Traditional cures alive and well

Aileen McCabe, CanWest News Service

Published: Wednesday, July 12, 2006

SHANGHAI – When the Chinese have a medical complaint, only about 30 per cent of them go to their traditional healers for help.

It is usually for a chronic problem like asthma, too, not an emergency.

If they break a leg, the Chinese are more likely than not to visit a western-trained doctor.

Still, calling traditional Chinese medicine — or TCM — “alternative,” as is often done in the West, would be nonsense when you consider that more than 330 million people here rely on it to cure what ails them.

You see hundreds of them in the crowded wards at Yue Yang Hospital in Shanghai. One is stretched out on a bed, his lower back pierced with super-fine needles. Another sits astride a chair as a doctor slowly rubs his neck. Still another is walking around with an array of small bell jars securely stuck to his back by suction.

It is a strange scene for anyone familiar with hospitals in Canada. Strange, too, are the number of foreigners you see making hospital rounds.

Article Continues at: http://www.canada.com/edmontonjournal/news/story.html?id=d6e95cd7-d4d8-4ae8-97aa-731f760d6a80

Looking east…for medicinal alternatives

By Jojo Santo Tomas
Pacific Sunday News
santotomas@guampdn.com

To those unfamiliar with its history, Oriental medicine practices might sound outlandish. Herb concoctions to prevent hair loss. Strategically placed needles to correct high blood pressure. Specialty massages to prevent fatigue. And there’s even Medical Chi Gong, a technique that Oriental medicine doctors use to diagnose a patient over the phone — even if the two are a continent apart. But in a modern world whose health concerns are mostly addressed by modern medicine, one Oriental medicine practitioner is doing his best to revive interest in the ancient art of healing.

Article Continues at: http://www.guampdn.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060709/LIFESTYLE/607090319/1024

Are You Considering Using Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM)?

Decisions about your health care are important–including decisions about whether to use complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) has developed this fact sheet to assist you in your decisionmaking about CAM. It includes frequently asked questions, issues to consider, and a list of sources for further information.

Visit: http://nccam.nih.gov/health/decisions/

Minnesota takes steps to recognize complementary, alternative medicine; huge health care cost savings expected

(NewsTarget) Minnesota Representative Jim Abeler, R-Anoka, has introduced a bill to the House this session to urge lawmakers to investigate complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) and possibly allow it to be covered by the state’s publicly funded insurance program.Many insurance companies do not fund CAM treatments, but Abeler, a chiropractor, believes that if state-funded insurance programs were to cover the less-invasive therapies, the state could save 10 to 20 percent on health care.

“There’s been a tidal wave of both consumer interest as well as a growing body of evidence to show that many of these approaches are safe, effective, that they make sense to do,” says Mary Jo Kreitzer, director of the University of Minnesota’s Center for Spirituality and Healing. Kreitzer says providing Minnesotans the opportunity to use CAM therapies without having to pay out-of-pocket is the fair thing to do, and says strong evidence exists that CAM is effective medicine.

Critics of Abeler’s bill say patients would simply add CAM therapies to their existing treatments instead of substituting one for the other, potentially costing the state even more money. However, Abeler says with the current system, most patients only try CAM after exhausting Western medical resources. Were patients to try CAM therapies before more expensive Western treatments, Abeler says they could potentially solve their medical problems more quickly, saving the state money.

I cured myself of MS

Conventional medicines says multiple sclerosis is incurable. This man insists he beat it with diet, ancient Chinese exercises and mind over matter. Wishful thinking – or truly extraordinary breakthrough?

In 1998, Dermot O’Connor, 36, from Dublin, was diagnosed with a severe form of multiple sclerosis (MS) – the ‘incurable’ and degenerative neurological disorder.

He left his job to dedicate himself to fighting the condition. Eight years later, in perfect health and symptom-free, he has written a book telling how he achieved this through nutrition, acupuncture and forms of mind and body medicine.

Article Continues at: Daily Source

China launches international project on herbal medicine

Wu Chong
5 July 2006
Source: SciDev.Net
[BEIJING] China, the world’s main producer of traditional and herbal medicines, has launched an international project to modernise the sector.

