What you need to know about Dampness

Damp or dampness is a name you will probably hear frequently from your Chinese medicine (CM) practitioner.
Before you discovered CM you probably never heard of dampness. It’s a concept that is unique to CM, today Herbalist Marie Hopkinson talks about damp, and everyone should know about Dampness.

Firstly, damp is one of six pathogenic influences on the body. it can come from the outside environment or accumulate internally.

Internal dampness happens when our digestive functions fail. In Chinese medicine, the digestive functions are attributed to our SPLEEN, STOMACH and INTESTINES (Small and Large Intestine) organs as well as fluids being metabolised by other organs like the SAN JIAO (or tripple heater/tripple warmer), the KIDNEYS and BLADDER.

Rather than get too bogged down in a lot of detail, I’ll focus on the main culprits of dampness and how we can go about preventing and ridding it from our body.

The Spleen and Stomach essentially function as a cooking pot on the stove model:

The Stomach receives the food, and the Spleen function is to digest it with its energy (represented by the fire below the pot). The Stomach is slightly hotter that the rest of our body (around 38 deg Celc).

The Stomach requires the Spleen’s energy to do it’s job of breaking up foods and sending them down the rest of the digestive tube to either be absorbed or eliminated as waste.

In CM, we say the Stomach/Spleen digestive combo  likes WARM, MOIST and COOKED and hates COLD, DRY, RAW. What we mean by hates and likes is that the warm, moist and cooked are easier to digest – they take up less energy so your body likes that.

Cold, dry and raw foods take up more energy (use up more of the Spleen’s power or function) so they can weaken it if you eat too much, or particularly if you already have a weak Spleen or weak body from something else (like your just getting over a surgery or severe illness or cold and flu where you sweated a lot) then your body overall might be weaker and more susceptible to the greater demand that eating COLD, DRY and RAW foods places on you.

Dampness happens when the spleen gets overwhelmed, and fails to do it’s job – that is “Transform and transport”. The Spleen function gets buggered up and overwhelmed by:

• overeating – the stomach gets too full and there is no room to digest. too much food means overworking the Spleen and its gets tired and weak
• Eating “hard to digest foods” – this is basically anything that requires more work to do, tires out the Spleen function. (raw, cold, heavily processed and dry foods are all good examples)
• Eating whilst getting upset
• eating whilst thinking too hard or doing mental activities – especially habits created where this is a regular occurrence.
• Eating irregular meals – some too big, some too small, missing meals, then having one giant big meal etc.

Think of dampness like a muddy marsh. A sludge.

it’s like a fog or cloud in our body, it weighs down the limbs and muscles – your arms and legs feel heavy and sluggish when we are overwhelmed by dampness.

Cloudy thinking, muddle headedness, bloating, diarrhoea or loose stools and tiredness where you feel worse from doing things and especially heavy feeling in your body are all symptoms that can mean dampness is part of your CM diagnosis.

Some foods in CM are considered especially dampening. These are greasy, rich, sugary, creamy types of foods. Anything that is

Damp can come into our body from the environment too. In Australia we don’t see this as much because our climate is mostly dry. Living or working in damp places like a basement that’s damp, being in the pool or water a lot, working in a damp place where there is moist air can all cause symptoms of damp in the body that might be coming from the external environment rathe than an overstrain of your digestive functions (that would be called internal dampness).

IMPORTANT NOTICE: This information is provided in public interest of keeping people as healthy as possible. Common sense should always be applied. Too much of anything can be hazardous to health. This information is not intended as a substitute for medical advice or diagnosis by a health practitioner. If you have a health condition, you should check with your health care practitioner before using foods as medicine treatments, if you are in any way unsure about the suitability of the food agents, herbs or recipies for your body. In an medical emergency always contact emergency services, call 000 in Australia.

