On the Front of Integrative Medicine

People around the world show great interest in integrative medicine. We're excited to promote it and see how far it goes!

This original article is from NCCAOM.org

By Bill Reddy, Dipl.Ac. (NCCAOM)®, L.Ac.,
Director, Integrative Health Policy Consortium (IHPC)

The Integrative Health Policy Consortium (IHPC), where NCCAOM is a “Partner for Health,” has been monitoring a number of federal bills that affect our profession or the public health of the nation.  Below is a summary of our recent efforts.

Things are looking up for CAM use in the US military. The Department of Defense Appropriations Bill of 2016 contained the following statement:

“Complementary and alternative (CAM) therapies are now recognized as vital among those modalities for the treatment of pain for their efficacy, broad patient acceptance, minimal adverse effects and low cost.  Yet the development of system-wide policies and practices for their integration remains unfulfilled.  The committee strongly encourages DVCIPM to accelerate the research on and integration of CAM therapies for the management of pain and directs the Assistant Secretary of Defense (health affairs) to provide a report to the congressional defense committees not later than 180 days after enactment of this act on the status of their integration.”

Furthermore, the bill has appropriated $278M for a Peer-Reviewed Medical Research Program including “Integrative Medicine” and “Non-Opioid Pain Management” among others.

IHPC, in cooperation with Samueli Institute, is monitoring this bill.

24 y/o Female Suffered from Postprandial Vomiting

There will be a case conference held by 台灣中醫病理學醫學會 (Taiwan society of TCM pathology) in my alma mater in Taichung tomorrow, Dec 13,2015.

I will present an easy case. She is a 24 y/o Taiwanese student who suffered from abdominal distension, acid regurgitation with postprandial vomiting for years. The result of panendoscopy (PES) acquired in our hospital showed GERD, LA grade A in 2010. Another PES result showed GERD with superficial gastritis in 2013.

She received drug treatment and the result is not good enough for her and she stopped her medication. She came to my clinic five months ago because her father ,who suffered from constipation and insomnia, is also my patient. I used some herbs to treat her “Liver Qi Stagnation” 肝氣鬱滯 and “Upward Perversion of Stomach Qi” 胃氣上逆.

The frequency of her vomiting reduced from three times a day to less than one time a day after two weeks herbal medicine treatment. We now try to maintain the effect and try to make her sleep better. Sometimes it’s hard for patient to cure since lots of diseases/symptoms are caused by daily life habits. Therefore, it is always very important for us to educate patients how to adjust their way of life so that they could lead a better life with or even without the help of acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine.

The effect of Chinese herbal medicine on GERD is pretty good!

Don't Sell Anything You Wouldn't Buy Yourself.

My youngest son is now 1Y3M, he suffered from intermittent cough with the sound of sputum in his lung for a couple of days. Therefore, I prescribed some herbal medicine for him. Although I choose those herbs in the flavor of "sweet." it's by no means an easy task for us to feed a toddler herbal medicine powder. We blended the powder in his food or mix with his formula. We were also surprised that sometimes he can take two or three sips form a straw. Attaboy!

I had been prescribing and doing acupuncture for my family members since I became a licensed TCM doctor. I'm glad I use Chinese herbal medicine to cure my mom's epigastric pain due to gastric ulcer. I also relieved her shoulder and upper limb pain by acupuncture. My father suffer from OA knee and insomnia, Chinese herbal medicine do relieve his symptom, although it took longer time for him. Not to mention the common cold or GI symptom that we usually encountered. I also do massage and manipulation on my wife very often when she complain about soreness in her neck, shoulder and back. When I get sick once in a while with URI or GI symptom, I prescribe TCM powders for myself.

I remember this quote from the book "Poor Charlie's Almanack" : 

Don't sell anything you wouldn't buy yourself.

I'm glad my family trust me and I can help them with their problem.
I love my career!

