Traditional Chinese Medicine can help you!

Yong Gao Wang* M.D., Dipl & L Ac

Chicago Acupuncture & Herbs Center
30 North Michigan Avenue, Suite 523, Chicago, IL 60602
Phone: 312-899-9999, Website: HerbsMed.com
Email: Drwang@herbsmed.com


Quite a number of patients come to my clinic with stress, anxiety and /or depression. Can traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) treat those syndromes effectively? The results from my experience so far are very positive.

TCM has been developing for more than four thousand years in China with its own theories, concepts and systems. The main treatment methods of TCM include meridian acupuncture, herbal medicine and Tuina, a Chinese-style massage. In TCM, we approach patients in a way much different from conventional medicine in the United States. For example, insomnia, fatigue, constipation, depression and so on may be caused by imbalance of inner organs in the body. So the treatment in TCM will focus on bringing balance back to the organs. It was not unusual that my patients were very much surprised that some of the syndromes together with the main complications they had suffered a long time disappeared. They were amazed and called it beneficial "side effects", which is totally expected in TCM, because we deal with the whole person and root problems instead of focusing on syndromes only. Holistic and integrative approach is one of TCM characteristics.

Another characteristic of TCM is very "gentle". Most of the cases I deal with had long history. I treat them with integrative acupuncture and herbal medicine, and sometimes Tuina. You may be aware of the fact that Chinese meridian acupuncture is not the same as the so-called medical acupuncture in the United States. And traditional Chinese herbal medicine also differs from medical herbal medicine, like garlic, kavakava, in the United States. Basically, medical herbal medicine is used as drug. We know forty percent of the drug we are using now originally came from plants or herbs like aspirin and digitilis (a drug for heart failure). Medical herbal medicine takes so-called "effective component" from the herbs and concentrated them to make a capsule and so on. That is the reason why most of medical herbal medicine drugs are not effective in treating chronic diseases: they simply are too "simple" to deal with our "complicated" human body, and, if high dosage is used side effects will occur because they are concentrated already. Unlike Medical Herbal Medicine, the traditional Chinese herbal medicine uses a recipe or prescription of real herbs to make decoction or pills to treat almost all kinds of diseases, from herpes zoster (shingle), acne, infertility to fibromyalgia, and from stress, anxiety, depression to coronary heart disease. Literally, the recipe or prescription combines varieties of herbs that treat diseases like teamwork. It is accumulated over thousands of years in human experience in fighting diseases. Each recipe among the common ten thousand recipes consists mainly of four kinds of herbs, principal herb(s), whick plays the leading role in counteracting the disease; adjuvant herb(s), which strengthens the principal herb(s)'s action; auxiliary herb(s), which relieves secondary symptoms, and which is also a correcting herb(s) that either tempers the action of the principal herb(s) if the latter is too potent or checks any potential toxic side effects; and finally conducting herb(s), which directs the action of herbs to the affected meridian or site. Clearly, the recipes of traditional Chinese herbal medicine are designed for treating not only patient's main complaints, but also the associated syndromes and the side effects as well. Each herb in the recipe has restrict dosage to fit the recipe's certain action propose. Only changing the dosage pattern among the herbs in the recipes could change the recipe's whole action, and sometimes it becomes a new recipe for treating another disease! Most dosage of herbs in the recipe is 3 to 9 gram, 9 gram of real dry herbs, not 9 gram of purified component powder from herbs! That is why traditional Chinese herbal medicine could deal with human's complicated conditions, and in the meanwhile it is a very gentle medicine, almost no side effects at all if used properly. 

So who could visit TCM practitioner? As an alternative medicine practitioner in the States, I summarize its indications in my clinic as fellows. A. Any properly diagnosed patient who went through other treatments that have not worked, or are less effective and have more side effects. B. Any patient feeling sick or abnormal when conventional diagnostic techniques show normal and/or no conventional treatment is available. If your doctor tells you it is something you have to live with, you may find a TCM practitioner to help you. C. Use it to increase the benefits of other health or medical care, for example, chronic pain caused by cancer or severe side effects from chemotherapy. 


*Dr. Wang is Research Assistant Professor of Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood, Illinois. He is also the founder and director of Chicago Acupuncture & Herbs Center.