You have probably heard about the use of Oriental medicine, such as acupuncture, gaining popularity in the U.S. Millions of Americans are using acupuncture to improve their health, treating ailments ranging from the common cold to autoimmune disorders to orthopedic issues. Acupuncture is also gaining momentum as an effective and safe way to treat childhood issues too.

Acupuncture helps childhood development through all phases of infancy, toddlerhood, childhood, and puberty by helping their immature systems function at the highest possible level and strengthening them in various ways.

Settling throughout the lands of northern China in what is often referred to as the birthplace or cradle of Chinese civilization, the Shang peoples built and organized their cities and towns around the flooding stages of the eastern Yellow River.  From around 1800 B.C.E. on, this ‘Yellow River Civilization’ was organized enough to be referred to as a culture.

The Shang were a people whose shamanic religion was characterized by ancestor worship, sacrifice, and divination.  They worshipped a deity called Shang-Ti, the ‘Supreme God,’ ‘Lord on High,’ or ‘God of Heaven,’ who ruled over the world as well as over the lesser gods of nature (such as the gods of wind, rain, etc.).  This shamanic culture formed the very basis of Chinese Medicine. 

When I would get sick each year at the start of January, I thought it was due to stress. However, after my first semester at PCOM, I now understand there were many more causes or etiologies that led to my sickness each year. Before I made the decision to change careers into Eastern medicine (EM), I was a CPA in the area of Tax Real Estate. I hoped that this career would bring me the satisfaction and fulfillment I sought in my professional and personal life, but it didn’t. I knew that tax was not what I was meant to do, and as a result, I had a hard time feeling a sense of purpose and accomplishment from my career. Additionally, since I had to spend so much of my time at work, I continually felt like I was not living my life to its fullest—especially during the annual “busy season” of tax, when I worked in excess of 80 hours a week for more than 4 ½  months. The utter absence of work/life balance prevented me from making my own health and well being a priority. The competitive work environment and the values of those around me also took a toll on my emotional and physical health.  Now that I have spent a semester studying EM, I understand that the sickness I felt each January resulted from etiologies stemming from my environment and life choices. Below, I explain these etiologies and how they impacted my health history, emotional life, and my decision to change career paths.

Throughout my life, I have always had an aversion to wind and cold. I generally have cold hands and feet, leave the heat on in my apartment, and sleep with a heating blanket. Therefore, it was not surprising that wind and cold played a role in me coming down with the flu each winter in January. EM considers wind and cold two of the six major external etiologies or “excesses/evils” that lead to yin yang imbalance in the body, thus causing disease. According to the five-phase theory (FPT) of EM, wind and cold invasion likely caused the rapid onset and swift change in my health condition each January. They also likely caused the simultaneous fever and chills, floating body aches and congestion in the upper parts of my body, including my head, neck and most significantly my lungs. Since EM considers the lungs the most fragile zang organ in the body, and the organ that regulates defensive “Wei” qi, it makes sense that wind and cold evil impacted my lungs the most. Furthermore, FPT associates wind with the liver which regulates the free coursing of qi, and associates cold with the kidneys which underscores each zang-fu’s yin and yang balance in the body.  Thus, when wind and cold invade the body, the liver and kidney can become imbalanced leading to some of the various signs and symptoms I experienced during this time.

By George Chachis

    Volunteer Oriental medicine practitioners and students are increasingly joining traditional health delivery assistance programs, reaching out to people around the world who have little or no available health care. Like the Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs) that have gone before them, the ultimate goal of these new outreach health volunteers is to engage local groups as proactive health care participants, not as mere passive patients. However, such commendable goals don’t always work as expected. A recent startup NGO, Healer2Healer, is developing a different approach, working with local groups in Guatemala and elsewhere to foster self-reliance from the very beginning of each project, rather than hoping to transition at some later date.

Dementia is a cognitive impairment that can occur with certain diseases. It affects memory, thinking, language, judgment, and behavior. Most types of Dementia are degenerative, meaning they are nonreversible. Alzheimer's disease is the most common type of Dementia, but there are many forms this impairment can take. Some of the most common conditions that can lead to Dementia include Lewy Body Disease, Huntington’s Disease, Multiple Sclerosis, Parkinson’s Disease, brain tumors, chronic alcohol abuse, brain injury, and strokes (which lead to vascular dementia).

In addition to memory loss, there are several common symptoms that accompany Dementia. Change in sleep patterns, often waking up at night, forgetting details about current events, depression, agitation, or withdrawing from social contact are common side effects of this condition. Traditional Chinese medicine can help to treat a variety of the discomforts associated with Dementia. From acupuncture to herbal remedies, Chinese medicine practitioners have provided treatments for many of these situations for over two thousand years.

2011 was an excellent year for complementary and alternative medicine. As the recent American Hospital Association survey points out, alternative and holistic therapies are on the rise across the United States, increasingly being offered in hospitals and growing in recognition from insurance companies. This increase in CAM services at hospitals is a response to patient demand. There is a rising interest in holistic approaches to healthcare, as the latest studies indicate that 65 to 80 percent of the world’s population, and approximately 38 percent of all Americans use CAM. Hospitals are integrating acupuncture, massage therapy, and other alternative services into their conventional medical care. Forty-two percent of hospitals in the survey said they offer one or more alternative therapies, including meditation, relaxation training, homeopathy and chiropractic care. This is a sizeable increase from 2007, when only 37% of hospitals reported that they offer one or more alternative therapies.

June of 2011 saw the first U.S. National Prevention and Health Promotion Strategy announced, which included references to integrative care. In addition, President Obama's appointees to the Advisory Group on Prevention, Health Promotion, Integrative and Public Health include an integrative practice contingent that includes The Huffington Post contributor Dean Ornish, M.D., and Janet Kahn, Ph.D., a PCOM advisory board member.

Enjoy a Healthy Start to the New Year with Festivities at Pacific College of Oriental Medicine

NEW YORK, CHICAGO, and SAN DIEGO, CA (JANUARY 5 2012) -- Pacific College of Oriental Medicine is ringing in the Chinese New Year this January with special celebrations offering workshops on acupuncture, massage or qi gong; demonstrations and complimentary treatments; sampling of edible Chinese herbs; lectures on topics including nutrition and Chinese astrology, and much more. The longest and most important holiday in the Chinese calendar, Chinese New Year begins on January 23rd and runs through mid-February. Ushering in the Year of the Dragon, it is a time to say goodbye to past resentments and bad luck, and to manifest good fortune and wellbeing for the year to come.