Chinese Medicine: Keeping the Balance

This type of alternative medicine dates back thousands of years, but is still used all over the world.

    Balance is the foundation of Chinese medicine, which seeks to find and correct imbalances that give rise to illness and symptoms of disease. This alternative medicine dates back more than 5,000 years, with roots in the Chinese philosophy of Taoism. Today, the use of Chinese medicine has spread throughout the world - for example, a recent report showed that in just one year about 3 million U.S. adults used acupuncture as a type of treatment.

Chinese Medicine: Balance of Yin and Yang

    Many people are familiar with the drawing of yin and yang in which white and black occupy a circle - each swimming around each other with a tiny dot of the opposite color in their midst. This yin-yang balance is the basis of the alternative medicine approach generally referred to as traditional Chinese medicine.

    Yin is traditionally seen as colder and darker, while yang is more active, warmer, and lighter. But just as you need enough sleep at night (yin) to function well during the day (yang), internal balance affects your health, explains Lixing Lao, MD, PhD, professor of family and community medicine at the University of Maryland in Baltimore and former co-president of the Society for Acupuncture Research. Chinese medicine also attends to the flow of your life energy through your body along lines called meridians.

   “Disease diagnosis is made from all of this because if we lose balance, there is illness we can detect,” says Dr. Lao. For example, a Chinese medicine practitioner will take your pulse as part of your health assessment. If your pulse is very fast and hot, this is a correctable imbalance. The practitioner will also ask you about your lifestyle, your symptoms, and daily habits such as sleep and diet. “Then we come up with a treatment modality.” This could include diet changes, massage, and mind-body therapy (such as tai chi) as well as herbal teas or supplements and acupuncture.

Chinese Medicine: Pros and Cons

    Chinese medicine has been shown to help treat various medical ailments. For example, a recent study of 14 people with severe eczema found that an herbal bath and acupuncture both treated the skin disease and reduced the need for prescription medication. Chinese medicine may also ease menopause symptoms — the combination of acupuncture and Chinese herbal teas is effective in treating hot flashes, says Lao. Acupuncture has been used to treat back pain, emotional disorders, osteoarthritis, and nausea; Chinese herbs can help ease the symptoms of diabetes, cancer, and heart disease.

Just as with the symmetry of yin and yang, the pros come with some cons. An overdose of Chinese herbs can be toxic or lead to serious health complications. Be sure to follow your doctor’s directions.

    Also, it's possible that some imported Chinese herbal mixtures may contain ingredients from Western medicine which, when combined with the medicine you are already taking, could cause an overdose. Be sure to learn about the source of all supplements and teas. Although modern manufacturing processes usually remove any trace metal or pesticides in a supplement or tea by the time it reaches you, it's still possible to get Chinese medicines from less reputable sources.

Work closely with your primary care doctor while taking Chinese medicine treatments to avoid any risks of this alternative medicine.

Chinese Medicine: Who Practices It?

    While there is no licensing requirement for Chinese medicine practitioners, people should look for practitioners who were trained in Chinese medicine at schools licensed by the Accreditation Commission for Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine and who have passed the national certification exam.

    Chinese medicine has been used successfully for thousands of years in China to treat a wide variety of everyday complaints and illnesses, so a trained practitioner with access to the right herbs and compounds could be drawing on as much or more knowledge as a Western-trained medical doctor, according to Lao.

Chinese Medicine: Working with Your Practitioner

      Baltimore resident Marian Gold Brenner, who has been using Chinese medicine for two decades to treat migraines, fibromyalgia, and other health concerns, says her practitioner has a small pharmacy in her office.

    Brenner says that when she first started seeing her practitioner, she had jars of the most astounding-looking ingredients. "In China, they compound them by measuring out your daily dose of 10 to 12 ingredients, and you boil them for yourself [as tea]. She would boil them for her patients,” Brenner says. “Now, most of the compounding is done with powders. She has quite a large pharmacy of patent medicine, such as throat lozenges and stomach medicine.”

      At 66, Brenner travels the world with her own small pharmacy of Chinese herbal remedies for her ongoing health concerns as well as any unexpected illnesses. She also takes Western medicine for her chronic conditions and says that keeping both her Western internist and her Chinese medicine practitioner informed about what she is taking is crucial to her success.