Pain is not a disease. It is a sensation, and as such, it is a part of everyone's life. Like other sensations, such as the color green or the taste of sweetness, it is something most of us encounter in one form or another, every day of our lives. It is how the body lets us know that something is damaging or overstimulating, and as such it plays an important role in protecting the body.
Pain can become problematic when it is resulting from damage that cannot be readily repaired, such as a major or degenerative injury, AND the level of pain is enough that it interferes with the quality of life. In such cases, it is appropriate to take steps to manage the pain. In our culture, this often means the use of narcotics. There are many many different narcotic prescription pain medicines out there, and many narcotic herbs as well (such as opium resin and coca leaf). But there are well-known problems associated with this class of substances.
For a great many people, it is possible to manage pain effectively without the use of narcotics. Ideally, this can be accomplished through treating whatever is causing the pain. When that is not possible (or while that is going on) it is good to ease the pain. Moxabustion, Cupping and Gua Sha (which have their own entries on this blog) are some of the methods that I use for managing pain in a clinical setting.
Another very interesting and very safe herb for pain is Cayenne (Capsicum annuum). It works by using up or depleting the neurotransmitter (called substance P) that the body uses to relay the pain message through the nervous system. The result is an increased threshold of pain-- meaning that it takes more to make you hurt-- without any sedation. Cayenne is usually very well-tolerated (even more so by people who are used to pain), its one drawback being that, spicy as it is, it can irritate the parts of the body that it comes into contact with.
Ginger is another herb that works well for certain types of pain. it is especially good for what is sometimes described as "cold" pain: pain that is an aching rather than a burning sensation, and which is generally made worse by cold weather. This includes most joint pain. Ginger is antiinflammatory, and increases the circulation.
White willow bark, wintergreen leaves, birch bark, violets, and meadowsweet are all herbs that contain salicylates. These are chemicals that are structurally similar to aspirin (but with fewer side effects, in most cases), and which can be helpful for a variety of types and degrees of pain in the body. They are not quite as safe as ginger and cayenne (which are almost impossible to do any serious harm with) but they are, statistically, much safer than over-the-counter pain relievers like aspirin, acetaminophen, or ibuprofen.
Another herb which I find to be very helpful in my practice is Usnea oil extract. Usnea is a lichen, a mossy looking thing that grows on and hangs from the bark and branches of trees. I learned about this traditional medicine while traveling in the Arctic many years ago; since that time it has been studied in a laboratory setting in Iceland. As a pain reliever, it is often amazingly effective, working for tooth pain and other deep-tissue pain in a very quick and surprisingly uncomlicated manner. It doesn't cause and drowsiness or altered state of consciousness. It appears to be completely non-addictive. It just makes pain stop. Although it doesn't always work (what does?), it tends to work very quickly. For oral pain its effect is almost instant, and for pain elsewehere in the body it is as fast-acting as anything that needs to get digested first.
These are just a few of the herbs and techniques that I find useful in my practice for managing pain. All in all, there are scores of different things that can be done to manage pain without the use of narcotics, and anyone interested in pursuing such a course of action is encouraged to contact me.
Friday, January 23, 2009
Monday, January 19, 2009
hocus-pocus diagnosis
Clinical assessment vs. hocus-pocus diagnosis
Clinical assessment is the practice of figuring out what is wrong with a patient. In my practice, this involves asking a lot of questions, and trying to figure out from the answers what structures and functions in the body are not working as they should. Usually, people have a pretty good idea of what is going on in their body. My job, in that case, is to try to identify a pattern that can be recognized, and make a conclusion about what can be done.
Besides interviewing someone, there is the process of visually observing or palpating some part of the body to find some sign or symptom of what is going on. I have a few tools, such as a UV lamp and a microscope, that I can use to get more information if what I'm seeing with an unaided eye is not enough.
