Acupuncture as a Preventative Treatment.

[PeterG]

Well, I thought i'd be the first and start off a new topic.

Prevention is always better than cure in my books.

Here's some information I found about prevention of illness.

Health maintenance, "preventing illness before it shows its symptom" is the core idea in acupuncture and moxibustion theory. Clearly, ancient people had a concept of that stage of illness that comes before illness shows its symptom, and they believed it best to treat illnesses at this stage. This stage is called, in Chinese, "Mi Bing," and in Japanese "Mi Byo," which means "before illness."

"Mi Bing" is closely related to the idea of longevity and moxibustion on the acupuncture point St 36 (stomach 36: Zu San Li in Chinese, Ashi-no-san-ri in Japanese). A Japanese folk tale from the Edo era (1603-1867) about Farmer Manpei tells that when Manpei was asked whether he had any secret to maintaining long life, he answered that he had no secret other than burning moxa on St 36 every day, just as his ancestors had done. It is recorded that Manpei lived 243 years; his wife, Taku, lived 242 and their son, Mankichi, lived 196 years. In recent records, it is well known that Doctor Shimetaro Hara (deceased) used to burn moxa on his St 36 every day and he lived to be over 100 years of age.

Our ancestors have the idea that burning moxa on St 36 would "prevent disease before it shows its symptom"?

Here is some interesting information I found regarding the effects of moxibustion on blood cells and circulation.

Moxibustion in general has more or less the same efficacy as acupuncture. However, medical experiments have shown that moxibustion exerts much wider and stronger effect on overall biochemical changes in the body than acupuncture. For example:

(1) It increases the production of white blood cells. The white blood cell count begins to increase immediately after direct moxibustion, and reaches a peak 8 hours later. This peak is maintained for 24 hours. The number remains elevated for four or five days after treatment. The white blood cell count almost doubles with moxibustion, but when applied continuously for six weeks, the increase is sustained for up to even three months after moxibustion is discontinued.

(2) It increases the produciton of red blood cells and haemoglobin. For subjects who had an average haemoglobin ratio of 78% just before direct moxibustion, the ratio increased steadily to reach a peak of 90% in eight weeks. Applying direct moxibustion continuously for 15 weeks, it takes 22 weeks for the red blood cell count to return to what it used to be before moxibustion. It also shows a substantial increase in the following blood components: the sedimentation rate of red blood cells, platelet count, the speed of blood coagulation, blood calcium, blood glucose count and the capacity to produce antibodies.

(3) It improves the overall blood and lymph circulations. Due to rather intense heat of burning moxa on acupoints, impulses from nerve endings of the skin cause the dilation of capillaries ( the smallest vessels) to increase the blood and lymph circulations in the entire body. In fact it is well known that the patient feels very warm, relaxed and sleepy from this effect after moxibustion treatment. People who suffer from constant circulation or "cold feeling" in the hands and feet can greatly benefit from moxibustion.

(4) It is more effective for internal chronic ailments than acupuncture. Because of stronger effects on the overall biochemical changes, especially in blood components and immune system, moxibustion is much more effective for various chronic diseases of internal organs. From my clinical experiences of over 25 years, I can say that acupuncture can be a better choice for the treatment of rather acute cases or when the ailment is still in early stage.

(5) It is a safer treatment than acupuncture and can be used as a home therapy.
Both acupuncture and moxibustion must be practiced by licensed medical professionals. However, since moxibustion is a much safer method than acupuncture, it has been widely used as a very handy and effective folk remedy for centuries in Asia. Especially in Japan, various new types of moxa for home treatment are available on the market now. You can use moxa not only for the treatment of specific ailments but also for continuously maintaining good health.

I have been applying a moxa stick to ST36 for the past 3 months.

Does anyone have any thoughts on point prescription and/or herbs for use as a preventative treatment?

Peter.

[few88]

Treatment for prevention of influenza.

