Guest guest Posted December 1, 2001 Report Share Posted December 1, 2001 I wonder why he chooses to use such small dosages? Could it be more about correct diagnosis than dosage? who knows Alon I strongly believe it is much more about correct diagnosis than large doses, assuming that the correct diagnosis leads one to the correct choice of herbs (quite an assumption). I base this not only on 17 years of practicing but on as many years of personally taking from 2 to 7 grams a day of a variety of TCM herbal formulas. Personal use experience is invaluable and in many ways more edifying than patient feedback. My personal experience has also clearly shown that the correctness of a formula will often change at a critical turning point in the healing process that is difficult to identify with outward symptomatic expression. One of the easiest ways to identify the need to change formulas is that the subjective taste perception of the herbs will change, usually for the worse. After you have experienced this shift in taste a few times it becomes pretty easy to recognize. In addition to a shift in taste sensation there is a subtle change that makes the herb liquid more difficult to swallow, as if the stomach qi is rebelling upward slightly in anticipatory rejection. Stephen ----- Original Message ----- Saturday, December 01, 2001 12:33 PM Subject: Re: Digest Number 792 , " Robert L. Felt " <bob@p...> wrote: If this were to prove-out, it > would have a very significant effect on how we think about many Chinese > concepts because the older energetic model would not just be more highly > suspect than it already is but logically excluded in a specific and non-trivial > case. When our profession finally accepts that the long overdue rejection of the energy model of qi is proven mathematically, that will be the beginning of a sea change. This energy model is not only philologically wrong, but its prominence in our field has been a major stumbling block to mainstream scientific acceptance. The energy model of qi has always been ludicrous and every bonafide physicist who has investigated the matter has found the idea laughable. Yet the old guard in our field is still teaching students about energy and " explaining " the effects of CM with simplistic references to quantum physics. Complexity science is much harder to grasp and this may explain why it has not been embraced yet in the acupuncture field. This will also hopefully finally sound the death knell of those practices of so-called energetic medicine that have justified their credibility by piggybacking on the venerability of acupuncture, upon which their practices are supposedly based. Of greater interest to me is the issue of herb dosage as explained with reference to information theory. After seeing another dramatic effect from homeopathy in one of my cats this past week, I am again wondering whether information requires any substance or much substance to exert its effects. first, I have rarely seen homeopathy do anything significant in human beings. I have also seen on countless occasions that an increase in herb dosage is the deciding factor in whether a formula is effective. Is it that animals are more sensitive, thus can be easily affected by nonsubstantial medicine? In humans, is the signal to noise ratio not as easily overcome (the noise being the human mind). So perhaps the dosage issue is partially related to a threshold that must be overcome to transfer the information. Maybe in some people,the threshold is very low, others quite high. I have no idea how homeopathy works, but I definitely think herbs exert their effects pharmacologically. Some people object to this, but perhaps it should be considered that biochemistry is a self organizing information system, so the two ideas are not mutually exclusive. The question that remains for me is what determines this information threshold. Perhaps those with functional illnesses with no organic changes have a lower threshold, whereas organic changes require more information to overcome the noise of significant structural change. Perhaps those who live a scrupulous lifestyle have a lower threshold. Perhaps those with extensive damp, phlegm and blood stasis have a higher threshold. The Chinese Herb Academy, a voluntary organization of licensed healthcare practitioners, matriculated students and postgraduate academics specializing in Chinese Herbal Medicine, provides a variety of professional services, including board approved online continuing education. Your use of is subject to the Terms of Service. The Chinese Herb Academy, a voluntary organization of licensed healthcare practitioners, matriculated students and postgraduate academics specializing in Chinese Herbal Medicine, provides a variety of professional services, including board approved online continuing education. Your use of is subject to the Terms of Service. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 1, 2001 Report Share Posted December 1, 2001 Stephen wrote: >>>One of the easiest ways to identify the need to change formulas is that the subjective taste perception of the herbs will change, usually for the worse. After you have experienced this shift in taste a few times it becomes pretty easy to recognize. In addition to a shift in taste sensation there is a subtle change that makes the herb liquid more difficult to swallow, as if the stomach qi is rebelling upward slightly in anticipatory rejection. <<< any ideas on how this would translate to using herbal extract powders in capsules? -- Al Stone L.Ac. <AlStone http://www.BeyondWellBeing.com Pain is inevitable, suffering is optional. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 1, 2001 Report Share Posted December 1, 2001 >>>One of the easiest ways to identify the need to change formulas is that the subjective taste perception of the herbs will change, any ideas on how this would translate to using herbal extract powders in capsules? Al, You can open the capsules every time you take some, otherwise you need to figure out a way to recognize that the response to the herbs has changed using some other point of reference. -- Al Stone L.Ac. <AlStone http://www.BeyondWellBeing.com Pain is inevitable, suffering is optional. Chinese Herbal Medicine, a voluntary organization of licensed healthcare practitioners, matriculated students and postgraduate academics specializing in Chinese Herbal Medicine, provides a variety of professional services, including board approved online continuing education. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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