Chinese Herbology for pulmonary fibrosis 
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What is eucommia bark? What is it used for?
Eucommia bark comes from the eucommia, or hardy rubber tree. The tree is a member of the rubber family and is found in the Sichuan, Yunnan, Guizhou and Hubei provinces of China. Mature trees can reach a height of 50 feet; however, the tree is not killed to obtain the bark.
Instead, small patches are peeled away from trees 10 over 10 years old in the late summer and early autumn. The inner bark contains a white, rubberish liquid that accounts for eucommia's healing properties.In traditional Chinese medicine, eucommia bark has sweet, warm properties. It is associated with the liver and kidneys, and is considered the primary herb used to increase yang functions in the body. Eucommia bark strengthens the bones and muscles, heals injured and weakened tissues, and can treat lower back and leg pain, stiffness and arthritis.
In addition to its healing effects, eucommia has the ability to lower blood pressure; most Chinese formulas used to lower blood pressure contain at least some amount of eucommia. It is also given to pregnant women to calm the fetus and prevent miscarriage.
How much eucommia bark should I take?
The traditional amount of eucommia bark is 10-15 grams, boiled in water for oral use.
What forms of eucommia bark are available?
Dried eucommia bark may be available in some specialty stores. You are more likely to find it as a decoction, or as part of a formula containing other herbs.
What can happen if I take too much eucommia bark? Are there any interactions I should be aware of? What precautions should I take?
As of this writing, there are no known side effects associated with eucommia, nor are there any reports of toxicity due to overdose. However, because eucommia has an effect on blood pressure, patients taking blood pressure medications should consult with their health care provider before taking eucommia or formulas that contain it.
As always, consult with a qualified, licensed health care provider before taking eucommia or any other herbal remedy or dietary supplement.
References
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Basically, I believe it is good medicine to educate the patient about the length of time a treatment may take before seeing any noticeable results, which is based on the Doctor's previous experiences in treating the disorder in question. Thus both practitioner and patient have some realistic goal posts to aim for, making the "slow and steady" treatment approach much easier to follow. Then if change does not happen within the desirable amount of time dedicated to it, switching gears into a different modality makes sense.
..in the style of Chinese Medicine that I have been taught and practice, results are expected after a certain, somewhat set, amount of time. This is of course totally dependent on the disorder being treated. If results are not seen in the alloted time, I as a practitioner have to seriously question whether or not I will be able to help.
Trevor currently works out of the Acubalance Wellness Centre, having a special focus on the treatment of Psoriasis, Eczema, Acne, Rosacea, and various reproductive health disorders like Poly Cystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS) and Endometriosis.
Read the complete article at Treatment Expectations - know when enough is enough at Skin Health Information - Chinese Medicine Skin Dermatology website
I entered NYCTCM in 2000 as a non-matriculated student,
intending only to get a foundation in Chinese medicine as a first step to
studying Tibetan medicine and naturopathy. Suffering an accident to my head and
neck shortly after beginning study, I had to take a leave of absence while
recuperating and receiving acupuncture treatments at NYCTCM's clinic. 
By: Billy Shonez Singh, M.S., L.Ac., Dipl. C.H. (NCCAOM)
©2010
"Dedicated to my family, my patients, my teachers, and my colleagues. ¡Hasta La Victoria Siempre (Always Towards Victory)!"
Moxibustion is another procedure used in East Asian medicine and it involves the burning of an herb called mugwort (ài yè in Mandarin) on different points and areas of the body. Moxibustion is one of the many sub modalities in the acupuncturist's arsenal. Modern TCM theory says the needles are used to move qì while moxa is used for supplementing it. That is modern TCM view on acupuncture and moxibustion. Thus the modern view of moxibustion being a supplementing entity is correct in that respect. Classical literature has shown that moxa is used for either supplementation or for dispersion just as much as acupuncture can used for either moving qì or supplementing qì. Before I discuss the proper functionalities of moxa (ài yè), let us look at the Chinese characters of moxa, jiǔ huǒ.
