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Introducing our new DTCM/MTCM Dual-Degree Program: Through a single program, earn your Doctor of Traditional Chinese Medicine and Master of Traditional Chinese Medicine (DTCM/MTCM) Dual-Degree and become a licensed acupuncturist and herbalist. Students earn the Doctorate degree, and are given the Master’s degree that is required to sit for State and National licensing and certification exams.
“I feel like Chinese medicine gives me a great way to treat patients with chronic and complex illnesses because it provides a strong and scaffolded structure in which to categorize symptoms. When patients come in with conditions where no immediate diagnosis can be given, or a definitive answer of what they have and how to treat the condition, you really have to back up, look at the tissue states, the nuances of the presenting disease, examine whether there is excess or deficiency, hot or cold and start from there. It’s best to begin with just balancing what you see out of balance today, because if you try to fix the whole thing at once it can be overwhelming.”
FBU: Hi Sarah, thanks for meeting with us today and giving us the opportunity to learn a little bit more about you. So, where are you from originally?
Sarah: I am actually from rural Oklahoma. I remember saying my whole life, “I am getting out of here. There is something going on out there that I have not seen yet and I am going to go find it.” So, I graduated high school and left at 6:30 the next morning to travel for about a year before I started college. Looking back I feel coming from Oklahoma gives me a good perspective on the health of patients because I can understand where they are coming from and put these new lifestyle and health choices into context better. I didn’t grow up on the west coast with people who have grown up eating organic food, doing yoga, and especially not eating kale. Hahaha… So, I feel like it is easier for me to understand how absurd some of these ideas might seem and where people are coming from. I think it is a good thing for healthcare professionals to remember that for the average person, a little change in their diet and lifestyle is a big deal.
FBU: Tell us a little bit about your educational background.
Sarah: I studied pre-med in undergrad at the University of Texas, Austin, you know, pursuing the conventional medicine route. While I was there, I didn’t know anything about Naturopathic medicine, Chinese medicine or even alternative medicine in general. During my studies, I did rotations volunteering at a hospital. I discovered that I liked medicine and the science behind it, but the actual experience of being in a hospital, even after just a short time, was not how I wanted to spend my life. So, I took some time off and worked as a research biologist with the Smithsonian Institute in Panama and discovered Naturopathic Medicine. I enrolled at the National College of Natural Medicine (NCNM) in Portland, where I would then learn about Chinese medicine. I began studying Chinese medicine at NCNM during my 3rd year, pursuing the Masters of Acupuncture degree.
Ever since visiting Santa Cruz the year before I started college, I had always wanted to live here. So, after I graduated from NCNM, I took my boards in August, went to Burning Man, moved to Santa Cruz, transferred some of my Chinese medicine courses to Five Branches University and continued my studies the next Spring Semester. I also began working at a well-known Naturopathic health center a few months later. My studies at NCNM were a mere drop in the bucket compared to the depth of my studies I began here at Five Branches, because without studying Chinese herbal medicine, it’s completely different.
FBU: So prior to your studies at NCNM you had never heard of Chinese Medicine?
Sarah: No, I hadn’t. While I was there, I had a preceptorship with a doctor who was dually licensed as a ND and LAc, and he exposed me to it for the first time during my second year. I wanted to study it further because it works. It’s one of those things where it worked for me personally, I saw it work in the clinic, and it is a bit mysterious in a way. There are a lot of reasons to like it, but initially I got interested in it because I saw the great clinical impact it was having on patients.
It’s nice to have a service. It’s nice to be able to give something. As a Naturopath, everybody develops their own way of practicing. But, actually being able to touch a patient or give them something is so important. So that was what really stood out with Acupuncture. It was a service that you provided and people left feeling better that day. It wasn’t just a plan and a future promise of you feeling better. It was more like, today you feel differently.
FBU: How did you decide to attend Five Branches in Santa Cruz?
Sarah: Location! Location! Location! Hahaha… While I was in in Panama I worked for a post-doc professor at UT, Austin. I met some post-docs from UC, Santa Cruz and just kind of fell in love with how they talked about Santa Cruz, so I got a car and did my first tour of the West Coast. Immediately after that told myself that I would come back here later. That was over a decade ago. Haha… It’s just been one of those places in the world that continued to resurface for me. So, because I had that connection and because I was networking with some Naturopathic doctors in town, I decided to attend Five Branches because it was the best place for me to go. It was almost too good to be true in a lot of ways.
FBU: Do you have any clinical specialties or areas of interest?
Sarah: Well, I have more of a general practice focus at the moment. In my practice I see a lot of what we see at the Five Branches clinic: anxiety, pain, hormonal issues and gastrointestinal disturbances. What has been coming in a lot recently are super complicated, complex, chronic illnesses, like autoimmune conditions, Lyme’s disease, long-term viral infections, herpes virus, CD57 counts bottoming out, or people that are just really, vaguely ill. I didn’t really vote for these conditions, they just kind of came to me.
I feel like Chinese medicine gives me a great way to be able to treat patients with chronic and complex illnesses because it provides a strong and scaffolded structure in which to categorize symptoms. When patients come in with conditions where there is no immediate diagnosis that can be given or a definitive answer of what they have and how to treat the condition, you really have to back up and look at the tissue states and the nuances of the disease and examine whether there is excess or deficiency, hot or cold and just start there. Just start with balancing what you see is out of balance today because if you just try to fix the whole thing it is overwhelming.
So, Chinese medicine for me does so many things, such as whenever you don’t have a totally clear answer, diagnosis or treatment plan in biomedicine, you can still treat successfully with Chinese medicine according to the symptoms that you see the patient presenting with at the time of consultation. You are not treating because you are guessing, you are treating based off of what you see the patient manifesting. If you know your herbs, your acupuncture channel theory and both of their personalities and traits, then you should have an idea of how they are going to work in this person’s bodily condition. Chinese medicine has been incredibly helpful for the kinds of patients that have been coming into my practice lately. I feel like it takes a village to help these people. You know, it takes their specialists, their hematologist, their rheumatologist, their naturopath and their acupuncturist to really get them back on the right trajectory towards health.
FBU: How do you envision combining both medical specialties in your clinical practice after graduation?
Sarah: I will utilize both systems in order to provide whatever will work for a person at any given time based on what they most need. Some people are not going to be into homeopathy or intense diet interventions, and other people are not going to be up for needles. Whatever will work at the moment for each individual is what I will utilize in order to help them get back on track with their health. Obviously Chinese herbal medicine has to be used though because it so effective. It’s a lot like symphonies in music. You are trying to organize and arrange treatment modalities like notes of a melody in order to make it sound appealing, pleasant and not just overwhelming utter chaos. Some people need homeopathy and others need IV therapy. Some people need 5 acupuncture needles and others need 10. You need to find the balance with each individual and I feel like my training has definitely helped me to understand how to approach the true art of medicine.
FBU: What do you feel is the most rewarding part about being a healthcare professional?
Sarah: Honestly, I really do it because I feel like it is a calling. It’s my way of carving out my little piece of fighting the good fight and helping people get back in their bodies and understand how to eat, how to pick out good food that isn’t poisonous and grown by a company that is destroying the environment, and how to reconnect with themselves. A lot of times I hear people tell me stuff like, “oh, you know, well, I can’t eat that because my family doesn’t eat that.” That’s when I tell them that this is a good time to try something different in order to have a sort of ripple effect on their health. So, it’s really about how do we help save the world person by person. Just helping people be healthier, more connected, enlivened, disillusioned and to get away from all of the gunk that is clogging up everyone’s sensory organs. Haha… the “phlegm” as Chinese medicine says. For me it’s a mission. There are a lot easier ways to make money and be successful than to choose the path of medicine, but I feel like it is extremely rewarding, even if it is an uphill battle the whole time in order to learn more and more to help those in need.
FBU: Tell us about a time during your studies at Five Branches where you had an Aha moment and things just began to click and come together.
Sarah: During my studies, and while working with my own health, one of my herbal professors really helped me break out of my biomedical background. She really helped me to integrate the physical, mental-emotional and spiritual aspects of Chinese medicine and to understand how important each of these components are to health. The interrelationships and interactions of these components are known in biomedicine, but I feel it too often gets brushed aside in favor of other treatment approaches that are not holistically focused.
FBU: Do you have any advice or words of encouragement for other healthcare professionals that are considering studying Acupuncture and TCM?
Sarah: You better like it! Hahaha… I get asked this question a lot and I feel like people are often surprised at my answer. Honestly, I think Naturopathy is a bit harder to explain to people and to make a career compared to Acupuncture. It really excites me to know that biomedicine is currently accepting the fact the gut health plays a crucial role in our psyche and overall health. This was not the case even 5 years ago!
I would say don’t go into just because you think it is a good job. I would go into it because you sincerely want to seriously dedicate your life to studying the art of Acupuncture and medicine in all of its forms. Definitely don’t have any illusions that you are going to become some kind of wizard or make a million dollars overnight or anything like that. Some people might become a little frustrated when they realize that Acupuncture and TCM are not something that you can learn over a weekend. It is a serious and in-depth medicine that one can easily devote their entire life to exploring and going further and further.
You have to be willing to look at this as more than just a job. It’s more than just being a practitioner. You have to let it soak into the very depths and crevices of your being. You have to become an ambassador of the medicine and of a new of way of living and be a model of health. It’s not the easiest of roads, but I say GO FOR IT! If you are going to do anything in life you might as well study philosophy and human physiology. They are kinda the coolest topics ever!
The popularity of cupping has recently exploded with the recent images of Olympians, most notably USA swimming star Michael Phelps, covered in several dark colored circles on their bodies. Besides looking like they were attacked by giant octopi, these elite Olympic athletes and their trainers provide anecdotal evidence that it aids in post workout recovery, rehabilitates injured muscles, and most importantly, gives them a competitive advantage by allowing them to be in optimal physical fitness. Let’s go a little deeper than the superficiality of these marks and testimonials and look at the history and context behind this ancient East Asian medical modality.
Cupping has been utilized as a therapeutic medical modality for over 2,000 years. In the context of Traditional Chinese Medicine theory, this technique warms and unblocks the acupuncture channels, promotes greater circulation of blood and Qi (bioelectromagnetism), alleviates painful muscles and joints, and even enhances the immune system and assists in the treatment of asthma, coughing and the acute stages of a cold. In biomedical science the effects of cupping have been shown to reduce muscle tension and release anti-inflammatory compounds, anti-oxidants, and endogenous pain relievers.
Cupping is only one technique under the broader scope of Acupuncture. Acupuncture, which is the insertion of fine, filiform needles into various acupoints in the body, stimulates and regulates the body’s physiology. It can be performed with filiform needles or with magnets, electrical stimulation (TENS units), acupressure and with lasers. Another technique almost synonymous with Acupuncture is Moxibustion, which is the utilization of the herb Artemisia vulgaris (mugwort) to warm and activate the acupuncture channels. The final technique under the umbrella of Acupuncture is Guasha, which is a scraping technique that is very useful in unblocking stagnation of Qi and blood within the muscles, relieving pain and releasing powerful anti-inflammatory chemicals, such as Interleukin-6.
To fully understand and appreciate the total therapeutic capacity of cupping therapy one needs to study the science and art of Acupuncture & Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). Acupuncture utilizes channel theory to understand the interconnectedness of the entire body and how energy, neurotransmitters and hormones are regulated to maintain homeostasis. Biomedical science is only just beginning to understand the full complexity of this ancient medical practice. Some of the proposed mechanisms of action behind Acupuncture that are gaining a lot of clout are the research investigations in connective tissue by Dr. Helen Langevine, the research exploring the actions and properties of bioenergetics and bioelectromagnetism in humans by Dr. Richard Hammerschlag, and the Growth Control Theory proposed by Dr. Charles Shang.
If you would like to learn more or become a student of this amazing holistic medical system, consider attending Five Branches University, which has been a leader in the field of Acupuncture and TCM education since 1984. With campus locations in the seaside town of Santa Cruz, California and in San Jose, the capital of Silicon Valley, Five Branches University provides unparalleled academic and clinical education.
In this series, we meet with current students and alumni to get a deeper look into why they chose to study Chinese Medicine at Five Branches and dedicate their lives to being of service to those in need of high quality, holistic healthcare.
[Editor]] Hi Caroline, it’s great to meet with you today and learn a little bit more about you. Do you mind telling us a little bit about your background?
[Caroline] Hi, of course. My name is Caroline Wilkerson. I grew up Illinois. When I was 22, I joined the US Navy as a Crypto-linguistic analyst. I went to the Monterey Peninsula Defense Language Institute to learn Russian and then later Chinese. I moved to Hawaii to further learn Chinese language and culture with the Navy. While studying Chinese language and culture I fell in love with it. So many of my teachers were amazing. That was such a great experience. That was where I started digging deeper into Chinese Medicine and learning more. Continue reading
We have created and published videos that will help you complete your Application Packet with us at Five Branches University . If you have any specific questions or trouble with the forms, please feel free to email the admissions department at sjadmissions@fivebranches.edu or give us a call at (408) 260-0208 ext. 217.
The first video is a How-To video regarding the application packet, where to get the information and paperwork as well as what is needed from you to before you begin your time here at Five Branches University.***All the paperwork that is referenced in this video is at the bottom of this page for your convenience.
The second video is discussing financial aid at our school, how much tuition is as well as the general costs that associated with our DTCM/MTCM program.
Completing the Application
To be considered for admission to Five Branches University, the following items are required:
For personal service please call or email our Admissions department :
Mail information to:
Five Branches University- San Jose
Attention: Admissions Office
1885 Lundy Ave, Suite 108
San Jose, CA 95131
(408) 260-0208
sjadmissions@fivebranches.edu
Mail information to:
Five Branches University- Santa Cruz
Attention: Admissions Office
200 Seventh Avenue,
Santa Cruz, CA 95062
(831) 476-9424 Ext 31
admissions@fivebranches.edu
Five Branches University welcomes international applicants from all over the world. We support a bicultural and bilingual environment, offering our Doctor and Master of Traditional Chinese Medicine, and our postgraduate Doctorate program in English and Chinese.
Five Branches defines an international applicant as someone who is a citizen or permanent resident of a country, other than the United States, who wishes to pursue a Master’s or Doctoral degree at our university. Five Branches University is authorized under federal law to enroll non-immigrant alien students and complies with all federal guidelines and directives of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).
