Traditional Chinese Medicine
By admin on 2015-01-29

Work and stress these days unfortunately is a part of everyday life for most people. Pharmacy shelves are packed with painkillers, sleeping aids, stomach medicines to alleviate these systems.

In some western countries, those people who aren't comfortable with traditional western drugs with side effects are also turning to Chinese medicine for their ailments. Others aren't so sure.

Today, we'll talk to some doctors in Beijing who suggest that some foreigners may have misconceptions about traditional Chinese medicine treatments. We'll also get some opinions from some who were willing to try.

Andrea Hunt has more:

Some foreigners are driven by curiosity, others perhaps by desperatation when western medicine doesn't work. From a foreigner's perspective, it may seem like a quite unconventional form of medicine. Also, the differences may look obvious but might not always be understood.

Some hospitals and clinics like the Beijing Massage Hospital have English speaking doctors where foreigners can go to be treated with traditional Chinese medicine. Dr Lihong Jiuling has worked there for two years and says common treatments include therapeutic massage, acupuncture, cupping, and scraping.

Traditional Chinese Medicine is popular with some foreigners in China.

"In my opinion, more and more foreigners come to China to learn the traditional Chinese medicine and more foreigners accept this treatment."

Hospitals and shops also sell Chinese medicine in pill-form or in individually prescribed mixes. Admittedly, the idea of drinking concoctions made of strange smelling herbs and animal parts is not everyone's idea of a remedy.
 
This was the case for Craig Lennox from Glasgow, Scotland, when he arrived to Beijing. Seven years ago, he knew nothing about Chinese medicine. However, he had tried everything for his digestive discomfort and nothing had helped. Western doctors told him that perhaps the food here didn't suit him, but he didn't believe that a weak stomach was the problem.

"When I came to China, I went to a few western hospitals who were charging ridiculous prices for medication. And the side effects were worse than the symptoms I was suffering. So, through talking to some Chinese friends, a lot of people told me I should try Chinese medicine. So, I thought, it couldn't be any worse than the western medicine. I went for a checkup and I started taking Chinese medicine and as disgusting as it tastes and it is kind of time consuming, but I do feel that it's benefited my health a lot. Not to say the western medicine wouldn't have done the same thing, but I feel like I made the right choice with the Chinese medicine."

However, not all foreigners in China have convincing experiences, says Richard Wells from Liverpool, England. He has lived both in Kunming and Shanghai the last few years and has tried Chinese medicines on several occasions. His reasons for not believing in the medicine are based on his personal experiences, when the medicine didn't help him and only made him sweat a lot.

"My personal understanding is that in terms of acute conditions, I would not trust it. But perhaps for treatments for perhaps ongoing difficulties where it could be used in a preventative, holistic fashion, perhaps but in a dubious and skeptical sense."

Dr Ana Zikic is a general practitioner of western medicine from Belgrade, Serbia. She was interested in a different approach, so she came to China four years ago to study traditional Chinese medicine. She suggests that some people don't always understand the methodology of Chinese medicine so they may discredit it.

"Maybe the first time they try the needles, they don't understand how one needle (without taking medicine), can help them. Or, they have a headache or a digestion problem, how some point which is so far away down on the foot can help them. But this is the whole concept of Chinese medicine. They are treating the small parts so you can influence the whole."

Another aspect that also makes foreigners skeptical is that the treatment takes a bit more time, explains Dr Lan Jirui from Beijing. Dr Lan practices traditional Chinese medicine, but was previously an orthopedic surgeon who trained in western medicine. He sees many foreigners at his private Yifang Clinic using treatments from both East and West to improve patients' health.

"That means you really need patience. So, this is different from western medicine maybe because the patient comes to see the doctor, 'Sorry, I have pain, please help me; give me a pill.' Yeah sure, you can take a pill, but in Chinese medicine we have to find what is the reason for this pain and we solve this problem, not only cover the symptoms."

Because it's not merely about treating the problem, Dr Lan adds that proactive prevention is also key to Chinese medicine.

"Prevention is not doing nothing. Following one is, do something yourself. In western medicine, usually the treatment is led by doctors, so all the responsibility is on the doctors. But in the Chinese opinion, it's a different opinion; you have to work together." So when you really make a healing program, you do it together.

Dr Lan adds that the body does have the ability to heal itself and that there is a reason behind illness. He emphasizes that the main misunderstanding of traditional Chinese medicine is that some expect it to be magic or made up of miracles.It's simply medicine done a different way.