introduction

[Guest guest]

I am asking new rs to send a brief introduction about

themselves to the list to get the ball rolling. Your occupation,

education, academic and clinical interests, etc.

 

If you have not already done so, please introduce yourself to the group.

My intro can be found in the list archives, which can be accessed from

the signup page at the Academy or by going to www. and

searching for .

 

I live in Portland, Oregon and we have a lot of naturopaths, here. It

is very hard for an herbalist to compete when everyone associates TCM

mainly with acupuncture. My practice has grown slowly by word of mouth.

But naturopaths have done a pretty good job in this part of the country

promoting themselves as the only highly trained herbal experts. So new

patients from the general public are rare.

 

I own a clinic that has naturopaths, so I know how rare it is for

someone to call asking specifically about chinese herbal therapy

compared to naturopathy, massage or acupuncture. I have learned how to

sell my modality, but there is a great need to educate the public about

what chinese herbs can offer.

 

I have observed chinese herbs to be more effective in the treatment of

most diseases than either naturopathy or acupuncture, as is suggested by

fifty years of chinese experiments. Yet we are not making our case to

politicians, insurers, researchers, etc. This worries me, because if

all the attention is paid to acupuncture instead, I am afraid that

Chinese medicine will fade into oblivion. For as useful as acupuncture

is, it is quite limited in its cost effectiveness for many ailments.

 

Acupuncture, used properly, is expensive. To get good effects in

chronic illness, a patient should get ten treatments their first month,

not three or four, but insurance isn't gonna go for that. In fact, our

initial experience here with acupuncture PPO's suggests that HMO's want

to offer acupuncture to their insurees, yet actually deny most claims or

impose such restrictions as to make the therapy ineffective. Herbs are

cheap. HMO's would love them if they could trust them. We need to make

our case before a growing string of aupuncture research disappointments

damages the herbal profession by association and makes it very difficult

to get future research dollars for TCM at all.