All of this is time-consuming and complicated. It requires knowing what to look for, and what patterns of symptoms go with which particular dysfunction. It requires knowledge of anatomy, physiology, and pathology, in addition to knowing what to do about a problem once it is identified. This is the hardest part of being a clinician, I think. If it were possible to avoid this step, being a healer would be as simple as memorizing the properties of a few medicinal plants.
This is why so many insincere people who put themselves forward as healers-- charlatans, if you will-- come equipped with a one-size-fits-all diagnostic technique. There are many such techniques out there, but they all have a few things in common. First, they take very little effort to learn. There may be a few rules that need to be memorized, but no real thought has to go into the process. Secondly, they are not very time consuming. Thirdly, the same technique works for an amazing variety of different conditions. These techniques allow people without skill or discipline to pretend to be healers. Unfortunately, they are not effective, except to fatten the purse of the practitioner. They form the body of practices that I like to call hocus-pocus-diagnosis.
First and foremost among these techniques is something called "muscle testing" or "applied kinesiology". It consists of having the patient hold a medicine in one hand (or think about a procedure, or ask a question) while holding the other hand out straight. The charlatan then presses down on the arm that is being held out straight. If the arm remains straight, this is taken as a "yes" answer; if it bends, this is taken as a "no". There is, as far as I can tell, no reason in the world why this would work (except perhaps as a gauge of how the person being questioned feels about the question). But even if there were, this would be so subject to bias and tampering that it would still be completely unreliable. I have a hard time understanding how a grown adult can stake their health and well-being on something like this, but many do.
A second technique is iridology. This involves looking at the iris of the eye. Different lines and spots in different parts of the iris are assumed to correlate to weaknesses in different organs or tissues of the body. At first, this may even sound plausibe; after all, there are things that can happen in the body that will affect the appearance of the eyes. However, the idea that each area of the iris is uniquely and specifically linked to a different organ or tissue elsewhere in the body, is a little too convenient. It would be nice if iridology were real, because it is non-invasive and easy to perform. And yet, in clinical trials, "iridologists" have consistently been unable to tell the difference between the irises of people with chronic organ failure, and those of healthy people. The sad truth is that most of the color variations in the iris are no more significant than freckles on the nose, and iridology is just a system that one person dreamed up and others imitated.
A newer and more recently popular technique, is the "scanning machine". These have different names and come from different sources. Some of them cost upwards of $10,000 for the practitioner to buy (suggesting that the people who buy them probably do believe they work). The idea is that you hook the machine up to the patient (or sometimes put a sample of blood, hair, or whatever on or into the machine) and it gives a readout telling everything that is wrong with the person, be it their heart, brain, intestines, or the presence of some rare tropical parasite. Some of these miraculous devices go a step further, and actually treat the maladies that they discover. A few even claim the ability to treat patients who are not physically present.
Now, I can believe that fairy folks live in old oaks, or that there's gold at the end of the rainbow. But some things are just beyond believing. If such a machine really existed-- even one that only did the diagnostic part-- and it only cost $10,000 or even $100,000, every hospital and large clinic would have one. The inventor would win every nobel prize in existence, and many of the world's ills would be at an end. But alas, there is no such thing. I have personally seen patients who were "diagnosed" by these machines to have african parasites, HIV, and a host of other ailments that they did not turn out to possess. One of them was once taken apart by a computer scientist from microsoft, who loked at tis source code and found that all it did was generate random results.
These are just a sample of the hocus-pocus diagnostic techniques that can be found around town. Some of the people using them may really believe they work. Others are just wanting a quick and easy way to charge people for something, to capitalize on fear and suffering.
For my part, I don't do "diagnosis". This word means "certain knowledge" in Greek, and I don't think there's any such thing when it comes to healthcare. I believe in assessment based on real information, and keeping an open mind to the fact that things can change, or new information can come forward.