International applicants follow the same application and admissions procedures as required of resident students, in addition to meeting the international application requirements. We recommend international applicants begin the admissions process six months to one year prior to the desired priority application date. International students are not eligible for U.S. federal financial aid.
If you are an international applicant applying for an F-1 student visa through Five Branches University, you must submit the following documents along with the completed application. It is important to write your name (as it appears on your passport) on your application and all supplemental documents.
You are required to complete the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) internet-based test (iBT) or the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) exam.
The minimum scores to achieve on these tests are as follows:
| TOEFL | IELTS | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| iBT | |||
| 80 | Level 6 | ||
When taking the TOEFL, please enter the appropriate Five Branches assigned code on the
You are required to complete the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) internet based test (iBT) or the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) exam prior to entering the internship clinic level.
The minimum scores to achieve on these tests are as follows:
| TOEFL | IELTS | ||
| iBT | Speaking Exam | Listening Exam | |
| 45 | 18 | 15 | Level 5 |
When taking the TOEFL, please enter the appropriate Five Branches assigned code on the
If you are an international student who is currently on an F-1 student visa, enrolled at another college or university, you must submit the following documents along with your application materials:
Once you have been accepted to Five Branches University, a Transfer Release Form must be signed by your current school’s admissions office, verifying you have maintained your visa status and are eligible for transfer. Please contact the Five Branches University admissions office to receive a copy of this form.
For personal service please call or email our Admissions department :
San Jose – (408) 260-0208 or sjadmissions@fivebranches.edu
Santa Cruz – (831) 476-9424 Ext 31 or admissions@fivebranches.edu
Thank you for your interest in Five Branches University!
If you are a student at another TCM/acupuncture school and are considering transferring to Five Branches, you can apply for our Doctor and Master of Traditional Chinese Medicine program as a Transfer Student. Five Branches University offers one of the best TCM educational programs in the United States. Our transfer policies ensure that a transfer student’s training from another school will meet the high standards of our DTCM program.
Five Branches accepts transfer students who will be completing at least 50% of their Doctorate degree at the University. If you have only one year remaining before graduation, we recommend you graduate from the school you are currently attending if possible.
Transfer students follow the same application and admissions procedures as required of new students, in addition to meeting the transfer student requirements as listed below. If you are a Transfer Student, transferring to Five Branches University from another TCM college, you must submit the following documents along with the completed application:
You must submit your admission application by the priority application dates of May 1 (Fall trimester), and September 1 (Spring trimester). If you are interested in admission during the Summer term your application must be completed by or before March 1st.
Upon acceptance to Five Branches, you will be informed of your placement in the DTCM program, and an evaluation of your transfer credits will be completed by the admissions director. An equivalency exam may be required. Only coursework completed prior to enrollment at Five Branches, and awarded a letter grade of C or above, is transferable.
Transfer credit will be accepted for TCM courses taken from a nationally accredited TCM college, approved by the California Acupuncture Board, if the courses are equivalent in content to Five Branches courses.
TCM-related courses from a TCM college not approved by the California Acupuncture Board will only be accepted within the 50% limitations of the Board. TCM courses from tutorial or apprenticeship programs are non-transferable.
Western medicine courses taken prior to enrollment at Five Branches may be transferred to fulfill part or the entire DTCM Western medicine track, including natural science requirements. If the natural science courses: Biology, Physics, Chemistry, Human Anatomy, and Human Physiology have not been taken prior to enrollment, students may take them concurrently, within their first two years of study. These courses can be taken from a community college, a university, or online. Western medicine courses are transferable only from regionally accredited, degree-granting colleges, universities, or TCM schools. Natural science credits from non-accredited or vocational schools are non-transferable.
Five Branches accepts the transfer of classes from non-accredited schools or colleges for courses such as Qigong and Taijiquan, if equivalent in content and duration. A copy of a certificate of completion or diploma, or a letter from a teacher or school will serve as a transcript.
Students may petition to receive credit for one course per department via a challenge examination, with the exclusion of the Clinical Training department. You may qualify to take a challenge examination only under the following circumstances: (1) The course was previously taken and passed at another institution with a grade lower than C, and did not qualify for transfer credit or (2) The course was previously taken and passed at another institution, but the course material was not sufficient to qualify for full transfer credit.
Upon qualification, you will be provided with the course syllabus to aid in preparation for taking the examination. The examination must be taken prior to the start of the program term in which the course is required. The passing score for a challenge examination is 80%. A course can be challenged by examination only once. If you fail to pass the examination, you will be required to enroll in the course in the appropriate term at the full tuition cost.
Credit earned through assessment or achievement examinations at other Traditional Chinese Medicine schools are non-transferable. Transfer credit is not available for work or life experience.
A transfer fee will apply to the evaluation of all courses transferred into the DTCM program, with the exception of the five natural science courses. The transfer fee is 15% of the current tuition, per unit, up to a maximum of $200. If an equivalency exam is required, an additional fee of 30% of the current tuition, per unit, will apply.
For personal service please call or email our Admissions department :
San Jose – (408) 260-0208 or sjadmissions@fivebranches.edu
Santa Cruz– (831) 476-9424 Ext 31 or admissions@fivebranches.edu
Thank you for your interest in Five Branches University!
What is Dietary Therapy? Diet is one of the key contributions to the body’s health in Chinese medicine. What we should and should not eat depends not only on our body types and activity, but also our lineage as well as the roll the local environment and weather has on our bodies.
By taking into account our body types, environment and other factors, TCM can help balance the influences one’s food intake has on the body by adjusting a patient’s diet, whether it be through educating patients on how to adjust what food they eat, or adding herbs to help balance the dynamics of yin and yang. Dietary advice is individualized based on numerous factors such as age, sex, activity level, environment, constitution and the season of the year. We are honored to have Dr. Jeffery to give us an introduction on how to use TCM as Dietary Therapy.
00:04 Speaker 1: Hi everybody. Today I will be talking about, the topic is TCM dietetics. So everything, we have to be noted with their background and the history. So for the dietetic things in the Chinese medicine, that is have long history. On the Chinese history, I think everybody knows something who, like the Qin Dynasty, that will be the king built the great wall? But actually, it’s before that. It’s called Zhou Dynasty.
00:51 S1: So on that time, already set-up in the king system had four kind of doctors. The dietetic doctor is the first important doctor in that system. Why? Because on that time is many people get sick and the dietetic doctor serve in the palace. The duty for them, they need to make sure the royal family had to be healthy. So then another three doctors will be, the second one will be now the physician, the family doctor. Then another one will be later, because at that time is have many war. So then, they need to be make sure the soldier get treat after they get injury. Then the last doctor, that will be now, the veterinarian, the animal doctor. Because on that time, they have many war, they make sure to keep the horse or something working in the war.
02:38 S1: Okay, so that’s what the history… Then on the book, we’re on the Tang dynasty is already the dietetic book. I just give you the general feeling of the dietetic thing. In the Western medicine, they… Nutritionists there. They very research and study in the, what will be the compound inside each food. So, can’t be more than 100 or they had many mineral or had many nutrition thing, but the TCM dietetic is not the study like that way.
03:23 S1: So mostly we will be talking about the… Mostly it’s how the nature, how the human being… For the simple things. We just say in the… A human being, inside will be like a weather system. So then people, some will be very hot, or some will be very cold, some will be very damp, okay? Like raining all the time, okay? Then some will be very dry.
04:09 S1: So the main concept in the TCM thing, the dietetic thing, we want to be what? We will adjust the body by the dietetic, by the food, to make the body just like nature. The body will be have too dry or too hot, so we need to be have certain food to be keep the body, cool it down or we can be have the body moisture. If the body is imbalanced, so then will be what does the sick will be come from.
04:54 S1: We talked about the main, the dietetic preparation. Some will be similar to Western nutrition, some will be have very special in the diet. For example fresh juice, that will be involve in the Chinese medicine, we have that. Then in the Western, the modern nutrition we selling many carrot juice in America.
05:25 S1: So then they just make sure to… They’re listing all the ingredients inside. For example, like carrot juice. Then they will be say, “Oh! Beta-carotene, that will be good for the body.” But in the Chinese dietetic, we will be study a little bit different way. We say the fresh juice will be what, is cooling, okay? And moisturing will help the body, like a dryness. Then another kind, like the tea like now I drinking. So later on we’ll be talking more, so that will be… Even though now, the lesson study that we’ll be talking about, the tea will be very good for everybody.
06:16 S1: So even though the study say, inside we have many, many different ingredient. But then, like I mentioned in the TCM we study, the tea will be a different way, so we see how major group in the tea. One will be green tea, that will be more cooling. Okay, that’s what good for the cool the body we’ll be have heat. So then another tea that will be one is like a fermented, like a black tea. So that will little bit like warming. So that’s what the idea, we talk about all the food. We not really exactly to be learn every individual ingredient. That’s very complicated. We mostly study and mostly want to be, just say the whole, the nature, how to feed the human body.
07:19 S1: Another example, like the medicinal alcohol we call Yao Chu. So that will be what? We soak, for example ginseng, we soak it in the alcohol. Then what will be the function then? So then in the Western study they will be looking for the very detailed, you know the ginseng inside, if you had something, the ingredient. But for us, we will be mostly say, “Okay, ginseng in the TCM system, that will be very warm and very we call tonify, the Qi.” Then we put it in the alcohol, then will be what? Then even though make the stronger. That’s what now in the market, I think many companies, they’re selling the ginseng extract or alcohol. But they just say, “Oh, that’s be good for your energy, or something.” But they didn’t know, not everybody is good to drink those kinds of ginseng alcohol. Because the regeneration the body had, the heat. But if some people, they have very cold nature in the body, that will be very good.
08:39 S1: So then another example, we talked about like congee. So we put the rice to cook with the water, so become congee. One of the idea will be people will digest easier. But also, we have mentioned too that will be good for people who had chi deficient, but also had yin deficient. One of the example, like children, when they got like a diarrhea, there will be dehydration. In the western system, the fast way the doctor, like pediatric, how they do that? They will put the IV or something or cause immediately to help the body, the fluid. But that’s expensive and also not everybody can do that. But in the Chinese dietetic, one of the easy way, we will be put the rice to make congeal. That means that they put more water. Then we put a little bit salt or something. Then we be help the body, after drink it, then we will help the body. The balance, the mineral and the body fluid, the level.
10:16 S1: So now we will talk about another topic. In the dietetic, when we eat the food we need to match the season. For example, now in Spain, it’s summer, so then if you are outside, it’s very hot. So then, we need to find out some kind of food in the TCM nature they are cool, okay. That will be what to help the body to balance out. But we eat too much cold kind of food in the summer time, that can be also a problem. So that’s why in the Huangdi Neijing, we had the sentence say, “On the spring and the summer we need to be cultivating the Yang.” Because for example, people when summer time, they feel very hot, then they will be drinking a lot of ice cold water. Or even though the ice, that will be hurt the body, the Yang. So that’s what that sentence, the idea.
11:39 S1: We say on the spring and the summer, we need to be cultivating the Yang. Opposite on the autumn and the winter. Same thing too on the outside is very cold, so then we’ll be eat a lot of warming food. For example like a hot spicy, okay, like barbecue, those kind of things. Then after that, then will be what? The Yin and Yang will be out of balance. That’s why in the Huangdi Neijing we say nourishing the Yin in the autumn and the winter. But just say anyway, the other concept, we will be say the… Generally speaking, the human being is just like an animal, the human being. So need to be coordinated with all those kinds of, like the four season.
12:31 S1: So we need to be select the different kind of food then to match that season, so there will be help the body balance then we could avoid to be get sick. Another approach now I think everybody know like in the modern dietetic, they talks about people need to eat the salad or vegetable, will be have different color. As many color is good.
13:08 S1: Now I will take a little bit time to explanation how the Chinese medicine to be talking about those kind color, because we approach is different category. Here we be used as something like a fire element. That kind of idea, to how to match the human being. For example, now, say, like a green kind of food. For example, now just like I drink the green tea, okay, so then in the Chinese medicine is related with the liver.
13:48 S1: We say liver is detoxify all those kinds of toxicity in the human body. Same thing, if you know the liver is good, the function is good wellbeing, so then the human being, the health is good. Then we talked about any kind of green… Or even though we just, not necessary to taking, you just watch, okay, to more green like a tree or a grass. This still will be affect to the liver. Okay? Because in the TCM system we say the liver will also, not only detoxify, it’s also related to the eyes, too. That’s why all recommendation says, now we use a computer a lot, so then once in a while we need to be look at the outside, the green tree or the grass or something. That will be help the liver.
14:57 S1: Then another color, we talked about the red color. So then I can show you one of the fruit like a lychee, you see how red, okay? That will be what? Generally speaking, we say that will be something associated with the heart. Now, the Western study, they say, “Oh, okay. So now the red wine or whatever.” We talked about the grape juice if they are red is good for your heart, okay? But that kind of idea in the TCM system we say is, a couple of thousand years ago is already saying that, okay. Then they talked about all the food, if they are very red, it should be more connecting with your heart.
15:48 S1: Then, yellow color. So in the five element, in the TCM we say, is associated with the spleen and stomach. Okay then, for example, now carrot. Everybody will be now say is good. So after some people will be drink too much. Then what happens then? The skin, or the eyes even will become a jaundice, it’s a yellow. Okay? Everything should be balanced. Not say good then you’ll be, take every day, That’s not good. Because in the TCM we say those five different color, they for each organ, is good. But we need to be make sure every organ, not only just one organ. Okay? Then another example, like pumpkin. If they look yellow. It’s very good for the spleen and stomach in the TCM system.
16:52 S1: Another example there will be what, the color related with the white. Then the white in the five element is associated with the lung. I give you one of the example. Now, not only just the TCM say that. It’s also approved by the Western study, too. Like garlic, okay? It’s white. So then now some people will be make the garlic inside the ingredient to sell in the market, say it will be help your immunity. In the immunity, in the TCM will be what is associated with the lung. It’s related, we call “Wei Qi”, defense Qi. I think, later on the modern study and the TCM study, it should be matched together.
