Chinese Medicine – Page 5 – Medford Acupuncture & Herbal Clinic

Lower Your Internal Thermostat

Written by Ann Zimmerman on August 6, 2013. Posted in Chinese Medicine, Immune Health and Balance.

It seems that everyone is talking about the weather these days. We all know that summer is the season of heat. This is great if you want to go swimming or play in the river, but it can be quite distracting if you are doing most other outdoor activities. Chinese medicine focuses a lot of attention on the internal body temperature. Unlike the western approach of using a thermometer to determine the body temperature, Chinese medicine pays greater attention to how a person feels subjectively about their temperature. In other words, does a patient feel hot or cold, or are they generally comfortable. Temperature is such an important subject in Chinese medical treatment that it is one of the primary 8 principles used to diagnose and treat any illness.

On hot days, it is natural to feel warmer in response to the temperature of our surroundings. It is also expected that when the weather turns cooler our bodies would feel cooler as well. But these tendencies can be influenced by our internal balance. If we are cold internally, then colder weather can exacerbate cold symptoms, leading to a feeling of chilliness, nasal discharge, frequent colds, diarrhea, frequent urination, or digestive problems. If we have “internal heat” in the body, then the warm days may effect us more intensely, leading to symptoms of headaches, increased sweating, red eyes, irritability, dryness, skin rashes/itchiness, constipation, urinary difficulty, digestive complaints, or bleeding problems.

Springtime and the Wood Element

Written by Ann Zimmerman on May 18, 2011. Posted in Chinese Medicine.

Chinese medicine often speaks of the influence that each season has on life. Each season has a unique set of qualities that effect the way we feel, eat, rest and work. The spring time is the season of wood. Wood can be seen as a physical and tangible entity, as is the case with trees and plants, but it can also be seen as a symbolic representation of the qualities and characteristics that wood exemplifies.

Many people enjoy the spring season because it is a time of new beginnings. It is the time when the rest and solitude of winter give way to action and fresh ideas. This is demonstrated by the wood element. When a seed sprouts, or a perennial plant begins to put up new shoots, we see the potential energy of wood become manifest. Each day as I walk through our gardens, I marvel at the noticeable changes that occur over a short time. I am particularly enamored with the bamboo; it’s new shoots seem to grow right before my eyes. This demonstrates the power of the wood element to create change and movement.

Depression

Written by Ann Zimmerman on April 12, 2011. Posted in Acupuncture, Chinese Medicine, Mental and Emotional Health.

by Clark and Ann Zimmerman, L.Ac.

Approximately 38 million Americans suffer with chronic anxiety or depression. One out of eight adults are currently taking antidepressant medications.

While these medications can offer support and benefit on certain occasions, there are indeed many people that do not respond well to this form of treatment. This can be due to a number of factors including:

Various side effects that outweigh the benefits of the medication
A developed tolerance to the medication that causes the benefits to diminish
Excessive sensitivity to the concentrated nature of these medications
A belief system that suggests that the depression is not due to a biochemical imbalance, or that this imbalance is the result of a deeper spiritual issue.

In our clinical practice, we have worked with a number of patients who were convinced that they had run out of options after finding medications and/or talk therapy to be ineffective for their needs. Many of these people try acupuncture as a last resort. Based on the experience we have had in working with numerous patients who suffer from chronic depression, we now firmly believe that Chinese medicine, nutritional supplementation, meditation, yoga and qi gong can offer tremendously helpful support in healing the root causes of this epidemic. This approach is much more comprehensive and much less invasive to the brain than using SSRI medications. It accounts for not only biochemical factors, but also energetic, nutritional, and spiritual influences as well.