Bian Que: A Legendary Doctor

29 Oct 2015, 22:18

I would like to share with you a famous ancient medical case report.
It was recorded in the ancient history book "Records of the Grand Historian" (史記 Shǐjì) written by Sima Qian (145 or 135 – 86 BC)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Records_of_the_Grand_Historian

The doctor's name is "Bian Que" (扁鵲; ca. 500 B.C)

The article below came from here: http://english.eastday.com/e/zx/userobj ... 59567.html

Bian Que's real name was Qi Yueren (秦越人). He was reputed to be an excellent diagnostician, excelling in pulse taking and acupuncture therapy. He is ascribed the authorship of Bian Que Neijing (Internal Classic of Bian Que). Han Dynasty physicians claimed to have studied his works, which have since been lost. Credited with incredible healing knowledge, stories of his life and treatments are used in teaching and known to all Chinese medicine practitioners today.

In Sima Qian's book Shi Ji, in Bian Que Chronicles, An Ancient Miracle Doctor: Bian Que (I), Sima Qian described that Bian Que obtained his medical skills from personal teachings by Chang Sangjun. Sima Qian also recorded three specific medical cases that Bian Que handled. In the first case, he diagnosed Zhao Jianzi's illness by feeling his pulses. In the second case, he kept track of the state of the illness of the Crown Prince Guo through consulting, examining and feeling the pulse and finally brought Crown Prince Guo back from death. In the third case, Bian was able to describe the developing illness of Marquis Qi Huan by simply looking at him.

Once Bian Que, along with an apprentice, went to the Kingdom of Guo (what is now part of Henan province) as a traveling physician. There they saw that the people of the city were busily running around and discovered that a funeral was being prepared for the king's son. Bian Que went up to the door of the palace, asked someone what had happened. He learned that the king's son passed away from a sudden illness and had already been dead for a half day. Bian Que asked in detail about the circumstances of the prince's illness and death and came to believe that it was not certain that the prince was dead.

He requested to be let into the palace to examine the prince. After he entered the palace, Bian Que palpated the thick part of the prince's thighs, and discovered that they were warm. He also detected a very slight sound in the prince's ears, and diagnosed the prince as "body collapsed" (quite similar to shock), not dead. He then instructed his apprentice to set a single acupuncture needle, in the Baihui point (Du 20) on the head, and the prince regained consciousness. They then boiled some herbal medicine and used it for compresses applied to the prince's armpits, after which he was able to slowly sit up. The prince was then prescribed boiled herbal compounds to be taken for twenty days, and fully recovered his health. Word of this spread, everyone was saying that Bian Que could bring the dead back to life. Bian Que said "No, I can't bring the dead back to life, the prince wasn't dead. I only treated his illness, and that's what brought him around."

Since the English translation do not include the detailed thinking process of Bian Que, I found the original record written in classical Chinese. 

For those who might be interested in this case: 

其後扁鵲過虢。虢太子死，扁鵲至虢宮門下，問中庶子喜方者曰：「太子何病，國中治穰過於眾事？」中庶子曰：「太子病血氣不時，交錯而不得泄，暴發於外，則為中害。精神不能止邪氣，邪氣畜積而不得泄，是以陽緩而陰急，故暴蹶而死。」扁鵲曰：「其死何如時？」曰：「雞鳴至今。」曰：「收乎？」曰：「未也，其死未能半日也。」「言臣齊勃海秦越人也，家在於鄭，未嘗得望精光侍謁於前也。聞太子不幸而死，臣能生之。」中庶子曰：「先生得無誕之乎？何以言太子可生也！臣聞上古之時，醫有俞跗，治病不以湯液醴灑，鑱石撟引，案扤毒熨，一撥見病之應，因五藏之輸，乃割皮解肌，訣脈結筋，搦髓腦，揲荒爪幕，湔浣腸胃，漱滌五藏，練精易形。先生之方能若是，則太子可生也；不能若是而欲生之，曾不可以告咳嬰之兒。」終日，扁鵲仰天歎曰：「夫子之為方也，若以管窺天，以郤視文。越人之為方也，不待切脈望色聽聲寫形，言病之所在。聞病之陽，論得其陰；聞病之陰，論得其陽。病應見於大表，不出千里，決者至眾，不可曲止也。子以吾言為不誠，試入診太子，當聞其耳鳴而鼻張，循其兩股以至於陰，當尚溫也。」

