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Treatment of eczema

by Team | 2828,Jul, 2021 | Traditional chinese medicine

Chinese medicine treats the cause

Eczema is a common and rapidly disabling condition. Its causes are multiple, but most often related to blood disorders. Unfortunately, the patients who consult us often have long-standing eczema. We cannot stress this enough: any condition should promptly be consulted by a traditional practitioner to prevent it from becoming chronic.

It is therefore necessary to consider the history, appearance, and progression of the lesions to understand their significance and develop the most appropriate treatment. In the acute phase, it is necessary to cool the heat, disperse the wind, and eliminate humidity. In the chronic phase, it is necessary to nourish the blood and moisturize the dryness.

It’s also important to look for possible damage to one of the eight extraordinary meridians and adjust your diet.

Finally, it’s essential to address the emotional aspect of eczema, as the skin organ is linked to our emotional state.

Our history and our relationship with our parents, especially our mother, also influence our emotions.

Some people retain intense anger from their adolescence, others great sadness, or a strong bond of emotional dependence.

Chinese medicine treats eczema after identifying its origin. It is difficult to get rid of it. The creams and treatments offered by Western medicine may relieve the symptoms, but they do not address the cause and often cause side effects.

This is why many people suffering from eczema turn to traditional medicine, which, according to its holistic approach, will identify and treat the cause of this condition.

TCM uses pharmacopoeia in conjunction with acupuncture to achieve this goal. However, the Chinese medicine practitioner will also advise their patient on their diet and ask about their lifestyle, as poorly managed stress and recurring emotional disturbances have a significant impact on eczema.

The patient will therefore need to adapt their lifestyle in parallel with the treatment they are receiving to support the treatment and promote healing.

In all cases, and especially if the eczema has been present for some time, it will take time to get rid of it.

The patient will therefore have to commit to the long term and not give in to discouragement. However, improvements can be felt quickly, and therefore the discomfort significantly reduced. Since each case is different, it is impossible to predict precisely how and after how long this improvement will be felt.

Causes

Several possible causes or “perverse” factors can be identified that can lead to eczema: heat, wind, humidity, or dryness. The nature of the lesions provides clues as to the origin.

Heat

The skin is red with a local burning sensation, and it is swollen. The origin is what TCM calls Fire, which comes from within.

This Fire can come from an unbalanced diet, including excessive consumption of so-called fatty or hot foods (fried foods, spices, alcohol, dairy products, etc.). This first generates excessive stagnation in the stomach, then Fire in the stomach or gallbladder.

Emotional disturbances can also generate Heart and Liver Fire. Finally, blood heat can turn into dryness with yin deficiency and the release of heat.

Dryness

The skin is dry with scales and crusts. Eczama in this case is linked to a lack of body fluids, due to blood deficiency, or kidney yin deficiency, or sometimes due to lung or liver yin deficiency.

Wind

In cases of pruritus (itching), the origin of the condition will be related to wind. If this wind is of internal origin, it is often the result of a lack of blood. In this case, the itching is less intense but chronic, worsening at night.

If it is of external origin, the itching is intense and widespread, generally on the upper body. It is generally improved by cold.

The origin can also be Wind associated with Heat. The eczema will then be dry but itchy, and the tongue will be very red with a white coating. It is generally the result of stagnation of Liver Qi, itself generated by annoyances, pent-up anger, and frustration.

Dampness

Dampness, like dryness, is often associated with wind or heat. The lesions are sticky, sometimes purulent, and present with vesicles or blisters.

Its origin can be external (accumulation of dampness-heat or penetration of wind-dampness) or internal.

Internal dampness is often linked to an energetic imbalance in the Spleen, such as a Qi deficiency. The origin is often dietary (excessive consumption of cold or sugary foods that exhaust the Spleen).

Treatment

As for any pathology, after a diagnosis to identify the cause(s) of the eczema as precisely as possible, we immediately combine acupuncture with pharmacopoeia. We encourage our patients to go directly to a traditional pharmacy to receive herbal ointments.

