I will deliver a speech "Traditional Chinese Medicine Health Promotion" on this Wednesday, Dec 5th at Ta Chih Presbyterian Church shown as this picture above. It's a free event.
Address: No.651, Bei’an Rd., Zhongshan Dist., Taipei City Time: 11:10 am -12:00 pm The speech will be conducted in Mandarin. You are welcome to join us.
Here's a peer-reviewed articles on TCM Health Promotion.
雖然2015年我開始這個部落格的初衷，是想把中醫介紹、推廣給在台灣的外國人知道，但也該利用這個平台寫一些中文的中醫衛教文章，讓更廣大的台灣民眾可以參考。 希望每個月都可以有至少一篇的產量。希望你會喜歡！ Although I created this blog in 2015 only because I wanted to promote Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) to foreigners in Taiwan, I should also post something in Mandarin so that Taiwanese patients can also know more about TCM. I will write some articles in Mandarin. Hopefully at least one post per month.
Photo Credit: Tourism Bureau, Taiwan I thought I should do something to promote Taiwan. So I create a new tag to share something fun about Taiwan. To begin, here's the Wikipedia page on Taiwan.
I delivered a lecture to our interns and residents on the topic "Irritable Bowel Syndrome" earlier this month. There's an article published on JAMA, using herbal medicine to treat IBS tewnty years ago.
JAMA. 1998 Nov 11;280(18):1585-9. Treatment of irritable bowel syndrome with Chinese herbal medicine: a randomized controlled trial. Bensoussan A, Talley NJ, Hing M, Menzies R, Guo A, Ngu M. CONCLUSION: Chinese herbal formulations appear to offer improvement in symptoms for some patients with IBS. There are MANY systemic review articles on treating IBS with herbal medicine. PLoS One. 2017 Dec 18;12(12):e0189491. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0189491. eCollection 2017. Systematic review and meta-analysis of traditional Chinese medicine in the treatment of constipation-predominant irritable bowel syndrome. Li DY, Dai YK, Zhang YZ, Huang MX, Li RL, Ou-Yang J, Chen WJ, Hu L. CONCLUSION: TCM showed greater improvement in terms of clinical efficacy in the treatment of IBS-C than cisapride and mosapride, although it was not possible to draw a definitive conclusion due to the small sample size, high risk, and low quality of the studies. Large multi-center and long-term high-quality randomized control trials are needed. Evid Based Complement Alternat Med. 2016;2016:4071260. doi: 10.1155/2016/4071260. Epub 2016 Jul 31. Efficacy of Chinese Herbal Medicine for Diarrhea-Predominant Irritable Bowel Syndrome: A Meta-Analysis of Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Trials. Zhu JJ, Liu S, Su XL, Wang ZS, Guo Y, Li YJ, Yang Y, Hou LW, Wang QG, Wei RH, Yang JQ, Wei W. CONCLUSION:This meta-analysis shows that Chineseherbal medicine is an effective and safe treatment for D-IBS. However, due to the small sample size and high heterogeneity, further studies are required. Clin Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2015 Nov;13(11):1946-54.e1. doi: 10.1016/j.cgh.2015.06.022. Epub 2015 Jun 29. Efficacy of a Chinese Herbal Medicine in Providing Adequate Relief of Constipation-predominant Irritable Bowel Syndrome: A Randomized Controlled Trial. Bensoussan A, Kellow JE, Bourchier SJ, Fahey P, Shim L, Malcolm A, Boyce P. CONCLUSION: In a prospective, controlled study, CHM reduced symptoms of IBS-C, increased bowel satisfaction and stool consistency, and reduced straining and hard lumpy stools, compared with placebo In our daily practice, the use of Chinese herbal medicine is quite effective in treating IBS in all types, including constipation, diarrhea and mix. We would evaluate the causes of IBS as well as patients' body constitution and then prescribe some herbs to tonify the Qi of the digestive system so that it can function normally. Herbal medicines are usually more natural and harmless. Sometimes we also add acupuncture to treat IBS. Although IBS is not a very serious illness, it does affect patients' quality of life and is the second highest cause of work absenteeism. (The highest is common cold.) Why not give TCM a try?
We have been conducting a series of studies, sponsored by the Ministry of Health and Welfare, on TCM health promotion by teaching the general public to do some Tao-yin exercises. This photo was taken yesterday when we had a wrap-up presentation for all the participants.
Please refer to these three Youtube videos filmed by the Taiwan Society of Health Promotion, where I now serve as Deputy Secretary-General, for the details:
After practicing each of these Tao-yin exercises for two months, the result all show that the blood pressure and the quality of life, the quality of sleep are statistically significantly better. What's more, when we use BCQ (Body Constitution Questionaire, including BCQ+, BCQ-) to evaluate the body constitution of the participants, the result also shows that the Yin-deficiency, Yang-deficiency and Stasis can be corrected to normal body constitution by practicing these Tao-yin exercises for two months.
As prevention is more important than treatment, we believe it is our first priority for TCM doctors to educate general public/family & friends/patients to avoid being sick. And it works!
Want to stay healthy? These exercises are not so complicated and can be practiced at home at all weather conditions.
Conclusion: "This study found associations between the use of acid-suppressive medications and antibiotics during the first 6 months of infancy and subsequent development of allergic disease."
This paper brought us a chance to review the physiology of pediatric digestive system in the TCM theory.
When it comes to treating pediatric digestive disorders, herbal medicine can be very helpful. Parents bring their kids with all kinds of digestive problems to us, such as loss of appetite, abdominal pain/distension, diarrhea, constipation, nausea/vomiting, and low body weight and/or height, etc. These symptoms can usually be controlled or improved by taking herbal medicine for 1-2 weeks.
My kids start taking herbal medicine when indicated at around 1-2 years old. I would prescribe herbal medicine and make the flavor enjoyable for them. Some of my little patients LOVE the taste of herbal medicine. My kids hardly take any western medicine since TCM works perfectly for them.
Randomized Controlled Trial of Acupuncture for Women with Fibromyalgia: Group Acupuncture with Traditional Chinese Medicine Diagnosis-Based Point Selection.
Although the number of patients included in this study is not very big, it uses not some specific acupoints for all patients but chooses acupoints according to each patient's TCM diagnosis. I would highly recommend this kind of treatment since no two patients are the same in the eyes of TCM doctors.
For FM treatment, the combination of herbal medicine and acupuncture is usually more effective.
