Traditional chinese medicine acupoints for various illnesses

[neijia_boxer]

I am working on a file that I put in alphabetical order of some of the pathology and what acupoints help so far for my own study at the TCM school. Some of you into Traditional Chinese medicine might like this.

illness/pathology and point:

http://www.polariswushu.net/illnesses.html

Points listed by grouping: collateral, divergent, extraordinary, etc.
http://www.polariswushu.net/illnesses2.html

[meeks]

here's a question - how do you stimulate the thymus gland and would would be the benefit of this (from a qi gong perspective)?

[leifeng]

TCM doesn't have anything called the thymus gland.

[kenneth fish]

胸腺

[leifeng]

Obviously there is a Chinese translation of western medical terms but that's not part of TCM. How to stimulate the thymus gland is a question that should be asked from western medicine's perspective but again there is no Qi stuff or meridian acupoints in western medicine.

[kenneth fish]

First: Traditional Chinese Medicine did not stop developing at the end of the Qing Dynasty , nor is it preserved in amber. Training in Traditional Chinese Medicine since the 1920's has incorporated learning Western anatomical knowledge as well as physiology. The best TCM doctors I have known were very conversant with modern concepts. That having been said, you are unlikely to find in-depth, vibrant training in Chinese medicine outside of China or Taiwan. (The training in Singapore and Hong Kong is ok, but not up to the schools in Taichung, Nanjing, or Tianjin). Yes, I am familiar with the schools in California, New York, and Virginia. They are really not up to par.

As far as the thymus is concerned - one does not have to treat the thymus directly (parenthetically - do you know the function of the thymus? and the signs and symptoms of impaired function? In an adult?). One would treat the symptoms of low thymus function - not to be confused with dysthymia, which is a psychological syndrome (a form of depression). Which brings me to another point - TCM practitioners like to claim that they are treating the root of the problem , when in fact for the most part TCM is directed mostly at treating the symptoms of disease.

[leifeng]

First: Traditional Chinese Medicine did not stop developing at the end of the Qing Dynast

At its core Traditional Chinese Medicine stopped developing 2000 years ago which is the era of Huangdi Neijing and Shanghanlun and even when Huangdineijing talks about the ancient people(before that era) it looks like they had already lost the ability or knowledge of those guys. In the last 2000 years most of the books in TCM have been about explaining these old books and very few major movements like the wenbing stuff have happened since then which are also based on the old stuff rather than changing anything major.

Training in Traditional Chinese Medicine since the 1920's has incorporated learning Western anatomical knowledge as well as physiology.

Yes but the two systems have not been merged properly. Try explaining how TCM connects sixiang wuxing to explain everything in the human body to the environment as well as the universe or sanhun qipo or the spirit stuff in the qianjinyifang to a modern scientist who asks for scientific evidence and see for yourself if the systems have been merged well.

At this stage most people who have been to TCM school know some western medicine and as much as it can help to know the advantage as well as the weakness of TCM in the treatment of each specific case, the extra information has very little effect on how a properly trained TCM practitioner can diagnose and treat the illness using TCM. TCM is complicated and it is impossible to directly connect the western diagnosis and TCM diagnosis together based on the symptoms. What is low thymus function in western medicine can be different things in TCM.

Which brings me to another point - TCM practitioners like to claim that they are treating the root of the problem , when in fact for the most part TCM is directed mostly at treating the symptoms of disease.

I agree with this point and I believe it is the result of very poor TCM training in the modern TCM schools(including those you mentioned) and merging TCM with western medicine in an improper way.
Both TCM and western medicine are ideally about treating the root not just the symptoms although they have different theories for explaining the root, however whether a practitioner of either types of medicine is able to do that depends on his knowledge about his field as well as the physical limitations of the diagnosis or treatment instruments/methods.

