Arthritis Treatment and More in Markham with Traditional Chinese Medicine

Depression is a very broad subject. It involves the human body and mind (and spirit). Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) believes that the body, mind and spirit cannot be separated. It affects:

1. Body discomfort, such as tightness, pain (tendonitis, carpal tunnel syndrome, degenerated disease such as bone spur), even the immune system (auto immune diseases, such as multiple sclerosis, lupus, rheumatoid arthritis), insomnia, fatigue, headache, stomach ache.

2. Mind and spirit, such as persistent sadness, pessimism, loss of interest in usual activities, including sex, fatigue, lack of energy, thought of suicide or death, anxiety, irritability, feeling of guilt, worthlessness, hopelessness, isolation from families and friends, drug and alcohol abuse, difficulty in concentration, social withdrawal, weight loss or gain.

Some people will ask why the above problems have such a strong connection. There are differences between Eastern and Western thinking, from medicine, philosophy, science……………… The traditional Chinese medicine is based on macro approach. Western medical science is based on micro approach.

Regardless of racial background, there are different types of bodies. Different bodies, age, weather and food with different emotions affect the body in various ways. That’s why the old classic concept believes in three categories:  Heaven, Human, and Earth.

1. Heaven (refers to the universe, such as the climate)

 

Based on the theory of the circulation of vital energy (qi) characteristics of TCM, the pathogenesis of the human body is often influenced by the periodic changes of the climate, which take place every 12 years or every sixty years. In recent years, scientists have realized that the law of these periodic changes has something to do with the cycle of sunspots, which is formed every 11 to 12 years. Their movements bring about periodic changes in the radiation of sunlight, interfere with the magnetic field of the earth, and change the climate around the earth, thus exerting an impact upon the physiology and pathology of the human body.

In the Yellow Emperor Classic, which is the bible of TCM, a chapter of Miraculous Pivot says, “There are various diseases, most of which become milder in the morning, better during the daytime, worse again in the late afternoon and even severe at night”. This because “In the morning the vital energy of the human body begins to grow stronger, while the pathogenic factors weaker; at midday the vital energy of the human body is predominant and lords it over the pathogenic factors; in the later afternoon the vital energy of the human body begins to become weaker, while the pathogenic factors stronger; at midnight, the vital energy of the human body returns to the internal organs, while the pathogenic factors come into leading place”.

In modern times, someone has also noticed that human pulse conditions, temperature, the amount of oxygen consumed, carbon dioxide released and hormone secreted have biorhythms during the 24 hours of a day. This finding may promote the round-the-clock exploration of the physiological and pathological changes of the human body.

2. Human (the unity within the body)

1. including genetic influence, TCM calls it “the upper heaven”
2. Acquire influence, TCM call it “the lower heaven,” such as the upbringing, cultural, national influence, diet, and physical training, such as exercises. They can both affect each other.

The human body is made up of viscera (the heart, the liver, the spleen, the lungs and the kidneys), bowels, tissues and organs. Each of them has its own special physiological functions, and there is a relationship among them. For example, the liver, heart, spleen, lung and kidney belong to the viscera and come into effect through the energy channels. The problem is that those energy channels cannot be seen by our eyes. They are related to the nerve pathway, but not exactly the same. Different organs are affected by different emotions. When the emotions affect the different channels, finally the organ will be affected, such as functional disorder or organic problems, e.g. stomach ulcer, even cancer. You can refer to the chart below, which is called the five-element concept. Please look at the table of 5 elements.

3. Earth. 

 

Geographical region can affect the health and emotions, as well as the food. Food and herbs have different characteristics. For instance, lamb and beef can create a lot of heat. If a person had a bad temper, TCM calls it internal heat, which can be aggravated by having lamb and beef. Cucumber and dandelion have a cooling effect. They all have their own characteristics.

For Chinese herbs, we can use three categories to describe the characteristics of the herb, such as cool, warm and neutral (similar to the atom). In our universe, every atom consists of protons (positively charged), neutrons (no charge), and electrons (negatively charged). Thus, at the atomic level, the body is a mass of energy fields all influencing each other. When the equilibrium is disturbed or breaks down in the human body, those carbon atoms will also be disturbed. Carbon is the basis of all living things. In Chinese medicine, we use yin and yang, external and internal, cold and hot, hollow and solid to describe and analyze the diseases. These 8 phenomena are called the eight guiding principles. The eight guiding principles were set by the brilliant, known herbal master Dr. Li Shi Zhen. Now, the TCM schools in the world, as well as the acupuncture examination board, all use this method to test the candidates.

According to Chinese medicine, depression is mainly affected by the liver. The liver's condition is divided into 4 stages.

1. Liver qi stagnation – seven emotional injuries first attack the liver easily, unhappiness, especially anger, will cause the blockage. This can cause different symptoms. For a strong body, you find irritability, anger and aggressive behaviour. For a weak body, you will find persistent sadness. Those emotions can be affected by food as well, but the major impact is on the emotion. Also, they can interchange. For example, a strong body will have stagnation for a long time. It becomes a weak body. We have rules in TCM, please remember “Quantitative changes lead to qualitative changes, and qualitative changes lead to quantitative changes. Qi stagnation can become blood stagnation. Qi is the vital energy, and blood is the human cell. The human body relies on these two major substances. If qi stagnation exists for a long time, it can affect the blood, which is the cells. In nature, things can either survive or die, such as an autoimmune disorder (antibodies attack the normal cells).