　　中庶子聞扁鵲言，目眩然而不瞚，舌撟然而不下，乃以扁鵲言入報虢君。虢君聞之大驚，出見扁鵲於中闕，曰：「竊聞高義之日久矣，然未嘗得拜謁於前也。先生過小國，幸而舉之，偏國寡臣幸甚。有先生則活，無先生則棄捐填溝壑，長終而不得反。」言末卒，因噓唏服臆，魂精泄橫，流涕長潸，忽忽承鑞，悲不能自止，容貌變更。扁鵲曰：「若太子病，所謂『屍蹶』者也。夫以陽入陰中，動胃繵緣，中經維絡，別下於三焦、膀胱，是以陽脈下遂，陰脈上爭，會氣閉而不通，陰上而陽內行，下內鼓而不起，上外絕而不為使，上有絕陽之絡，下有破陰之紐，破陰絕陽，色廢脈亂，故形靜如死狀。太子未死也。夫以陽入陰支蘭藏者生，以陰入陽支蘭藏者死。凡此數事，皆五藏蹙中之時暴作也。良工取之，拙者疑殆。」

　　扁鵲乃使弟子子陽厲針砥石，以取外三陽五會。有間，太子蘇。乃使子豹為五分之熨，以八減之齊和煮之，以更熨兩脅下。太子起坐。更適陰陽，但服湯二旬而複故。故天下盡以扁鵲為能生死人。扁鵲曰：「越人非能生死人也，此自當生者，越人能使之起耳。」

Here's the same record in brief written in modern Chinese:  http://goo.gl/eEAmsd

This medical record makes us realize how good the doctors are in ancient China and we should not only take a detailed history but also exam our patient comprehensively. The most important thing is get to know the mechanism of how people get sick and treat accordingly.

The Hidden Meanings of Yin and Yang

Here's an interesting animation about yin and yang from TED-Ed. 

This is the first thing one should learn in order to study traditional Chinese medicine. 

Also take a look at this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yin_and_yang

↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ http://ed.ted.com/lessons/the-hidden-meanings-of-yin-and-yang-john-bellaimey ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓

Female Infertility

A new friend on internet asked me something about treating female infertility with acupuncture. Here's my reply.

Lots of Taiwanese couples who suffer from infertility turn to TCM for help, especially those who have already done all the examination and find no organic problem or those who have difficulty keeping the fetus after IVF (In vitro fertilisation). BTW, It's a huge market because patients are willing to pay out of pocket. Ask any of your Taiwanese friends about infertilty "不孕", most of them would think of TCM "中醫". Usually, the problem in men is easy to identify, so here we mainly focus on the problem in women. 

Remember, there is no difference between TCM and modern medicine when it comes to gathering information from patient, because the patient is right there and there can be only one truth. However, the language TCM use to describe and explain the symptom and sign is different, as well as the tool we have to diagnosis and to treat. We need to focus on what really happen in women's body. The sonography, CT might tells you because there's a teratoma in ovary, endometriosis or adenomyosis, blood test might shows hormone imbalance, etc. If the cause of infertility is organic, it's not too hard to prescribe herbal medicine to treat. It might take some time to treat if it's not indicated for surgery. The main thing we could do with TCM is to make the qi and blood flow fluently in the dysfunction organ. If it's lack of qi and blood, we supply. If it's stagnated, we dredge. If the cause is not organic, we'll have to adjust the body constitution to make the environment comfortable for fetus, such as "warm" the uterus. Usually we will prescribe some herbal medicine (decoction is more effective), some doctors will use both herbal medicine and acupuncture. 