[kenneth fish]

I'm afraid I disagree with you on the progress in Chinese medicine. I was educated at China Medical College (then known as the Taichung College of Chinese Medicine) . Although I graduated as a Western medical doctor, we were required to study much of what the TCM doctors were learning, and they were required to have the same foundation in basic sciences. Just as Western medicine has its roots in Greek and Persian medicine of antiquity, and has moved on while incorporating the pragmatic view of the ancient Greeks, so has Chinese medicine. My adopted father was from a long line of Tai Yi (physicians to the court). His knowledge of TCM was very deep and his skills were exceptional - but he was also very knowledgeable regarding Western diagnosis and treatment. I do not see a dichotomy there -both systems explain the same phenomena in their own way. I would also venture to say that Chinese traumatology (Shang Ke - injury medicine) has probably improved over the past 50 years. Not only does a more intimate knowledge of anatomy drive the field, some schools like the Traditional Chinese Traumatology Hospital in Zhengzhou have done very in depth research on techniques and herbal medicines that are more effective than what we had before. My own pet peeve is that very few students nowadays are willing to undergo the training to become highly skilled traditional manual therapists, and prefer to specialize in herbal pharmacy only. I recently started taking students to pass on the skills taught to me by the old teachers in Taiwan - my best students are TCM students from Vietnam.

[kenneth fish]

Also - my points regarding the Thymus gland were in response to Meeks' question about how one would go about stimulating the Thymus. To ask that question shows a lack of understanding of the nature of the Thymus, what it does, how it changes with age, and what factors affect its function. To be blunt - you would not know if you had an under-active thymus unless you took the proper blood work and knew how to interpret the results. It is not something that would be evident from a physical exam or patient history. For the most part it is non-functional in adults.

[leifeng]

I would really want to do an autopsy on monks to see if their abstinence can help them to keep the thymus functional. Also I want to compare it with the samples taken from Daoist sex people

[Doc Stier]

I have observed that the older Classical Chinese Medicine which I learned in Hong Kong more 40 years ago is generally superior to Modern TCM, both in terms of its diagnostic methods and its treatment plans, especially in treating long standing chronic conditions. During the five year period in which I served as a faculty professor at the Texas College of TCM here in Austin, TX, the faculty consisted of 1 Korean professor and 14 Chinese professors, all trained in TCM, and me. I was the only one formally educated in the older classical methods of acupuncture and Chinese herbalism, so I taught the theory and empirical applications of the those methods.

Without exception, students who employed these older diagnostic methods and treatment treatment methods in the school's student clinic consistently achieved faster, more efective, long lasting results than they did when using the TCM disease syndrome methods and treatment methods of TCM. This has typically been my own personal experience as well in a professional clinic setting since 1973.

[Michael]

here's a question - how do you stimulate the thymus gland and would would be the benefit of this (from a qi gong perspective)?

Perhaps connecting to one's heart chakra would indirectly benefit the thymus gland?

Doc Stier, can you say anything about the correspondence of the heart chakra and the thymus gland?

Thanks

[D_Glenn]

Just curious as to why people, especially Leifeng, think it's important to prolong or stimulate the thymus gland?
Are you thinking it would benefit arthritis or other autoimmunity diseases?

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[leifeng]

Just curious as to why people, especially Leifeng, think it's important to prolong or stimulate the thymus gland?

Cuz we wanna become immortal.


Using today's science and the broken remnants of the knowledge found in the ancient books that are available, we might figure out how those dudes became immortal.

[D_Glenn]

Just curious as to why people, especially Leifeng, think it's important to prolong or stimulate the thymus gland?

Cuz we wanna become immortal.


Using today's science and the broken remnants of the knowledge found in the ancient books that are available, we might figure out how those dudes became immortal.

Polyamines in the human body are want you want to be focused on as they're key for proper cell replication and dna to rna to dna. Without them being present mutation (cancers) can occur. T Cells are trying to trim the branches; while lack of Polyamines in the body are the root of the problem and are the key to being "immortal".

.