“Men”: A Common Mental-Emotional Symptom in Chinese Medicine

Emotion

“Men” is a common symptom in Chinese medicine. The Chinese character shows a door and a heart inside it. Thus, it would seem to indicate a heart constricted by a door closing on it. I translate this symptom as “a feeling of oppression of the chest”. Men is very difficult to translate and my translation … Read More

Spleen-Yin Deficiency in Chinese Medicine

Spleen, Tongue Diagnosis

When we study the pathology of the Internal Organs, for the Spleen, we generally emphasize Spleen-Qi deficiency and Spleen-Yang deficiency. This is understandable as these two patterns are indeed extremely common. By contrast, when it comes to the Stomach, we do mention Stomach-Yin deficiency. In fact, some people say that this is a well-known contradiction: … Read More

Diagnosis, Patterns and Treatment of Heat with Acupuncture

Heat

Heat and the 4 Levels Heat is an extremely common pattern in practice and it is therefore very important that we understand its aetiology, pathology, diagnosis, patterns and treatment. To give an idea of the frequency of Heat in practice, in my clinic in England in a database of over 2500 patients, 46% had a … Read More

Addressing Allergic Rhinitis with Acupuncture and Herbal Therapy

Allergy

The main clinical manifestations of allergic rhinitis (“hay fever”) are nasal congestion, a watery nasal discharge and sneezing. In a few cases it affects the eyes and the conjunctiva may become red and itchy. In 20% of cases there is also asthma in conjunction with the rhinitis. Allergic rhinitis is due to an antigen-antibody reaction … Read More

The Treatment of Autoimmune Diseases with TCM – Part 1

Autoimmune

AUTOIMMUNE DISEASES: A CHINESE MEDICINE VIEW Autoimmune diseases comprise a large number of diseases that are very different from one another. The most common ones seen in the clinic are: Multiple sclerosis Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) Rheumatoid arthritis Sjogren’s Syndrome Hashimoto Thyroiditis Graves’ Disease Crohn’s Disease Chinese medicine does not have a single explanation of … Read More

The Origin of Blood Deficiency in Chinese Medicine

Blood Deficiency

This article, first published in The European Journal of Oriental Medicine, Volume 7, No 1, 2012 discusses the origin of Blood Deficiency and its relationship with qi and jing, it works out the signs and symptoms of Blood deficiency and outlines the three main syndromes, Liver Blood, Heart Blood and Spleen Blood deficiency. “ When … Read More

The Exterior, Interior and Pivot of Channels in Chinese Medicine

Channels

Chapter 6 of the Su Wen introduces the concept of channels “opening onto the exterior” (or being the “opening”), closing onto the interior (or “being the door leaf”) and being the pivot (or hinge). In this chapter the order for the Yang channels is as follows: Tai Yang opens Yang Ming closes Shao Yang is … Read More

Rebellious Qi of the Chong Mai in Acupuncture

Qi

Rebellious Qi of the Chong Mai is a relatively common pathology; it is more common in women than men. In women, I have seen at all ages, from teenagers to women over 65. The first mention of Rebellious Qi of the Chong Mai is in chapter 29 of the Nan Jing: “The pathology of the … Read More