Patients Find Success in Mainstreaming of Chinese Medicine

New America Media, Eugenia Chien, Posted: Nov 21, 2007

Editor's Note: Integrating Chinese medicine with mainstream medicine can be challenging, but an increasing number of Americans are doing it and seeing great results. NAM contributor Eugenia Chien explores this.

SAN FRANCISCO -- On a rainy afternoon, Vikki Highland Scott waits patiently for her herbal remedy at Vinh Khang Herbs & Ginseng, a tiny Chinese herbal pharmacy where pharmacists dole out customized mixtures of herbs on square sheets of paper for patients to take home and brew into bitter tea.

Scott, an Internet consultant, was diagnosed six years ago with chronic fatigue syndrome and fibromyalgia, a rheumatic condition that causes pain in connective tissues. At her worst, she could stand for no more than 10 minutes. She had been treated by practitioners of Western medicine for three years when her condition relapsed, forcing her to take a year of disability from her work and give up painting, her favorite hobby.

On a friend's recommendation, she began seeing a practitioner of traditional Chinese medicine, who recommended that she brew and drink a medicinal tea from herbs – a familiar practice for many Chinese but very different from the Western approach of taking pills.

"It's a big commitment to cook the tea for hours and drink this terrible-tasting stuff," Scott says. "Most people can never commit to something like this because it is so far from what we were brought up with."

But the results, she says, have been worth the effort. After three years of traditional Chinese herbal treatment, Scott says she saw gradual improvement and could work and paint again.

Scott is among the growing number of patients who are turning to traditional Chinese medicine. Many patients learn about alternative treatments from family and friends after trying all the conventional treatment options. Other patients seek alternative treatment options from conventional physicians who are learning the benefits of integrating the two practices.

More than one third of adults in the United States use some form of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM), which includes traditional Chinese herbal medicine, acupuncture, massage, and body movement and breathing therapies such as tai chi, and qi gong, according to a 2004 study by the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, the federal government's lead agency for scientific research on CAM.

Integrating traditional Chinese medicine with conventional Western medicine can be challenging because the approaches to healing are different. While mainstream Western medicine treats the body as a collection of anatomical parts, traditional Chinese medicine sees the human body as a collection of systems that must work in balance. For example, conventional medicine views irritable bowel syndrome as a dysfunction of the large and small intestines, marked by symptoms like abdominal pain and bloating. But in traditional Chinese medicine, such symptoms may signal imbalance in the energy, flow, and represent a breakdown in the larger body system.

"Traditional Chinese medicine looks at a person as a dynamic system, a dance of different chemistries energized by chi, or energy," said Dr. Ka Kit Hui, director of UCLA's Center for East-West Medicine.

This systemic approach converges with the needs of patients who suffer from multiple ailments and chronic diseases, Hui says. Conventional medicine may offer a different treatment for each ailment, but treating each disease separately may not work well for some patients, says Hui.

"Chinese medicine looks at a level higher than biochemistry – we look at patterns of diseases," Hui says.

The systemic view of the human body translates directly to the prescription of traditional Chinese medicine. For example, traditional Chinese medical practitioners often prescribe acupuncture treatment in concert with Chinese herbs and change in the patient's diet. The differences in diagnosis, beliefs and treatment methods between traditional Chinese medicine and conventional medicine can be daunting to patients. Even acupuncture, with much scientific research to show its effectiveness, has met resistance from patients who are skeptical of the practice.

One role of the media in communicating about traditional Chinese medicine may be to educate patients about the safety of traditional Chinese medicine, practitioners say. Non-Chinese patients may find acupuncture an unfamiliar concept, but even some Chinese patients might be skeptical of acupuncture because of their experiences in China, says Anita Huang, clinic director at the American College of Traditional Chinese Medicine, a privately funded independent graduate school in San Francisco.

In the past, some clinics in China may have used autoclaves to sanitize acupuncture needles instead of using disposable needles, Huang explains.

"Some Asians might still think that the needles we use are not disposable. They are afraid," she says. The media can help dispel doubts about the safety of acupuncture, she says. "It's good to educate the public about how acupuncture is effective and safe."

As more traditional Chinese medical practices are proven helpful to patients, new programs around the country are integrating them with conventional medicine. At the UCLA Integrative Urology Program for Men, a Western physician, a doctor of Chinese medicine, an acupuncturist, and a dietitian work together to create a comprehensive solution for patients in reducing prostate cancer risk and dealing with common male aging problems.?Patient interest in alternative medicine prompted the creation of the program in October this year, according to Dr. Christopher Saigal, the director of the program.??
"We have many patients who are interested in alternative medicine, but there are a lot of mixed messages out there and it's hard to know how to proceed," Saigal says. "We want to get everyone talking so the patient can have a one-stop place to get advice."

The practitioners see the patient separately, but meet as a group to discuss the best course of treatment for the patient. The communication among the practitioners leads to a more consistent approach for the patient. It also helps Western and Eastern practitioners to learn about one another's perspective and how to integrate the two schools of thought.

But the collaboration of two drastically different views of medicine is not without its challenges, Saigal says. When an overweight man came to the program because of sexual dysfunction, Saigal discussed medical options such as testosterone therapy and Viagra with the patient. A nutritionist discussed changing diets for weight reduction. A doctor of Chinese medicine discussed chi – vitalism and body harmony – and recommended herbs.

The practitioners disagreed on approaches and had differences on one possible cause of the dysfunction, but they all agreed to recommend acupuncture. The medical team also recommended that the patient practice yoga for stress reduction.

"I have learned a lot from the nutritionists and herbalists about different views of human health," Saigal says. "I learned how the herbalist sees things, and he learned how I see things. We were then able to come up with a consistent answer for the patient."

The Chinese systemic approach helped John Davis, who was diagnosed with prostate cancer in August, 2005. Davis, a 55-year-old father of two who lives in Huntington Beach, Calif., had never tried traditional Chinese medicine before his diagnosis, but he is now receiving acupuncture and Chinese herbal remedies to help him cope with the side effects of the surgery to remove cancer tissues. Davis says that acupuncture has helped relieve pain in his back and neck. He also hopes that the herbal remedies he takes can help fight off cancer cells.

"I feel that this gives me another method of treating my disease," Davis says. "In combination with Western medicine, I feel that I am doing as much as I can to make sure that I have a successful after-cancer treatment and that the cancer doesn't come back."

A longer version of this story appeared in Context Magazine, of UCLA's Center for Communications and Community.


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