17:43 S1: Then the last color we talk about is black. Many food, if the color has dark will be entering the meridian in the Chinese medicine, will be kidney. Then the kidney will be what? They also will control the bone, control the hair. One of the simple and the good food, that would be black sesame. That’s what many people will be take that for help the hair. But also will be help the brain because the kidney, we say will be associated with the marrow, will be associated with the brain.
18:31 S1: Now we will be talking a little bit simple things. We talked about the main starchy things, like the rice. In the dietetic things, we say because the colors, white will be associated with the lung. Before I mention already, so then the rice, know how to cook that, they can be very rich nutrition things. You’ll be tonify the lungs to be help the immunity. Then the wheat. In the TCM system, wheat will be also related with the liver. I give you one of the example, simple dietetic things. We have one formula called Gan Mai Da Zao Tang. Okay, then mai, that will be also wheat. So we can pick them as simplified. You can put the whole wheat including the shell. Then you can put a little bit roast it, then you can just put it in like a real… You put the hot boiling water, just make a tea. Then you constantly to drink it as a tea. Then what will be help you that. We talked about the TCM diagnosis says liver chi congestion, or we call “dry organ”. But we use it the Western study, so what you be that kind? It’s more menopausal, then the people will be feel hot flashes, sweating, you’ll be feel very uncomfortable. So then one of the simple dietetic treatment, so then you can be just drink those whole wheat roaster, whole wheat as like a tea. That it will be help you a lot without any kind of side effect.
20:54 S1: Potato. We talked about one of the kind of easy way to be treat the disease one will be what? We pick a potato. After we use it, make the raw juice. Use the machine to squeeze it, to make the juice. Then we drink it. Then what will be happen then? That will make the stomach cooling. One of the kind of dietetic method some people will be have a stomach ulcer or stomach acid too much, because we say that is the Western diagnosis. We need to make sure they belong to we call stomach in-deficient. So then we just drink those type of raw potato juice. Might help the symptoms, also be help to the lining. We’ll be sitting and also might be… Because the lining’s the ulcer. I give you another example, very simple too. Your skin is different things. The skin have ulcer or the skin have rash, feel burning or crack. One of the kind of simple treatment, you can make the raw potato to make juice. Okay, then you put the gauze or something to put on that area. Then will be what? That will be help the symptoms. Even though the stomach is inside, but the same thing, had lining. It’s like a skin, will be have the same effect.
22:49 S1: Now I give you another example. It’s corn. So the corn will be what? I think everybody know what the corn in the Western studies. It’s very good for the eyes and have many good nutrition things, but the corn silk, mostly people will be throw away. But one of the Chinese dietetic, you just collect those kinds corn silk to boiling, become a soup to drink. Then what happens? You’ll be help the body eliminate of the dampness. It will help the urination increase in order to take out the toxicity inside the body. The yam, same thing too. Read now many people in the Western study, they talk about very good food. Okay, but it’s different way to study. In TCM Dietetic, we say the yam will be what? Depend on the color too.
24:00 S1: For example, now will become very popular, is the purple yam. Then will be what? They will be help the body, the bowel movement, and inside if we have many ingredient, it can be help the arthritis pain too. Actually one of the Shan Yao we grow is the herb, but they actually is kind of yam related, mountain yam we call that. Okay. It will be help many way to be tonify the spleen in the TCM system. But then I think now in the Western study, they find out they have many things, even though has something like female hormone related. So then will be help the people menopausal, but it’s in general good for everybody.
24:50 S1: Because actually in the dietetic things, we will be what? We will be such a daily basics. We eat the food. We need to see what kind your body’s imbalance. Then we will be choose what kind of strong effect, the kind of vegetable or fruit or something to have. So now, I’ll just give you some example. One of the squash we call ku gua is bitter melon. So then will be what? It’s very… Kind of bitter, but actually that will be help the body, very cooling. For example, sometime we have, we call the fire, in the stomach. What happen then?
25:51 S1: Sometime we will have gum swollen and sore throat. When we eat too much like now the fast food, Kentucky Fried Chicken, all is deep oil, deep fry. Then will be generating, the body have a lot of fire, we call it just heat. Then will be what? That bitter melon will be what? It looks like certain kind of very strong medication in that herbal medicine, like Huang Lian or Huang Jing, those kinds of herb, but it’s without that kind of bad taste. Then we can be using the bitter melon to be cooked with something then in order to help the body take out the heat.
26:41 S1: And also, I think you can see in the Power Point, we have something that look like the root, that actually on the first picture, that actually we call Shan Yao, is the mountain yam. We mentioned that before. It’s very good for the body. Now I think it’s become popular. Not mainstream, the supermarket yet, but all those kind of Oriental supermarket will be selling that fresh. We call fresh mountain yam. That will be tonify the spleen Qi. So it will be help the body, you know, the energy, and help the digestion very much. And we mentioned before, it’s kind of yam. So then every nutrients recognizing that will be what is good food.
27:40 S1: Then another one on the picture we talked about, look like kid of green leaf. Actually, I took those picture in China. It’s in the market. Then there, we’ll be just go to market to buy food everyday, so then will be what? One more, the fruit we call Goji tsu or whatever, call wolf-berry, but that is the leaf. Then we will be also eat the leaf too. This one the picture, we call goji. So it will be very good for the eyes and also will be help the body, like anemia, those kind of things.
28:25 S1: And I will be especially to mention one of the vegetable selling here too in the farmer’s market. But it’s grow in everybody like a backyard, especially springtime. It’s called Purslane. I think in here, I saw it they sell it in the farmer’s market, but also in the Mexican market, too. Then the Purslane, in the Ping Yi, we call Ma Chi Xian, how good this herb? In the herbal system, we say that it will be help diarrhea, but I think there are studied by the Western very good already. They say can be help to detoxify the body. Now, everybody use the plastic things. We be had one of the kind of chemical things phenol, yeah. One of the chemical thing.
29:24 S1: That’s what people now in the United States not only, I think everywhere, because people will be use that plastic bottle as a content to be more the food, any kind of food actually is now is used mostly plastic thing. Then they can be slowly to be by that type of chemical things. They somewhat look like female hormone. Then will be what? People drink too much those things, whatever the water, the bottled water, or especially if the inside has something like acid, those kind of liquid. Then they will be slow melt down into that liquid. So then people drink too much those kind of water. You be have something risk to make more breast cancer or the female system cancer. Then that Purslane actually we can detoxified that.
[pause]
30:42 S1: Now we will be take a little bit of time to be talk about something like fruit. Every fruit is something too beside the color. Also we be have many different kind of nature, some will be very hot, okay? If your body is very cold, it’s good. But if your body is very, has something fiery, for example, you always feel like burning, or you feel something like very hot body, so then some of the fruit will be not good for you. For example, a lychee, we mentioned. That is tropical fruit. Mango, those kind of thing. Or even though the grape, it be a red wine, so now we say, “Oh, you know, red wine’s good for… ” Now many people say red wine is good. But, it depends on. That’s what the main idea in the Chinese medicine. Your body is cold, then the red wine is good. But then if you already have many heat in your body, then you drink the red wine, then you’ll be generous to the fire. Then later on you’ll be out of balance. Then what happens then? Then you can be get a sore throat, or later on you might be get an infection or something.
[pause]
32:04 S1: So now I think you received a picture. Looked like a parfait. [laughter] I don’t know why you choose that, but I can say something about that thing, okay? I know everybody knows now, the parfait that will be increase your body’s cholesterol, so it’s not good. But actually, you know what? In the Chinese medicine, or dietetic things, one that’s called red rice yeast. That’s what mostly now the drug company to make something, that category or lower the cholesterol of the body, called Statin system. Where they come from? Actually, the original comes from the study of the red rice yeast. Then you know the idea, they get that, because people find out when they eat just a parfait, like the picture is showing, then they will be feel congestion and they feel difficult to digestion. But then they don’t. They find out, they use the red yeast kind of sauce. They make something, cooked together with that red yeast, red rice yeast, but it makes a soy sauce, those kind of things.
33:38 S1: Then to make the parfait, the colors, the red. But beside that, after they taking, they feel it. Not that congestion. It’s something inside. That’s what the scientists, they will be, “You know, we need to find out, see what will be the kind of the red rice yeast inside has something interesting thing?” Then later on they find out, actually that’s what the Statin system. So now we be what? The drug company make that, selling everywhere. Everybody, the patient, who had high cholesterol, they will be prescribed those type of Statin. Okay? Then you probably know some patient will be have very strong side affect with the Statin, with the muscle. We be feel very weak, some people will be feel, actually they can be melt [chuckle] the muscle. We talked about that, use the food, to be correct the body, the imbalance.
34:57 S1: Okay, now we be had a little more time to talk about the tea again. Before they say the coffee is not good, but now they say that coffee is good [chuckle] Why that? Actually, because the coffee, some ingredients is like tea. One of the ingredients, like caffeine, so then they say it can be prevention, the Alzheimer or something, those kinds of things. Okay. But in the TCM Dietetic, we talked about the kind of tea, the function is very, very long history already. Say you have your Shen. Shen actually, in another sentence would be say is the mind, or the brain.
35:55 S1: Okay then we be what? People, if they know how to be select good category of the tea? Then we’d be what. Every day we need to drink water, tea or coffee, then we be keep a kind of medication. We mentioned if the body is heat kind, then the green tea would be the best choice. But didn’t say the black tea is no good. In the Western study because they are use a different system. Then they would be say, “Green tea is good.” Why that? Because inside would be more nutrition things, because they didn’t destroy. But then we study is different way. Then even black tea is good too. Because some people they have cold. Then the black tea, even they put a little bit milk, even though sugar. It’s still good. But then, the coffee is good. But if you put too much sugar and too much milk or something, then it will be what? . Then it will be candy, not necessary very healthy. But if you eat, say, general like Chinese drink the tea they didn’t put any things inside. That should be more healthy. I think you can see it in the Power Point, the tea is already studied very completely by the Western. It is considered very good diet thing. Okay.
37:56 S1: Now we talk about a little bit the milk. Oh, okay, we probably have time. [chuckle] Anybody have any question, you can be asking. We really don’t have time to be finished all the content, okay.
[pause]
38:22 S1: By the way, I have published two books. Okay.
38:37 Speaker 2: While Dr. Pang recovers from drinking tea a little bit incorrectly, Dr. Jeffrey Pang has actually written two different books that are highly recommended on Chinese medicine dietetics. This one right here is Chinese Medicine Dietetics Remedies. You can see it up on your screen right now. Super good, incredibly cheap. I am an acupuncturist, I’m a doctoral fellow right now and to find this kind of information, as you can see it’s pretty thin, but it means that everything has been super condensed. And it’s very difficult to find really good quality information out there, as there’s so much dietetics type of information, but these are amazing. And he has this second book too, that he recently put out, Volume One of Chinese Medicine Dietetics. And so we’re looking for… There’s a third one coming out too.
39:32 S1: Yeah, it will be take time. We will be planning to do that, okay.
39:37 S2: Definitely plenty more to come out. If you are a practitioner already, if you are an acupuncturist, I definitely recommend checking out some of the CEUs that Dr. Pang has as well in Chinese medicine dietetics, those are really great. So you can get a little bit more information. As you can see, we weren’t able to get through all of the material. It would take a lifetime to actually study all the material on Chinese dietetics and the subtle nuances of it. So now we just wanna open up the virtual floor to any questions that any students might have. Feel free to write any kind of questions on the right side of your screen, and then you can ask those questions there.
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40:34 S2: Go ahead and just feel free to ask any questions. I mean you have a living legend sitting right next to me. With any kind of questions that you might have in relation to any kind of therapy conditions. Again, we were able to only go over just a couple brief topics. And so if there are any acupuncturists out there… We also will have a poll as well that will be coming up in just a little bit, that will explain some more. The poll is happening right now? Sorry, the poll is actually happening right now. [chuckle] Let’s see here. The first question here, you guys have already kind of figured out is, “What additional health care topic would you like us to address?”. And it looks like, wow. It’s actually tied. Actually we have a pretty good thing: Tied 43% for mental health and women’s health, and GI disorders are another really interesting topic. I actually chose those myself today, so you’re welcome. Yeah, so we’ll go ahead and go on to the next poll question. This is actually talking about our open house that’s coming on. If anybody is interested in going to that, go ahead and either say, yes or no. Okay. It looks like all of you have voted.
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42:19 S2: Okay. We’ll go ahead and go to the next question here. The next question is, “If you’re not an acupuncturist and if you’re just getting a little bit more information, are you interested in enrolling in our graduate degree program, studying acupuncture and traditional Chinese medicine and actually getting an opportunity to study with Dr. Pang in person, live?” It’s pretty great. So, 10 more seconds.
42:52 S2: Alright. Thank you, and the final poll question. Okay. So, the final poll question is, “Are you interested… Would you like to have an admission advisor contact you later today… ” Sorry, not later today, “… Later this week or very soon, to find out a little bit more information?” Okay. Just a couple more seconds, everyone else can finish that. Okay. Thank you. Okay. So now, we’re gonna open this up just a little bit and Dr. Pang is sitting here next to me. So we’ll scoop this over. Feel free to take advantage of this opportunity to ask the master on any kind of dietetics-related questions that you might have. Do we have a question?
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44:00 S2: So, our first question that we have is: What is a good tonic or an herb to help with hot flashes?
44:05 S1: Okay. There will be one is, we mentioned before, the Shan Yao meaning wild mountain yam. Okay, because the inside has somewhat, associated somewhat like a female hormone. But actually, it’s not exactly the same. People don’t need to worry about and say, “Oh, it might be a stimulation to cancer or something.” It’s not exactly the same like a drug. Okay? So then, that’s one of the recipes. You can eat more the wild mountain yam. Another thing I think I mentioned before, if you use whole wheat, even though including the shell, then you be roast it a little bit or not necessarily roast it, depends on your body, the constitution, okay? Then, you make tea. Then you drink it, okay? Another thing, because generally speaking, the hot flashes, we say is a Yin and Yang is in-balanced. Mainly is the Yin is not enough, so then the heat will be come up. Then you’ll be make the hot flash.