Clinical assessment is the practice of figuring out what is wrong with a patient. In my practice, this involves asking a lot of questions, and trying to figure out from the answers what structures and functions in the body are not working as they should. Usually, people have a pretty good idea of what is going on in their body. My job, in that case, is to try to identify a pattern that can be recognized, and make a conclusion about what can be done.
Besides interviewing someone, there is the process of visually observing or palpating some part of the body to find some sign or symptom of what is going on. I have a few tools, such as a UV lamp and a microscope, that I can use to get more information if what I'm seeing with an unaided eye is not enough.
All of this is time-consuming and complicated. It requires knowing what to look for, and what patterns of symptoms go with which particular dysfunction. It requires knowledge of anatomy, physiology, and pathology, in addition to knowing what to do about a problem once it is identified. This is the hardest part of being a clinician, I think. If it were possible to avoid this step, being a healer would be as simple as memorizing the properties of a few medicinal plants.
This is why so many insincere people who put themselves forward as healers-- charlatans, if you will-- come equipped with a one-size-fits-all diagnostic technique. There are many such techniques out there, but they all have a few things in common. First, they take very little effort to learn. There may be a few rules that need to be memorized, but no real thought has to go into the process. Secondly, they are not very time consuming. Thirdly, the same technique works for an amazing variety of different conditions. These techniques allow people without skill or discipline to pretend to be healers. Unfortunately, they are not effective, except to fatten the purse of the practitioner. They form the body of practices that I like to call hocus-pocus-diagnosis.
First and foremost among these techniques is something called "muscle testing" or "applied kinesiology". It consists of having the patient hold a medicine in one hand (or think about a procedure, or ask a question) while holding the other hand out straight. The charlatan then presses down on the arm that is being held out straight. If the arm remains straight, this is taken as a "yes" answer; if it bends, this is taken as a "no". There is, as far as I can tell, no reason in the world why this would work (except perhaps as a gauge of how the person being questioned feels about the question). But even if there were, this would be so subject to bias and tampering that it would still be completely unreliable. I have a hard time understanding how a grown adult can stake their health and well-being on something like this, but many do.
A second technique is iridology. This involves looking at the iris of the eye. Different lines and spots in different parts of the iris are assumed to correlate to weaknesses in different organs or tissues of the body. At first, this may even sound plausibe; after all, there are things that can happen in the body that will affect the appearance of the eyes. However, the idea that each area of the iris is uniquely and specifically linked to a different organ or tissue elsewhere in the body, is a little too convenient. It would be nice if iridology were real, because it is non-invasive and easy to perform. And yet, in clinical trials, "iridologists" have consistently been unable to tell the difference between the irises of people with chronic organ failure, and those of healthy people. The sad truth is that most of the color variations in the iris are no more significant than freckles on the nose, and iridology is just a system that one person dreamed up and others imitated.
A newer and more recently popular technique, is the "scanning machine". These have different names and come from different sources. Some of them cost upwards of $10,000 for the practitioner to buy (suggesting that the people who buy them probably do believe they work). The idea is that you hook the machine up to the patient (or sometimes put a sample of blood, hair, or whatever on or into the machine) and it gives a readout telling everything that is wrong with the person, be it their heart, brain, intestines, or the presence of some rare tropical parasite. Some of these miraculous devices go a step further, and actually treat the maladies that they discover. A few even claim the ability to treat patients who are not physically present.
Now, I can believe that fairy folks live in old oaks, or that there's gold at the end of the rainbow. But some things are just beyond believing. If such a machine really existed-- even one that only did the diagnostic part-- and it only cost $10,000 or even $100,000, every hospital and large clinic would have one. The inventor would win every nobel prize in existence, and many of the world's ills would be at an end. But alas, there is no such thing. I have personally seen patients who were "diagnosed" by these machines to have african parasites, HIV, and a host of other ailments that they did not turn out to possess. One of them was once taken apart by a computer scientist from microsoft, who loked at tis source code and found that all it did was generate random results.
