Holistic Medicine (about)


What is Holistic Medicine?
Many of the alternative practices pay attention to the mental, emotional, and spiritual aspects of health, in addition to the physical body. Therapies like hypnosis and visualization claims to be able to change physical conditions through purely mental interventions. They believe that our bodies are remarkably resilient machines, capable, with some occasional prodding or intervention, of healing themselves. The name "holistic medicine" came from this unification of the mind and the body. Holistic practitioners treat the "whole person" as opposed to the individual organs of the body where symptoms occur. The importance of self care and preventing illness are stressed by holistic practitioners.
Holism as a health concept has long existed outside of academic circles, but only relatively recently has the modern medical establishment begun to integrate it into the mainstream health care system. In the United States, the first National Conference on Holistic Health was conducted by the Health Optimizing Institute and The Mandala Society with the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine in June 1975. This continued there for ten years with about three thousand health professionals participating each year. After the second year it was not under the Medical School.
Holistic health is not itself a method of treatment, but is an approach to how treatment should be applied. Holistic concepts of health and fitness view achieving and maintaining good health as requiring more than just taking care of the various singular components that make up the physical body, additionally incorporating aspects such as emotional and spiritual well-being. The goal is a wellness that encompasses the entire person, rather than just the lack of physical pain or disease.
This university conference supported the creation of the Association For Holistic Health in 1976 and the Holistic Medical Association in 1978. 
Holistic medicine refers to alternative health practices that claim to treat "the whole person." To holistic practitioners, a person is not just a body with physical parts and systems, but is a spiritual being as well. The mind and the emotions are believed to be connected to this spirit, as well as to the body.
Holistic practitioners are truly alternative in the sense that they often avoid surgery or drugs as treatments, though they are quite fond of meditation, prayer, herbs, vitamins, minerals and exotic diets as treatments for a variety of ailments.

Chinese Medicine

TRADITIONAL CHINESE MEDICINE
Traditional Chinese Medicine is a system of health care founded on oriental views of the universe and it’s models of existence such as Yin and Yang, Qi/energy, or the 5 Elements. The appropriate treatment method(s) for a specific patient are selected on the basis of information gathered by Traditional Chinese Medicine diagnostic techniques.
This information is then interpreted according to Traditional Chinese Medicine principles about physiology, health and illness. The results guide the use of acupuncture and Chinese Herbal Medicine.
Oriental Medicine treats the entire range of human illness. It does not, however, cure the entire range of illness. Such a claim is inaccurate for any form of medicine. The following list gives a sample of the capabilities of the medicine. It is drawn from three major textbooks published and used in China’s traditional medical college system and in the American schools of Oriental Medicine.
Western Diseases Treated by Oriental Medicine in Present-day China
Note: In the source texts these diseases are differentiated according to TCM. For example, the single western disease asthma could be due to Lung Qi Deficiency, or Kidneys Not Grasping Qi, or Wind-Heat Invasion of the Lungs, or Phelgm-Damp Obstructing the Lungs
Syncope, sunstroke, common cold, asthma, vomiting, diarrhea, dysentery, jaundice, constipation, prolapse of rectum, edema, nocturnal enuresis, urinary disturbance, retention of urine, impotence, insomnia, palpitation, manic-depressive disorder, epilepsy, dizziness, headache, melancholia, deviation of eye and mouth, pain, irregular menstruation, amenorrhea, dysmenorrhea, uterine bleeding, morbid leucorrhea, morning sickness, prolapse of uterus, urticaria, erysipelas, boil, breast abscess, intestinal abscess, goiter, sprain and contusion, deafness, tinnitus, epistaxis, toothache, sore throat, optic atrophy, tiredness, myalgic encephalomyelitis, allergic rhinitis, Parkinson’s disease, atrophy syndrome, multiple sclerosis, PMS, infectious hepatitis, bronchitis, frostbite, pulmonary tuberculosis, bronchial asthma, chronic heart failure, hypertension, hyperthyroidism, diabetes, hypothyroidism, arthritis, facial paralysis, paraplegia, cerebrovascular accident, hysteria, schizophrenia, mastitis, intestinal obstruction, hemorrhoids, urinary tract infection, prostatitis, spermatorrhea, carpal tunnel syndrome, myopia, malpositioned fetus, insufficient lactation, glaucoma, conjunctivitis, glomerulonephritis, urinary calculus, gastroduodenal ulcer, ulcerative colitis, neurodermatitis.