Ancient Chinese develop a meridian theory for the guide of using acupuncture. Imagine that the acupoints are like small lakes and the meridians are like rivers that connecting these lakes. Our body organs are way more bigger lakes. The main function of acupoints are to adjust the water (qi & blood) level of organs. There are 12 main streams that connecting the 12 important organs. The main function of acupuncture is "引此注彼", which means "guide the water here to pour over there." So what acupuncture really does is to guide the qi (& blood) from where qi is sufficient to the place where qi is insufficient. For example, we will do acupuncture on the acupoints that can bring more qi and blood to uterus, if the diagnosis is qi and blood deficiency in uterus. There's other function of other acupoints that can "dispell heat", "dissolve sputum and stagnation",etc. It really depends on the diagnosis to select acupoints. Usually, with a couple of months herbal medicine treatment, some patients will conceive naturally. However, it depends on the cause of infertility, it needs expertise to do proper treatment.

Orthopedics and Traumatology in TCM

28 Aug 2015, 19:42

I'd like to introduce you Orthopedics and Traumatology in TCM (中醫骨傷科學) . 

http://www.polyu.edu.hk/uhs/en/ourservi ... ne-setting

The practice of Orthopedics and Traumatology in TCM is to prevent and treat osteoarticular and periarticular soft tissue injuries and diseases. It uses various treatment methods, based on TCM theory, such as manipulation, acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine, to manage these disorders and to cure the traumata of sinews and bones, meridians and collaterals, Qi and blood. The diseases managed in this field are classified as traumatology and osteopathy, such as fractures, dislocations, injuries of muscle and tendons, internal traumatic syndromes, and osteoarticular bi-syndromes, osteoarticular degenerative diseases, etc.

Here’s a more detailed content: http://tcmdiscovery.com/Orthopedics/

Here's a video I found on Youtube about "Relieving tendon and muscle" manipulation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJk2POWnNrk

Here's one on treating lumbar spinal transverse process: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWnBNEc8NzY

Here's the other one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlsPHcURFBc

Orthopedics and Traumatology in TCM has a lot to do with human anatomy and physical examination (all kinds of muscle, joint, nerve tests). Some patient underwent image studies and found nothing wrong or there's nothing else modern medicine could do and they turn to TCM Traumatology doctors for help. When injured, most Taiwanese just know when to see a TCM Traumatology doctor and when to see a western medicine doctor (Rehabilitation, orthopedics and neurology doctors).

 

 

Improving Sleep Disorder by Practicing Tao-yin for Menopausal Women

18 Jun 2015, 16:15

We're now conducting a clinical research on "Improving Sleep Disorder by Practicing Tao-yin for Menopausal Women"

We're looking for participants who live in Taipei, Hsinchu, Taichung and meets the following criteria:

歡迎45歲~60歲(實歲)，有睡眠障礙之更年期婦女(無治療中之重大疾病)。

能自由行走，無肢體障礙或限制活動，

可以親自至收案地點。(約6次，每次半小時至1小時，填寫問卷。)

可以國語及台語溝通(speaks Chinese or Taiwanese)，經解釋研究目的及過程，

能理解測量問卷之內容，同意受訪加入本研究，並簽署受試者同意書。

在家練習道家養生引術，共持續2個月。

If you know someone who might be interested in participating this research, please contact us.   http://bcq-health.blogspot.tw/

TCM use in patients with inflammatory bowel disease: a population study in Taiwan.

Hepatogastroenterology. 2008 Mar-Apr;55(82-83):467-70.
Patterns of traditional Chinese medicine use in patients with inflammatory bowel disease: a population study in Taiwan.

I see this citation in the morning meeting today about the topic: Ulcerative Colitis
You might also be interested in how Taiwanese use TCM
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18613389

Abstract
BACKGROUND/AIMS:
Many researchers have reported on the utilization of complementary and alternative medicine by patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). The aim of this study was to investigate the use of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) by all IBD patients within the National Health Insurance in Taiwan.

