April 2010 Archives

May is National Allergies and Asthma Awareness Month.

Two key points to control your blood sugar

Without taking a meal, will blood sugar increase to above the normal blood sugar level?  So, the first key point to control blood sugar level is to control your meals intake.  How to eat right is a very important topic, which I will discuss later.

The second key point to control your blood sugar level is the time the body needs to absorb sugar.  If your body needs six hours compared to other people's two hours to absorb sugar and bring your blood sugar to a normal level, give your body six hours to do it's job.

Most diabetics eat at a fixed time frame.  If they don't eat in this pattern or even if skip a meal, they might experience hypoglycemic symptoms (due to blood sugar too low for body to tolerate).  One of the reasons for this situation is because of taking diabetic medicines.  That is why most diabetics are educated to eat regularly.  But they forgot one thing.  Every patient's condition is different.  Every one has different time the body needs to absorb sugar.  Maybe when taking next meal, the body blood sugar level is still high.  That is why blood sugar control never works satisfactorily, even while taking diabetic medicines.

Controlling your normal blood sugar level without taking medications

See link above to read the complete article by Steve Chang, New York College of Traditional Chinese Medicine graduate, in his Yong Kong blog. 

Related articles by Zemanta

• Health Tip: Reduce Dietary Sugar (nlm.nih.gov)

"Black tea and diabetes 
Scientists studied the polysaccharide levels of green, oolong, and black teas to determine whether they could be useful in treating diabetes. Polysaccharides are a type of carbohydrate, including starches and cellulose (type of fiber), that are believed to benefit people who have diabetes because they help slow down the absorption of glucose (sugar). 

Of the three teas, the polysaccharides in black tea had the most ability to inhibit glucose. The black tea polysaccharides also displayed the most antioxidant powers in seeking and destroying cell-damaging free radicals.

... In 2005, a research article published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry found that giving diabetic rats the equivalent of five cups of black or green tea per day reduced glucose levels and also significantly inhibited the formation of cataracts."

http://www.examiner.com/x-2994-Phoenix-Alternative-Medicine-Examiner~y2009m8d14-Black-tea-may-control-diabetes

Related articles by Zemanta

• Is it harmful to estimate extra insulin before a meal? (cnn.com)
• Study uses Chinese wolfberries to improve vision imperfections caused by type-2 diabetes (scienceblog.com)
• Grapes could reduce diabetes and heart disease (telegraph.co.uk)
• Blood glucose meter attaches to Nintendo DS (boingboing.net)

This is a 9 1/2 minute excerpt from a rare video featuring Lord Pandit Professor Dr. Sir Anton Jayasuriya of Columbo, Sri Lanka teaching Acupuncture principles. Dr. Jayasuriaya (1930-2005) was a Master Acupuncturist who reportedly had treated over 2.5 million patients in his lifetime and had taught thousands of Doctors around the world his techniques. He was the founder and Organizer of Medicina Alternative which was established in 1962. This is perhaps one of only a handful of known video recordings of this legend in the world of Alternative Medicine. The video describes human evolution and explains why many important acupuncture points are in the hand and the foot. He shows a video of a dental treatment using an acupuncture point on the face for pain control.

            By: Billy Shonez Singh, M.S., L.Ac., Dipl. C.H. (NCCAOM)

                                          www.zenohs.com  ©2010

 

A 69 year old woman came into my office in October 2009.  Her main complaint for the past eight years has been multiple joint pains in her body due to Rheumatoid Arthritis.  Since her diagnosis, she was placed on thirteen different medications.  Four of them were for treating joint and muscle pain associated with her main complaint.  The other four of the medications were used in lowering her cholesterol and her blood pressure.  The side-effects of the medications were headache, bone pain, jaw pain, muscle weakness, swelling of the ankles and feet, and joint pain- among other things.  The last five of her medications were unrelated to her main complaint but were used in treating the side-effects.  She described her joint pain as severely sharp and stabbing variety located in her neck, lower back, knees, feet, shoulders, wrists, and fingers.  The pain would get exacerbated by damp, cold, and rainy environments as well as walking up a flight of stairs.  In addition to this, I noticed that she had swelling along the fingers and toes.  The swelling was due to the inflammation in the joints and had fluid build-up (edema) in both her ankles.  In her previous history she mentioned that she was a pack-a-day smoker but quit smoking fifteen years ago.  Lastly, she consumed two to three cups of coffee a day.  After treating her with acupuncture for seven months at once a week intervals, we both noticed dramatic improvements in the signs and symptoms.  The swelling in her fingers and toes had decreased.  Her ability to walk with more fluidity and speed was noted as well without any stiffness and debility in her knees and ankles.  It was also indicated that her handwriting appeared less rugged and more fluid after the swelling was alleviated in her fingers and hands.  In any case she now visits me every other week for maintenance-style treatments.  After all the progress we had witnessed together, here is what she had to say:

 

                         "I have been suffering with severe Rheumatoid Arthritis for about eight years.  After researching alternative methods of pain management I came across Billy Singh's web site and was impressed by his credentials.  I have been seeing him for acupuncture treatments for several months with excellent results.  The treatments have given me great relief from the inflammation in my knees, feet, and shoulders. 