These are just a sample of the hocus-pocus diagnostic techniques that can be found around town. Some of the people using them may really believe they work. Others are just wanting a quick and easy way to charge people for something, to capitalize on fear and suffering.
For my part, I don't do "diagnosis". This word means "certain knowledge" in Greek, and I don't think there's any such thing when it comes to healthcare. I believe in assessment based on real information, and keeping an open mind to the fact that things can change, or new information can come forward.
Friday, January 2, 2009
Cleansing and detoxifying
The processes of internal cleansing or detoxification, helping the organs to remove toxic substances or stagnation from the system, is a part of almost all traditional medical systems, and is an important part of natural healing.
Every living cell in the body (with perhaps a few exceptions) has the means of ridding itself of substances that it doesn't need. These may be substances that are produced as part of the functioning of the cell-- like carbon dioxide-- or they may be foreign substances that are acquired from the environment or from microorganisms. Either way, these toxins can be stored in tissue, or they can be transported through the blood and lymph system. They can then be filtered from the blood and expelled from the system by one of the major organs of elimination, such as the lymph system ,kidneys, liver, and bowels. The lungs and skin are also organs of elimination, and the stomach can be under some circumstances..
Problems arise when too much toxic stuff builds up in the body at once. This can happen suddenly, like when your spouse poisons your coffee, or when someone overdoses on drugs; or it can happen gradually, from a long period of bad diet and not enough exercise. Exercise is very important to the cleansing processes, because it increases the rate of exhalation (clearing toxins like carbon dioxide from the blood), moves the blood and lymph, and helps facilitate the movement of the bowels. It also raises the body temperature and induces sweating, another cleansing process. Additionally, it oxygenates the blood and raises its pH (alkalinity), both of which help to prevent the production of toxins inside the cells.
Many, many disorders-- including heart disease, arthritis, indigestion, diabetes, parkinson's disease, some cancers, allergies and chemical sensitivities-- are or can be caused by toxins and the body's inability to get rid of them.
Many more conditions-- including mental illnesses, parkinson's disease, autism, and perhaps even the ageing process-- may be caused in part by the accumulation of toxins in the body.
Besides breathing and exercising, which should be a part of any attempt to purify and cleanse the body, there are some things that can be done to help the process along.
One thing is to improve circulation and the flow of fluids in the body. Hot, spicy herbs are useful for this, such as cinnamon and ginger. These help to open up blood vessels and get everything moving in the system.
The second step is to stimulate the kidneys. This requires plenty of fluids (as does the entire process; 1 gallon a day is not too much), and can include the use of sour-tasting substances such as lemon juice or cranberry. This will help to get minerals out of the system that are there in excess, and also help in the removal of some toxic substances. In more extreme cases, when a very strong, acrid herbal is used, or when the cleanse is going to continue for a long time, I like to include
marsh mallow or hibiscus, which are soothing to the kidneys.
The third step is to stimulate the liver and spleen. Liver-stimulating herbs are often bitter, like gentian or astragalus. Spleen-stimulating herbs do not have any particular taste associated with them. Sarsaparilla is the one I use most often in my practice. Melon, as food, is also useful in a mild sort of way. Both of these will continue the stimulation of the kidneys as well.
The final step is to cleanse the bowels. This process will have already bgun by stimulating the liver and spleen, and usually little more is needed to keep it going than a diet with lots of fiber, and of course plenty of fluids. Aloe juice (not gel or distilled aloe water) can be helpful in this step as well. In some individuals it might be helpful for a day or two to use herbs that actually stimulate the bowels directly, such as (in increasing order of potency) licorice, senna or cascara sagrada fluidextract.
A relatively gentle cleanse of this sort is safe for a healthy adult. Someone on medication or with existing health conditions would probably do well to seek professional supervision to make sure that any cleanse they were doing fit their needs and would not cause them unforeseen complications.
