Ask The Pharmacist, Chinese Medicine

Eamonn Brady is a pharmacist and the owner of Whelehans Pharmacy, Pearse St, Mullingar. If you have any health questions e-mail them to info@whelehans.ie

As a pharmacist, I am sometimes asked about Chinese medicine and questions like “how does it work?”, “is it worth trying?”, and so on.
Chinese medicine is an all embracing system that encompasses all aspects of human existence. Even a basic introduction to its principles far exceeds the scope of this article.
According to the principles of Chinese medicine, health exists when the body is balanced and its energy is flowing freely. The term energy refers to Qi, the life energy that is said to animate the body. The term balance refers to the relative factors of Yin and Yang, the classic Taoist opposing forces of the universe.
In an ideal state, Yin and Yang in all their forms are perfectly balanced in every part of the body. However, external or internal factors can upset this balance, which then leads to disease. Chinese medical diagnosis and treatment involves identifying the factors that are out of balance and attempting to bring them back into harmony.
It is important to realize that diagnosis according to Chinese medicine differs greatly from Western diagnosis. One disease can have multiple root causes and for this reason, there is no such thing as a standard treatment rather, treatment must be individualized to the imbalance determined by traditional theory. Put simply Western medicine tends to focus on the disease a person has, Chinese medicine focuses on the person who has a disease. 

The diagnostic methods of Chinese medicine reflect its ancient roots, observation of the individual, palpation of the body and pulses. In an era of MRI scans, X-rays, blood tests etc. this approach can seem low tech and antiquated but many people who seek treatment using Chinese medicine have seen no resolution of their issues with the high tech approach. One of the great strengths of Chinese medicine is seen as the fact that the diagnostic theory of Chinese medicine is so robust that it is as valid today as it was thousands of years ago. New diseases may be discovered or evolve but the basic nature of a human being remains the same.

Examples of Treatments Available
Acupuncture
Acupuncture works by stimulating specific “acupoints” along the skin of the body using various methods such as penetration by thin needles or the application of pressure, heat or laser light. It is used for a range of conditions, but most often pan relief. Classical Acupuncture is acupuncture based on the tenets laid out in the Classical medical texts of the Han dynasty, the height of the practice’s development. This Classical methodology was refined during the Northern Song dynasty and it continues to be enhanced by the interpretation of the classic texts by practitioners who follow this approach.

Chinese Herbal Medicine
Chinese herbal medicine represents a vast body of knowledge that stretches back at least three thousand years, while the traditions of western herbalism have become obsolete with the rise of synthetic drugs. In recent years herbal medicine in general and Chinese herbal medicine in particular has been labelled as worthless or based on a medical system that has no scientific validity, but as on-going clinical research is showing there is a place for traditional herbal medicine in the modern world.

This article is shortened to fit within Newspaper space limits.