Traditional Chinese Medicine
Chinese Medical Dermatology
November is skin care awareness month, and although it is not a subject I discuss often in my blog or instagram, dermatology makes up a huge part of Chinese medical literature. As always, I hope and believe people will consider us to treat the actual root (not “the root” that certain pharmaceuticals’ TV ads claim to) of any skin issues that might befall them.
The first time my daughter had Covid she recovered quickly, as most babies and toddlers do, but it left her with some atopic skin issue on her face. We applied some topical creams that had been helpful with issues in the past, but to no avail. I consulted a teacher of mine, who recommended a formula we don’t generally think of for dermatology. It would be more categorized—that is oversimplified—as an immunological treatment, containing all the usual suspects for an exterior virus: Ephedra, ginger, wild ginger, cinnamon branch, etc.
My apologies for the cliche, magical resolution anecdote, but it does happen and did so here, probably and partially because of how young and fundamentally healthy she is. Her skin cleared up within 24 hours, to never return. We didn’t even finish the recommended dosages.
In Chinese medicine the liver is said to connect to our tendons, the stomach to our muscles (which is why proper diet can potentiate strength training), kidneys to the bones, and lungs to the skin. One way or another, most skin issues can be traced back to either our lungs, or their “paired organ,” the large intestine. In the case of my daughter, it was obviously the former.
There are 2 fundamental reasons why our skin erupts. Either inflammation trapped somewhere in the body is seeking an escape route, or a lack of blood and vital substances in the body are failing to reach the surface to lubricate and/or nourish our proverbial “exterior.” To assign the same prescription to both patterns based on a biomedical label would be ludicrous.
Cases of the former generally present as hot, red, itchy, and angry, whereas the latter are paler in color, dryer in texture, and more troubling cosmetically than anything else. Nevertheless, cosmetics matter. We’re all entitled to nice skin—more importantly to the quality and quantity of blood that belies it.
Hot and red, itchy skin generally benefits from a (closer to) vegan diet, plus bitter and anti-inflammatory herbs and foods, such as dandelion greens, kale, green tea, and a hiatus from alcohol. Acupuncture points are used to clear heat and fluid retention. We might also bleed particular vessels near the sites of eruptions to help move stagnant blood perpetuating the vicious cycle. Herbal medicines might revolve around gardenia fruit and scutellaria bark.
Pale, dry skin earns the opposite recommendation: Meat, beef, and more meat, bone broth, eggs, and plenty of sleep to help restore and regenerate blood. Black tea instead of green tea, the latter of which might further weaken the stomach with its bitterness; and moxibustion more than acupuncture to help warm and strengthen the organs. Herbal medicines likely revolve more around angelica and peony root, both of which can also be instrumental in reducing menstrual cramps. In both patterns, abstinence from dairy is advisable.
Finally, and as always, important to get your annual skin cancer scans with your dermatologist to rule out anything that is better taken care of with modern technology.
Halloween: from a Chinese Medical View
FEAR, in Chinese medicine, is said to harm the kidneys, a mechanism that is easily relatable and biomedically translatable in that when scared, our brains signal to our adrenal glands to release cortisol and adrenaline, which in turn subjectively exhausts our hormonal reserves, or the Chinese concept of healthy blood and fluids.
This blood and fluids are necessary to attract our excitatory hormones and neurotransmitters back downwards so they can do things like transform fluids and allow us to sleep and relax. As they deplete, with age, stress, and self-destruction, we become more prone to more easily releasing cortisol, which perpetuates the vicious cycle. Eventually we run out of cortisol, adrenaline, as well as our fluids that fall under the concept of “blood,” and we die, buried in the ground like the ghouls, goblins, ghosts, and skeletons that started this whole problem in the first place!
CANDY, in Chinese medicine, is said to harm the spleen, which really just means it destroys our digestive system—the system whose job it is to produce the blood and reserves that are necessary to mitigate the side effects of adrenal and cortisol spikes that are relatively unavoidable in modern life. I’ve had many patients who grew up in foreign countries relate to me that while they had plenty of sweets and treats as kids growing up, nothing was as saccharin sweet as what they tasted upon arriving in the U.S.
While it’s nice to be nice to ourselves, forgiving and all that, I believe packaged junk food that really doesn’t expire should be invisible to us if we wish to have any hope for long term health. My wife and I unapologetically shelter our daughter from it as much as possible for as long as possible to give her organs as much time to develop sans the perversion of corporate crap.
With that said… the reason many of us experience sweet cravings when stressed is because cortisol and adrenalin are up, therefore blood and fluids are down, and what substance to better mimic the mush of mucosal fluids than SWEETS? The ancient Chinese used (relatively) sweet flavor herbs, such as red dates, licorice, and rehmannia to “calm the liver”—that is to mitigate hyper-reactions of adrenaline.
SO IT MAKES SENSE! THE LOGIC OF HALLOWEEN IS CONSISTENT WITH THAT OF DAOIST BIOLOGICAL PRINCIPLES! Go out, get scared, have fun, then come home and enjoy a few treats 🙂 Discard or donate the rest. Ignore candy and forget about treats for the rest of the year, or at least until Christmas, for God’s sake, and use healthier options to reattract your stressed floating “yang qi” downwards:
- Nut butters like from Fixx and Fogg
- Dark chocolates like from Blue Stripes
- Coconut yogurts maybe with red dates, goji berries, and/or maple syrup, and/or nut butters with dark chocolate… ANYTHING besides refined junk food, please.
Just as “fear harms the kidneys,” excess anger is said to harm the liver, grief does the lungs, and worry harms digestion as much, if not more than poor diet. None of us, myself included, will ever be immune to worry (no vaccine for that (yet)!), so friendly reminder to have a context of friends, spiritual practice, and/or spiritual community to lean on.