During one or more sessions, we also offer an examination of the patient’s eating habits in order to help him/her find a suitable and, if possible, pleasing diet. Finally, we invite our patients to follow the precepts and techniques of Yǎngshēng, the Chinese medicine art of living for health and longevity.

As with any chronic illness, we propose qi gong as a fundamental support for the proper management of one’s emotions. Finally, it is important for each person to identify his or her own priorities in relation to health. It is gratifying to note that those who decide to do everything possible to get out of it, obtain results.

Let’s not forget that each person is his or her own doctor!

The effectiveness of TCM on eczema

Three studies conducted between 2006 and 2008 at the Ming Qi Natural Health Center (New York, USA) aimed to evaluate the impact of Chinese medicine on eczema.

In one study, 37 young patients with eczema were given a herbal decoction, while the other group received a placebo. At the beginning of the study, more than half of the participants had severe symptoms. Those who received the treatment experienced greater symptom relief than those who received the placebo.

“Improvement in symptoms and quality of life was seen by the third month,” says researcher Julia Wisniewski. And after eight months of treatment, most had mild symptoms. Eighteen of the patients experienced a 90% or greater reduction in their eczema.

In another study, several participants drank a Chinese herbal decoction. They also took herbal baths, and applied herbal creams to the affected areas. Finally, they received acupuncture sessions. This combination of therapies significantly reduced the symptoms of most participants, who started the study with severe eczema and ended it with very mild symptoms.

Participants also reported a reduction in the use of antibiotics steroids and antihistamines within three months of their TCM treatment.

“Chinese medicine is a very good alternative to conventional treatment for patients with eczema,” the researchers concluded.

How the TCM works

by Brigitte | 2929,Jun, 2021 | Traditional chinese medicine

The pathologies seen by the Chinese Medicine

In the preamble, let’s remember a fundamental principle: no doctor cures his patient! It is the patient who is the artisan of his own healing, with the help of his doctor, who practices his art through different techniques.

In this spirit, the Chinese doctor is interested in the health of the patient and not in his illness. He will diagnose the imbalances, potential factors of illness, and use his various tools (acupuncture, tuina massage, dietetics, herbal medicine …) to restore the overall balance of the patient, the condition of health.

However, if one chooses to talk about diseases, Traditional Chinese Medicine – TCM – treats all diseases. In some cases of advanced diseases, TCM will improve the ground of an individual, his general state of health. TCM may also seriously delay the progression of a serious illness. It will have the great merit finally to limit the destructive side effects generated by chemical drugs.

A 5,000 year old medicine

The WHO – World Health Organization – for its part recognizes since June 1979 forty-two diseases that can be treated with acupuncture. This list is of course limiting when one knows the effectiveness and the power of the Chinese Medicine which has been proven for more than 5’000 years. It is gratifying, however, that WHO finally recognizes TCM as a medicine in its own right. It is validated in its status of traditional medicine, and not complementary or alternative. The diagnosis in TCM is different from the diagnosis of Western medicine. It is therefore wrong to try to translate Western terms to find their correspondence in Chinese medicine.

To understand the difference between the approaches of these two medicines, observe two types of images: the first is a photograph, the second is a film. Allopathic medicine will observe a photograph, an apparent situation at a time “T” which is characterized by one or more symptoms. She will make her diagnosis according to what she can observe. Of course, since what is not on the picture can not be taken into account, being invisible!

TCM treats imbalances, source of disease

Chinese medicine, meanwhile, observes a film, an image in motion. During the diagnosis, the TCM will collect information on the patient’s past, his present state of health of course, but also on the potential evolution of his health. She observes the film of life. Through her holistic approach, she observes energy imbalances and their impact on the physical, emotional and psychic dimensions of the patient. Thus Chinese medicine can treat imbalances before they become symptoms or diseases. Who would have the idea to compare cinema and photography. Even if it is possible to shoot a photo of a movie.! … Thanks to its global study of the human being, the MTC does more than cure symptoms, it aims the root of the disease so the root cause . It takes into account all the aspects (emotional, physical and psychic) of the patient.