45:28 S1: Generally speaking, green tea is good, too. And also, because people get the menopausal therapy, had something like Qi will be blocking in the body secretion. It’s not so good. So then, we will be try to use some kind of flower to open up. The flower can be used food, for example, something like rose flower or jasmine, okay? So, like jasmine tea or we can be combine with the tea like rose, we can combine with the black tea. The jasmine, we can usually combine with the green tea, okay?
46:26 S1: So, that’s the common food. But we mentioned the main things that you need to find out your body, what kind of imbalance there, okay? Even though it’s hot flashes, but sometimes they just not necessarily always heat. Some people can be like Yin and Yang is both deficient too. So the better way, we need to be find out the pulse or tongue or combination. Then, we can be have more detail. But just say generally, those kind of food it’s generous good.
47:09 S2: Okay. We have another question. What types of fruits and meat will not worsen heat symptoms? So, in other words, what types of foods and fruits will cool the body down?
47:23 S1: Okay.
47:23 S2: Cool the body down, especially, heat that’s on the facial scale.
47:26 S1: Yeah. All the meat, red meat considered is a heat in the body. So then, we’ll be what? Only then people, and that’s what we say, need to be associate the season. Like wintertime, then people generally can be take red meat, okay. But then, depend on the body. If they already have heat then the red meat will be have to be avoid. They need to be eat more fish or something. Fish generally, because they is in the water especially when they in the cold water. Those kinds of fish will be considering, kind of the nature is cooling. That would be good for the people.
48:13 S2: What about facial heat. People that have itchy or inflamed…
48:17 S1: Like a acne or something.
48:18 S2: Yeah, I think maybe acne is kinda what they’re going towards.
48:21 S1: Yeah, that usually is the heat on the body. So they will be need to be eat more, like we mentioned before, even the bitter melon or more green, those kind of salad, or those kinds of things. Okay. The carrot juice is considered kind of cooling too.
48:39 S2: Okay. Okay. Do we have any other questions? Okay, well while you’re drumming up a couple of questions, I just want to talk a little bit about our upcoming webinars that we have coming up soon. I just wanna remind you also, we’re kinda gonna shift a little bit more and shift directions for our upcoming webinars. What we’ve been doing the last nine webinars is having more of a lecture format with a little Q and A at the end. But we wanna change it up a little bit to where it will be more of a seminar format, so that way the professor can talk a little bit and then give some time in the middle to kinda have more dyadic information going on. So that way the students can ask questions, pose inquiries and then get that feedback. It’s kind of a seminar style, a classroom in the middle.
49:33 S2: We think that’ll be a little bit more interaction, and a little bit more dynamic of an experience. So let us know if you like that. And some of the upcoming webinars that we have are on… Today is June. July 18th there’ll be a topic on treating insomnia with TCM. And insomnia as you know is different things, like it would be difficult falling asleep or actually waking multiple times. So we’ll be talking about all sort of topics on insomnia. That will be done by one of our professors Dr. Jacqueline Bird. On August 15th, we’ll be discussing treating allergies with traditional Chinese medicines, so that’ll be good too. And so it looks like we have another question that came in. Let me just scroll up here. [chuckle] Okay. Normally this is the one people want to know. Oh, yeah, okay no, this is very good. Yeah, so what about some super yummy damp-clearing foods? What are your favorite foods that clear damp, or dampness? [chuckle]
50:37 S1: Yeah, okay, one of kind of food, even those selling in the main stream store too, is Yi Ren
I mean about Yi Yi Ren.
50:50 S2: Oh, Yi Yi Ren. Job’s tears.
50:51 S1: Yeah, I think called Job’s tears.
50:53 S2: Job’s tears, yeah.
50:54 S1: That will be a very good food, so that will be help the body to take out the dampness. I think even too they serving in the health store, so everywhere. But when we eat that food, you will be expecting, very fast can make things happen. They just gradually, okay, because they will be the dampness will be promote. I mean make the urination more, then they come out from the body little by little. But that definitely is very good food. Yeah, I think not only the TCM thing, too Western studies. That’s what they selling in the health store. It’s very good for the dampness. Even for the skin condition too, okay, like the eczema or acne or even the arthritis. So it’s very good food. I would be recommendation that for the dampness.
51:53 S2: Did you say corn silk too? Is that what you were gonna kinda mention?
51:56 S1: Yeah, yeah you can put together, but the corn silk you cannot eat them, because is fiber thing. You might use the corn silk to be make the tea first, then you cook with this, that Yi Yi Ren.
52:11 S2: Oh, that’d be really good. Very good.
52:13 S1: Because that things like rice, you can eat them.
52:16 S2: Okay.
52:17 S1: So that is good for the dampness.
52:20 S2: Okay, okay. So another question. For cooling, is it better to cook the vegetables or does it not matter if you’re trying to invoke…
52:32 S1: If very strong, you want to cooling sometimes, fresh juice, it’ll be warm, okay? Yeah. You can make vegetable juice, put in the machine to be make the like a raw juice. But if some people, they have stomach… Every food we need, when we take into the stomach, the stomach is like a cooker, you have to be cook little bit, okay? So then if they are… The stomach function is not that strong, so even though is heat, but then you take too much those raw vegetable, it still cause problem so we need to be see how little by little or something.
53:16 S2: Maybe like warm, like room temperature?
53:18 S1: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
53:19 S2: Room temperature, raw? Okay, we have another question here. For a patient that’s undergoing chemotherapy and having a difficult time eating, would you recommend something for that kind of a patient? I guess it’s been…
53:34 S1: Yeah, for that things, usually, radiation therapy, that usually in the TCM system you’ll be generation the body very heat. Because the radiations look like sun light or thing. Then chemotherapy usually is like the toxicity thing. Then they will be work to be damage the stomach Qi. That will be make people cannot eat, throw up, things like that. Then we need to be like mention to use something like wild mountain yam, or we use the Dang Shen, some kind of Ginseng, but it’s not Korean Ginseng, okay? So then will be what? You know, they sell in the market, even to make like crystallize, like a tea. So then be can easier to take, okay? And also even though like something simple things in your garden grow, like a mint leaf with something like lemon juice little bit and green tea. And also another important things can be used, ginger. Because people, they throw up very easily after chemo. Then you can use a little bit ginger, then put a little bit orange peel or something to be made like a tea, to drink that will be subside, side effect suck that from the chemo.
55:01 S2: Okay. Yeah, that’s really good.
55:11 S1: Do you have any other question? [chuckle] It’s almost 6 o’clock.
55:17 S2: The one last question that we have, so this person wants to know about soy products and kidney function, weak kidney function. A lot of like protein powders and things have soy in there. Do you recommend that to people with kidney function diseases or kidney problems?
55:36 S1: It is, if the kidney function a problem, too much protein is not so good for them. But in our systems, same thing, we need to be find out, the Po Zan Tong then to see how the kidney, yin or yang, which part is more disharmony. Then we need to be select some kind of food to be eat. Same thing, like if we say all black beans is good for kidney, but it depend on too. Everything we want to be is balanced.
56:09 S2: Right.
56:10 S1: Actually, one of the major things we talked about on the very beginning, we say the congee making, we say we have five different kinds of veggie, five different kinds of fruit, or five different kind of grain things, that just meaning, we eat things… Even though some is good. We not where we can eat them all the time. Then we be make the body in-balance. Even though they start to say “Oh, it’s very good”, you know that saying, “Soy beans good, okay.” But if you eat soy beans all the time, you still have problem, okay? [chuckle]
56:45 S1: So everything needs to be balanced. That’s why before, one of the kind, called Atkins diet, not good. Because they just say, “Oh, you want to lose weight?”. One of the methods, right, you don’t eat any carbohydrates, so you just eat meat. Some people accept that. Then they eat all the meat, I think they get problem, okay, because it’s imbalanced. So then later on, they will be get high cholesterol, or very something problem or heart disease or any kind. So that meaning to say, everything we need to be… That’s what the main idea to the TCM things, we need to be everything make a balance. And the human body needs to be matched like nature, like season, everything go together. Then the body will be more balanced, including the mantle too, now exercise. That’s what they put the congee making to talk about five different kind of things, or even just say you get six different kinds, okay? But just the idea, say want to be not… Is they have to be many different food to be balanced, to eat everyone. Okay.
58:08 S2: Great, well thank you so much Dr. Pang, for coming here and sharing your wisdom with us.
Traditional Chinese Medicine holds that if you replenish the Blood/Qi you will tonify the body and also fortify the organs. Using herbal prescriptions and acupuncture, customized for the patient, Chinese Medicine can improve the body’s ability to fight cancer, relieve complicated symptoms and control cancer progression. It also helps to reduce complications that arise in conventional therapies and increase the body’s tolerance towards radiotherapy and chemotherapy. We are honored to have Dr. Joanna Zhao LAc.,MD China, NCCAOM to give us an introduction on how TCM for cancer symptom support.
00:00 Speaker 1: So good evening and thanks for joining in. We are going to have this webinar TCM for Cancer Support with Dean and Professor Joanna Zhao. Today we’ll have a little introduction by myself in the webinar series, we’ll then begin the TCM for cancer support symptoms, then we will have a poll, and after that, Dr. Joanna Zhao will have time to answer your questions. This is the eighth webinar of our TCM webinar series. In this series, we will look into how TCM can help heal many of the common diseases that Americans face today. So please join us to learn more. Our next webinar is June 13th at 5:00 PM, and that is our TCM for Dietary Therapy. And an exciting news, in July our TCM webinar series will have a new spin on the webinar. So July we will have TCM for Insomnia, but we will do it in a different format. In July, TCM for Insomnia will feature a live demo between the doctor and the patient. So you’ll get to see a live interaction between that.
01:11 S1: So in that you’ll get to see on our homepage here, if you click ‘Reserve your seat in our free webinar’, right here underneath ‘University News and Events’. If you click on that, it will go to this page. And this is where you can sign up for all of our different things, open houses, webinars, and seminars. And you will see down here, our live webinars. So this is our webinar today. And in July, as I said, we will now be doing an online clinical demo, which is really cool. Like I said, you’ll get to see more doctor-patient interaction within that. Alright, and just so you guys know, if you have any questions, please feel free to, on the side of your screen, there is a go to webinar pop up and you can ask the professor questions which she will answer at the end of the lecture.
02:13 S1: So just a little bit about Joanna Zhao. She received her education from Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine in the People’s Republic of China, where she trained in both western medicine and TCM. Professor Zhao teaches in the departments of TCM Acupuncture and TCM Herbology, and is a faculty member of the Five Branches DAOM program. Joanna has spent more than a quarter of a century teaching and practicing TCM in China and the US, working with local oncologists and developing specialties in cancer, immune diseases, and mental and emotional disorders. Joanna has lectured at Five Branches International Symposium on women’s TCM and on pediatric TCM. She’s also been the lead speaker at national conferences on female reproductive cancer and leukemia. So please welcome her and enjoy her lecture. This is our esteemed Professor and Dean of Five Branches University, Joanna Zhao.
03:27 Joanna Zhao: Hi, everybody. My name is Joanna Zhao and Faye already introduced me. For the supporting the healing, supported the healing, when I got this topic, I said that that’s very important for everybody. So that’s why I like to spend a little bit of time with you and then to discuss how Chinese medicine acupuncture can help support the cancer patient and support the healing. Okay. So talk about the cancer. In most people’s minds is related with death. Of course, many different diseases can also relate with death, but the most frightened of all diseases is cancer. You know the cancer, the words, actually is a crab. You know the crab, if you think about the crab, we always say who is the first person eat the crab in this world is very brave because the crab has eight legs and it crawl everywhere, and the cancer, just like that, goes everywhere in person’s body if we’re not taking care of it, if somebody get it.
05:02 JZ: But the problem is, the cancer patient is not getting less and less like other diseases, certain other diseases. The cancer, recently, the number of cancer patients has increased. Some of the cancers are due to pollution of the modern industry area and some because of the chemical using, toxic, and also, for example, like the fertilizers and the preserved food, they all become a problem. So because today we talk about the traditional Chinese medicine and acupuncture, how do we help? Do you know in China, in traditional Chinese medicine, we always talk about the yin and the yang, five elements, eight differentiations, and where this come from? Actually, if you look at the old Chinese history book, even just history book talk about, about 3,000 years ago, we already start using Chinese herbs and some acupuncture treatment help the diseases, include right now the modern medicine called cancer.
06:31 JZ: So in Chinese medicine, since today I’m talking to the public, so it’s not like you already… And some of them maybe already studied acupuncture, but some of them really know acupuncture herbs, what are you actually talk about. So actually, acupuncture and the herbal treatment has been in this world for 3,000 years, but the cancer treatment, how do you treat or how do you support? Do you know that cancer actually in Chinese medicine, we talk about the inflammation. And reducing inflammation is one of the very strong tool in Chinese medicine and acupuncture. We talk about earth, we talk about the human being, we talk about the sky, which is heaven. So we have the one we talk about called heaven and the earth, human being in between heaven and earth.
07:36 JZ: We dance with the heaven and the earth, which is if we’re living in this area, living in this world, we breathe the air, we eat the food, we drink the water, everything related with our health. If the water is polluted, if the air has got a whole bunch of pollution, and what happened to our body? So that’s why increase the cancer patients now. This is the one thing we have to actually deal with. I like to use today’s chance to actually talk about that. And also if a patient got a cancer, they have a pain. So how do we stop the pain? Now we talk about, now people use pain medicine, painkiller and even people use opium. What happened after that? Many patients, they actually got trouble from the addiction. So that also I like to share some of them with you.
08:42 JZ: How do we see as Chinese medicine doctor, how do we see these diseases? How do we reduce patient’s stress? Because the minute somebody had a cancer, first thing we think about, “Oh my God, I don’t wanna get that. Why it’s me?” All these things will come out. What happened is stress. Of course, you go see the doctor, doctor will give you some good ideas. For example, maybe you need operation, maybe you need chemotherapy, maybe you need radiation or hormone therapy, anything you can mention, right? So what happened? A cancer patient become very stressful, “I really have the problem. Now, I have to think about if I deal with chemo, I will have the chemo side effect. If I deal with the hormone, I don’t know what’ll happened with me. Yeah. If I do radiation, lots of heat. And all these can help me are just temporary.”