For the vast majority of people, doing a cleanse of the body following this general outline, once in a while-- say for one week every six months or a year-- is useful for improving and maintaining good health.
Every living cell in the body (with perhaps a few exceptions) has the means of ridding itself of substances that it doesn't need. These may be substances that are produced as part of the functioning of the cell-- like carbon dioxide-- or they may be foreign substances that are acquired from the environment or from microorganisms. Either way, these toxins can be stored in tissue, or they can be transported through the blood and lymph system. They can then be filtered from the blood and expelled from the system by one of the major organs of elimination, such as the lymph system ,kidneys, liver, and bowels. The lungs and skin are also organs of elimination, and the stomach can be under some circumstances..
Problems arise when too much toxic stuff builds up in the body at once. This can happen suddenly, like when your spouse poisons your coffee, or when someone overdoses on drugs; or it can happen gradually, from a long period of bad diet and not enough exercise. Exercise is very important to the cleansing processes, because it increases the rate of exhalation (clearing toxins like carbon dioxide from the blood), moves the blood and lymph, and helps facilitate the movement of the bowels. It also raises the body temperature and induces sweating, another cleansing process. Additionally, it oxygenates the blood and raises its pH (alkalinity), both of which help to prevent the production of toxins inside the cells.
Many, many disorders-- including heart disease, arthritis, indigestion, diabetes, parkinson's disease, some cancers, allergies and chemical sensitivities-- are or can be caused by toxins and the body's inability to get rid of them.
Many more conditions-- including mental illnesses, parkinson's disease, autism, and perhaps even the ageing process-- may be caused in part by the accumulation of toxins in the body.
Besides breathing and exercising, which should be a part of any attempt to purify and cleanse the body, there are some things that can be done to help the process along.
One thing is to improve circulation and the flow of fluids in the body. Hot, spicy herbs are useful for this, such as cinnamon and ginger. These help to open up blood vessels and get everything moving in the system.
The second step is to stimulate the kidneys. This requires plenty of fluids (as does the entire process; 1 gallon a day is not too much), and can include the use of sour-tasting substances such as lemon juice or cranberry. This will help to get minerals out of the system that are there in excess, and also help in the removal of some toxic substances. In more extreme cases, when a very strong, acrid herbal is used, or when the cleanse is going to continue for a long time, I like to include
marsh mallow or hibiscus, which are soothing to the kidneys.
The third step is to stimulate the liver and spleen. Liver-stimulating herbs are often bitter, like gentian or astragalus. Spleen-stimulating herbs do not have any particular taste associated with them. Sarsaparilla is the one I use most often in my practice. Melon, as food, is also useful in a mild sort of way. Both of these will continue the stimulation of the kidneys as well.
The final step is to cleanse the bowels. This process will have already bgun by stimulating the liver and spleen, and usually little more is needed to keep it going than a diet with lots of fiber, and of course plenty of fluids. Aloe juice (not gel or distilled aloe water) can be helpful in this step as well. In some individuals it might be helpful for a day or two to use herbs that actually stimulate the bowels directly, such as (in increasing order of potency) licorice, senna or cascara sagrada fluidextract.
A relatively gentle cleanse of this sort is safe for a healthy adult. Someone on medication or with existing health conditions would probably do well to seek professional supervision to make sure that any cleanse they were doing fit their needs and would not cause them unforeseen complications.
For the vast majority of people, doing a cleanse of the body following this general outline, once in a while-- say for one week every six months or a year-- is useful for improving and maintaining good health.
Natural health for the circulatory system
Natural health for the circulatory system
The circulatory system--by which i mean the veins, arteries, and the little tiny things that connect them-- is one of the most complex and vital systems in the body. It contains tens of thousands of miles of tiny passageways, leading the nourishing and sustaining blood to every part of the body. The pulse which flows through it is synonymous with life itself.