Chinese medicine organs and some words are capitalised to indicate they are different to the biomedical understanding of the organ. In Chinese medicine each organ represents the system of function according to ancient principals of understanding, including the channel system, spiritual, mental and physical functions. The traditional understanding of Chinese medicine organs is actually a functional system often encompass many now biomedically defined aspects such as lymphatic and endocrine (hormone) functions that are attributed to that organ. A lower case letter of an organ will indicate it’s reference to the biomedical organ. EG Kidney  (the Kidney functions of CM) and kidney (biomedical/physical kidney).

This article is written by Marie Hopkinson, the Chinese Herbalist & Acupuncturist at Metro Health and Medicine in North Perth. Marie is available for consultation by calling 1300 132 830 or email info@metrohealth.com.au

(C) Marie Hopkinson 2016 Reproduction permissible only with express permission of author.

Beat the Heat

If you live in Australia, no doubt you know it’s summer. Where I am in Perth, it's been up to 44 degrees already! Did you know that the weather is significant in the cause of disease according to Chinese medicine? 

Heat is one of “6 Pathogens”, that can invade the body and cause disharmonies. Heat can commonly invade the channels of the neck, face and throat causing sore-throat, hayfever or seasonal allergies. Symptoms of heat include pain – usually severe or throbbing, as heat dries up fluids it can cause body fluids to congeal. For example phlegm will get thicker, yellow or sticky, urine can become more concentrated, darker and the tongue will get redder and more dry (as the moisture of the mouth can be dried up by Heat).

Heat clearing foods can be used as a preventative during the hot weather. Fruit & Veg that are watery and not too sweet like Watermelon, cucumber, lettuce are good at keeping away heat invasions. Drinking Chrysanthemum (Ju Hua) honeysuckle(Jin Yin Hua) and dandelion (Pu Gong Ying) herbs (by themselves or add to green tea) are more targeted ways to clear heat – especially from the face and throat.

Heat can invade not only via the environment but from our diet also. In Australia this weekend (26^th January) we are coming up to Australia Day – a time of national celebration where the classic Aussie thing to do is to drink alcohol. Alcohol’s nature is essentially warm-hot, so combining lots of drinking with warm weather is a perfect environment to cause Heat-invasion disharmonies. Intoxication from drinking can cause what we refer to in Chinese medicine as “toxic heat”. 

Diarrhea, vomiting, breakouts of acne are all common hangover symptoms which essentially come from the self-induced toxic heat invasion. The simplest way to avoid this is to drink less! Space drinks out with water, use some self-control, and enjoy Australia day. If you do find yourself suffering the effects of a toxic-heat hangover Chinese medicine employs more “detox” methods to clear out the toxic heat. Our Tong Kuai Hangover tea is based on the idea of clearing toxic heat from the digestive system via the bowels. Watermelon is a good hangover food as well.    

Natures Pain Killers

Pain is a natural human experience, and it's not a pleasant one. As soon as we experience pain our next thought is "how can I stop it?"

In our search for some relief, why not turn to nature to try to alleviate some or all of the pain with natural relief? Essential oils, herbs, mental techniques, acupuncture and heat are all common and often cheap alternatives to drugs.

Before we delve into these natural solutions to treat pain, it's important to know the reason for the pain. Most of these natural alternatives are great for people who have already sought out medical help, and found there is either no "known cause" of the painful symptoms or the cause is untreatable and they are in a situation of managing the pain.

If the pain is acute (it just came on recently), it's something new, its getting worse and/or changing location to usual then it's important to seek medical advice. Visit your GP, registered professional health practitioner or go to the hospital if it's an emergency situation. In Australia we have a government health advice line you can ring and speak to a nurse who will assess if you need to go to emergency: 1800 022 222.

HEAT 

A great place to start to alleviate pain is heat. Heat makes blood vessels expand, getting more of the healing properties to the area you have heated up. Because too much blood with no movement can cause stagnation, it's best to use heat for 20 mins at a time, and follow up with some movement of the area or light massage around the area depending on the type of injury /pain you have.

