients are on multiple drugs. We have had success reducing these medications over time with assistance of herbal formulas. An appropriate herbal formula is begun weeks or months ahead of time. This gives patient a 'cushion,' so to speak. Then drug dosage is slowly reduced. The herbal prescription is modified as patient progresses. MD's often cooperate with us in this effort since they know as well as anyone dangers of poly-pharmacy (taking multiple drugs at once)… especially in elderly. They say a good geriatric doctor stops more medications than he starts.