Who tests who
Western
medicine and the Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) are
different medical systems. They look at our body in a different
view and solve the illness in a different manner too. The huge
success of the western medicine, based on the development of the
modern science, earned large reputation in the medical area.
This fact misleads the public to believe that the western
medicine system should be the only way to solve human diseases.
Therefore, the credibility of other medicine system, including
the TCM, have been tested and evaluated by the way that is used
to test the western medicine. For this reason, it is frequently
accounted that, once the TCM therapies are tested by the way
that is commonly used in the western medicine, it hardly works.
But, in clinic, if we allow the TCM act in its own way, it
works. How to understand this discrepancy?
To test if a
therapy or a drug works or not, it is usually needed that the
therapy or the drug is given to a group of patients with same
disease for some time. Note, it is given to patients with the
SAME disease.
The fact is:
a disease termed in the western medicine does not mean the same
in TCM. For example, hypertension (high blood pressure) is a
disease in the western medicine, but it is not a “disease” in
TCM. Patients with the high blood pressure may be diagnosed in “Gan
Yang Shang Kang”, “Gan
Shen Yin Xu”, “Gan shen
Yang Xu”, or others and none of the diagnosis need the increased
blood pressure as its diagnosis requirement. The treatment
remedies used are neither aim to “reduce” the blood pressure,
whereas the blood pressure may reduce after the TCM treatment.
In addition,
for a given disease, such as acute pneumonia, the herbal formula
to be used might be up to five, to ten (or even more). The total
number of herbs used in the whole treatment course might be more
than 5 or even to 10, and the formula is to be varied according
to body condition of each people, not at a fixed dose to use for
every one.
So how can
we test if one herb, or one herbal formula works in a “disease”
diagnosed by the western medicine? If one insists so, it should
be asked if he wants to use the rule designed for football game,
in the table tennis game too? Or if he is going to let the
tennis player to play football, to see if the tennis player is
super than a football player? Or, if he wants a ping pang tennis
player play football on their ping pang table?
To test if
TCM herb works in a “disease” condition that is believed a
problem in the western medicine is as to test a ping pang tennis
player to participate the football game with a trained football
team, or vise versa.
Now, let’s
see if we can test the effectiveness and safety of the drugs
used by the western medicine, in the way as a TCM way.
The fact is,
a “disease” condition diagnosed by the TCM, can also be found in
lots of the “disease” conditions in the western medicine system.
For example, the “Xiao Chai Hu Tang Zen”, diagnosed in the TCM
can be found in more than 100 kinds of disease conditions
diagnosed by the western medicine, such as hypertension,
coronary heart disease, menopause syndrome, MS, chronic
bronchitis, acute pneumonia, various headache, arthritis… you
can continue to name. Can we use a single drug to solve so many
kinds of “disease”? You can image how variable and how
discripacy of the comparison research results might be. In some
research group, there might be more patients with hypertension,
whereas in others, more with diabetes. But, all of the patients
in the research projects belong to a single diagnosis in TCM:
“Xiao Chai Hu Tang Zen”. Which drug can function to solve the
high blood pressure and at the same time for the diabetes?
Clearly, it
is not at all a smart way to test the effectiveness ands safety
of the western
medicine with the TCM rule, or test them of TCM with the western
medicine rule. The two medical systems look at the same
objective (the body structure and function) in different view.
It is a
dream to combine the two medical systems (or even with other
more). In practice, it failed to really combine them. It is not
a real combination if we use TCM herbs based on the western
medicine diagnosis and no one knows how to use the western
medicine drugs in TCM way either!
To use the
TCM herbs in a western medicine way causes lots of side effects,
as the Japanese experienced. So, if someone said that the TCM
herbal therapy does not work or have side effects, it is better
to check who prescribed the herbs and how they are used. We
cannot expect a computer work well we leave it to the hands of a
bear. The
practitioner should be qualified in the TCM herbal therapy.
Due to above
reasons, we suggest to compare the two medical system for their
final results: the overall community health condition. This can
be done by choose one community in which the healthcare system
is exclusively the conventional medicine. In another community
with similar size, population, and living environment, the
healthcare system is to use exclusively the TCM system. And in
the third community, it the use of either the western medicine
or the TCM depending on the decision of the doctors who
understand both the medical systems.
For such
research project, the final results to compare are: which
medical system has lowest the clinic visiting of patients and
the costs, the less need for the medical staff, but highest
satisfaction rate of patients and longer life span of the
community members.
It can be
predicted that, the third group will be the best.
We should
realize that the conventional healthcare system as it is in the
Canada
or USA
is not the only system in the world. In some countries, such as
in China, they use
both conventional healthcare system as well as the TCM system.
It is their lesson learned from past several ten years that to
stick to the conventional medical system, it is impossible to
reduce the overall number of patient visiting to doctor and the
cost to healthcare system.
Chinese
learned every advantages of the conventional medicine but they
have also their traditional medicine too. No doubt at all that
their healthcare system will win the 21th century. Medical staff
here should wake up from their hallucination that they are
“super” in the world.
If our
healthcare authority really cares our health, they should
encourage, rather than to restrict, the use of the alternative
medical systems, including the TCM. Be humble and modest to
learn from others, you will gain more. If one behaves not as
this, he will be as a smaller container with full of water – no
more space to hold more water. On the other side, the Chinese
healthcare authority is a much big container with only half
amount of water – they can hold more water in their big
“container”.
What you
want the Canadian healthcare net work to be?
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