Chinese Medicine (The Theory)


The Theory - Engineering Principles
Chinese herbs are selected and combined in formulas based on principles that have no relation whatsoever to bio-chemistry. The vast majority of herbal treatments use formulas containing four or more herbs. Only a few herbs are used by themselves alone. There are several reasons for this. To affect related secondary aspects of the illness, to prevent the formula from causing side effects or illness by balancing it’s effects. To strengthen the effect on the pathology.
One commonly used format or template for designing herbal formulas is based on the monarchical form of government. At the top is the king or emperor. Next are the ministers or deputies. Last are the assistants or adjutants. There is one special role assistant - that of guide or messenger herb. A memory trick to remember this template is to consider it as radio station KMAG.
Any herb can fill any of these roles. Which role depends on which herbal formula the herb is used in. They roles work together in these ways:
King Herb - The herb which is directed to and has the strongest effect on the most important imbalance/pathology
Minister Herb - This herb is directed to the main imbalance/pathology and to the secondary imbalance/pathology
Assistant Herb - there are three types:
1) Helpful Assistant - strengthens the effect of the King
2) Corrective Assistant - reduces or eliminates the harsh or toxic effects of the King and/or Minister herbs
3) Opposing Assistant - decreases the effect of the King. This role is mostly used for complex combinations of imbalances/pathologies.

Chinese Medicine (Historical)



With a history of 2000 to 3000 years, Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) has formed a unique system to diagnose and cure illness. The TCM approach is fundamentally different from that of Western medicine. In TCM, the understanding of the human body is based on the holistic understanding of the universe as described in Daoism, and the treatment of illness is based primarily on the diagnosis and differentiation of syndromes.

The TCM approach treats zang--fu organs as the core of the human body. Tissue and organs are connected through a network of channels and blood vessels inside human body. Qi (or Chi) acts as some kind of carrier of information that is expressed externally through jingluo system. 
Pathologically, a dysfunction of the zang-fu organs may be reflected on the body surface through the network, and meanwhile, diseases of body surface tissues may also affect their related zang or fu organs. Affected zang or fu organs may also influence each other through internal connections. Traditional Chinese medicine treatment starts with the analysis of the entire system, then focuses on the correction of pathological changes through readjusting the functions of the zang-fu organs.
Evaluation of a syndrome not only includes the cause, mechanism, location, and nature of the disease, but also the confrontation between the pathogenic factor and body resistance. Treatment is not based only on the symptoms, but differentiation of syndromes. Therefore, those with an identical disease may be treated in different ways, and on the other hand, different diseases may result in the same syndrome and are treated in similar ways.
The clinical diagnosis and treatment in Traditional Chinese Medicine are mainly based on the yin-yang and five elements theories. These theories apply the phenomena and laws of nature to the study of the physiological activities and pathological changes of the human body and its interrelationships. The typical TCM therapies include acupuncture, herbal medicine, and qigong exercises. With acupuncture, treatment is accomplished by stimulating certain areas of the external body.
Herbal medicine acts on zang-fu organs internally, while qigong tries to restore the orderly information flow inside the network through the regulation of Qi. These therapies appear very different in approach yet they all share the same underlying sets of assumptions and insights in the nature of the human body and its place in the universe. Some scientists describe the treatment of diseases through herbal medication, acupuncture, and qigong as an "information therapy".

Introduction

Herbal Medicine, sometimes referred to as Herbalism or Botanical Medicine, is the use of herbs for their therapeutic or medicinal value. An herb is a plant or plant part valued for its medicinal, aromatic or savory qualities. Herb plants produce and contain a variety of chemical substances that act upon the body.
herbal medicine
Herbal medicine is a major pillar of Chinese medicine. The Chinese pharmacopoeia lists over 6,000 different medicinal substances in terms of their properties and the disharmonies that they were helpful with. There are about 600 different herbs in common use today.Herbs are classified in two major dimensions.

herbal medicine
The first dimension refers to the temperature characteristics of the herbal, namely hot (re), warm (wen), cold (han), neutral (ping), and aromatic. The second dimension refers to the taste property of the herb, namely sour (suan), bitter (ku), sweet (gan), spicy (xin), and salty (xian).
Herbal medicine is the oldest form of healthcare known to mankind. Herbs had been used by all cultures throughout history. It was an integral part of the development of modern civilization. Primitive man observed and appreciated the great diversity of plants available to him. The plants provided food, clothing, shelter, and medicine. Much of the medicinal use of plants seems to have been developed through observations of wild animals, and by trial and error. As time went on, each tribe added the medicinal power of herbs in their area to its knowledgebase.
herbal medicine
Holistic medicine refers to alternative health practices that claim to treat "the whole person." To holistic practitioners, a person is not just a body with physical parts and systems, but is a spiritual being as well. The mind and the emotions are believed to be connected to this spirit, as well as to the body. Holistic practitioners are truly alternative in the sense that they often avoid surgery or drugs as treatments, though they are quite fond of meditation, prayer, herbs, vitamins, minerals and exotic diets as treatments for a variety of ailments.
They methodically collected information on herbs and developed well-defined herbal pharmacopoeias. Indeed, well into the 20th century much of the pharmacopoeia of scientific medicine was derived from the herbal lore of native peoples.