|
|
|
Chlamydia (Kla-Mid-Dee-Ah)
Chlamydia (Kla-Mid-Dee-Ah) is the commonest and curable sexually transmitted infection (STI) in the UK. The most important thing to know about Chlamydia is that any one who is having sex is vulnerable. You only need to have unprotected sex with one...
Folic Acid Prevents High Blood Pressure in Women
Folic Acid Prevents High Blood Pressure in Women Women who get lots of folic acid from both diet and supplements have less chance of developing high blood pressure than women who get very little, according to a study in the Journal of the American...
The Aromatherapy Home Medicine Chest – Part I: The Essential Oils
Essential oils provide a wonderful natural-medicine alternative to common ailments we see at home. Their actions are broad and diverse, ranging from topical antiseptics and anti-inflammatories to analgesics, digestive system tonics, and...
The Healing Power of Natures Herbs
In today's world doctors and medicines are the ones we trust when it comes to our health matters. Medical progress is good news for all of us, but I've got good news too! Nature, our oldest doctor, has simple solutions to treat many cases...
The history of hypnosis and hypnotherapy as a healing tool for mankind
The history of hypnosis and hypnotherapy as a powerful healing tool for the benefit of mankind
The use of hypnosis as a therapeutic tool is as old as man himself. As far as can be traced back through time, we can find records of hypnosis being...
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
The Yin and Yang of Social Phobia
Q:I feel that I am experiencing social phobia symptoms (red face, racing heart, sweating) and don't want to take a prescription drug with a bunch of bad side effects that will only mask these symptoms. I'm very interested in Chinese medicine but feel that I may be the person it has no effect on. I'd like some more information on overcoming anxiety and social phobia so I may live again. I'm probably yang deficient but no one would expect me to say that nor would they think I'd even be the one asking for info about overcoming anxiety.
- Ryan
A: Ryan, did you read our social phobia article yet? (http://pulsemed.org/Socialphobia.htm)
Are you looking for more detailed lifestyle-type solutions? Are you suspicious that Chinese Medicine won't work for you because you've tried Chinese Medicine before, or are you just afraid of the disappointment? What makes you say you think you are yang deficient? Help me target my response to you with answers to these questions. All the best, B
Q: Hi Brian, I don't exactly know why I feel I'm yang deficient, I know very little about chinese medicine. But from my extensive readings on the internet about the symptoms I've been experiencing (red face, racing heart, constant heat, sometimes with uncontrollable sweating, nervousness--social phobia). I feel I'm exerting many of what I understand to be yang deficiency symptoms.
I'm not really shy but feel I'm really under a lot of pressure especially when around strangers or making a first impression. I'm hoping to overcome this without Western meds. that have too many terrible side effects. As far as lifestyle changes, I've been doing practically the same things I've always done, but now everything is just much harder in general, and the social phobia of whatever kind may be to blame. If you have any recommendations about changing this naturally, I'm all ears.
I've never tried a chinese medicine before, I just am skeptical about the true intentions of a lot of on-line doctors/therapists that are quick to perscribe something for someone they do not know or really care about.
Not to sound like a Mr. Know-it-all, but I'm a graduating with a Marketing minor soon and know a lot about advertising and marketing schemes. This being a problem many Americans face makes it all the more enticing for someone attempting make a quick buck from desperate people. But I do not feel this way about your organization and as I said, I know very little about Chinese medicine. I'd like to find something that works for me and hope you'll talk with me some more.
Thank you very very much for your time and understanding
Sincerely, Ryan
A: Ryan, thanks for your clarification, and your feedback.
I keep hearing about online doctors... I haven't looked into this, so I can't speak to that. But yes, the internet and my email inbox are full of marketing messages.
The Pulse's major goal is to raise public awareness about Chinese Medicine. We take part in a few affiliate programs (Amazon.com, The Diet Forum) but these are peripheral, and do not influence our writings. We are committed to the highest ethical standards- which I have discussed in this article. (10 guidelines article)
Yin and Yang Deficiency
So, let's talk about yin and yang deficiency. Yin is passive and cool. Yang is active and hot. Thus, a yin deficiency is a lack of coolness and passivity which leads to "hot" symptoms... feelings of heat, restlessness, etc. Yang deficiency is a lack of heat and activity, so it appear "cold"... feelings of cold, diminished function, tiredness, etc.