09:52 JZ: So I met so many patients, they come to me and this is their question, want me to answer. Of course, very difficult for as a practitioner to answer that question. I can’t say, “Oh, you don’t do radiation.” “Oh, you have to do chemo.” I’m not MD in America, so I’m an acupuncturist and Chinese medicine doctor. So I had to work with the patients and work with the oncologist sometimes to find the good way for patient can actually, first thing important is reduce the stress. Because in Chinese medicine, stress can cause lots of problem. For example, we said the stress cause liver Qi stagnation, stress cause the spleen Qi deficiency and etcetera, etcetera. So if you have a stress, you also can cause stagnation. The stagnation of the Qi, which is a vital energy, Q-I, Qi which is vital energy and also can affect the blood circulation causes stresses So, how do we reduce that? I will talk about that.
11:01 JZ: And also if the cancer patient, now they just say, “Okay, I got a cancer, I am waiting for die.” No, that is very negative. When you get a cancer, maybe the doctor will tell you, “Oh, so and so, you only have how many years to live or you have months to live.” I told the patient, of course you had to listen what the doctor told you, but you have to listen to yourself, your own body. How do you fight? If you already have a cancer, how do you dance with the wolf? The cancer is a wolf, he’s going to eat you. You try to run away, he’ll still follow you. Or you dance with the wolf, you work with the wolf and maybe you will survive. So that is the one, how to increase living quality. Yeah. That’s also our Chinese medicine doctor and acupuncturist want to work with patient.
12:11 JZ: And also, I would just talk about the reduced side effect, right? And the chemo radiation, and whatever, whatever. So, for example, somebody who has breast cancer, and maybe the doctor think you had to do the chemotherapy, which can save your life, and you did the research, you found out that this is a good thing for you to do it. So most of the people will use the 5-FU IV, right? So what happened, it might help you to reduce the cancer, and get rid of cancer, if this is the initial stage, beginning stage. But then what happened is, you will have… Because of this medicine, we had to face it. It is a medicine. It’s a medicine, and eliminate bone marrow. So what happens if you eliminate bone marrow? Your white blood cell is going to go down. You have no energy.
13:13 JZ: And also, you have another side effect, which is a stomach and the intestinal reaction. Gradually, gradually, you can’t eat what the food that you like to eat. So these two side effects… Because the 5-FU works for breast cancer, but we had to face to these two side effects, as Chinese medicine doctor and acupuncturist, I’m working for many, many breast cancer patient, and help them to work with us and work with the oncologist, and many of them have very good results. And some patients living with… Until now, about 20 years or 30 years, and they are doing very well. So we can work with the patient to actually help them to reduce the side effects, can overcome the side effects.
14:21 JZ: And number four, we talk about that alleviates the pain, because in some cancer, especially the later stage, and will have some pain, can be very excessive pain. So how do we do it? We also still want to keep their life quality, and then we don’t want them to be miserable and take the pain medicine, and morphine, and finally can’t really actually function. So, the Chinese medicine, acupuncture, actually, especially the acupuncture really works for eliminate the pain and help the patient and overcome the pain. Okay. So right now I like to… Because the time is very short, I like to give some examples. I choose the three examples, one is the gastric carcinoma, and a one is liver cancer, and a one is lung cancer.
15:28 JZ: Because, I come from China, I see the patient and these three cancer is very common. And also I came to this country, and I practice in Five Branches University in the clinic and in my own clinic, too. I see some patients have the stomach cancer, and the liver, and the lung cancer. Of course, many other cancers, but today the time I just give examples, how does acupuncture, how does traditional Chinese medicine help these patients? Talk about the gastric carcinoma, the manifestations I listed here, many of you already know. Epigastric discomfort and the pain, this is one of the very common feeling the patient in the beginning, and vomiting, nausea, and vomiting with the blood, and also you see the stool has black color.
16:40 JZ: And then later the patient will feel the mass in this epigastric area, epi means above. So above, in the gastric area, feel the mass. Why I want to list that? Because Chinese medicine not only just help to support the cancer patient treatment, also preventing is our main purpose. How to prevent? Find the things early and just try to avoid it is possible. So for example, if you see somebody who vomiting without reason, or after eat, vomit it right away, you had to think about, something not right if the patient is not pregnant. Something not right, and it doesn’t matter for a man or woman, the vomiting with the blood. Of course, vomiting with the blood can be stomach ulcer, stool black can be stomach ulcer. So sometimes can be confused.
17:52 JZ: But I do wanted to tell you the gastric carcinoma, the early stages. The early stage, patient can have no obvious symptoms. That’s scary. And also early stage, I just said before, confused with gastritis and confused with people who dislike food and the stress, whatever and anorexia and the gastric ulcer. I just said the gastric ulcer can have bleeding, yeah, it can have black stool. So how do you distinguish it? How do you find out? And how do you help? What I do is, if the patient come to my clinic, if they have these symptoms, I would do acupuncturist treatment, acupuncture treatment, and I also will give the herbs to help to stop the symptoms. If these symptoms after my herb for a week or two, is still there, I would put a question mark and discuss with patients.
19:12 JZ: From that, I wanna talk a little bit, go to the ideology, to how the gastric carcinoma sometimes will happen. As far as we know, they are related with something, so I did a research when I was in China in Ningguo City, that city is near by the ocean. It’s very famous, fishing, and now it become very modern city, and a long time ago it’s country side… I mean, the ocean side. And what happened the people in one of the ocean village, they have so many stomach cancer, and they don’t know what’s going on. Is it a genetic reason? We found out it’s not really. If you wanna see genetic, you can see that, because the family, generation to generation to generation, maybe they are eating similar food, maybe they like certain food, by generation it transferred to another generation, look like as a genetic reason, but actually, sometimes it’s not.
20:33 JZ: And also this village, they love to eat very salty fish, dry fish. That salty dry fish we found out too much salt intake, it’s one of the actually cause stomach problem, ulcer, it became cancer. Of course, carcinogenic substance also is another thing, such as nitrosamines, sodium nitrate, hydrocarbon, etcetera, etcetera, so we have many food having that. Now I wanna talk of one of my patients, actually not with cancer in the stomach, the cancer become leukemia, a child, yeah. What happened is, one child and he loves hotdogs, he almost eats hotdog everyday. Of course, if it’s organic hotdog, it’s different. I don’t know what kinda hotdog he’s eating, I think it must have a large sodium nitrate. So for years and years, hotdog is his food and later I treated him because they come for leukemia. From my knowledge, I think, that might be the reason. Yeah.
22:10 JZ: Gastric carcinoma, it’s the same thing, if you eat too much chemical stuff, we have to be careful, that’s the prevention, okay? Some TCM diagnosis, I put over here in Chinese but I also translated it. ‘Fanwei’, somebody… If you see the Chinese doctor, maybe they tell you, “Oh, you have a fanwei.” What is that? Regurgitation, yeah, after you eat, suddenly, you wanna throw up. Another one is ‘wei wan tong’, epigastric pain. Another one is called ‘yi ge’, difficult in swallow the food, you feel something there in the esophagus or in the way, you feel not drinking water even, have problem. Another one is ‘xin fu pi’, which is fullness in the epigastric, this not necessarily a cancer but it possibly related.
23:15 JZ: In Chinese medicine, the pathogenesis cause of disease is emotional disturbance, it’s very important, emotional disturbance. We also did some research, we found out, today I don’t have time to talk about it. Another one is improper diet, we just talked about it in a whole bunch and some salt and sodium nitrate, whatever. Of course, if you eat hotdog once a month, no problem, even sodium nitrate, I don’t think it will hurt you, right? Long-term deficiency of the spleen, the stomach, that’s the one we talk in Chinese TCM terminology, we think the channel, the meridian, the stomach and spleen channel deficiency, it will cause digestive function problem and if too long that also can cause ulcer and become cancer.
24:13 JZ: And number four, the liver channel. I’m talking about liver, it’s called the liver channel fails to maintain the free flow of the Qi. We said that in Chinese medicine, the liver channel helps the free flows of the Qi. Why? If the free flow of the Qi is not good, and the Qi is not free fluid, means the stress, and the stagnation. Hopefully, I use a little bit of TCM terminology and hopefully not to confuse you. Because if you come to see the Chinese medicine doctor, they might tell you that and then you know what it about. And the stomach Qi fails to descend. It means poor digestion, you’re always belching, belching. And you say, “Why?” Because the Qi is not go down, stomach Qi, it’s supposed to go down. As it goes up, now you vomit.
25:04 JZ: And dampness, we talk about the inflammation is the dampness in TCM. And inflamed, toxic heat inflammation and blood stasis accumulates in the stomach, which is cause gastric cancer, leads that. So how do we support that treatment? Soothe the liver channel and regulate the function of the stomach channel. Because today we talk about how do we support, I will give you one example, which is I use a lot for the patient to protect, or to prevent, or even you have some problem you can start to use it, Zhi Gan Cao, which is roasted licorice. It’s very simple. You go to health food store, or some other store, they will send you some licorice candy. So that’s the licorice. Why would they do that? It’s good for the digestion and good for the Qi. Yeah, it’s roasted one, okay, you can use. And also, how do we move the Qi, help the Qi and we relieve the pain? There’s another two things which is you can find everywhere you want. Green tea. Yeah, green tea.
26:22 JZ: Green tea also have many functions. Of course, they can help your stomach. And I think green tea is very good for relieve the pain. And also Chen pi is orange peel. But they put a Chen Pi means the old orange peel, very old. But if you don’t have old orange peel, that’s okay. You can use fresh one, but have to dry it and put in the green tea and you see, and help release the pain. TCM supported treatments, support chemotherapy or other treatments. For example, I have two formulas I like to introduce to you. But these formulas are very simple and very useful. One is called… I call the green tea formula. I have green tea, you have roasted licorice we just talk about, then we have orange peel, you have already introduced to you these three.
27:23 JZ: The last one, is also hawthorn fruit. It’s a fruit for digestion. It’s very good. Chowder the hawthorn and together, and put together and make tea for you. Then you ask, “How much you want me to put in?” Okay, the green tea only need like 10 pieces, 10 to 15 piece of leaf, that’s good enough. And roasted licorice, orange peel, and also the hawthorn. Yeah, it’s like one teaspoon each, for the whole day cup of the tea. You can drink the whole day, you just put water in, hot water in. And increase immune energetic system, because we talk about cancer treatment we’ll also need to have the immune energy. And also if preventing the immune energy even more important. So we have a couple herbs that I’d like to introduce to you. You can make a formula.
28:36 JZ: One is astragalus Huang Qi, one is American ginseng, another one we call the Ju Hua chrysanthemum. A beautiful chrysanthemum, but it’s the one for the herbal. Not everywhere chrysanthemum, colorful chrysanthemum you can use. It’s a small, small yellowish-white chrysanthemum. And the dong quai Angelica. And these are for increase immune energy, okay? If you have a question later about the gastric cancer, we can talk about later. So now, the second one that I want to introduce to you how do we treat, is the liver cancer. The primary type of those originate in hepatitis problem. Hepatic cells enter hepatic duct. The second one, we talk about the metastasize type. Those originate in other regions and moving to the liver, that’s happened a lot from different organs, cancer goes to the liver.
29:51 JZ: And number three, is history of a chronic vital… Actually, I always talk about it in the first, actually just in the last one, viral hepatitis, especially hepatitis B… Once I went to Stanford Hepatitis, not treatment, the Preventive Center and we had a talk about hepatitis. Hepatitis B, I see many actually China is treating many patients who have the history, hepatitis B become liver cancer, unfortunately. So if somebody in your family have hepatitis B, you should really help them and get treatment and reduce the inflammation, try to avoid a delay liver cancer problem. Okay. And also cirrhosis, hepatitis cirrhosis, that’s also the liver, hard the liver. So liver cancer the manifestations, the pain in the right gastro area, but a lot of time we’ll think about, “Oh it’s a stomach pain, no problem.” Actually, if it’s the right side, you have to pay attention. Okay?
31:09 JZ: And people lose weight very fast and they dislike food, no energy. And also liver enlargement progressively. In Chinese medicine, we call it Zang Jie, abdominal mass. That, on the right side you can feel it. And a ‘huang dan’ because if it’s in the loop, and jaundice happens. Liver cancer in TCM tradition. TCM is Traditional Chinese Medicine diagnosis. We have a disorder of Qi, blood, dampness, and heat. That’s why we would do diagnosis to help you. And blood stasis and toxics. And also deficiency of the Qi and the blood and the emotional upset with mental depression. So if somebody who has a liver problem and liver cancer and that TCM doctor would tell you part of the diagnosis.
32:16 JZ: And this also the diagnosis to us if somebody doesn’t have a liver cancer, you have all these symptoms, we will say, “Okay, you have to be careful. You don’t wanna get it.” You know, deeper problem. Liver cancer TCM is supporting treatments. I also have four for you. You can use it. And the preventing and also for actually treatment support. Support for example, somebody already doing chemo or some other treatments, and you can have a black tea. So before you remember I talk of green tea. Now black tea is a fermented tea and more enzyme. It’s good for the liver cancer patient. And sang ye, which is mulberry leaf. It’s a very light leaf and very cooling. And a Huang Qi as well there is, and a Gou Qi Zi, which is goji berry, or called wolfberry. Okay?
33:17 JZ: Next one is the lung cancer manifestations. The patient who has a lung cancer, you will see the short of breaths and its irritable cough. I’m talking about the irritable cough. That cough is very unusual. You don’t have phlegm. You don’t have a reason. You didn’t get a cold. You didn’t get any, like some pollution, whatever happened. You suddenly have, not the pollution. Talk about like a phlegm from the nose goes to the throat. And no, it doesn’t have all this drainage or whatever. So people start a cough without anything. That we have to be careful. And blood-stained mucus sometimes come out, of course, you say, “Oh TB can have that, too.” Yes, but we have to be careful. If anything cough out blood, of course, bronchi also can cough out blood probably, but we just have to be careful.
34:22 JZ: Yeah, prevent and a fever. That’s important. If somebody have irritable cough with fever, short of breath, I will pay more attention. Lung cancer ideology that I have to just go fast, the disease is related to inherit factors of the body and/or environmental factors. For instance, cigarette smoking. And secondary cigarette smoking, which is you smoke and somebody else get problem. Air pollution, occupational carcinogenic factor. And for example, the radiation we talked about, right? Other factors, immunology hypo, which is the hypo function of the immune energy. That’s why we always say, “You have to increase your immune energy.” Why? Because you want that against the cancer cell. Everybody has cancer, grow or not grow. Right? Cancer cell. Yeah.
