FW: Osteoclasts and TCM

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In a message dated 8/20/2002 12:30:45 PM Central Standard Time, fbernall writes:

 

 

If we think in lines of some form of yin xu, does that mean that

there's a relative hyperactivity of osteoclasts eroding bone cells?

Or in a case of yang xu, a decreased of osteoblast activity and less

generation of bone matrix? Or do I have this backwards? Thanks,

 

 

This inquiry brings up some interesting philosophical points.

 

In the paradigm of the West, osteopenia in postmenopausal women is caused by increased activity of osteoclasts in response to lowered hormone levels.

 

I was not aware of any sources which correlated Chinese patterns of Yang Xu or Yin Xu with specific cellular activity in cortical or trabecular bony matrix. Osteoblatic/clastic activity is not something you can see with any of the traditional examinations. For that reason, I think it best left unapproached by TCM, except as some incidental study (i.e., someone looks at patients who respond well to some of the formulas we have been discussing and then does some lab work to "prove" lol that "this stuff really works.")

 

I believe that if you mix these two paradigms, TCM (with the emphasis on TRADITIONAL) and Western Medicine, then you will run down a very slippery slope.

 

Using TCM as a modality in conjunction with Western Allopathic medicine would allow for the use of advanced diagnositcs and some "interesting" correlations. They would be interesting because you could see the results that you were getting from the herbs at a much greater level of detail.

 

I remember doing acupuncture as my wife delivered my daughter and watching the fetal monitor and the contraction rate and strength. It was COOL!

 

In that case, however cool it was, I would have to say that the monitors were, in some sense trite.

 

The fact was that the acupuncture increased the contractions as all of us knew it would, and the monitors confirmed what a Chinese physician would have already known.

 

I think you will find it the same with the osteoblast/clast activity assays. I think the soul of TCM may actually be lost at the cellular level and may be entirely meaningless at the molecular level.

 

Specifically, the herbs become "crude drugs" waiting for Pfizer to extract something from them, the acupuncture becomes "neural modulation" and the doctor patient interaction... well, that's most often thought of as placebo work anyway.

 

On the other hand, any system of medicine which encourages its practitioners to help patients to "fulfill their destiny" has nothing to apologize for, just because some politically powerful practitioners (allopaths) can't raise their eyes that far.

 

Guy Porter

 

DrGRPorter