TRADITIONAL CHINESE MEDICINE & TECHNIQUES (TCM)

Many persons are turning to various alternative healing and health practices which include many from Asian sources, as well as some from indigenous peoples or tribes in South America, Africa, etc. which include shamans.... Nowadays, this 'wisdom from the East' has penetrated into areas once reserved for 'traditional' medicine of the West.....and now Western Medicine is considering the possilbe value and function of such in various ways, even to the extent of acknowledging some of them have an effect,whether helpful or not, curative or not...and perhaps in their wake, the pharmaceutical companies have seen such as a boon and boost to their 'industry' and so forth... Many methods of the ancient world and the past were considered inferior to that of the official medicine of the day.....and some still are.....but people are turning to alternative cures and medicines and systems or practices for things they cannot receive otherwise from Western Medicine.... Therefore, I have placed a few indications of what can be looked at by those interested in 'becoming their own best physicians' and who want to work out their own cures, if any, in their own 'laboratories' which are, of course, their bodies, which can and may undergo a 'transformation' if not a 'transmutation' .....depending on what they do or follow.... At any rate a discussion of things old and new, far and wide, ancient and modern, with a lot thrown in between,is what I plan to do on this blog until t he government, as it has for some in the past, shuts me down......if it does.....

MEDICAL HISTORY

Over the years people build up in some cases what can be termed,' MEDICAL HISTORY' of which numerous items are entered into this system, which often consists of laboratory reports, office visits to various medicos, hospitalization, diseases, immunizations, blood giving/letting, and a vast array of information that one usually does not understand or keep track of, until something happens to disrupt what might be termed 'a normal state of health and well-being',etc. The role of the medical history, whatever it might be in indiviudual cases or instances, may be most important, but frequently it has become, in my experience for several reasons that I hope to discuss, a mere ritual and rite that doctors hopsitals and insurance companies of all kinds require...which means that one has to undergo this process of 'initiation' in nearly every visit and examination,etc. before entering the hallowed halls of medical practitioners nowadays termed 'PROVIDERS'..... PRIVACY CONCERNS also enter in all of this process....... Currently, I do not have a 'personal care provider' or a personal physician or a personal doctor, and those I once had in my childhood are now dead, both lying in their graves and no longer lying to clients and patients or other medical groups.... The various physicians who write columns and maintain websites and send out various newsletters are a growing phenomenon simply because health care and medicine and insurance for such is too expensive, complicated, and controlled by various bureauracies and this means people who have any type of illness, disease, symptoms(real or imaginary)and the like are seeking alternative methods and treatments and also diagnosis.... FREQUENTLY, all of these electronic/media/column writers are non-practicing physicians or,if they are,attempt to fill the gap between actual treatment and theoretical treatment, sometimes steering patients to the right direction(s) in their quest for health and treatment(s) or 'cures' which may or may not exist.... Rather than restrict or ignore these dedicated physicians with a literary, informative bent and talent who present factual and interesting details especially to honest,needed, and sometimes misdiagnosed concerns on health, they do provide a service that often invites criticism and the like from their colleagues and others....and I, myself, have sometimes challenged their statements in the past and sometimes added some things to their presentations, though very limited..... However,many of these physicians make this statement: CONSULT YOUR OWN PERSONAL PHYSICIAN OR MEDICAL CARE PROVIDER WHO KNOWS YOUR MEDICAL HISTORY BETTER....something I think does not really apply unless you are seeing such each and every day....as few read the charts/check lists you fill out and present on each and every visit or treatment or examination and some of them merely assume it's the same old thing bothering you or there is no cure,etc. or they hand you some pills they indicate may prove helpful to you,especially if you take them for years and years....and the pharmaceutical companies do appreciate your business.... My point is that YOU ARE YOUR OWN BEST PHYSICIAN...just as you are YOUR OWN BEST TIME KEEPER! No doctor memorizes my history nor does he or she know my actual state of health and they only wait to find out when you report to them,usually aching and ailing and complaining of things termed 'symptoms' etc. These 'historical' documents termed 'Medical Histories' may serve some purpose,of course, even if to take up file space,either in actual cabinets or virtual, electronic cabinets,etc. and the latter will assume a greater importance as medical treatments, diagnoses,etc. go on line more and more, despite privacy concerns.....the software that analyzes the date present via this way will render seeing some real,alive doctor in person and solve the medical problems or suggest course of action possible for such...all without leaving your computer or home,etc. More on this another time.