Moxa Du 14, BL 12 BL13 BL43 and while needling ST36 and CO4 for about 20 min. Do this for 3-4 days in a row :

[Tim Cleary]

And Yu Ping Feng San or another immune-stimulating formula- or others to clear up the sinuses, etc...); also, I like to use Nagano's Immune points near LI10-LI11 if gummy or sore (shallow insertion plus thread-size direct moxa), or the wider Nagano's seven tonsilar points treatment as per Kiiko Matsumoto... Nagano's Immune points (X2), KI6(X2), TE16(X2) and GV14 (sometimes GV12 or GV13);
Sometimes even my all-purpose standby treatment of Yang Wei Mai/Dai Mai and/or Yin Wei Mai/Ren Mai works for people who have low immunity...
_________________
Treatment is Diagnosis; Diagnosis is Treatment

[PeterG]

Found this article:

China is stepping up its efforts in studying the efficiency of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) and special prescriptions to help prevent and control human infections of bird flu in wake of confirming two cases.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2005-11/17/content_3796120.htm

[PeterG]

SHENZHEN, Aug. 12 (Xinhua) -- Traditional Chinese medicines have contributed a lot to the recovery of China's latest bird flu patient, said a Chinese medical expert on Saturday.

The patient, surnamed Jiang, 31, was discharged on August 2 from the Donghu Hospital after being treated here for about 50 days, in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province.

During the early period of Jiang's treatment, doctors used a kind of soup made by ginseng, a medicinal herb, to clear toxic heat in his body, said Zhou Boping, head of the hospital.

Hirudo, a medicine in China, was also used to activate blood circulation against stasis in the second phase, said Zhou.

Other Chinese medicines such as Cordyceps Sinesis, a Chinese caterpillar fungus, were also used to promote the function of lungs, according to Zhou.

The use of traditional Chinese medicines worked well along with other forms of treatment, said Zhou, also head of the medical team of experts for treating Jiang.

On June 15, the Ministry of Health confirmed that Jiang had contracted the H5N1 strain of avian influenza. Jiang was sent to the Donghu Hospital on June 9.

Jiang had been to a local market where live poultry was sold several times before developing symptoms of fever and pneumonia on June 3. He was critically ill when he got to hospital, and many internal organs showed signs of failure and his lungs were severely infected by different kinds of anti-drug virus, according to Zhou.

But he had been doing well since late June. Examinations showed the avian influenza virus was no longer in his system by June 22. By July 5, he was able to breathe without the use of a respirator.

China's Health Ministry confirmed on Tuesday that the country's first human case of H5N1 bird flu occurred in November 2003. Since then, the total number of the country's human cases of bird flu has been registered at 20, among them seven recovered.

Source: Xinhua News Agency - CEIS

[luke]

Living by the seasons is a great way of maintaining health. There is a great book by the Shanghai college on health cultivation.

[Shallow Al]

Hi Peter.
For mine treatment for the prevention of (chronic) illness should be directly related to an individuals constitution.
This means the practitioner must understand the constitutional aspect of our medicine thoroughly in order to utilize Traditional Acupuncture most effectively.
To believe that there is one point or one treatment for all patients and all conditions might be stretching it just a little?
Regarding acute disorders such as influenza..flu..colds or whatever you might like to call the external pathogen.
My experience in working with these types situations(100's of treatments) has shown that if treatment is administered within 24hours of the onset of malaise, runny nose, headache etc then it is usually extremely effective.
The earlier the better!
Of course there are exceptions but they are just that, exceptions. (Mega virus...super fatigued person etc. etc.)
I work with a number of elite athelets and almost without exception if they get treatment early enough then it is very effective indeed.
Rx.
Lu8 - Sp5 Tonify the wei and gu qi utilizing the metal points on the respective meridians. (we are working primarily with wei qi here so the depth of needling is very superficial) .
If either of the Taiyang pulses is excessive then slightly stronger stimulation on either or both the SI and BL meridians is required to balance out the excess.
10 - 20 cones of tonetskyu (rice grain moxibustion) DU 14 and very superficial insertion on BL13 - 20 - 23 - 59 to finish treatment off will usually get there job done.
Of course there can be more to both the treatment and ailment but readers please be reassured, if your timing is right and skills up to speed ..then the results are invariably positive