However, diagnosis is not so simple. Yin or yang symptoms can be due to deficiency or excess. The ones above are just the deficiency kind. A yang excess would be hot and overactive. A yin excess would be cold and sluggish.
Diagnosis in Chinese Medicine
I'm going to run you through a hypothetical Chinese Medicine diagnosis- just for your information- you should find a Chinese Medicine physician in your area and consult them for treatment. I don't know all the facts of your case, so I can't substitute for a one-on-one consultation. To find a Chinese Medicine physician, go to this page.
Your symptoms are "red face, racing heart, constant heat, sometimes with uncontrollable sweating, nervousness--social phobia"
The red face, racing heart, constant heat, and uncontrollable sweating are all heat symptoms. So are they yin deficiency, or yang excess? In yin deficiency, sweating is usually at night and correlates with a feeling of heat in the palms and feet. In yin deficiency, usually only the cheeks are red... whereas in yang excess the whole face is red. In yin deficiency, feelings of heat are in the afternoon or evening.
It appears to me you more likely have a
yang excess.
The 8 Principles of Chinese Medicine
Up to now, we've only talked about 6 of the 8 principles. The 8 principles are a general categorizing system for diagnosis... They are
internal/external
cold/hot
deficient/excess
yin/yang
One Chinese physician proposed adding downward/ upward direction to this, for a total of 10 principles.
So for you - so far - we have: yang, hot and excess.
Is the Disease Internal or External?
Causes of external heat are usually viruses, flu's etc. And external diseases are usually recent, not chronic. Nor do they often have severe emotional effects... unless they've been around for a while and caused other internal problems. Usually emotional issues are due to internal causes. Sources of emotional trauma may be external, but the disease processes are still considered to be internal. I'm going to assume your disease is internal, but if your symptoms are only a recent development, then an external pathogen is a possibility.
Zang Fu Syndromes of Social Phobia
Now, if we take our 8 principle diagnosis of internal, hot, excess, and yang over to the article on Social Phobia... in particular the section on Zang Fu syndromes (opens another window for reference)
We see 5 Zang Fu syndromes listed. The first two are deficiency. The last three are excess. So, we can further differentiate by seeing which symptoms of your fit those syndromes. Here is where Tongue and Pulse diagnosis become key, and where a one-on-one with a Chinese Medicine practitioner is indispensable. Also, I don't have enough information from you to make this further differentiation.
Just for your information, the 5 Social Phobia Zang Fu patterns in terms of the 8 principles are:
Heart and Kidney Yin Deficiency = internal, hot, yang, deficient
Spleen and Heart Qi and Blood Deficiency = internal, no temp, yin, deficient
Heart Fire or Excess Heart Yang = internal, hot, yang, deficient and excess
Phlegm Fire Disturbing the Heart = internal, hot, yang, excess
Liver Heat and Blood Deficiency = internal, hot, yang, deficient and excess
Diagnosis by Zang Fu vs. Diagnosis by Type
Now, these 5 Zang Fu syndromes are not the end-all-be-all... this is what is called "diagnosis by type." It is not exactly the same as "pattern differentiation." It's a process by which we start with a disease (in this case Anxiety), and look at what Chinese Medical scholars believe to be the differential diagnosis. This style of diagnosis is fairly new... so it is in development. But it's a good place to start.
Once we have a type, we can take the representative herbal formula and modify it more specifically to you. This part is based on pattern differentiation and a knowledge of the actions of various chinese herbs. There are hundreds of herbs to choose from. We can fine-tune your formula over a few visits to eliminate side effects. For more about how herbal medicine can be effective without side effects, read the article, "Healing Without Side Effects?"
One on One Help
Probably the best thing for anxiety would be to see a Chinese Medicine physician who can get you the right herbal formula, and give you acupuncture to regulate your nervous system.
Other Helpful Therapies for Social Phobia
Along with this, it would be good to see a counselor who can guide you through some self-reflection about your social phobia... especially if it's been a recurrent part of your history.
It may take all three of those things- and in addition to the counseling, prayer and meditation can be powerfully transformative. It's not easy to confront deeply held fears, and mistaken ideas about ourselves and the world, but it's well worth it. You can't really run from them- not in any constructive way. They'll just hang around and wait for you to deal with them... and you won't be happy until you do.