            I am thrilled with the results I am getting from the treatments and would highly recommend them as a compliment to conventional medicine."

-          Janet M.

 

In my humble opinion, after getting a testimonial like this, all I can say is that I am sorry but decrease in severity of signs and symptoms of a disease is one of side-effects of East Asian Medicine.

 

 

 

Billy Shonez Singh is a licensed acupuncturist and a board certified Chinese herbalist by the NCCAOM.  He is currently practicing in Westbury, NY.  His primary focus with East Asian medicine is stress, pain management, diabetic complications, and treating chemotherapy side-effects. 

Last weekend, my husband got a cold. He is liable to catch colds twice a year, often in the beginning of spring and winter. In the last few weeks, he has worked overtime at his day job and also worked at his mom's store. He worked 14 hours a day without rest.

Due to his tight schedule, he could not get good sleep. I noticed that he was exhausted already but he could not rest during the day. I prayed he would not catch a cold but finally he did. 

Our private doctor is my dad, so I called him and told him, "My husband had a cold again."

He always said, "Again..."

About Me

When I was growing up in South Korea, I took herbal medicine from my dad twice a year. I think he makes the formula depends on my condition and symptoms. But I am sure it based on boosting energy, tonifying, harmonizing and balancing Yin and Yang.

It made me healthier than my husband even though he is tall, good muscle tone, good diet, and generally healthier than other men. 

Thanks Dad!

My father suggested Tea therapy with acupuncture treatment. Tea therapies help prevent cold or during a cold, it can help you recover. 

If you have frequently cough, your qi is ascending, producing fever during cold, Wu Wei Zi (오미자, Schisandrae, 五味子) Tea may help to reducing cough. 

If you feel very low energy/qi deficiency, you can use Sheng Mai San (생맥산, Generate the Pulse Powder, 生脈散); it made from Wu Wei Zi (오미자,Schisandrae,五味子), Ren Shen (인삼, Ginseng Rx, 人蔘) , and Mai Men Dong (맥문동, Ophiopogonis Rx, 麥門冬).  

When you drink cold water too fast, it creates dampness on the stomach and produces phlegm; these are the reason for developing cold symptoms.  By drinking Sheng Jiang (생강, Zingberis Rx, 生姜) tea, it has warm and spicy characters so it expels phlegm, warm the body and provide energy. 

The orange peel tea, we called Chen Pi (진피, Citri Pericarpium, 陳皮), it promote to circulates Lung Qi, descends the Lung energy.  

When the Gan Cao (감초, Glycyrrhizae Rx, 甘草) and Da Zao (대조, Jujubae Fr, 大棗) boils together, it helps to reduce phlegm in the nose, reduces inflammation, sinus drainage, and also can open the orifices.

If you have a lot of phlegm, you put together with pear, honey and Jie Geng (길경, Platycodi Rx, 桔梗) and make tea.  Jie Geng helps to expel phlegm, pear is for reducing heat in the Lung, and honey promotes health by harmonizing herbs.

Julie Lee, L. Ac.

Unique Acupuncture at Elixir Day Spa

Beaverton, Oregon

Related articles by Zemanta

• Soup for souls, ginseng for colds (nationalpost.com)
• Really?: The Claim: Milk Makes You Phlegmy (nytimes.com)

                       By: Billy Shonez Singh, MS, L.Ac., Dipl. C.H. (NCCAOM)

                                 http://www.zenohs.com ©2009

 

Reading the title of this new article, you are probably thinking, "How is that possible?"  By treating something as simple as back pain with acupuncture and Chinese medicine, you are taking a preventative measure against cancer.  It may sound unlikely, or even impossible; but on the contrary, it's quite feasible.

            It all starts with an injury.  Let us say a 25-year-old man gets into a 30-mile-per-hour car accident.  He survived the accident and now has minor upper and lower back pain due to the concussive force of the crash.  Over time, the pain comes and goes but the concussive force remains, therefore leading to impeded blood flow to the connective tissues and muscles.  In a great amount of time, impeded blood flow in this case leads to lack of oxygen to the surrounding tissues, which is known as ischemia.  Ischemia leads to another process known as cell death, because no oxygenated blood is going to the tissues.  Eventually, the severity of cell death turns into necrosis because cell death has now spread into other tissues surrounding those affected by the concussive force. Over time, the surrounding necrotized tissues go into a cellular process known as cytotoxicity, which is much more severe than necrosis.  Toxins build up in the surrounding and localized muscle tissue, which later leads to cancer, which spreads into tissues.  How many times have you heard about people dying of cancer, despite the fact that they did not have cancer in their family health history? 