When I first practiced acupuncture in Toronto, Canada, back in the 70s, the medical doctor did not believe this theory. Most of them think it is some kind of virus that attacks normal cells. Recently, many scientists in the world have already proved that this is a destructive mechanism that is created somewhere in the body. They don’t know where. This signal is stress-related. A pregnant woman has to pay special attention to the baby because the baby will have indigestion, eye problems such as myopia, epilepsy, and convulsions. For teenagers, they will have a disease such as anorexia nervosa.

2. Liver heat – besides the above symptoms, you will find stiff neck (in North America, there are sayings like pain on the neck, pain on the ass), aggressive character (argumentative) weight increase, swelling face, burping, passing gas, redness, swelling and pain of the eye (eye infection), and gastrointestinal disorders (ulcers, heartburn, indigestion and flatulence, gallstone, chronic colitis, constipation, diarrhea, diverticular disease), hepatitis A, B or C, pain in the stomach area, hemorrhoids, irregular menstruation. In TCM, we believe there is qi in the body, which is vital energy, and this qi exists in the whole universe. In 197,7 in Shanghai, China, they found qi in the human body has 4 characteristics: electric, magnetic, infrared and infrasonic. Liver heat can lead to stomach heat. The stomach channel passes through the breast, and the female breast has a lot of lymph nodes. The lymph node works like a filter.

In nature, wherever there is heat, the molecule will expand. If the body generates heat, it will travel upward in the body. Heat can produce toxins. When the toxins are stuck in those lymph nodes (filter), the activity of the antibody in those areas will be affected. Don’t forget that in every single moment, there are a lot of things happening in our bodies. Some cells die, some cells regenerate, and the abnormal growth of cells, which is called cancer, also occurs every moment. In TCM, we call it accumulation, which is either invisible accumulation, such as some sensation in the throat (Plumb Seed syndrome) or visible accumulation, such as a tumour. If there is stomach heat, the cancer cells accumulate easily within the breast, especially in the Summer time when the weather is hot, plus stomach heat syndrome. The breast cancer will become worse. Depression can lead to liver qi stagnation, and liver qi stagnation can lead to liver heat. Besides all the symptoms, breast cancer can be formed easily. Modern society is very complicated, with a lot of negative emotions and loneliness. This is the major reason for liver qi stagnation.

3. Liver fire – including all the symptoms of liver qi stagnation and liver heat, the person will face personality change and severe mental illnesses. Weight gain can change to weight loss. Also, there are neurological disorders such as migraine headache, trigeminal neuralgia, bursitis, tendonitis, and tinnitus.

4. Liver wind – this is a very abstract concept. In nature, when heat exists for a long time, the wind will come because when there is heat, the molecules will expand. The expansion of the molecule affects the pressure of those areas. That’s why there is something called typhoon (strong wind and rain) in the Pacific Ocean when hot weather exists for a long time. Based on the liver fire, a lot of acute diseases can be generated, such as vomiting blood, stroke, physical violence, vertigo (dizziness), and even death.

The reason I explain the liver wind condition is that it has a direct effect on liver qi stagnation. There are always actions and reactions in nature, and depression that exists for a long time will lead to these four phenomena. The ancient Chinese scholar used the word “wind” to describe those acute diseases because wind has the characteristics of coming fast and has a very hard character. In modern terms, we can use the term dialectic science to describe them. Some of the acupuncture points around the back of the head are called wind residence, wind pond. Those ponds can treat rabbits, stroke and headache. Don’t forget, before you get to the stage of liver wind, you would have the above stages, or the disease will come all of a sudden. Unfortunately, this ancient terminology was translated into modern terms, such as the international acupuncture chart, by using numbers. By doing so, it makes it very difficult for the medical doctor to learn this ancient healing art.

I have some simple stories to tell you about the correlation between depression and diseases. Last year, a lady came to me to complain about tendonitis in the shoulder region. Her face is red, tongue proper is red, the pulse is rapid and wiry. There are 28 types of pulse in TCM. The lung position of the pulse is scattered, which indicates the woman has heat and sometimes can lead to liver fire. Besides, anger affects the liver, and sadness affects the lungs. I told her that her problems came from grief. Her tears came out and told me that when she went home one day and found out her husband was making love with her best girlfriend. The shoulder region is the first channel in the human body. It is called the lung channel. When we come to the world, we have to breathe. When the baby is not breathing well, the body will be in trouble in the future.

In TCM theory, when the lung is affected, the next organ, which is the large intestine, will be affected too. When people have a disease, firstly, it will show in the external area, which is the skin surface; secondly, it will affect the channel; thirdly, it will affect the internal organ. People who suffer from grief would have lung disorders such as asthma, tuberculosis, lung cancer and also large intestine problems such as colitis, diverticular disease and large intestine cancer. Please look at the diagram below. The lung channels are correlated to the large intestine, and the pathway of the channels is from the thumb to the chest.

Depression can affect a few different organs directly and indirectly. If you look around your friends and think about your upbringing, personal experience, you will agree with me. The older you are, the more you will find. Wisdom comes with age. The TCM medical system has a very long history. It is very complicated but actually is very down to earth. The human body is an organic whole. When we think about human, we must disengage the mechanistic thinking.

Depression in Western medicine belongs to Psychological problems. Look at the list as follows: 
 

1. Depression 

2. Anxiety 

3. Phobias  

4. Psychotic Disorders  

5. Insomnia  

6.Senility
7. Anorexia Nervosa  

8. Stress 
 

These are the very common problems in our modern world.

Peace and Harmony!