35:24 JZ: Metabolism disorder, that also can cause problem. And endocrine dysfunction are inherited, too, possible. Lung cancer TCM differentiation. You’ll just see on the screen. In deficiency and toxic heat, maybe if somebody you see, the doctor, the acupuncturist will tell you. Lung and the spleen Qi deficiency, accumulation of phlegm in the lungs. Qi stagnation, blood stasis and deficiency of the Qi in the yang. Okay? How do we support it? So first, in Chinese medicine, because this one’s related with heat, you have lung cancer sometimes, you have low grade fever. Clear away heat and resolve the phlegm, have to clean this airway and activate, clear throat and dissipate blood stasis. So that’s very important, too. You don’t want to have blood stasis in the lung and bronchi.
36:31 JZ: Acupuncture treatment, which we use for lung cancer a lot and prevention, too, herbal treatment. I put the three of them Qi Xing Cha. I put the Latin name in… And bai he, the bulbus lilii, and the ching hao, called the sweet wormwood, which ching hao written today become very famous because of a Chinese researcher. Tu Youyou found out also, it’s good for malaria, treat a lot of patients. But ching hao in Chinese medicine, we use for thousands of years also for supporting the treatment for like liver cancer type of disease and lung cancer type of disease.
37:20 JZ: Conclusion: Chinese medicine increase the immune energy and helps to control the growth of cancer cells. Chinese herbs increase the efficacy of a chemo and radiation therapies. That’s already have learned and researched in China. Lowering the toxic and lowering the side effect from a chemo and the radiation, which is, I just said it, dance with the wolf. You can work and we use it together and to reduce the cancer cell growth and to stop the cancer. And Chinese medicine stops pain without opiate addiction. Remember, a strong immune system is your best protection. Shen Qi, which is we call the positive Qi, positive vital energy reduces stress and calm your spirit is your best investment. Thank you.
38:21 S1: Alright. Thank you so much, everyone. And now it’s time for the professor to answer your questions. So if you’ve asked a question in the question box on the ‘go to webinar,’ we’ll ask it now. So Joanna Van Knight asks, “If a patient is not interested in Western therapy for cancer and wants only Chinese medicine, what is the protocol and how do practices like Dragon and Tiger Qigong work to eliminate cancer?”
38:55 JZ: Okay. Yeah, thank you for the question. Of course, the question you just asked, actually, I was going to put in my lecture, because the time is so short, so I didn’t. That’s very good question. About the Qigong, is very important and I would really suggest this patient to do it. Even now in Stanford University Cancer Center, they have a Qigong teacher help this patient and to practice Qigong against the cancer, to fight with the cancer. So yeah, whatever what kind of Qigong you do, it’s good for your patient or whatever, your family or your friends. Even if you don’t have no cancer, the Qigong is good. Qigong Tai Chi always good circulation practice. And the second one is, I see many patients… Actually, your question I almost met every week. “If I don’t wanna use chemotherapy, no radiation, no such thing, I don’t wanna do it. How do you help me?” This is very difficult questions, critical questions and then also very easy question.
40:23 JZ: Why I wanna say that? Because patient knows their body than anybody else. So of course, we have to discuss with them and help them to evaluate. What the oncologist wanted to do maybe is the best, or if you can wait or we can do something else. But it’s really have to discuss with patients and design a very important plan for them. And I do have some patients, it doesn’t matter who’s telling them you have to do chemo and they just don’t wanna do it. And of course in China, I use Chinese medicine, acupuncture to help as much as we can. And here, too. But really it depends on patient’s wish. Some of the patients actually, they do live very happy life what they want, without chemo and the radiation. They don’t want the side effect. Okay.
41:36 S1: Alright, thank you so much, Van Knight. Grace Liu asks, “What are some good TCM formulas that are relied on for raising and protecting WBC during chemotherapy?”
41:52 JZ: Yeah, the white blood cell during chemotherapy is very critical because… Not only white blood cells, sometimes platelets also related. So what you can do is, yeah, we have good herbs. For example, I just mentioned the Huang Qi, that is a very good herb you can use for the… I don’t know which page I can show you and it’s good for your treatment to which it increases immune energy and protect the patient’s immune energy. Yeah, and also I talk about the green tea, it’s another antioxidant and the… Keep going, yeah, another antioxidant so you can use it. It’s very important and, yeah. Let me see. I just wanted you to see. The number four down there is the Huang Qi, astragalus, that’s the one, yeah. It’s very important. Okay, thank you. Yes.
43:00 S1: Alright.
43:00 JZ: Thank you.
43:01 S1: And Grace also asks, “For chemo-induced mitosis, how is it best to protect the mouth and intestinal mucosa lining?”
43:13 JZ: Yeah, that’s also the question, actually, I see some patients because the mucus become a problem and they can’t even eat very properly because of that. So, do you see I have this over there American ginseng on the screen that increase and immune and energetic. I put a film in there, it’s American ginseng for the immune energy and also American ginseng, the Ju Hua, the chrysanthemum, these two can help increase the mucus, okay? Thank you.
43:50 S1: Alright. Thank you, Grace. Peter asks, “What herbs/supplements should I be taking for ovarian cancer, and is acupuncture effective for this type of cancer?”
44:03 JZ: Okay, ovarian cancer is… Yeah, a little bit, we call this cancer is sometimes a very… It’s a serious sometimes can be, not like a skin cancer, it’s easier to treat. Ovarian cancer, it depends if you… Somebody already had it, of course the doctor want you to do certain treatments and then we have a herbal formula we can have to help the patient increase your immune energy, your energy, and the circulation and blood circulation to have. For example, the Chen Pi, the orange peel and the Shan Zha, which is hawthorn, and I also use for ovarian cancer patient. And of course, in this one you also had to be… Sometimes had to be careful about what kind of hormone products you want, you wanna avoid it. Okay, yeah. Thank you.
45:05 S1: So Grace asks, “Do you use every insomnia or yang formulas for immuno protection?”
45:15 JZ: Yeah, the yang formula. We talk about the yang formula, insomnia and the yang formula. Yeah, it depends of the patient who’s… How old is that. You really have to do the diagnosis and if they have less yang Qi or more yang Qi and use different herbs to formulate it. Okay.
45:34 S1: Alright. Thank you so much everyone. We don’t have any more questions and it’s at the end of the webinar formula… Or the webinar, TCM for Cancer Support Symptoms. So we’re gonna go ahead and close this webinar. Thank you so much for joining us and Professor Zhao, thank you so much.
45:53 JZ: Thank you and if you really needed some help and they can come to Five Branches University Clinic. We have many good practitioners who can help you or if you want to be our student to help a cancer patient, that’s great, too. Thank you.
2015 Dr. Youyou Tu won Nobel prize for her contribution in developing novel malaria therapies with Traditional Chinese herbal medicine. Her search catches everyone’s eye. Not only on this dangerous disease, TCM herbal medicine can only work on many different common disease such as flu. We are happy to have Professor Bill Schoenbart, to give us a introduction on Traditional Chinese Herbal medicine. When you study Chinese herbs, you’ll learn the individual functions of each herb. Every herb’s unique. You’ll learn them within therapeutic categories, and then you’ll learn the energetic properties. All this helps the practitioner to formulate an effective formula. So here’s the example I gave of warming herbs. There’s some ginger, some black pepper. Especially ginger is in many, many formulas.
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This is Bill Schoenbart. I graduated from Five Branches University’s Master’s program at the end of 1991, and I was a graduate of their first DAOM doctoral program in 2009. And I really enjoy learning here. Many of my teachers are actually still with the school. Some of them have passed, but I wanna express my gratitude to them, first of all, for even exposing me to this amazing medicine.
00:39 SB: So I’m gonna give you just a brief history of Chinese herbal medicine, and this history is strictly Materia Medicas. Materia Medicas are the pharmacopoeias of a traditional medicine. There are many other herbal, therapeutic text as well as these. This is just showing how the amount of herbs and substances being used as medicine have increased over the years. So the first true Materia Medica was the Shén Nóng Bencao Jing. It’s also called The Divine Farmer’s Materia Medica. And the legend is that the emperor tried 100 substances to see which ones were toxic, which ones were therapeutic. The real story is we will never really know. But this particular book is actually still available now, in fact a new translation just came out. So even though this thing is ancient, we’re still using the information from the text. So this was completed in the third century AD, and there’s 250 herbs, 45 minerals and 67 animal substances. And before we get moving talking about the amount of plants and herbs and animal substances, I wanna assure you it’s possible to get these herbs in a very clean, non-toxic, unpolluted form, and it is absolutely not necessary to use any endangered species in Chinese medicine.
02:17 SB: So the next Materia Medica, the Tang Materia Medica, was put together in the Tang Dynasty in the year 659, and already by that time there were 844 entries. When I say entries from here on, it means mostly herbs but some minerals and animal parts. Then in 1108, the Materia Medica Arranged according to Pattern, this was the Song Dynasty, and this already had over 1,500 entries. In relatively modern times, 1596, the Grand Materia Medica was put together by the famous herbalist, Li Shi-Zhen. It has over 1,800 entries. Li Shi-Zhen is a very revered herbalist. When you go to schools of Chinese medicine in China, you’ll see large statues of Li Shi-Zhen. He’s a very, very revered person. Next, in modern times, in 1977, the Jiangsu College of New Medicine compiled the Encyclopedia of Traditional Chinese Medicinal Substances. It took almost 25 years to put this together, and it has 5,700 entries. And this text, once you start seeing these large amounts, this includes rare species, local plants that are just used in certain villages. So these are meant to be, as it says, encyclopedias of Materia Medica. And you’ll see later that we actually use much less in actual practice.
03:51 SB: The most recent ones, after that, was the Chinese Materia Medica in 2002. It has almost 9,000 entries. But once again, many of those are rare, regional, and not used anymore. The Materia Medica textbook that’s most commonly used is by Dan Bensky, and that has 480 principal entries and 52 additional herbs that are briefly discussed. And the modern Chinese pharmacopoeia, the PPRC, the Pharmacopoeia of the People’s Republic of China, also has a similar amount of entries. So these are actual amounts of herbs that are used commonly in clinical practice. And you’ll also see at Five Branches in the Herbology program, approximately 450 herbs are taught and are used in formulas. What I’ve just summarized are Materia Medicas, which are basically pharmacopoeias that list all the medicines that are used. The actual text for practicing herbal medicine are different, and they include formulas. The Nei Jing had very little in the way of herbs. It was mostly theory. It was the beginning of the theory of Chinese medicine. The Shang Han Lun, written by the great genius, Zhang Zhong-Jing, is one of the more famous formula texts. It’s almost 2,000 years old and we still use most of his formulas today. Zhang was practicing at a time when many, many epidemics were going through China.
05:30 SB: At one point, a large percentage or majority of his family died from various epidemics. So he put together the Shang Han Lun. Shang Han Lun means hurt by cold text. And he put that together to show how an influence from outside the body can attack the body, and how it will have certain qualities and penetrate the different stages. We’ll look at that a little bit later when we look specifically at the herbal medicine theory. He later wrote a book called the Jin Gui, which had other miscellaneous diseases, had about 1,000 years later various texts on worm diseases were written. So there’s many, many actual therapeutic manuals besides this list. This list was just to give you an idea of how many herbs have been used over time. So here’s just a few images to look at. The top left is from Five Branches University. In fact, all of them, except for the top right, are from Five Branches Santa Cruz campus, where I teach. And we have, as you can see, that one drawer showing four different… Although you’re only seeing two, four different herbs. Some of them will have just one. And it’s arranged according to therapeutic category. So if you’re working on a certain formula, and you’re looking for example, warmingers for someone who has a cold pattern, you can go to the warming section and select from all those drawers that are grouped together.
07:00 SB: You’ll base it on a traditional formula, and actually add some things based on the person’s individual pattern. You’ll see down the lower left, that’s the patent medicine cabinet, various teapills, which are probably the most familiar form to people outside the Chinese medicine world. This would be like the Chinese version of over-the-counter drugs, although they have those too. So just someone who has familiarity with certain remedies could go into a herb store and pick these up. And these are generally not the strongest method of administration, but they’re convenient, they’re inexpensive and you can always do a larger dose. The upper right image, I took that around 2000 in the Guangzhou herb market; a very, very large herb market that back then was dealing in hundreds and hundreds of tons of herbs. And it’s just a different world over in China where herbal medicine is part of the mainstream, and in fact, you can even go to a TCM hospital and get herbal prescriptions there. This particular market actually supply the local hospital. It was a military hospital that was also a TCM hospital, and I was actually… Some soldiers accompanied me there, and the one soldier was saying they used over 100 tons of just one herb from that market for a year in the local TCM hospital. So it’s a very, very mainstream practice over there.
08:36 SB: So one of the great things about Chinese herbal medicine is that we have energetic properties of herbs. One reason I wanted to study a traditional system of herbal medicine is that, in the ’60s, I was studying medicinal herbs with various practitioners and it didn’t have a very coherent theory of diagnosis and treatment. It was fairly haphazard. I love Western herbs, they are wonderful, they are local, you can easily get them organic. And once you learn Chinese medicine, if you want, you can plug some Western herbs into your formulas. But generally speaking, the Chinese formulas are very, very effective in their standalone form. And these energetic properties make it much more useful. For example, people are always asking acupuncturists “What’s good for a cough?” And they’re gonna say “What kind of cough? Is it heat, cold, hot phlegm, cold phlegm, damp phlegm, exterior wind cold, interior deficiency of the lung and kidneys?” And those are all different types of coughs in Chinese medicine. They require completely different herbs.
09:47 SB: So some of the temperatures are hot, warm, neutral, cool, and cold. And I’m sure even if you thought about it just from your kitchen, “What are some hot herbs?” Well probably ginger, black pepper. And you’ll actually find those in the Materia Medica, with those energetics. But these will actually have this effect in the body. So for example, if someone has a cold condition where they feel cold all the time, always runny nose, waking up at night to urinate, fatigued, then they’re gonna use this hot tonifying herbs that’ll bring up the cold energy in the body and warm them up. Sooner or later, if someone has a high fever, they’re gonna use cold herbs to bring that temperature down. And there’s multiple categories or therapeutic categories which we’ll look at later, that will also direct which herb you’re gonna use besides the temperature. There’s also various flavors or tastes. Acrid, which is also called pungent and spicy, sour, bitter, salty, sweet, bland, aromatic, astringent, and all these flavors have specific properties in the body. The acrid herbs, for example, have moving and dispersing characteristics. Some of them will move chi, your vital energy in the body. When chi gets stuck, you might have bloating or distention or fullness.