METHODOLOGY:
The complete ambulatory visits records of TCM in 2004 were obtained from the National Health Insurance Research Database. For all IBD patients identified from the registry for catastrophic illness patients, patterns of TCM visits were analyzed.

RESULTS:
The prevalence of IBD in Taiwan was 5.6 per 100,000 persons at the end of 2004. Of 1,206 IBD patients, 440 (37%) patients have in total 3,169 TCM visits in 2004. Women were more likely to use TCM than men (40.5% vs. 34.3%). Among the TCM users of the IBD patients, 200 (45.5%) patients had gastroenterological diagnoses at their TCM visits. Most of their TCM visits contained herbal remedies (90%), followed by manual therapy (11.7%) and acupuncture (9.8%).

CONCLUSIONS:
The high utilization rate of TCM among the IBD patients in Taiwan implied that their needs of medical care were not satisfied by the mainstream Western medicine. The TCM herbal regimens deserve further studies.

Tai Chi Chuan, Tao-yin, and Qi-gong

10 Apr 2015, 23:10

Is anyone interested in Tai Chi Chuan, Tao-yin or Qi-gong?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tai_chi
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tao_yin
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qigong

↑Ju-Ming Art Museum in Jinshan, New Taipei City ↑ http://www.juming.org.tw/ I've been here twice.

The theory of Tai Chi has a lot to do with daoism, which is the core spirit of traditional Chinese medicine.
Tai chi chuan's theories and practice are believed to have been formulated by the Taoist monk Zhang Sanfeng (張三丰) in the 12th century. Although Tai Chi has been practiced for hundreds of years, not until recent years did we see some randomized control trials about the effectiveness of Tai Chi. In these RCTs, unlike most of the medicial research, not a single drop of blood was sampled, no lab tests or image studies required, just using questionnaires. And it was published in the best medical journal, NEJM. We hope there will be more and more studies like these to prove the effectiveness of the TCM theory, which came from the invaluable wisdom of ancient Chinese.

Lots of Taiwanese benefit from Tai Chi or Tao-yin and Qi-gong, they might not know the result of RCTs, they just feel more comfortable after doing it. Share with you.

A Randomized Trial of Tai Chi for Fibromyalgia 
N Engl J Med 2010; 363:743-754 August 19, 2010
http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa0912611

Tai Chi and Postural Stability in Patients with Parkinson's Disease
N Engl J Med 2012; 366:511-519 February 9, 2012
http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa1107911

Tao-yin pictures in ancient books.

NCCAOM 2013 Job Analysis

Here's something interesting: 

Executive Summary Descriptive Demographic and Clinical Practice Profile NCCAOM 2013 Job Analysis：http://www.nccaom.org/wp-content/upload ... alysis.pdf

You'll get a picture of how acupuncture and herbal medicine are practiced in U.S.

Take a look!

Cost of acupuncture in U.S.

Original posted in Forumosa.com: 01 Jun 2015, 00:07

Here's an article about the cost of acupuncture in U.S. The median cost of acupuncture nationwide is $100. 

If you pay out of pocket for acupuncture in Tri-service General Hospital in Taipei, $20 only. If you're with national health insurance, $5 only. 

The people in Taiwan are blessed to benefit from NHI, please use your health insurance properly.

https://www.nerdwallet.com/blog/health/2015/05/26/how-much-does-acupuncture-cost/

Integrative Medicine Centers in U.S.

21 Jun 2015, 23:12

Today I attended a workshop for "Tutoring TCM Physician" in Taichung.「中醫醫療機構負責醫師訓練計畫」指導醫師培訓營。

A respectable speaker mentioned that many universities in U.S. have founded their own integrative medicine centers. Although this is not news for me, somehow I felt very encouraging, dreaming of one day I might be able to practice TCM in one of them. I hope TCM could be studied and practiced properly so as to benefit more and more people around the world.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8rwsuXHA7RA

Here's a report from The Bravewell Collaborative

http://www.bravewell.org/content/Downlaods/IMinAm.pdf

2015 TCM licensing exam in Taiwan

27 Jun 2015, 20:43

The 2015 TCM licensing exam in Taiwan will be held in July 25th -27th by the Ministry of Examination.

