Hello,

I am going through a very difficult period, after having to help my father who has health problem i had a major setbacks with my insomnia issues. I haven't been able to sleep for 5 days and i'm on the verge of asking for hospitalization....

The problem i have is that i somehow manage to rebalance myself a bit through the day, i'm aware i'm very qi depleted with kidney depletion, spleen depletion. But when the night comes i have a neighbor who does a little bit of noise and i know it's hard to understand but it makes me super nervoux / anxious, i'm scared the noise will make my sleep impossible. I can't control it and i start sweating.

Normally in a perfectly calm place i don't spiral out of control like this, but my current state is making me very emotionnaly volatile. The problem is insomnia seems to make everything worse. I have low energy, tendency to anxiety, insomnia, sometimes very hard to fall asleep and tendency to wake up early.

My stools can be soft if i'm very tired.

I have seen many acupuncturists but i believe i need to understand what's going on and what is blocking sleep to get out of this hell. I'm aware this isn't the place for medical advices, but i'm really starting to lose hope... I have had this condition for years but i was able to tame it and get good period through rest, lifestyle...

Thanks for your help

Temperature (any aversion to heat or to cold? Do you often have fever?)

• Sweat : No except when going hyper anxious if the neighbor makes noise
• Thirst : normal
• Appetite : low
• Digestion : none
• Bowels : can be soft if super tired, otherwise normal
• Urination : normal, clear
• Pain anywhere in the body : chest pain, but i have a sternum malformation (pectus excavatum) that might be causing it
• EENT : i have had burning eyes this morning after 4 days no sleep
• Mood : anxious, depressed
• Sleep : can't fall asleep, tendency to wake up early, can't nap
• Energy : low...
• Skin : nothing

https://preview.redd.it/j4u729x2c8yd1.jpg?width=893&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a6c71547dba512b96c720a8795b9bb06ef80933e

Anything anyone can suggest for insomnia?

Hi, my grandmother use to decoct herbs for various ailments, usually internal heat, and I'm trying to figure out what the herbs are. I was never told their names in chinese either and we usually referred to the decoctions with colloquialisms and I was wondering whether yall can point me in the right direction of what I might've been drinking and the ingredients.

The first one I'm very curious about is what we called "cold/flu tea" like for colds/flu but we also called it "cooling tea" for when we had too much internal heat/acne/etc

It was an extremely bitter concoction that tasted "dry" like how some wines are "dry" (I guess astringent properties?) I'm assuming this is due to being high in tannins. I think it has some sort of sulfurous compounds due to smell, but I am unsure. It was made with some sort of roots and these little black balls - like black peas. No astragalus root.

The second one is called "Hah fu cho" - (cantonese pronunciation translating to something healing grass?) Usually theres sugar added so its a sweet and herbal taste.

Lastly, there was a tincture for arthritis and bruises my grandmother used. It was a black paste that smelled very bad to me as a child. I unfortunately don't have much else in ways of description of the smell because I dont remember it very well.

What do you use as an alternative? Is there anything as powerful but non-toxic?

Hey there fellow practitioners -

Does anyone currently (or did anyone used to) work out of their home? If so, what hoops/zoning issues have you had to deal with?

Hello , so i m a doctor and am very interested in chinesemedicine, i think in clinical diagnosis is way better than western medicine, any suggesting of what book to start reading?

What are possible causes of abdominal belly button hernia in Chinese medicine and are there ways to heal it without surgery? Thank you.

I love black fungus but I have read contradicting information regarding this fungus.

I understand it is a yin tonic but does it also weaken the spleen?

Thank you for your help.

we all know, it's very important in TCM to protect ourselves from the cold, particularly if we are of cold disposition- which i very much am, and i also have respiratory issues after long covid and overall qi deficiency, so this season i want to take particularly good care of myself as i heal.

do you all have any habits you do during this time, or gadgets you like to have around for the cold months?? maybe a heating belt? maybe a special merino sweater you found that made your last winter better? what are your favorite herbs to add to a hot foot soak??
idk, i'm open to any and all tips because i'm from a pretty warm place, our winters are pretty mild and we don't have a huge culture of making drastic changes for winter. actually i wear pretty much the same clothes year-round, just add a hoodie or light jacket. but this year i already feel the effects of the change of season in my health and will need extra care, so i'm discovering the world of heated socks and blankets. and i guess i will look for an oil heater over an electric, to avoid drying up the air as i can imagine that could affect my health. actually, would a humidifier be beneficial??
is there anything else you would recommend??
thanks a lot in advance! :)

TCM newbie here…

Two weeks ago I found out I’ve been dealing with babiosis. My naturopath asked for a tick-borne disease panel after I’ve had less energy and fatigue over the last few months. I have never even seen a tick on me, so I have no idea when I was bit. Since my test came back, my symptoms have gotten significantly worse. Wicked fatigue, heavy limbs especially in the morning, low energy, brain fog, and muscle weakness, especially in my legs.

I sought out a Chinese herbalist near me by recommendation and he’s been phenomenal. I’ve seen him twice.