The TCM is finally a natural medicine, which does not use any chemical medicine, and thus does not induce any side effects in the patient. This is not a small advantage!

To conclude, a little common sense! Chinese medicine, one of the oldest in the world, would it have survived if it had not proven its effectiveness, and provided solutions to all the ills of his people?

The sadness

by Team | 2929,Jun, 2021 | Traditional chinese medicine

It is associated with the metal element in TCM

In Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), sadness is associated with the lungs and the metal element. This emotion is more difficult to experience than joy, as it is often associated with loss, grief, or events experienced as painful.

And yet, sadness is part of the range of human emotions and must therefore be fully experienced. Seeking to suppress it, or perceiving it negatively, can only lead to repression and, ultimately, energy imbalances.

Conversely, experiencing sadness with too much intensity, or remaining trapped in it for too long, can also affect energy balance and lead to pathologies of the lungs, or even the large intestine, the bowel associated with the metal element.

The ability to experience grief, to feel and accept sadness, to let tears flow wisely, will therefore guarantee a good balance of the metal element, and therefore harmonious functioning of the lungs and large intestine.

Function of the lungs in TCM

The lungs are responsible for inhaling clean, oxygen-rich air and for expelling carbon dioxide and toxic waste. The lungs regulate the Qi inhaled with the air and distribute it throughout the body. They contribute to the circulation of blood and Wei Qi (protective Qi).

The lungs help Qi and fluids move down into the intestines. They are responsible for the excretion of bodily fluids in the form of urine and sweat.

In TCM, the lungs also control the skin, regulating the opening and closing of pores and the activity of sweat glands. For example, during exercise or in hot weather, the pores will open to allow perspiration. Conversely, in cold weather or in windy conditions, the pores will close to protect the body from these external aggressions.

The pulmonary system also regulates the sinuses, bronchi, nose, throat, and voice. The ability to feel and speak with a clear voice depends on him.

Lung pathologies

Since the lungs are closely connected to the heart, they also have an impact, along with the heart, on the proper circulation of blood in the blood vessels. For this same reason, certain lung pathologies can develop into heart disease.

Since the lungs control breathing, lung disease can manifest as shortness of breath, coughing, chest tightness, lack of desire to speak, a weak voice, dyspnea, or even asthma.

Since the lungs control the skin and hair, an imbalance can result in dry or flaccid skin, thinning or dull hair. Since the sweat glands are poorly controlled, spontaneous perspiration, night sweats, or hot flashes can result.

In TCM, the lung is said to “open to the nose.” Therefore, colds, rhinitis, and anosmia (disturbances or loss of smell) can occur in cases of lung imbalance. Finally, since the lung controls the “waterways”, a lung dysfunction can cause oliguria (infrequency of urine) or edema.

The Po or corporeal soul

Since the large intestine is the bowel associated with the lung in TCM, in the metal element, poorly managed sadness can also lead to diarrhea or constipation.

On a subtle level, the lung houses the Po, or “corporeal soul,” which is the most material part of the human soul. It allows for sensations: hearing, sight, touch. It is thanks to it that we perceive heat, cold, itching, and pain.

It is therefore particularly important to take care of our sadness so that it does not lead to lung pathologies.

A full breath

The corporeal soul, or Po, is closely linked to breathing. It is affected by emotions such as sadness or grief, which block its movements. We may then observe short, shallow breaths, and breathing localized in the upper chest.

To take care of our health in general, and our lungs in particular, it is crucial to relearn how to breathe fully. A newborn’s natural breathing is abdominal. But the older we get, the more tension and poorly managed emotions restrict our breathing. Where we should be using our breath to recharge our batteries, we breathe barely enough to stay alive.

It is therefore essential to become aware of our breathing and restore its full mobility. To do this, we should practice abdominal breathing daily, inhaling and exhaling as slowly as possible, in a relaxed manner. Practicing pranayama in yoga, or practicing qigong, frees our breathing, allowing the Breath of Life to fully animate us!