I will take a 12 days leave from July 16th to 27th to do a secret mission. We'll be locked in a building and be fed with lots of delicious food, four meals a day. Can you imagine a life without internet, modern technology, family and friends for 12 days? This will be an unforgettable experience for me.

I recalled five years ago when I just graduated to take this licensing exam, it took three consecutive days in a hot humid summer (2010.07.30-2010.08.01). We were seated in a classroom of Wu-chuan junior high school near my alma mater, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan without air conditioning. There are six subjects for us, plus Chinese Composition (The link below the subject title are the exact questions for us in 2010, you could take a look if you can read Chinese characters)

Day 1:
Fundamental Subject 1: Foundations of TCM, TCM history, Nei-jing and Nanjing
http://wwwc.moex.gov.tw/ExamQuesFiles/Question/099/21107100.pdf

Fundamental Subject 2: Herbal medicine and Formula
http://wwwc.moex.gov.tw/ExamQuesFiles/Question/099/21107200.pdf

Clinical Subject 1: Shanghan Lun, Jin Gui Yao Lue, Febrile diseases, TCM Diagnosis
http://wwwc.moex.gov.tw/ExamQuesFiles/Question/099/21107300.pdf

Day 2:
Clinical Subject 2: TCM internal medicine, TCM gynecology, TCM pediatrics
http://wwwc.moex.gov.tw/ExamQuesFiles/Question/099/21107400.pdf

Clinical Subject 3: Surgical Chinese Medicine, TCM traumatology, TCM Otolaryngology, TCM Ophthalmology
http://wwwc.moex.gov.tw/ExamQuesFiles/Question/099/21107500.pdf

Clinical Subject 4: Acupuncture
http://wwwc.moex.gov.tw/ExamQuesFiles/Question/099/21107600.pdf

Day 3:
Chinese (including 60 % Composition)
http://wwwc.moex.gov.tw/ExamQuesFiles/Question/099/21107700.pdf

To compare with NCCAOM exam I took four years ago in Madison, WI. The experience was totally different. I went online to choose the day and the place I wanted to take the tests at Pearson Vue center.
http://www.pearsonvue.com/nccaom/ 

The exams were adaptive, which means the computer will choose the next question according to how you answer the previous one. According to the introduction on the internet, computer adaptive tests not only improve exam score reliability, but also further reduces the potential for cheating (memorizing test questions) by minimizing test question exposure since every examinee receives a unique set of examination questions based on the test specification requirements and the tester’s response to each new test item on the exam.

There are four subjects for the candidate of Diplomate of Oriental Medicine: 
1. Biomedicine Exam
2. Acupuncture with Point Location
3. Chinese Herbology Exam
4. Foundations of Oriental Medicine 
Plus Clean Needle Technique test (I drove to Pacific College of Oriental Medicine - Chicago to take this test.)

It was really an unforgettable exam experience. I get to choose the date of each exam. How wonderful is that! It might be the first adaptive exam I’ve ever taken. I felt really excited to answer questions in front of computer, which helped me to get rid of some anxiety. What's more, you know whether you passed or not right after you answer the last question. This is really an amazing experience for me.

To conclude, I hope the world won't change too much during the 12 days when I was out of reach. Since there will be lots of free delicious food provided by the minister of examination, I hope I won't gain too much weight. ^_^

Rodgers on calf

13 Jan 2015, 09:06

Rodgers on calf: "I have 120 minutes left in me"

http://ppt.cc/G-HT

Packers QB Aaron Rodgers was available to the media in the Lambeau Field following the Packers' 26-21 over the Cowboys on Sunday, January 11.

This is awesome! He gives a shout out to his ACUPUNCTURIST (at min 1:35).

More and more professional athletes are realizing the amazing power of this simple yet effective medicine.

Even my idol receives acupuncture!