First visit he did essential oils and acupressure and ear seeds. I felt 100% better, all of my symptoms disappeared in 24 hours. 6 days later, I had a (pre-booked) acupuncture appt. Within 12 hours of that appt, all my symptoms returned, even worse this time.

Was it a coincidence that they returned after the acupuncture session or is that the cause?

I returned to the herbalist again yesterday, desperate for relief. It worked again, but I still have a lot of muscle weakness. It peaked my energy and lessened the fatigue greatly.

The herbalist says I have a yang deficiency, dampness in my spleen and liver, that my liver and spleen need support, which aligns with Babiosis, which effects the spleen.

I cannot see a PCP/specialist for a few weeks. Will TCM be a symptom management tool, or can it help my body overcome this disease? I’m eager to learn more.

Hello everyone!

In brief: I have been diagnosed with chronic hepatitis B. The viral load in my blood is relatively high, and my liver enzyme levels are elevated. However, I don’t have cirrhosis, my spleen is not enlarged, but there is some minor scarring in my liver. My Asian friend mentioned that hepatitis B is relatively common in China and that traditional medicine there has treatments for it.

My doctor would like to start me on tenofovir, although it does not cure chronic hepatitis. I’d like to ask if anyone knows what medications are recommended in Chinese medicine and by its practitioners for treating this illness? Also, are there any dietary recommendations? Thanks for your responses!

Hello! Wanted to come on here and share a reco for acupuncture shoe insoles – maybe it will help someone out:)

I've had Akusoli for about four months now, and I've been wearing them with my work shoes. They've been super helpful during my 12-hour shifts. I haven't really been into acupuncture or known much about it before I got and started wearing Akusoli (not sure if I do now), but they've been great so far!

Have you guys come across any everyday products that are based on acupuncture too? I think I'm kinda liking this acupuncture stuff.. haha

Hello,

I recently switched to a new TCM practitioner and they diagnosed me with lung + stomach heat.

Have been suffering from bad migraines daily, I wake up with no headache at all but as soon as I start eating my meals, I slowly feel the migraine coming on. If I fast after lunch and don’t eat any snacks or teas, the migraine goes away but it’s back after dinner. The area for pain is all points around the eyes (above below and sides), above the ears and forehead. This brings on nausea, indigestion too.

Occasionally I’ll have constipation but since the start of Fall I started getting constipated more often, and so started getting migraines daily. I tend to have very dry skin in the fall and winter as well.

During summer and spring, I literally get 0 headaches (night and day difference). But then I suffer from really bad acid reflux during those seasons.

The new practitioner prescribed white tiger to reduce stomach + lung heat after breakfast and lunch. Another herb (HuangLianShangQingPian) at night before bed for bowel movement.

My issue is the bowel movement herb at it’s lowest dosage gives me 7-8 BMs a day and I have active hemorrhoids because of that. If I skip it, the white tiger herb mixed with hot water triggers BMs anyway too. With all this, migraines are gone, I don’t feel much acid reflux either but I can’t handle the stomach cramping everyday and have started losing sleep over it.

My practitioner says white tiger is cooling and will not give me BMs but then every-time I drink it, I have to run to the bathroom.

Is my diagnosis correct? Do the herbs sound correct for my issues?

Update: after continuing on only white tiger, my BMs were still at 7-8 a day. Caused really bad hemorrhoids, that burst today and was a lot of bleeding like I’d never seen in my life. Went to the ER, doc told me to get off the herbs immediately. Not taking any herbs now.

Advice is for female family, any chinese tea or chinese herbs helpful for recovery pneumonia? r/Herbalism my post there, someone post link to this subreddit. Patient was at western hospital got IV antibiotics and now home again, with OTC painmeds Dr advised.

My TCM practitioner has given me er chen wan to treat phlegm, and I have been urinating frequently all day. Is this normal? Does it subside?

I’m seeing an acupuncturist for the first time and I was wondering if it’s common to not know what’s in the herbal formulas despite me being curious and asking?

Do you list out to your clients the herbs in the formula and their intended action? She hasn’t explained what her sort of treatment plan is despite me asking and just said that is so hard to explain eastern philosophy to a western mind. Granted she’s Caucasian and grew up in the west

I was trying to get some suggestions for where I should post this. First of all, I’m not super tech smart (I’m an old acupuncturist, lol) so if this is in poor forum please forgive. I teach acupuncture and recently I created a Facebook channel for my acupuncture school students and posted some of the lectures I give to prepare my students for student clinic. They are free and I’m not trying to monetize anything. The lectures start pretty basic for first year students and as I go through lectures for 2nd and 3rd year students they get more advanced. They start with "how to diagnosis", "the most common patterns you’ll see", "how to interact with your patients", "what to do when you don’t know what to do" and more.

Anyway I thought, why not share these with students everywhere. Like I said, I’m not trying to make money off of this. I just love Chinese medicine so much and want to help students gain clinic confidence. We all were confused when we first went into student clinic.These are not board prep these are real life clinic prep. Anyway, if anyone has any suggestions for places to post this info for my channel let me know. I’m just here to help.

If you want to check the channel out it is call EZ Acupuncture School.

https://www.youtube.com/@EZAcupunctureSchool

Thanks and sorry if this is in the wrong place

That’s it!