11:13 SB: So you wanna get that energy moving again to disperse those… That stagnation. So acrid herbs are used for that. If there is blood stagnation, you can also use some acrid herbs for that. External pathogens would mean, for example, say you’re coming down with a common cold and you’re feeling very, very chilled, stiff neck, body aches, just feeling miserable, you can use warm acrid herbs that’ll disperse that and actually bring a cure much faster than if you just… There’s the joke saying in the West that, “If you take something for a cold, it’ll go a way in a week. If you leave it alone, it’ll go away in seven days.” Meaning that Western medicine doesn’t have a whole lot for colds and flu, other than symptomatic treatment. I can tell you that Chinese medicine is very, very effective in treating colds and flu. Now someone comes down with full-blown pneumonia, then they might wanna go to the hospital and get treated. But in the early stage of a cold, if you treat it with the proper formula, you can sometimes get rid of them in a day or two, just depending on how long someone waited to get treatment. So acrid herbs are very, very effective for that.
12:28 SB: Sweet flavors are what’s called tonifying or harmonizing. The most well-known sweet herb is licorice. It’s called gan cao, which means, gan means sweet, cao means herb. So the name means sweet herb, which is… If you’ve ever tasted licorice, it’s extremely sweet. And that’s a harmonizing herb. That can be used to harmonize two different internal organs that aren’t agreeing with each other. It can harmonize the exterior of the body with the interior. It can even harmonize the herbs within a formula if they have radically different properties, which is why you’ll see it in many, many different formulas in Chinese medicine. Tonifying herbs are ones that will strengthen the body, strengthen the immune system, give energy, and this is one of the great gifts of Chinese medicine. There is very little in the way of tonifying substances in western medicine, maybe a B12 shot or something like that, or vitamins. But in Chinese medicine, we have tonifying substances that will actually strengthen the function of the body, build energy, improve internal organ function, and help balance chronic long-term debilities.
13:40 SB: So examples of some sweet ones that you may have experienced would be astragalus. It kinda looks like a tongue depressor. Very, very sweet herb. You can even make an immune system soup with it. Boil some astragalus, then make your soup. You can pull the astragalus out, and not only do you have a soup that’s healthy, but you’ve also got something in it that will stimulate the immune system. And you can actually… If you’re the kind of person that gets frequent colds and flu, there is a formula called Jade Screen, and astragalus is the chief herb in that. And people who take a formula like that, who have frequent colds, they’ll find they get less and less frequent.
14:21 SB: One of my patients is a schoolteacher, and she was basically in Santa Cruz, this part of California. In normal years, it starts raining and getting cold in about October, and it can run till about April or May. And she would basically have one cold after another from October till May. So I would give her herbs to get rid of the cold, but as soon as her cold would go away, I would give her a formula based on Jade Screen with some ginseng in it, another sweet tonifying herb. And she got to the point where the first year maybe she caught three colds, second year one. And then every year since then, she just catches cold once and just takes the herbs during the cold and flu season. So that would be an example of two different categories, the moving and dispersing one to get rid of a cold, the tonifying one to strengthen the system so you’re less likely to catch one. That’s one of the… In my opinion one of the great gifts of Chinese medicine is tonifying herbs. Being able to strengthen the body is an amazing gift from the ancient Chinese culture.
15:26 SB: Another flavor is sour. That’s astringent, stabilizes body fluids. So someone who’s sweating a lot, frequent urination, anything like that, where they’re losing what we call the vital substances, sour herbs can help astringent stabilize when they’re given along with tonifying herbs. Bitter flavor, which can be difficult for some people to take, they can be drying, reducing, downward moving. They can clear heat. They are used often for infections and inflammation. And often I’ll put those in capsules for patients. Not everybody can handle bitter flavor, some people can. The salty flavor in Chinese herbal medicine is considered softening or reducing, downward moving, so it can be used for masses and lumps in the body. Also herbs are sometimes prepared in salt to direct their action down to the kidneys.
16:21 SB: The bland flavor, which is no flavor, but bland also has a property of promoting urination and draining dampness. So if someone has edema, dampness, bland herbs like Job’s Tears, which looks like barley, or Poria, Fu Ling, which is a medicinal mushroom, these will actually help the body get rid of this accumulation of fluid. Aromatic is similar to acrid, but it can also do what’s called transforming dampness. If someone has… They’ll have a thick greasy tongue coat, nausea, vomiting, heavy sensation, we’ll give them actually herbs like patchouli internally, or magnolia bark. And the aroma will pierce through this dampness, and they’ll get better much quicker.
17:05 SB: Finally, astringent herbs will prevent leakage of fluids. Sour has an astringent property, but astringent herbs themselves are very powerful to restrain leakage. So for example, ephedra, ma huang, which you may have heard about. Since it was being misused, you may have heard about it in the news. Chinese herbalists never had a problem with it ’cause they prescribed it according to specific conditions, proper dosage. But when it was being used for exercise or weight loss, people were overdoing it and they were having trouble with it. Well one of its properties is that it promotes sweating. Well the interesting thing is the root of the herb, the underground part, stops sweating. So you’ve got two different pharmacological properties, depending on which part of the plant you use.
17:51 SB: So when you study Chinese herbs, you’ll learn the individual functions of each herb. Every herb’s unique. You’ll learn them within therapeutic categories, and then you’ll learn the energetic properties. All this helps the practitioner to formulate an effective formula. So here’s the example I gave of warming herbs. There’s some ginger, some black pepper. Especially ginger is in many, many formulas. Harmonizes the stomach, warms the middle burner, we say, which helps the digestive function. Black pepper in Chinese medicine also warms the middle burner. Modern studies have shown black pepper contains a compound called piperine. Piperine actually enhances the body absorption of nutrients. Sometimes you’ll see, for example, turmeric extract combined with piperine because the yellow compound in turmeric, curcuminoids, are very difficult for the body to absorb efficiently. Add some black pepper extract, and it’s absorbed better. So your parents actually were herbalists. They put black pepper on their food, they are actually helping your body absorb nutrients. In America, salt and pepper are our two main spices. Luckily one of them is very, very powerful.
19:08 SB: So the parts of plants have tendencies. The peels of herbs can enter visual superficial areas of the body and treat edema. Twigs and branches can treat the limbs and meridians. For example, cinnamon branches can treat the branches of the body, can treat stiffness in the arms and legs. Same thing with the branch of mulberry tree. Vines and stems can also stop blockage in the meridians. B pain, B means blockage. So arthritis, for example, swollen, sore joints; lots of vines and stems can improve circulation for those joints. Seeds tend to be heavier in weight and have more of a descending tendency in the body. ‘Cause you’ll also learn in Chinese medicine, herbs have a tendency to send energy in different directions. Oily seeds can also help with constipation. Flowers tend to be light in weight, have an ascending tendency. For example, chrysanthemum, ju hua, can be used for red eyes; for a number of problems, heat, liver deficiency, many, many problems. Chrysanthemum is very useful. Minerals are heavy and they have a descending tendency. So some minerals are used with someone who has high blood pressure, what we call liver yang rising; red face, red eyes, splitting headache. So these minerals are for example like oyster shell, shells in minerals, they will descend this energy. We also use things like magnetite for tinnitus, which is also yang disturbing the head.
20:45 SB: So there’s lots of dosage forms in Chinese medicine, and delivery methods. Decoctions or tongue, this is the most powerful method where you’ll actually boil herbs. I don’t know if you’ve ever seen it, but you’ll get a bag of herbs, you put it in a pot. Put in four, five, six cups of water, boil it for half an hour, strain it. And you’ll drink that over the course of one or two days, depending on the condition. What you’re seeing in the image here, this is a decoction that’s put in pouch form. Very few practitioners have these. There’s a couple of places, one in LA, one in New York City. I believe there’s a Korean practitioner who works with Five Branches who has one of these. And you’ll cook the decoction in a large pressure cooker, and then it gets sealed in one of these packets. And these are fairly stable for about a month. If you’re going to warm weather, I would say try to get them in refrigeration. What I’ll do is, for myself, I have one that I use periodically. I just make ’em up and then freeze them. In fact, the packet you’re seeing there is one of mine that I pulled out of the freezer. Then just take it out, and let it thaw out, and just pour it and drink it.
22:02 SB: So it eliminates the need for cooking the herbs. I’ve offered it to some patients, and they actually like cooking the herbs. They like the routine. And cooking your own, it’s gonna be a little fresher too. But this is used in China quite a bit. They will send it home with patients. One of my mentors, Mazin, who has a dermatology clinic in London, has multiple machines like this, and he sends all his patients home with these packages. These are something that any practitioner can order for you if you ever wanted it.
22:34 SB: Powders or san. Originally, these were ground-up herbs. They would grind the herbs, and then they would simmer them in water. So the dosages tend to be lower because there’s more surface area. Nowadays we also have powdered extracts, sometimes called granules, where they’ll cook it… This is on an industrial scale, they’ll cook the herbs in a large vessel. Then they’ll spray it into a tower, and there’ll be a little hot tornado in the tower, and these little flakes come down like snow. And these are packaged in 100-gram bottles, where you can take it by the scoop, or it can be in capsules. And it’s a very powerful dosage form, not quite as strong as decoctions, but quite effective. Pills, wan, those are the little round teapills you may have seen. Special pills, dan, usually there’s very expensive materials or toxic materials in those. So they’re very tiny and they’re only used rarely. Syrups, like gao, you’ll see that… Like cough syrup, the honey loquat cough syrup. Medicinal wines, jiu, these are often used for conditions like arthritis ’cause the wine itself will actually have a blood-invigorating property. And plasters, gao, different gao from syrup, these are actually applied topically. These days, they just have them where you peel the back off and put them on a sore area. In the old days, it would be on skin. You’d have to heat it up and apply it.
24:00 SB: So Chinese medicine has therapeutic categories. I’m only gonna go through these quickly ’cause I could easily take three hours talking about these. But this is how your medical text is organized, and also the formulas text. So herbs that release an exterior are ones that are used for cold and flu. There’s warm ones that are used for cold-type flu, where you’re chilled. There’s cool ones that are used for hot-type cold and flu, where you have a fever and sore throat. Then there’s herbs that clear heat; ones that are for high fevers; one that if the body just tends to run warm chronically; toxic heat, where there’s infections or skin diseases; damp heat, where there’s discharges; and many, many different types of heat-clearing herbs. Downward draining herbs, these are laxatives. There is both normal ones that you might have heard of, like rhubarb or senna. And then there’s lubricating ones, which are oily seeds, which are more for someone who has internal dryness. Herbs that drain dampness or broadly speaking, diuretics. Herbs that dispel wind dampness, these are for joint pain, especially arthritis. Very effective. Herbs that transform phlegm and stop coughing. We have herbs for heat phlegm, which is yellow and sticky; cold phlegm, which they have chills; and clear phlegm. General antitussive herbs that stop the cough reflex.
25:23 SB: Aromatic herbs that transform dampness for nausea, vomiting. Herbs that relieve food stagnation from when food’s just sitting in your stomach. Herbs that regulate the chi, that’s for chi stagnation: Distention, fullness in various parts of the body. Herbs that regulate the blood, either for blood stasis, for example injuries or severe menstrual cramping or even bleeding. Herbs that warm the interior and expel cold, we’ve looked at a little bit. Things like black pepper, ginger actually can warm the body up and get organ function going properly. The tonifying herbs, we talked about. We have herbs that tonify chi or vital energy; yin, which are more nourishing and cooling; yang, which are energizing and warming. And blood, herbs that will actually increase the blood count. Often after someone gets chemotherapy or radiation for cancer, they’ll come to an acupuncturist and will get herbs that tonify chi and blood. It’ll get their energy back, and their blood count will come back to normal much faster that way.
26:29 SB: Herbs that stabilize and bind, we talked about those, that’s to keep the body from losing various fluids. Substances to calm the spirit. These are for extreme agitation, or just mild insomnia or irritability. Substances that extinguish wind and stop tremors are for what’s called internal wind, shaking and tremors. Herbs that expel parasites, self-explanatory. Substances for topical application, these are for skin issues. For example, poison oak, I see a lot of poison oak patients in the winter ’cause the leaves are gone. So I’ll give them internal herbs that they take to clear this heat and dampness from their body, and external herbs to make the rash go away quicker. And quite effective for poison oak.
27:16 SB: So here’s a picture of me in my private practice. I have a very small clinic, just about 300 square feet, but I still have about 150 bulk herbs, a couple hundred formulas. So even in a small space, it’s possible to have a pretty large pharmacy. So I know my time’s running short. Just wanna mention that there’s nothing to believe in in Chinese medicine, everything can be supported by clinical practice, clinical results, and even modern science. Here’s a couple of older studies that just shows the use of ginseng, the function of tonifying chi. This one for COPD, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. They gave a small amount of ginseng extract, 100 milligrams twice a day for three months. And in the treatment group, they had improvement in all these pulmonary function tests. No adverse effects.
28:14 SB: Here’s another study with soccer players. Took 350 milligrams of ginseng or placebo everyday for six weeks. The ginseng group was found to have a shorter reaction time to multiple choice exercises during physical exercise. So ginseng can improve both physical and mental performance. So basically they gave them multiple choice questions while they were exercising, and they did better on the questions. So better physical and mental endurance. And there’s quite a few Chinese herbs that’ll do that. So here’s the contact info for Five Branches. There’s the website, the address, and the phone number for both the Santa Cruz and San Jose clinics. Thank you. Any questions?
29:02 Speaker 2 Or Audience Member: We have questions about it.
29:04 SB: So we do have questions.
29:10 Speaker 3: So Bill, Debbie asks, could you describe what wind dampness is a little bit more please?