20 Aug 2015, 10:04

Even my idol receives acupuncture!

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/536491374330513798/
Thanks for the pins!

NYC's source of Chinese herbs

14 Apr 2015, 20:06

http://www.rodalesorganiclife.com/video ... dian-herbs

Take a look at this herbal medicine store. NYC's source of Chinese herbs, custom formula filling and acupuncture supplies for over 35 years.

Exchange Medical Students

04 Aug 2015, 20:10

Two medical students who came from Grenoble, France, are doing their clerkship in our department for this August. It's very interesting for us to exchange the information about our medical systems in our own countries. These medical students hardly learned anything about traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). Nevertheless, they choose to come to Chinese Medicine Department in TSGH to see how we practice TCM. It is a good chance to introduce TCM to them, I feel very excited.

I recalled 6 years ago, when I was doing my internship in the Chinese medicine department in TSGH, a medical student came from Austria. I typed with my laptop to translate in English instantly about what the doctor and patients were talking about to make her realize how a TCM doctor take patient's history. I still feel very excited of doing so.

Besides, thanks to Forumosa.com, I met in person with a California acupuncturist last week. It's very nice of him to share his experience of learning and practicing TCM with me and I also benefit a lot from the information about the current situation of acupuncture in U.S. I’m truly grateful for his reaching out and I welcome anyone who is interested in TCM (or integrated medicine) or having any question about TCM to meet in person.

Labels Like ‘Alternative Medicine’ Don’t Matter. The Science Does.

12 Aug 2015, 22:44

Here's an article I read about TCM today. The author Aaron E. Carroll is a professor of pediatrics at Indiana University School of Medicine.

Labels Like ‘Alternative Medicine’ Don’t Matter. The Science Does.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/11/upshot/....

I share this because there are many medical journal links in it. You could take a look one by one when you have some time.

We don't know everything about human body. Even after 10+ years learning both TCM and modern medicine and practice TCM, I still find it very challenging when it comes to treating patients with all kinds of diseases. It's a good thing that more and more foreigners are interested in TCM. As long as people keep exploring it, it will make progress and benefit more and more people.

Placebo Effects in Medicine

07 Jul 2015, 00:22

I read an article about placebo effects in the latest NEJM today.

You might learn something new from it. Share with you.

http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp1504023?query=TOC&

Why Most Published Research Findings Are False

22 Sep 2015, 22:45

A famous professor, John P.A. Ioannidis, was invited to deliver a speech in Taiwan in recent days. https://med.stanford.edu/profiles/john-ioannidis

Prof. Ioannidis is famous for the article “Why Most Published Research Findings Are False” published on PLoS Medicine in 2005.

http://journals.plos.org/plosmedicine/article?id=10.1371/journal.pmed.0020124

If the original article is too long for you, you could take a look at these media coverage:

http://www.plosmedicine.org/article/related/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pmed.0020124

And here’s another one of his research on “How to Make More Published Research True” published in 2014.

http://journals.plos.org/plosmedicine/article?id=10.1371/journal.pmed.1001747

The media coverage of Prof. Ioannidis’ visiting Taiwan is here:

http://goo.gl/S23BRV

My point of view:

Don’t jump into conclusion too soon. Be humble and open minded. 

I'm an acupuncturist (OMD) in Taipei

Hello Everyone, 

My name is Tsung-yun (Joey) Hsieh. I am a licensed acupuncturist in Taiwan, where the formal title for us is 中醫師, a.k.a. doctor of Chinese medicine. I work in Chinese Medical Department, Tri-service General Hospital in Taipei. The services we provide are as follows: Chinese herbal medicine in granule or decoction, acupuncture (and moxibustion, cupping,etc.) to help patients with their discomforts of all kinds. I am also a NCCAOM Certified Practitioner since 2011 and licensed acupuncturist in the U.S. (Washington state and Wisconsin state)

For people who wants to try TCM out there in Taipei, contact me through email or phone. Thank you!

Cell: 0987-857332
Email: joey0825@gmail.com