Last year I enrolled at Emperors College of Traditional Chinese Medicine in Los Angeles. It happened mostly by accident. I had been getting treated at the Clinic there, and the students kept assuming that I was also a student (I'd been reading a book on Chinese Medicine so I knew some of the principles).
Well... next thing I knew I was enrolled in the Fundamentals of Chinese Medicine class. My analogy for my experience with this is that it was like dipping a toe into a puddle, only to find that it's really an ocean.
The view of human health in the Chinese Medicine approach is completely unlike the view of health in Western Medicine. This is its real value, I think. But, that is also its challenge. It can be hard for the Western mind to conceive that there is something of value there, because what is there is so different from the way we think in the West. It is so much more than herbs, or acupuncture. It is a different way of looking at health and illness, which comes from a different way of looking at the world.
Ultimately, the real value in Chinese medicine is the largely Taoist philosophy that underlies this system of medicine. While Western Medicine seeks to break the living body down into its parts, Chinese Medicine strives to see patterns that unify seemingly unrelated symptoms. Traditional Chinese Medicine (or TCM) looks inside, at the body, much in the way that the Taoists looked at the world outside - they saw a cycle of seasons and changes that followed one to another. And, looking inwardly, one can see the same cycles, and can see where the cycle has gotten stuck, or overbalanced. This is a disharmony that will eventually lead to disease.
For example, in Western Medicine, one would never conclude that ringing in the ears, weak knees, and cold hands and feet - all stem from a single, underlying source. Yet, any trained Chinese Medicine practitioner would immediately recognize the symptom pattern which I just made up for this example, and be able to classify it as stemming from Kidney weakness.
Not Kidney weakness in the way that we think of it in Western Medicine, requiring dialysis or surgery or medication, but a fundamental weakness in that organ system that would most likely escape the notice of a Western practitioner entirely, or perhaps eventually manifest as more serious symptoms that would then show up in Western testing.
The beauty of Traditional Chinese Medicine is its subtlety, and ability to recognize lack of harmony in the organism, perhaps before the individual has really recognized it for him or herself.
Some of the diagnostic techniques used in TCM include pulse and tongue diagnosis.
Pulse diagnosis involves a perception of the strength and quality of many different pulse points found on the wrists of both hands. By feeling these pulses, the practitioner can detect fine qualities of the pulse that reveal information about the conditions of different organ systems, and treat those that may be weak, or overactive, using herbs, acupuncture, or other types of treatment to strengthen organs or calm overactive organs and areas of the body.
Tongue diagnosis uses a basic principle of TCM, namely that the parts can be used to give one an idea of the condition of the whole. This concept is explained in Western terms in the book The Holographic Universe. The analogy of a hologram is made, for example the one used in the famous scene in Star Wars where R2D2 plays a hologram for Princess Leah.
As contrasted with a conventional photograph, in a hologram, one piece of that image contains all of the information of the entire image. Similarly, in the body, one section or even one cell of the body can be seen to contain all of the information for the entire body.
This is a completely different way of looking at the body, but has been used in TCM for many centuries to diagnose accurately and effectively. The ears, the feet, and the tongue can reflect changes in the entire body. With tongue diagnosis, the practitioner can determine if the person is producing excess heat, or is deficient in heat or energy. They can see where the body is weak, and where it is perhaps overstraining. Patterns of disharmony can be revealed, and treated.
Another aspect of TCM is its inclusion of emotions and mental reactions in the overall diagnostic picture. These kinds of things - sleep difficulty with or without dreams, emotional upsets (fear, grief or anger) can help the practitioner identify a pattern as these become associated with different organ patterns, and the emotions themselves can have a role in weakening the organs.
The diagnosis arrived at may be very different from anything a Western doctor would diagnose. While a Western doctor might arrive at a description of a condition that cannot easily be treated, the goal in TCM is to identify a pattern that can be treated, and indeed, there are conditions in TCM that can be treated that will not be treatable in Western Medicine - a notable example being the common cold.
In fact, there are many types of patterns in Chinese Medicine that would correspond to a "cold" and each would be treated differently.
Also, two patients appearing in a clinic with the same apparent cold symptoms might be treated completely differently depending on the entire symptom package, what their constitutions are, and what kinds of conditions precipitated the "cold."
Thus, TCM makes distinctions where Western Medicine does not.
None of this is to say that there isn't a very clear time and place for treatment with Western Medicine, and practitioners are trained to refer to M.D.'s when that is called for. But many conditions can be treated with TCM, either alone of in conjunction with Western Medicine, to produce a result that Western Medicine alone could not produce.
A brief comment on acupuncture. Often people have a concern about the needles. I think that this is a fear based on the needles used in Western Medicine. I find the needles used to be mostly painless. They are hair-thin, and for the most part cannot be felt when they are inserted. Where there is pain, it isn't really from the needle, itself, but usually from the stagnant energy that is being moved by the needle. In TCM, stagnation is a principal cause of pain and illness. This is analagous to a sore muscle. If one had a massage, at first it might be a bit uncomfortable if the muscle is very tight and painful... but that is really an indicator that circulation is poor and that the muscle needs to be worked on more.
Similarly, in TCM, there is a saying: "If it hurts, stick a needle in it." One of the things a practitioner is looking for is pain, which indicates areas and organs where there is stagnation. The solution is to get things moving. This, itself, is a bit of a departure from Western thought... where we consider pain something to be suppressed, or avoided, or a signal to avoid contact with that part of the body. Sometimes, it is just the opposite which is needed, and it may not even be the painful area that needs treatment in order to resolve the pain. Sometimes the needle can be inserted at a point which is remote from the pain, and the pain will resolve.
But, acupuncture is just one method of treatment used in TCM. There are many other types of treatment. Depending on the person's condition, one or more may be recommended, and some practitioners specialize in herbs, or acupuncture... and there are specialists who are expert in particular conditions (reproduction and pregnancy, endocrine, pediatrics, etc.)
As in any field of healing, you want to look for a practitioner who works with you to get the results you are hoping for.