The character
The character
Putting those characters together,
Moxibustion works on these levels:
The way moxa works on body based on scientific thinking starts in the second century. In the second century, Buddhism arrives in
The application of moxa depends on the following factors:
5. being burned on top of the needle (needle-head)
The cone-style moxa affects the wèi, qì, and yíng levels of the body, thus making it effective in treating vacuities in the body (qì level) or supporting the immune system (the wèi and yíng levels). Needle-head moxa, where the moxa wool is placed on top of the needles, affects the xuè (blood) level. When moxa in cone form is burnt an odd number of times, its function (depending on which point is being used) becomes supplementing. When moxa cones are being burnt an even number of times (again, depending on the point used) becomes regulatory. Now it's not just the number of cones being used but also the amount of heat being transferred through the points. When the moxa cones are burnt 2/3's of way and the patient feels "warm" the effects are supplementing and the heat is spread put in a smaller quantity. This will affect the wèi, qì, and yíng levels of the body. Similarly, if the cones are burnt 2/3's of the way almost to the surface of the skin, the effects are more dispersive. It will feel "hot" and the circulatory system is increased and the heat is spread out throughout the body. This technique will affect the yin and blood levels of the body. The heat emitted from the burning moxa on top of the needles (in the needle-head technique) conducts itself through the needle to affect the xuè level. Thus, it is effective in treating muscle, tendon, and joint related conditions thereby invigorating the flow of blood to those specified areas.
Another point I want to mention is that moxa overall helps with regulating the zhēng qì (the correct qì). The definition of zhēng qì is the qi that defends the body from exogenous pathogens and gives rise to other forms of qì such as wèi qì, yíng qì, zàng fǔ qì , and jīng luò qì. With that in mind, the zhēng qì is needed for the proper energy dynamics within the body to maintain health. When, the zhēng qì is compromised in serious illnesses such diabetes or autoimmune disease, then the other aforementioned types of qì becomes compromised. As stated before, moxa helps regulate the zhēng qì. In essence, moxa leads to a natural reorganization of the body into its normal components.
Bibliography
Jackowicz, M.Ac., L.Ac., Ph.D., Dr. Stephen J., "Moxibustion Boot Camp," Lecture Notes 2007.
Jackowicz, M.Ac., L.Ac., Ph.D., Dr, Stephen J., "Dr. J- Moxa Seminar Excerpt- History" http://www.youtube.com/user/holisticceus#p/a/u/1/aOivgbDwMdU November 11th, 2008.
Jackowicz, M.Ac., L.Ac., Ph.D., Dr, Stephen J., "Moxa Theory Excerpt," http://www.youtube.com/user/holisticceus#p/a/u/0/BRvdf3l2MqI November 11th, 2008.
Billy Shonez Singh is a licensed acupuncturist and a board certified Chinese herbalist by the NCCAOM. He is currently practicing in Westbury
Pear for Dryness Recipe - Ingredients
The Emperor - 1 Pear
The Messengers - 1/4 cup rice wine
The Harmonizers - 1/8 cup honey
The Left Ministers - 1/8 tsp. powdered ginger or 2 ginger slices (optional)
The Right Ministers - 6 cloves, 2 cinnamon sticks, 1/4 orange peel
Foods for medicinal therapy should be cooked in smaller portions and are cooked in a covered porcelain pot, or sand pot in a Dahn Jung method, which simply means a double boiler, with the inner vessel for the steaming.
The pear and honey and wine are
extremely good in a dry lung conditions as Autumn and winter take hold. The
goals with occasional therapeutic use in this season are to prevent the lungs
from being overly dry and mucus forming while strengthen the lung Qi.
The
Minister ingredient actions:
The ginger and cloves are great
digestive aids and antiseptic.
The cinnamon and orange builds Qi
and moves stagnate conditions, but not good for the extremely dry condition.
You have to place the lid on it in
this method or the clay pot will travel in the water, making a ton of noise.
Leftovers placed in the
refrigerator will turn brown rapidly.
By Ran Lei, Author of Cooking with the Five Elements
www.5ElementCooking.com
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"These days many people complain about sleep deprivation or insomnia. It means our life patterns change and affect our biological clock. If our biological clock is off, it disturbs sleep before the other body systems. Sleep is not simply a state of relaxation- it is very important to our body and it can greatly affect our life.
One research study from the University of Chicago showed they when they deprived a mouse of sleep, it was only able to live 17 days be fore dying. It means sleep is really connected to life.
According to Chinese Medicine, when you sleep, the blood is governed and restored by the Liver. This pertains to seeing, listening, speaking, and general activity in our life. If you have less blood in your body, you have rough skin, blurry vision, ringing in the ears, and loss of hair. It also greatly affects woman's health, such as irregular periods, painful menstruation, infertility and obesity. It is best to get at least 6 hours a day. However, more important than counting sleep hours is how deeply you sleep and wake refreshed in the morning. If you are prone to insomnia, avoid coffee, soda or consuming any other caffeinated product at night.