A weak or irregularly functioning circulatory system can cause all sorts of problems. Too little circulation can result coldness or numbness of the extremities, and difficulty or inability to heal injuries. Too much pressure in the circulatory system-- such as during a migraine or in a case of high blood pressure-- can cause all sorts of pain and suffering, and is very common. Weak or inelastic blood vessels can result in everything from bruises to strokes and aneurisms.
Probably the most important thing for good circulation, is maintaining an adequate level of hydration. Water not only provides the fluid volume for the circulatory system, it also helps to regulate the levels of electrolytes (such as sodium and potassium) and cleanse waste products from the system. An adequate supply of protein, and mineral rich vegetables is also a requirement for prolonged circulatory health.
There are various natural remedies that are nourishing and tonifying to the circulatory tissues in the body. The one (actually two) that i use most often in my practice, is a combination of the extracts of nettle (Urtica dioeca) leaf and Mallow (althea officinalis) root. Nettle helps to give strength to the blood vessels, and mallow helps to provide elasticity. This is a nutritive treatment that takes a long time to work in some cases, but can be extremely healing to an aging or damaged circulatory system.
in cases of collapsed blood vessels, such as varicose veins, herbal remedies such as black walnut extarct or oak bark extract can be helpful internally, and horse chestnut can be helpful externally.
Inflammation in the circulatory system is not uncommon, and can be helped with the same sorts of antiinflamatories (such as ginger or curcuma) that work elsewhere in the body.
In some cases, such as in people who have elevated blood pressure, the circulatory system can be aided by other organs and systems in the body, such as the kidneys.
Because of the nutritive and strengthening effects that natural remedies can have, they can be very good for the circulatory system. Circulatory issues are much easier to prevent than they are to treat once they have taken hold, so it's important to care for the circulatory system while it is healthy, in order to enjoy a long and healthy life.
The circulatory system--by which i mean the veins, arteries, and the little tiny things that connect them-- is one of the most complex and vital systems in the body. It contains tens of thousands of miles of tiny passageways, leading the nourishing and sustaining blood to every part of the body. The pulse which flows through it is synonymous with life itself.
A weak or irregularly functioning circulatory system can cause all sorts of problems. Too little circulation can result coldness or numbness of the extremities, and difficulty or inability to heal injuries. Too much pressure in the circulatory system-- such as during a migraine or in a case of high blood pressure-- can cause all sorts of pain and suffering, and is very common. Weak or inelastic blood vessels can result in everything from bruises to strokes and aneurisms.
Probably the most important thing for good circulation, is maintaining an adequate level of hydration. Water not only provides the fluid volume for the circulatory system, it also helps to regulate the levels of electrolytes (such as sodium and potassium) and cleanse waste products from the system. An adequate supply of protein, and mineral rich vegetables is also a requirement for prolonged circulatory health.
There are various natural remedies that are nourishing and tonifying to the circulatory tissues in the body. The one (actually two) that i use most often in my practice, is a combination of the extracts of nettle (Urtica dioeca) leaf and Mallow (althea officinalis) root. Nettle helps to give strength to the blood vessels, and mallow helps to provide elasticity. This is a nutritive treatment that takes a long time to work in some cases, but can be extremely healing to an aging or damaged circulatory system.
in cases of collapsed blood vessels, such as varicose veins, herbal remedies such as black walnut extarct or oak bark extract can be helpful internally, and horse chestnut can be helpful externally.
Inflammation in the circulatory system is not uncommon, and can be helped with the same sorts of antiinflamatories (such as ginger or curcuma) that work elsewhere in the body.
In some cases, such as in people who have elevated blood pressure, the circulatory system can be aided by other organs and systems in the body, such as the kidneys.
Because of the nutritive and strengthening effects that natural remedies can have, they can be very good for the circulatory system. Circulatory issues are much easier to prevent than they are to treat once they have taken hold, so it's important to care for the circulatory system while it is healthy, in order to enjoy a long and healthy life.
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