MOXA

Moxa  is a type of herbal heat that is widely used in Chinese medicine. Moxa is a herb that has Blood moving properties, and is used by everyday people as well as practitioners to alleviate pain. In the clinic, you might see practitioners use moxa on acupuncture points with a stick or cones or even a moxa box. The wooden boxes are a great way to use the moxa at home for personal use. Tiger warmers - the metal stick device featured in the photo to the left, are a device designed to help people use the moxa stick on areas like the back, shoulders, limbs and abdomen to treat pain. We sell the tiger warmers and moxa boxes in our store, and our staff can assist you with help to learn how to use them.

Link to Moxa products on our Webstore just Below:
www.metrohealth.myshopify.com/moxa

ESSENTIAL OILS

Essential Oils are another favourite of mine for natural pain relief.

Frankincense, Clary Sage and Lavender is a good blend to soothe pain. Frankincense is a blood moving Chinese Herb - it's function is to move Blood stasis. Injuries will usually result in some degree of Blood stasis, so moving it will help speed up healing.

Frankincense and Clary Sage is great combination for period pain, back pain or pain from traumatic injuries. Lavender is soothing and is often used to help headaches. Apply directly or dilute and use with caution during pregnancy.

Heating Essential oils include Camphor, Menthol, Eucalyptus, Wintergreen - which are great for Arthritis or Joint pain (known or Cold/Damp Bi Zheng Syndrome in Chinese Medicine). Camphor and Menthol are common ingredients in well known "pain rubs" like tiger balm and deep heat. I once made a salt scrub using Wintergreen for a patient who suffered arthritis - in the shower they could scrub their body with the exfoliating scrub which left a soothing warming oily residue to moisturise and infuse the skin with the pain- reliving essential oils.


We have essential oils available in our Maylands Store and also online @ http://metrohealth.myshopify.com

MENTAL DISTRACTION

Finally, there is something great about mental distraction in managing chronic pain. You get what you foucs on...so if you have nothing else there but you and the pain, it will become worse due to it bieng your sole focus. Distract your mind by planning activities, watching a movie or TV, going for a walk if you can or even do a difficult puzzle or something else to take your mind off it.  Not all kinds of pain are suited to this method, but some pains, like period pain will actually benefit more from moving or standing than sitting and lying. Moving around might feel like the last thing you might feel like doing, however it's better to aid blood movement by standing and walking rather than sitting or lying down all day. Psychology, visualisation and hypnosis all contain powerful mind tools which experienced professionals can teach their clients how to better manage pain.

Of course, if pain gets worse, your symptoms change or your unsure of the cause you should see your Health Care Professional or go to the hospital in an urgent situation.

What's that Moxa smell all about?

Moxibustion, or moxa as it’s commonly know is a herbal therapy used in Chinese medicine, often alongside acupuncture, where the herb is burned to warm acupuncture points.

There are several types of moxa, and two main uses known as direct and indirect Moxa. Although Moxa smells similar to marijuana when it’s burning, there is no similarity in its effects or properties of the herbs! Lots of people have made comment over the years entering our clinic and shopfront that "oh someone is toking up back there" as I'm sure many other TCM practitioners would have been confronted with these comments too.

The most common types of moxa used are the needle-head moxa, Japanese moxa cones (stick-on moxa) and Moxa sticks.

When Moxa is in it’s natural state, it looks like a pile of green herbal fluff – known as “moxa punk”. The punk can be condensed into sticks, cones or the rougher grades of moxa punkare used in baths or externally applied.

Moxa sticks are most commonly used by practitioners – holding them over points, or the sticks can be put into a moxa box and applied to the acupuncture points.  Parts of the sticks can be used on the needles, known as needle-head moxa.

Moxa can be used as the whole or part of the treatment in many conditions. It’s particularly useful when cold has invaded into the body. A common example is cold-obstruction type arthritis. Moxibustion is used routinely in China for knee pain. Several studies on osteoarthritis of the knee have been done, although small sample sizes and other inconsistencies make it hard to draw definitive conclusions using a western medical research model¹.