I would like to introduce herbal tea for insomnia: Scallion, Su Ye (aka Zi Su Ye, Perillae Folium), Squash, Suan Zao Ren (Ziziphi Spinosae Semen) and Walnuts.
Boiled scallion has a bitter flavor, which is associated with the heart: used in cases of both chest and heart pain. It also has antifungal and antimicrobial effects, but to a lesser degree. Also it soothes the nerves and help to sleep.
Su Ye is good for chest oppression from pent up anger or insomnia, because it has kind of "stress relief "herb. Boil 20g of Su Ye together with 20g of Chen Pi (Citri Pericarpium). Chen Pi regulates qi and transforms damp.
Boiled squash is good for insomnia: as squash is warming in thermal nature and improves qi energy circulation. It helps to fall asleep easily and awake refreshed. If you do not like boiled squash, you can mix with honey to make honey squash. Squash has sweet flavor so it influences the spleen-pancreas and stomach and reduces inflammation. When you boil 300g of squash, put together with 150g of roasted Suan Zao Ren (Ziziphi Spinosae Sm). After you cook it, making mash them together and take 1 cup three or four times a day. Suan Zao Ren nourishes the Heart and calms the spirit, so it helps to quiet the nerves; you roast and brew of Suan Zao Ren to drink a tea.
I also recommend the walnut for insomnia. It has a sweet flavor; it nourishes the kidneys, adrenals, and brain, and enriches the sperm. But avoid taking walnuts in cases of loose stools and heat signs. An easy way to eat walnuts is to put roasted walnut powder in your tea and drink after each meal.
If your insomnia is chronic, try to cook rice porridge of walnut. I will give receipt of this rice porridge of walnut. Heat water in a large saucepan on medium. As the water begins to bubble, add Da Zao (Jujubae Fr) and rice. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for 20 minutes, until rice is tender, stirring occasionally. Add cooked walnut powder, stir into soup, then cover and cook for 2-3 minutes. However you take too much, it may cause diarrhea.
Sleep is important to our life, so try to get plenty of sleep and live enjoy a regular biological clock."
Thank you to Julie Lee, the founder of Unique Acupuncture, an Oriental Medicine clinic in Beaverton, Oregon, for this article.
Julie Lee is a licensed as an acupuncturist and board-certified herbalist in the state of Oregon. She is nationally certified by the National Certification Commission for Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine.
Julie has a strong interest in the management of women's health, including pregnancy-related issues, painful menstruation, and irregular menstruation and menopause symptoms. She also treats digestive problems, anxiety and sleep disorders.
Julie was born and raised in Seoul, South Korea. Her family has a long history of professions in Oriental Medicine, and her father is a famous MD, PhD, and professor of Oriental Medicine at Kyung hee University of Oriental Medicine in South Korea.
Toxicity and Safe Use of Herbs - Continuing Education for TCM PractitionersSpeaker: Dr.Libang Zhang, L.Ac
Date & Time: 1:00 PM - 5:00 PM, Sun, 10/31/2010
NCCAOM PDA Points: 4
Chinese herbal medicine has been practiced vitally for 5000 years up to today, and has accumulated tremendous experience records and literature. Updating its safe use information with modern scientific language is an urgent task for all of us in order to insure the safe use of Chinese herbs and to be accepted by the main stream of medical society. Although the main stream doesn't let Chinese herb practitioners claim any therapeutic effect for any disease, it's very clear that the herbs are taken by patients and act on living systems for their treatment purpose. The safe use and understanding of any adverse effects are extremely important for us.
Chinese herbs are in general less toxic and safer than chemical drugs, since they were used for more than 5000 years. But they are by no means free from toxicity. There are a number of potent and strong herbs that are rather toxic when overdosed or improperly processed. To learn the safe use of herbs you must understand Chinese medicine theory well and know the basic toxicology expressed in modern scientific term including physiology, pathology and pharmacology. .Some issues are of concern about the safety of Chinese herbs will be addressed in the seminar.
Location:
New York College of Traditional Chinese Medicine
155 First St.
Mineola, NY 11501
To register go to NYCTCM CEU page.
By: Billy
©2010
Dosage.
