New poll for chinese medicine

[Guest guest]

,

wrote:

>

>

> Enter your vote today! A new poll has been created for the

> group:

 

I have allowed Phil to post this poll. However, as I informed him,

 

Such self-selected polls of anecdotal experiences are considered meaningless

(because

they are). What do you think this will prove? and to whom? I think this will

do more harm

than good as it will be so easily dismissed as statistically insignificant and

provide further

evidence of our professional naivete. again, we will appear as a profession

that continually

polls it members about standards of care and never does any real research to

back it up.

If anyone out there actually had sustained regular success with hypertension and

acupuncture, they should be able to provide documentation of long term followup.

For

over five years, I have been requesting documentation of successful long term

treatment

of even a single case of any chronic illness. I even created a database to

collect the results

online. The failure of a single member of this group to submit even one such

documented

case during this time speaks volumes more than such a bogus poll ever could.

This is a

matter to be pursued with proper deliberation by a professional organization.

To make a

claim for success in treatment yet demonstrate complete unwillingness to prove

it is a

sure recipe for disaster. A recent UC Irvine study is the first such proof I

know of in this

matter and it flies in the face of traditional practice. See press release at

http://cmbi.bjmu.edu.cn/news/0402/28.htm

 

Personally, I think our ship has kind of sailed. I no longer think it likely

that the research I

want for our field will ever get done. In about a decade, western medicine will

have

changed so drastically that there will be little interest in researching TCM as

a gentler

alternative anymore. We will still play a role in healthcare for several

decades to come.

But for the long run, I suspect history will take another path than the

institution of TCM as

a primary medical system. I now think our primary goal should be to show that

TCM can

lead to improved quality of life regardless of age or health. That it can

noniatrogenically

treat symptoms and self-limited conditions. And while it also could have played

a role in

the cure of chronic illness, I think science will actually prevail in this

domain, thus a

strategy of proving TCM's role in this area will receive diminishing research

funding over

time. As an example, I don't TCM treats hypertension well, but I do think TCM

plus drugs

results in better management of BP and fewer side effects. This is the primary

role I

envision for TCM herbology - adjunct to drug therapy - and it is the subject I

will speak to

at the upcoming Scripps conference. This is what we should rally behind and

attempt to

prove.

 

You may ask why I would even want to be in such a field doomed to inevitable

obsolescense. There are many reasons why one might make this choice. We are in

a

transitional period where western medicine is crude and barbaric. In addition,

CM

promotes optimum health, not just normal physiology. So at this point in time,

I see TCM

as playing an important role as a bridge to the future, but not as the future.

But I never

figured it would be my last job. Americans changes jobs many times during

their lives as

technology changes. I do not think we are insultated from this phenomena just

by doing

something ancient. The social good and role TCM plays in its advancement

interest me.

TCM's perpetual professional existence of is of no concern at all. Its like

when we knew

the automobile was coming. This made passenger rail virtually obsolete for much

of the

country. That didn't mean we should stop upkeeping the railroads for the

limited but vital

purpose they serve.

 

 

[Guest guest]

Enter your vote today! A new poll has been created for the

group:

 

ACUPUNCTURE in HYPERTENSION Poll (6)

Please answer ONLY if YOU use

ACUPUNCTURE routinely in hypertension.

>>>HYPERTENSION<<< is defined as a

resting blood pressure (BP, in mm Hg,

systolic and diastolic) >140 (SBP) and

>90 (DBP), respectively, confirmed at

least TWICE before acupuncture

treatment was given. >>>> QUESTION 6

<<<<: Once BP has normalised, about how

many acupuncture SESSIONS per YEAR are

needed to MAINTAIN BP in the normal

range (give your estimated average

number)?

 

o 1

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o 6

o 7

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o 11

o 12

o More than 12

 

 

To vote, please visit the following web page:

/surveys?id=1559297

 

Note: Please do not reply to this message. Poll votes are

not collected via email. To vote, you must go to the

web site listed above.

 

Thanks!