Yesterday (4 July) the Ministry of Science and Technology pledged an initial 100 million yuan (US$12.5 million) for projects that focus on developing new treatments for diseases such as cancer and HIV/AIDS.

It is the first time that China has initiated a multinational research project of this kind, which it hopes will provide an opportunity to boost health research in developing nations.

Jin Xiaoming, a senior ministry official says it is likely that China will launch research on artemisinin — a herbal medicine regarded as the best treatment for malaria — with African countries such as Kenya and South Africa.

The scheme has already attracted countries including the United States, Japan and Singapore, says Shang Yong, vice minister of science and technology.

The first 50 programmes, which will be selected by the ministry and matched with international partners, are due to start by the end of the year.

China hopes the project will help increase its share of the global market for traditional medicines.

Until now, traditional medicine’s entry into global markets has been hampered by a lack of consensus in how to measure its efficacy. Thus the project will also include efforts to develop international standards for traditional remedies.

“It is much cheaper to develop a new herbal medicine than a Western one,” says Shang. “So our programmes will have a strong appeal for transnational companies.”

Such companies will be able to express their wish to participate through their embassy or their home country’s science administration.

Shang added that companies, rather than colleges or research institutes, would play the major role in each programme, with an aim to “foster domestic pharmacists”.

Chinese drug companies will gain extra funding and access to advanced facilities in developed nations to help them develop their traditional medicines.

Herbal approach to health treats cause not symptoms

AUBURN, CA:  When the traditional approaches of western medicine have not brought them the relief, many people have looked to oriental wisdom for healing from a severe or chronic condition. For some, that journey back to health has been aided by Frank Haddad, a practitioner of traditional Chinese/Japanese therapy for twelve years and owner of Herbs That Heal.  

“Patients have come to me for help with a variety of ailments, from relieving symptoms of menopause or back pain to tumors and even late stage Renal failure,” Haddad said from his clinic in Auburn, CA. “Many people have found that western medicine can keep them alive but cannot keep them healthy. In many cases, they try oriental medicine as a last resort,”

Full article at: http://www.rocklintoday.com/news/templates/health_news.asp?articleid=3579&zoneid=7

Chinese Medicine increasingly recognized as safe, effective system of medicine by Western doctors

(NewsTarget) — In recent years, more Americans are turning to traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) to cure ailments that Western medical practitioners could not treat. The ancient remedies have even begun to garner respect from the Food and Drug Administration and conventional medicine.In 2004, one-fifth of U.S. hospitals offered traditional Chinese medical services — such as acupuncture, tai chi chuan and meditation — that’s more than double the number in 1998. In addition, the FDA has shown support for Chinese medicine by modifying experiment guidelines. The FDA’s new guidelines no longer require all active ingredients to be identified prior to experimenting — a process that was nearly impossible considering that many TCM remedies utilize a combination of many botanicals.

Full article at: http://www.newstarget.com/019483.html

Infrared Sauna Therapy Saves Ground Zero Heroines/Heroes Suffering From 9/11 Related Skin Rashes and Illnesses

A study released by the Olive Leaf Wholeness Center on March 21, 2006 linked 160 persons’ abnormally high incidence of respiratory and digestive problems, insomnia, skin rashes, depression, weight gain, lethargy, recurring headaches, and elevated blood pressure to heavy metal toxicity — excessive levels of lead and mercury — as well as the 1000 tons of asbestos, 130,000 gallons of oil, 10,000 gallons of jet fuel, and airborne cancer-causing dioxins dumped on lower Manhattan by the malicious terrorist attack. Following successful primary treatment utilizing sulfur compound DSMA, infrared therapy was an adjunctive therapy utilized to transport heavy metals from survivors’ tissues and more specifically, to reduce their related skin rashes.

Article at http://www.emediawire.com/releases/2006/6/emw403129.htm

Traditional healers boost primary health

Story on traditional healers in Africa working with Western medicine, together.

Article here