This factor is based on two different factors. (1). If a patient is suffering from a chronic condition, the patient is placed on a low dosage and is increased on a gradual basis unless the signs and symptoms are disappearing. The dosage for each ingredient in an herbal formula starts off at three grams instead of the standard nine to twelve. While on the subject on chronic conditions, I also give my patients a trial dosage for two to four days. If there are no adverse reactions, then we increase it to a week supply. (2). If a patient is suffering from an acute condition that has persisted for a number of days, then we start them on a higher dose.
How Often Should I Take These Herbs?
In the past, I have given my patients a two week supply of herbs. After two weeks has gone by, I ask them how they are feeling after two weeks. If they are making suitable progress, then we take the frequency down from two weeks to one week. Once that is done, then we do a follow-up and we look together what kind of progress has been made.
Herb-Drug Interactions.
This is often the cause of concern among Americans since most of them are using another form of medical treatment or taking vitamins, supplements, green tea, etc. Another cause for concern is about the cautionary and contraindications. Some of them are very valid such as prescribing peach kernels (Tao Ren) and safflower flower (Hong Hua). Both of these herbs are used in moving and invigorating blood. However, from a scientific perspective, you would not use these herbs with someone who is on blood thinning medications like coumadin, warfarin, etc. According to a few sources, other contraindications and cautionary about herbal medicine are purely hypothetical and clinically miniscule. If someone asks me if they should stop taking their medications in favor of herbs, I respond by saying, "that is entirely up to your primary care physician." The reason for that is because ethically and legally it is not up to me to do so since I am not an MD. According to Dr. John K. Shen, author of Chinese Medical Herbology and Pharmacology what you can do to avoid any potential herb-drug interactions is that their patients can take the herbal medicine an hour apart from taking their Western medication. The principle is based on the concept of two children fighting each other. In order to stop children from fighting each other, you pull them apart. Same thing with conflicting medications; take one remedy an hour apart from the other remedy.
Billy Shonez Singh is a licensed acupuncturist and a board certified Chinese herbalist by the NCCAOM. He is currently practicing in Westbury,
By: Billy
©2010
Herbal medicine is another pillar of East Asian medicine along with acupuncture, physical manipulation (tui na), and energetic breathing techniques (qi gong). It is used as a stand-alone form of treatment and sometimes it is used together as an addendum to one's acupuncture treatment to expedite the healing process and strengthen the body. Like most countries,
Today, herbal medicine is used in treating a wide range of ailments just like in times of antiquity in
Herbs are often administered as a formula; a group of herbal ingredients to help treat disease as opposed to just using one ingredient. Each ingredient in an herbal formula comes in four groups:
Chinese herbal medicine is given in two different forms. The first type is internal formulas and the second type is external formulas.
Internal formulas come in different forms for ingestion:
· Raw herbs
· Powdered formulas/ granule extracts
· Pills and tablets
· Tinctures
External formulas come in different forms as well:
Most herbal formulas are not certified by the FDA but are in compliance with GMP (Good Manufacturing Practices). They have no heavy metals, toxins, preservatives, or fillers that can cause harm to the body.
In my clinic I often use herbal formulas in powdered form. The powdered herbal formulas are ingested by adding to hot water and drinking it as a tea. Another form I use for my patients are pills and tablets. The formulas that are ingested are usually for patients with problems not necessarily related to pain, but useful for treating systemic conditions such as high blood pressure. For my patients with aches and pains due to trauma, I give liniments and ointments such as Die Da Jiu ("Hit Fall Wine"). The reason I often use powdered formulas, tablets, and pills is because they are much more convenient for patients to consume because of increased compliance. The second reason is that it is a lot less time consuming than cooking raw herbal formulas. The time frame for raw herbal formulas usually takes thirty minutes to forty-five minutes to prepare. Whereas with powdered formulas, based on my experience, take no more than five minutes to prepare. Lastly, the use of pills and tablets has been instrumental in that patients can take them anywhere on the run; for example, if they are on vacation and their powdered formulas are rather cumbersome to carry around. That is one usage of how herbal medicine can be used in pill form. Also, herbs in pill and tablet form are usually given at the end of patient's treatment once they have made suitable progress with other formulas whether they are powdered form or raw form.
Next time, I'll address the issue regarding dosage, frequency, and other medications that are also being used.
To be continued...
Billy Shonez Singh is a licensed acupuncturist and a board certified Chinese herbalist by the NCCAOM. He is currently practicing in Westbury