            A perfect real-life example of this theory is the case of Sosai Masutatsu (Mas) Oyama.  He was born in 1923 and was the founder of Kyokushin karate.  He trained under harsh environments and conditioned his hands, legs and feet by striking rocks and trees.  He challenged 300 fighters in Japan and fought all of them in a three-day kumite (which in Japanese means "free fight").  In short, he pushed himself beyond the limits of human endurance.  Yet despite his physical and spiritual strength, he died in 1994 of lung cancer as a non-smoker.  Now this is where the theory of concussive force comes into play.  As a fighter in his time, martial artists did not have protective equipment to shield their bodies as we do now.  When you are fighting the way Masutatsu Oyama did, most of the concussive force coming to your body comes from your opponent's strikes to your ribs, among other body parts like the head, groin and stomach.  Despite his physical strength, he was taking concussive force to his body (in his case, specifically the rib cage), which resulted in ischemic tissues, which over time resulted in his lung cancer.

            Chinese medical practices like Gua Sha can help treat musculoskeletal problems before they can eventually turn into potentially life-threatening issues.  Gua Sha is a modality that incorporates the use of a Chinese soup spoon, or any other hard device, to scrape the surface of the skin until there is bruising and redness.  It can be used as a stand-alone treatment or it can be used with one's acupuncture treatment.  The theory behind scraping the surface of the skin until it is very red is to bring up any stagnated blood and toxins to the surface of the skin.  The stagnated blood and toxins that have been built up cause pain and eventually lead to other problems at a cellular level.  Since there is bruising involved, capillaries are destroyed and allowed to regenerate, thus bringing in a fresh supply of nutrients and oxygenated blood to the connective tissues of the body that have been affected by injuries involving concussive force.  The bruising and redness that occurs fade away within four to five days.  If you want to see this technique done in action go to: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOF9kvjDPsk.

          

 

Billy Shonez Singh is a licensed acupuncturist and a board certified Chinese herbalist by the NCCAOM).  He is currently practicing in Westbury, NY.  His primary focus with East Asian medicine is stress, pain management, diabetic complications, and treating chemotherapy side-effects. 

                         By: Billy Shonez Singh, MS, L.Ac. (NCCAOM)

                                        http://www.zenohs.com ©2009

 

 

            There have been many misconceptions about acupuncture that many people in the Western world have inferred. When I see and hear all of these misconceptions, it causes me to start rolling my eyes in disbelief. So it is time to set the record straight.

           

The first misconception is that it is used for dealing only with stress.  Now this statement is misleading because while certain people do use it for stress, it is not the only reason.  We do look at stress as being the cause of some diseases but not all of them.  If you look at certain diseases such as Irritable Bowel Syndrome or chronic fatigue syndrome, the root cause is stress.  However, certain conditions that acupuncture can treat such as sinusitis or diabetes, the root cause is not stress obviously.  Usually the cause of certain diseases can be environmental, genetic, dietary, or psychological.  Another misconception that caught my attention a couple of years ago was on Oprah Winfrey's talk show with Dr. Oz.  The subject on her show was about acupuncture and the acupuncturist treating Oprah was asked, "Do you need to be sick in order to receiving acupuncture?" The practitioner's answer was, "no."  Now, I find this to be not only a misconception but a dangerous answer to give because there are cases from East Asia that shows that acupuncture to be a useful medical tool.  Furthermore, the World Health Organization states that acupuncture is useful in the treatment of immune system issues up to the side-effects of chemotherapy.

 

Next is the subject of health insurance covering acupuncture treatments is another misconception.  Health insurance companies are only going to cover diseases treated with acupuncture by a medical doctor who is a certified acupuncturist.  I must say again that medical doctors practicing acupuncture have only three-hundred hours of acupuncture training.  Whereas, licensed acupuncturists are not covered by health insurance companies despite having two-thousand hours of training than certified doctors practicing acupuncture. 

 

Lastly, a misconception is that acupuncture is considered unscientific by the Western allopathic community.  Furthermore is that they feel that acupuncture is more of a mystical, intuitive, and an exotic art form of medicine.  The misconception of East Asian medicine being unscientific is also based on false postcolonial assumptions that date back to the 18^th and 19^th centuries regarding Eastern cultures by European imperialists according to Edward Said, the author of Orientalism.  What people fail to realize is that the Western medical viewpoint grows out of the scientific model.  The majority of individuals unfortunately fail to realize that science is a point of view without any more purchase on truth than the world views.  This gives Western medicine an air of certainty which it does not necessarily deserve anymore than acupuncture and East Asian Medicine does.       

 

            This concludes some of the many misconceptions about East Asian Medicine that have been circulating within the country.

           

 

 

Billy Shonez Singh is a licensed acupuncturist and board certified Chinese herbalist by the NCCAOM.  He is currently practicing in Westbury, NY.  His primary focus with East Asian Medicine is stress, pain management, diabetic complications, and treating chemotherapy side-effects.