29:17 SB: Wind dampness has two different manifestations. First of all, there’s wind damp by itself. There’s wind damp heat, and wind damp cold. Let’s look at just wind damp. On the skin, this would be a rash that comes and goes, came on suddenly and has some oozing to it. If it’s internally in the joints and muscles, this would be similar to arthritis, but it doesn’t have to be arthritis, where wind means it comes and goes, comes on suddenly, moves around, and you’ll often seen that with someone with arthritis. Maybe their right elbow will hurt one day, the left one one day, both of them another day, neither of them another day, then their knee will hurt. That’s the nature of wind in Chinese medicine, where something can come and go, and move around and change. Damp will actually cause the stagnation, which causes the pain. Damp blocks the flow of vital energy. You might even see the joints swelling in that case. So herbs that expel wind damp will actually make the condition come and go less frequently, and gradually the swelling and pain goes down. So when severe, disformed joints after a lifetime of arthritis, that’s not gonna be rectified. The pain can be. But if you catch it early, you can prevent it. I actually had rheumatoid arthritis when I was in my 20s, and I was able to get rid of that. I’m 65 now, and it’s never come back.
30:49 S3: Awesome. Alright, there’s another question. Nathan asks, what’s the most challenging case you’ve treated with TCM herbology?
30:56 SB: I would say the most challenging would be the ones that I didn’t get satisfactory results. Fortunately in the vast majority of cases, I’ll either get complete resolution of a condition or enough improvement that the patient is happy. Occasionally, you’ll see someone that’s been to multiple practitioners. So, for example, I have a psoriasis patient. He’s got psoriatic lesions over about 60% of his body. He’s had it for decades. He’s gone to every alternative and conventional practitioner, and has never got any results. So I gave him a normal protocol for 16 weeks of boiled herbs, which usually won’t resolve it. He didn’t get much resolution in his lesions, although he felt much better, he wasn’t sweating and hot all the time. So I’m treating him with a different sort of a technique now. But I would say that was the most difficult one.
31:52 S3: Nathan also asks, what method of diagnosis have you used the most when treating clients?
31:58 SB: Well diagnosis in Chinese medicine, we use the pulse and the tongue. By themselves, it’s insufficient, so the intake is very important. Someone gives you their medical history in the initial intake, and then you’re gonna devise a differential diagnosis based on a number of questions about body temperature, symptoms, sweating, urination, bowel movements, appetite, digestion, sleep, energy, mood. And with all these questions, you can actually weave a traditional differential diagnosis. Once you have an accurate diagnosis, that’s along with pulse and tongue, then you can come up with the treatment principle. With the treatment principle, there’s multiple herbal formulas and acupuncture treatments that you can use.
32:46 S3: Caitlin asks, for quality control, which brand would be the best to look at? I think she means for herbs.
32:52 SB: Brand? Is Caitlin a practitioner or a lay person?
32:58 S3: She doesn’t say. I can ask her.
33:00 SB: Okay. Well I’ll start answering in the meantime. If you’re buying just some Chinese herbs yourself, most of the large manufacturers won’t sell to non-practitioners. There’s a brand of the teapills called Plum Flower, and this is distributed by Mayway, and many health food stores have this brand. Plum Flower does testing of heavy metals, they’re good about quality. So those you can typically… If your health food store doesn’t have them, you can order them through your health food store, they tend to market that to lay people. There’s many, many brands though, that most of them only sell to practitioners though.
33:44 S3: Okay. Yeah, she didn’t get back to me…
33:47 SB: Now if you want to get some of the more common herbs like ginger, licorice, astragalus, Pacific Botanicals will sell them by the pound. They’re in Grants Pass, Oregon. You don’t have to be a practitioner to get those more common ones, and they are organic.
34:04 S3: Okay. She says she’s an exercise physiologist.
34:07 SB: So then probably I would recommend getting the teapills from the health food store, or some of the more common ones from Pacific Botanicals: Dong quai, astragalus, licorice, ginger, schisandra. Some of the more common ones, they do have.
34:26 S3: Debbie asks a followup question. I know coin rubbing is popular in Asian medicine as well, and to my knowledge, is used to dispel the wind. Is that similar to wind dampness?
34:37 SB: Does she mean gua sha with coin rubbing? Using a coin to rub on someone’s body? I’m not familiar with the term. It sounds like gua sha though.
34:44 S3: Okay.
34:46 SB: So let me answer the question, and then if she has more comments, she can tell you. What did she ask about it?
34:51 S3: I think she asked about it in relation to her earlier describing the wind dampness.
34:56 SB: Okay. I’m assuming coin rubbing is gua sha. You also see them use a Chinese spoon. There’s also gua sha tools, where they’ll scrape along the back. This is most typically used for fighting colds or for pain. But you have to be aware, it can cause some bruising, so it’s not for everyone. That could be used along with herbs. I wouldn’t use it instead of herbs for a cold because herbs are extremely effective.
35:26 S3: Alright. And then Chris also just commented. He’s gotten some Po Sum, and they’ve had…
35:39 SB: Po Sum On, okay.
35:40 S3: Yeah, they’ve had California warnings on ’em so he has to worry…
35:43 SB: Okay. California Prop 65 warnings, good question. Prop 65, with all good intentions, was formed in order to prevent carcinogenic substance from being consumed unintentionally, but it’s so overused now. You can’t even find a store that doesn’t have a Prop 65 warning on it, so people are ignoring them. What you’ll sometimes see on Chinese herbal products, a Prop 65 warning, “According to the State of California, this product may cause cancer.” Well that will certainly scare you. What will happen is that maybe years and years ago, they had one product that was a little bit high in heavy metals, high for herbs, lower than what’s allowed in food. There’s practically none allowed in herbs, very, very small amounts, so they may have been forced to put on a Prop 65 warning.
36:33 SB: You want to… If you’re buying herbs, you can request what’s called the C of A, a Certificate of Analysis. For example, Mayway, typically they’ll provide it to the company that they’re selling to, the health food store, but they’ll have a C of A for all their herbs, all their products. So you’ll see this warning, but then you see the C of A for the product, and it tests clear of heavy metals and pesticides. So C of A is the standard. And you wanna use a reliable supplier, who’s gonna have reliable C of A’s. So Po Sum On, maybe it has… Po Sum On’s topical, and a lot of it is synthetic. Maybe it’s menthol, I think menthol may be on the list. But it’s something that you wanna use a reliable supplier to avoid any possibility of actual toxicity.
37:25 S3: And Tina Tran asks, “One of your slide’s showing different parts of herbs. Will they always be used that way, such as twigs, branches for bi-syndrome, seeds for descending?”
37:41 SB: No, those are tendencies.
37:42 S3: Ah, okay.
37:44 SB: The plant parts, even the flavors, these are tendencies. So they can be used for many other things as well. When you look at the Materia Medica, each entry, there’ll be a category, for example, herbs that warm the interior. So each entry, for example, black paper, it might say, “Acrid and hot, goes to certain meridians.” It might just be specifically for pain in the stomach due to cold, or another one in the category may be due to vomiting due to cold. So each herb was a little bit different. Each plant part, each taste has a tendency, but they’re definitely not rules.
38:21 S3: Alright. Really quick, do we wanna do our polls? Alright, everyone, just really quick, we’re gonna continue these questions, please keep asking them, but we’re going to pull up our poll. If you wouldn’t mind answering these poll questions, that we’re going to have pulled up for you. It’ll just be really quick. Alright, here’s our first poll question, is this your first time attending one of our webinars? We would love to know. We just wanna know if you’re visiting us for the first time, or if you’re continuing to come and see us. Please just go ahead and give us your answer, and then we’ll continue on with our questions’ time.
39:11 SB: Do we need to do anything on the screen here?
39:13 S3: No, no… Alright. Thank you. That’s our first poll. And here comes our next poll. Alright. Just really quick question, did you know about our event on March 19th? Was it from me, or did you hear about it from someone else? Go ahead and answer that please. Thank you so much for joining us. Once again, we’ll get through these really quick, and then we’ll go back to the questions.
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40:11 SB: Are you waiting for the poll before I answer?
40:13 S3: Yeah, we’re waiting. I just wanted you to look at one, if you wanted. Alright, here’s poll number three. Do you plan on enrolling with us in our TCM degree program within six months? We just wanna know if we can see you soon. Hopefully you’ll come study with us. Alright, thank you so much for all your questions. Please just answer this quick poll. We really, really appreciate it. Alrighty.
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40:55 S3: Alright. Thank you guys so much. One more quick poll. And if you answered yes to that last one, do you want us to follow up with you on enrollment support? This just helps us see if you want us to follow up with you, if you have any questions on enrolling. Thank you so much for all your answers. Alright. Thanks, everyone. Now we’re back to questions with Dr. Bill Schoenbart So Monica asks, I know they’re commonly used in tropical regions for medicine, but have you ever encountered much use of algae in TCM herbal practices?
41:40 SB: There’s something called Fu Ping, which is duckweed, that looks like algae, but it’s technically a plant, not an algae. It’s not a commonly used medicinal in Chinese medicine. And for those who are using algae, be careful because blue-green algae often will grow in the same place as toxic algae, so you’d wanna definitely use a reliable supplier for that.
42:04 S3: All right. And Chris asks, at what age can children be treated with herbs?
42:10 SB: I treat them as soon as they can be brought in. Obviously they’re not gonna drink a big cup of decoction, but I’ve had patients where the mother brings him in and I’ll just squirt some herbs in their mouth, and it works fine. You wanna be cautious, you’re gonna use very, very small doses. Some people that I wanna be extremely cautious, to give it to the mother who’s breastfeeding. But my other herbs, I’ve not seen a problem with kids of any age.
42:39 S3: Awesome. And Nathan asks, have you ever worked with a western doctor on a client’s case? And is that common when treating clients?
42:48 SB: Every practice is different. I know some practices work side by side with western physicians. One of my students is working in a cancer hospital in Atlanta now, and he’s completely integrated. Another one of my colleagues is at Kaiser, he’s the acupuncturist there. Obviously, the medical doctors are sending him patients. I’ll occasionally get a MD. A cardiologist sends me some of his patients ’cause he heard of me successfully treating a case of atrial fibrillation with acupuncture and herbs, so he’ll periodically send me someone. I have another MD that sometimes will send me people with viral illnesses. Most of my patients are by referral though from other patients, but it’s common in some practices.
43:40 S3: Awesome. Monica asks, have you done any work determining active compounds and how they work within the body to maintain or to obtain therapeutic results?
43:51 SB: Yeah, I have done that. I do consult for supplement companies, so I have to be aware of the science. The good thing about learning Chinese medicine is you don’t have to know that in order to be effective. But there are very good studies on that. For example, danshen, which is called red sage root, a very important herb in cardiology. So we know it can… And it also has strong anti-cancer properties. It’s got three compounds in it, salvianolic acid, tanshinone I, tanshinone II. And these compounds have numerous clinical studies, both in vitro and in vivo, for anti-cancer effects, multiple cancers. It doesn’t mean if you have cancer, you just take that herb and it goes away. But if you wanna prevent cancer, that’s a lot easier than treating it. You can use herbs to treat cancer, but typically what we do is they get their normal therapy, and then they use the herbs to treat the side effects of the chemo and radiation.
44:57 SB: You can also evaluate the quality of an herb with the constituents. If you’re looking at a ginseng extract, normally ginseng has about 1.5% ginsenosides. If it’s a five-to-one extract, there should be about 6% ginsenosides. If it tested about one, then you know you got poor quality ginseng. So for example, turmeric, most of the studies are in curcumin, which is the yellow compound in turmeric. So you can learn a lot about it, but you don’t have to know that about constituents to use the herb successfully.
45:32 S3: And Nathan also asks, is it necessary to be skilled in qigong to practice TCM Herbology?
45:38 SB: Not at all. No it’s… Qigong is a very powerful modality in and of itself. Many people that use qigong therapeutically use that and aren’t herbalist, especially in China. In America, you’ll see people doing acupuncture, qigong, herbs, multiple modalities, but it’s absolutely not necessary.
46:04 S3: Another question is, what are some side effects for adults taking herbs? Are the doses of herbs high enough to cause high blood sugar? E.g. From sweet goji berries, like…
46:17 SB: Ironically, goji berries are sweet but they lower blood sugar. So that’s actually a very nice feature of them. Most herbs are not sweet enough to raise blood sugar. Quite a few of them will lower blood sugar. Some of them will raise it, but only if it’s pathologically low. The most common herbal side effect is upset stomach, gas, some loose stools. And you either can remove an herb, you can add ginger, you can decrease the dose, but severe adverse effects are very, very rare with herbs.
46:52 S3: Jasmine asks, can ginseng be taken at night or does it keep people awake?
46:58 SB: Another interesting thing about herbs… These are great questions, by the way. I haven’t acknowledged you individually, but they’re all really good questions. For people who are really weak and chi-deficient, they can actually fall asleep easier when they take ginseng. People who are pretty robust, if they take ginseng at night, sometimes it’ll keep them awake. So what I’ll often do is when I give someone ginseng in a formula, I’ll have them take it morning and afternoon, and not take an evening dose. But if they’re very weak and chi- deficient, it’ll actually help them sleep. There’s a Emperor’s Teapills, Tian Wang Bu Xin Dan, which is a very common formula for insomnia with a heart yin deficiency pattern, and that’s got ginseng in it. Gui Pi Tang has ginseng in it. Excuse me, I’m talking about Gui Pi Tang. Gui Pi Tang contains ginseng, even though it’s calming. It can help someone sleep.
47:51 S3: All right. And then Nada asks, is Chinese language necessary to learn Chinese medicine?
47:58 SB: It’s very helpful. Yeah at the very minimum, you wanna learn how to pronounce the Pinyin, so you can communicate with other people, with practitioners, with herb suppliers. And if you’re really serious about practicing, learning the Chinese language is very useful ’cause you can study the classics, the Nei Jing, the Shang Han Lun, and get deep knowledge from it. But you can learn Chinese medicine without knowing the Chinese language. You’ll just have to get… Nowadays there’s very good translations of the basic texts. So if you don’t have the language ability, you’ll still be fine.
48:37 S3: Alright. That kinda breaches it on our questions. Does anyone have any more questions? Please just go ahead and ask them away. Both Jasmine and Nada thank you for your answer.
48:53 SB: Thank you for your questions.