In my clinic, treatment of knee pain is one of the most common uses of moxa. Usually four points around the knee are used with needle-head moxa. This can expel cold and stimulate local blood flow, and stop pain.

Moxa works by the application of heat to acupuncture points. Actually it causes a very minor burn on the skin (First degree burn, which is simply redness), which stimulates the bodies inflammatory response. This inflammatory response is a complex process where blood vessels change to allow cells to exit into the inflamed area, and increased blood supply in general. While inflammation is normally considered a negative or unwanted thing, it is perhaps the “short burst” /localized activation of this response that is involved in the Moxibustion treatment of pain.

Breech Presentation is another routine use of moxa. The moxa cones or moxa stick is applied to the points at the end of the toes, which can cause the breech baby to turn into the correct position. The point used is BL 67 – it is known as the point which turns Yin into Yang. 

When the yin (Growth, nourishment, sedintary) reaches it’s maximum , it will transform into Yang (activity, birth, moving). In treating breech presentation, this is best applied sooner rather than later, around 34 weeks is good to start. Usually a course of treatment over 10 days is given, the practitioner can instruct the patient how to appy the moxibusion themselves (usually a partner can help do it at home), with 2 or 3 treatments of moxibustion, usually combined with acupuncture given in the clinic over this 10 day period. Increasing numbers of midwives and clinicians in hospital environments are using moxibustion for breech presentation. As recently suggested in letters to the editor of Acupuncture in Medicine Journal of Brittish Medical Acupuncture Society², many hospitals could save money on cesareans and obstetric procedures if moxibustion was used as a protocol.  

Next time you visit your acupuncturist, ask if moxibustion is appropriate for your case.

References:

1. Choi, T, Kim, T, Kang, J, Lee, M, & Ernst, E 2011, 'Moxibustion for rheumatic conditions: a systematic review and meta-analysis', Clinical Rheumatology, 30, 7, pp. 937-945, MEDLINE Complete, EBSCOhost, viewed 19 November 2013.
2. Michael, W 2013, 'Letter to the editor on obstetric acupressure and acupuncture', Acupuncture In Medicine: Journal Of The British Medical Acupuncture Society, 31, 2, pp. 257-258, MEDLINE Complete, EBSCOhost, viewed 19 November 2013.

Stories from China... Inside the Chinese Medicine Hospital

My three months in Hangzhou as an intern at the Hangzhou Shi Zhong Yi Yuan was one of my most memorable life experiences.

As a teacher in TCM, I am constantly urging my students to "go to China". There is no substitute for this experience. I can't even articluate all the reasons eloquently why this is so imperative, but in this post I hope to shed some light on it.

Imagine a room, around 45m2, with about 6 desks in there. About half the size of a standard office desk. Around each desk are 3 or 4 typical Chinese wooden stools - the kind a size 14 westerner could fit half of their butt on!


The outpatients clinic is a room just like this, except it is filled with people. Each doctor has their own desk, alonside them are their intern(s) - the more they have the more popular that doctor probably is.

Walking in at 8am when the hospital is just opening, it's buzzing full of people. The doctors havent even arrived but there are people everywhere. Down the hallways and crowding around the desks. Each patient is often are accompanied by an entourage - family support for their sick mother, father or even grown up child. Often the patients would have several relatives or close friends with them.
It's apparent that when a person is sick their community is mobilised.

The system in the hospitals at that time (ten years ago) - and still is the way in many hospitals- is a no appointment, first come, first served basis. The patients would register at the administration of the hospital, recieve a ticket then go and wait at the doctors desk to be seen. They place their patient record book on the table and before long a queue of patient record books piles up. When the doctor walks in and sees the normal 15 or so books lined up on their desk they can see today is just another ordinary, incredibly busy day.


