Guest guest Posted December 25, 1999 Report Share Posted December 25, 1999 Is it helpful to use a patient's lupus dx to guide TCM therapy? It may help one get a handle on an illness or it may obscure the correct bian zheng. While it is interesting to me that lupus is treatable with TCM, the research based protocols are not that effective on American clinical cases. I have found it more useful to identify lupus amongst TCM categories of illness and then proceed from there. Is it yin fire, fu xie, bi syndrome or a combination thereof? What zang fu patterns present based upon signs and symptoms, etc? The modern research from China emphasizes blood stagnation in autoimmune diseases and yin tonics to offset steroid use. Hepatoprotection is necessary with imuran use. However, I would use this info in the context of TCM, not vice-versa. If an herb is contraindicated in TCM for dampness, etc, then I would avoid it regardless of western indications. Which brings me to the issue of TCM actions of drugs. Like all adverse effects, these are POTENTIAL effects. Just like smoking doesn't give everyone a cough, much less lung cancer, steroids also impact different patients differently. While they are never desirable longterm, the degree of impact on TCM physiology must be assessed with the four exams, not assumed a priori. I know Zev agrees with this and I am just underscoring him here. The beauty of bian zheng is that we can use this method even if we don't know the name of the disease or what drugs the patient is taking. If the disease + drugs causes yin xu, that's what we treat, and so on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 25, 1999 Report Share Posted December 25, 1999 >TLuger () > >Is it helpful to use a patient's lupus dx to guide TCM therapy? It may >help one get a handle on an illness or it may obscure the correct bian >zheng. While it is interesting to me that lupus is treatable with TCM, >the research based protocols are not that effective on American clinical >cases. I have found it more useful to identify lupus amongst TCM >categories of illness and then proceed from there. Is it yin fire, fu >xie, bi syndrome or a combination thereof? What zang fu patterns >present based upon signs and symptoms, etc? A practitioner of TCM MUST retranslate the symptom pattern into bian zheng in order to proceed. I agree wholeheartedly. > >The modern research from China emphasizes blood stagnation in autoimmune >diseases and yin tonics to offset steroid use. Hepatoprotection is >necessary with imuran use. However, I would use this info in the >context of TCM, not vice-versa. If an herb is contraindicated in TCM >for dampness, etc, then I would avoid it regardless of western >indications. Which brings me to the issue of TCM actions of drugs. >Like all adverse effects, these are POTENTIAL effects. Just like >smoking doesn't give everyone a cough, much less lung cancer, steroids >also impact different patients differently. While they are never >desirable longterm, the degree of impact on TCM physiology must be >assessed with the four exams, not assumed a priori. I know Zev agrees >with this and I am just underscoring him here. See my other post on the issue of immunosuppressent medications. My experience is working with patients on these medications is not hopeful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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