In fact, wasn't it Eleanor Roosevelt who said that the best way to destroy fear is to do the thing you are most afraid of? Try toastmasters - most people are more afraid of public speaking than death! Toastmasters is a support and learning group for public speaking, and the first lesson is how to use the fear to your advantage!
BEST WISHES in your healing... and if I can help further, please let me know.
All the best,
B
About the Author
Acupuncturist, herbalist, and medical professor Brian B. Carter founded the alternative health megasite The Pulse of Oriental Medicine (http://www.PulseMed.org/). He is the author of the book "Powerful Body, Peaceful Mind: How to Heal Yourself with Foods, Herbs, and Acupressure" (November, 2004). Brian speaks on radio across the country, and has been quoted and interviewed by Real Simple, Glamour, and ESPN magazines.
|
|
|
|
|
| National Library of Medicine - National Institutes of Health |
| Part of the National Institutes of Health, the National Library of Medicine offers access to health information for consumer, patient, and physicians ... |
| www.nlm.nih.gov |
|
| Health and Medical Information produced by doctors - MedicineNet.com |
| Doctor-produced health and medical information written for you to make informed decisions about your health concerns. |
| www.medicinenet.com |
|
| Medicine in the Yahoo! Directory |
| Collection of sites for health professionals, with sections on specific disciplines, organizations, continuing education, conferences, publications, ... |
| dir.yahoo.com |
|
| MedlinePlus Health Information from the National Library of Medicine |
| Health information from the National Library of Medicine. Easy access to Medline and Health topics, medical dictionaries, directories and publications. |
| medlineplus.gov |
|
| Medicine - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia |
| Medicine is a branch of health science and the sector of public life ... The practice of medicine combines both science as the evidence base and art in the ... |
| en.wikipedia.org |
|
| Journal Home - Nature Medicine |
| Nature Medicine has a vacancy for a Locum Assistant Editor for six months. The position involves working in all aspects of the editorial process, ... |
| www.nature.com |
|
| The New England Journal of Medicine: Research & Review Articles on ... |
| The New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) is a weekly general medical journal that publishes new medical research findings, review articles, and editorial ... |
| content.nejm.org |
|
| eMedicine Clinical Knowledge Base |
| eMedicine features up-to-date, searchable, peer-reviewed medical journals, online physician reference textbooks, and a full-text article database in 62 ... |
| www.emedicine.com |
|
| Open Directory - Health: Medicine |
| the entire directory, only in Health/Medicine. Top: Health: Medicine (11429). Description · Medical Specialties (4888); Surgery (2265) ... |
| dmoz.org |
|
| the www virtual library biosciences medicine |
| www.ohsu.edu/cliniweb/wwwvl/ - Similar pages |
|
|
| Medicine - home |
| Bimonthly journal covering the latest results in clinical investigation relevant to hospital and office practice. |
| www.md-journal.com |
|
| Institute of Medicine |
| The Institute of Medicine serves as adviser to the nation to improve health. |
| www.iom.edu |
|
| ScienceDaily: Health & Medicine News |
| Medical Research News. Health news on everything from cancer to nutrition. Full-text, images, updated daily. |
| www.sciencedaily.com |
|
| Google Directory - Health > Medicine |
| Search only in Medicine Search the Web. Medicine. Health > Medicine, Go to Directory Home. Categories. Alternative Medicine (6308) Basic Sciences (66) ... |
| www.google.com |
|
| the world wide web virtual library biosciences medicine |
| www.mcb.harvard.edu/biopages/medicine.html - Similar pages |
|
|
| PLoS Medicine - A Peer-Reviewed Open-Access Journal |
| PLoS Medicine is a peer-reviewed, international, open-access journal published ... Every issue of PLoS Medicine contains a selection of readers' responses. ... |
| medicine.plosjournals.org |
|
| Medicine On-Line - Medicine Online -The International Medical Journal |
| Medicine Online - independent and peer reviewed journal published by Priory Medical Journals - priory.com. |
| www.priory.com |
|
| Entrez PubMed |
| PubMed is a service of the US National Library of Medicine that includes over 16 million citations from MEDLINE and other life science journals for ... |
| www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov |
|
| Stanford University School of Medicine |
| Home Page of the Stanford University School of Medicine. |
| med.stanford.edu |
|
| Medicine OnLine |
| Meds.com offers medical information and education on cancer (lung cancer, colon cancer, breast cancer, leukemia) and HIV / AIDS for patients, ... |
| www.meds.com |
|
|