The self-ownership of the health care record was the first amazing, unique thing that stood out to me in my first weeks of studying in China. This system seemed so simple and sensical that I wondered why we don't do it in Australia? The answer to that one probably lies in the bureaucratic and popous traditions of western medicine (which developed in ways that take the power away from the patient and make the doctor look important and all-knowing)...but perhaps also in the underlying ownership of health that native Chinese inheritently have. This is a deep part of Chinese Medicine and it seemed that the Chinese have taken this into their management of their health care system at the root of it.

Basically each person is issued with a booklet, which added to that a swipe card around the mid 2000's. The card and the booklet contain all their records with doctors - both western and TCM, the card could be swiped at the computer station or doctors desk and all their MRI's, CT's etc would come up on the screen.

This is an amazing system when you consider "doctor shopping" - one doctor can see what the others have done thus far. It almost creates a bit of professional accountablity amoung herbalists - they can see what herbs and drugs have been prescribed, tests ordered and anything else inbetween.

Marie and Dermatology Doctor Luo Wei Dan

I digress from the main point but I really want to paint the picture that China is such an amazingly different place to any western country and it's health care system is definatley a unique one. I can't think of one western country that dosen't have issues with it's government issued medical services (the NHS in the UK, HMO's in the USA and Medicare etc in Australia).
Waiting lists for routine procedures, possibly unecessary health complications created by the waiting time to simply recieve a diagnosis (not even treatment), and the cost burden to patients are all common complaints.

I'm not saying that China is perfect by any means, but it was common to see a patient present with a health problem for the first time at 8am, see the doctor, have tests ordered and completed and return with MRI or CT test results by the afternoon of that same day. These weren't rich people - just normal everyday people. And this is with the enormous population (1.351 billion at last count - by the way there are 0.3 billion in the USA).

In China, low wages paid to health care workers certainly plays a part. But shouldn't health care be our greatest service to people? High population always lowers costs - supply and demand.

When you go to China as a TCM intern you have the privillage to observe so much. It's not just the hundreds of Chinese medicine (herbal), acupuncture or Tuina cases you see. I found I observed much more because of the language barrier. Your senses are awakened to what you see and feel more than what you can hear and understand in terms of language.

This amazing health care system was a massive stand out to me on my first visit to China as an intern. It's just something different. It has it's faults and flaws just as any other system but it's totally different to what we experience as "hospital medicine" in Australia.

Busting Winter Blues

In winter, the lack of sunshine rays makes some people more vunerable to feelings of depression, flatness and even sadness. 

 

Lithium is a natural chemical that our bodies absorb through the skin which is present in rays of sunshine. Natural sunlight has the ability to wake us up with a rejuvenation or brightness to face the day. Often our work schedules are not conducive to this “waking up with the sun” routine either. 

So how can we combat the “winter blues”? In Chinese medicine we recognise life has diferent seasons. While it’s not normal to sit around and sulk in winter, or just become a big slug on the couch, we needn’t have the same expectations of our life or body in winter that we do of summer or spring. Winter is a season of STORAGE and GATHERING of energy. Not expending or “doing” as we would in expect in the warmer seasons of spring and summer. 

Foods which nourish the Yang Qi (Energy) are slow cooked meats. Nuts like walnuts and almonds can be roasted or toasted with honey to make warming and nourishing snacks. For Vegetarians, try lots of slow cooked root vegetables, more legumes which are combined with underground vegies.

For people with stagnation, you should continue to do some exercise – most importantly to keep your body moving, rather than do strenuous Gym or aerobic type exercises. Keep active in stretching and exercise which promotes light (not heavy) sweating. Winter is also good season to cultivate yoga, tai qi and qi gong practices. Your TCM practitioner can advise you on more specific foods for your pattern of disharmony or body constitution.

NEW VIDEO BLOG via youtube. How Chinese Medicine sees a typical "healthy diet" - check it out and leave your comments welcome here!