Happy Halloween!
What Fall Flavor Are You?
The brilliant rationale behind why the ancient Chinese associated certain seasons of the year with certain organs, then certain organs with flavors of foods (and herbs), had to do with the organic physiological responses to temperature and climate, how they align with each bodily system, and the biochemical reactions incited by each flavor in the body. For example:
Acrid goes up and out. Haven’t we all had the experience of sweating or decongesting after spicy food? Bitter goes down and out. Most have also had the experience of drinking coffee or green tea, then having to go to the bathroom. Sour goes down and in, as does sweet, whereas salty goes down and in, but brings enough water into our cells to then vaporize upwards, which is why its mechanism can RAISE blood pressure.
Unfortunately, in (Traditional) Chinese medical schools, due to modern misinterpretations of the medicine we are lucky if we’re taught half-truths of fact—too often we were told objective untruths—though regarding flavors and seasons we at least got the former.
We were taught that the acrid flavor corresponds with the lungs, which correspond with fall, though this is only one of fall’s flavors, and arguably the less significant one, nor was it ever really explained WHY the lungs correspond with autumn.
Fall is nature’s regression and recession, just as the days grow shorter and animals begin their hibernations, gases and blood in the human body sink deeper, as in towards our adrenal glands, where we can reproduce ample hormones and healthy blood to then rise again in spring. The chemical mechanism induced by acrid foods or herbs DOES NOT encourage this movement. So, while less educated practitioners uniformly advise everyone to eat more onions, garlic, and ginger during fall, recall there should never be any one size fits recommendations in (holistic) medicine or nutrition.
Because the chemistry of acridity moves things upward and out in the body it is surely useful for dislodging the phlegm and mucus often accumulated during allergy, flu, and covid season. It can also be useful for patients who find that during autumn and/or year-round, they have a remarkable difficulty with all kinds of rising—whether out of bed in the morning, off the couch to exercise, intellectually, or in sexual engagement.
For the other half of the population, the more calming, descending mechanism of sour is more logical. Especially since along with bitter, another “flavor of descent,” sour is one the more unrepresented ones in most American diets, maybe partially explaining why modern Americans have so much difficulty with grounding, sleeping, and slowing down.
To understand which flavor should dominate your diet and herbal formulas this season, you can try feeling the (second/middle finger) “guan” pulse position on your left wrist. If the artery feels small or weak your body needs acridity! But if it feels big, inflamed, angry, you need LEMONS 🙂 When life gives you lemons, first feel your pulse. Or get your acupuncturist to do it.
As for nature and safer one size fits all advice: ‘tis the season of root vegetables, so cook plenty of carrots, radishes, beets, yams, and brussels sprouts. In fact, a perfect way to roast the latter is with garlic, onions, and lemon (+salt and olive oil), thereby getting the best of both worlds. Really in my house I should separate them on the pan and take the lemon part for myself and allot all acridity for my wife! But who has the time? I’ll just drink my sour herbs.
Small Choices vs. Extreme Diets
It is relatively easy for people to follow dogmatic diets, routines, and lifestyles, be it veganism, “paleo-ism,” gluten free, resolutions like never skipping a day of running or their yoga practice no matter the weather. Any of these can be beneficial in certain ways, though rarely are any a one-size fits all magic bullet for long term, full-body health.
As is the case with environmental consciousness, most of us must constantly make small decisions each day, determine what is best for us in the present moment based on what we did or consumed the day before. For example:
If you spend the day sitting at work, obviously it makes sense to stand on the train, take the stairs, and/or walk as much as possible. Physicians wrote in our classical medical texts that “excessive sitting harms the spleen,” which translates as a sedentary lifestyle weakens our digestion. No news there (except how brilliant the ancient Chinese were sans technology)!
Conversely, if you’re incredibly active for a day or two or twenty in a row, as go the lives of parents of young children, you might get more benefit the next day from prioritizing a mid-day siesta instead of a workout.
If your friend cooked a lovely, carnivorous dinner for you over the weekend of grass-fed beef and sausage, as did mine, it makes sense to be vegan or pescatarian for the following 1-2 days after. By all means reap the benefits of the red meat, but give your organs and arteries a reprieve from beef’s heaviness. Hot green tea is also advisable the following day.
On the other hand, if your diet is omnivorous and you haven’t had any red meat during the week you should probably do so, especially if you are a woman on her menses, ideally alongside steamed or sauteed vegetables.
If you eat a bunch of raw, uncooked foods have it with hot tea. If you have a bunch of cooked, spicy foods, STILL have it with hot tea, because hot tea just generally aids digestion, and is therefore perfect, thereby nullifying my one size cannot fit all maxim. Green tea is generally preferable if you tend towards constipation. Black (Pu-Erh) tea highly preferable if you tend towards diarrhea. If caffeine causes excessive urination, it probably means your “yang qi,” or capacity for fluid transformation is failing to descend into the bladder and kidneys. This can often be rectified with some Paleo meals, Chinese herbs, and/or just a good night’s sleep.
Get to bed by 11pm, when the body and brain shift entirely into restoration and repair mode.
Don’t eat (much) after 7pm, and especially not after 9pm, when we are more insulin resistant. If you must drink alcohol do so less nights than not, so as to let your organs recuperate. Sweat from exercise, but not too much, as sweat contains within it vital neurotransmitters and substances that are necessary for metabolism andcirculation.
Socialize. Community is to modern society what food was to the ancient Chinese at the inception of our medicine. For the most part we are figuratively starving, for connection, so make it a priority to meet up with friends, even if you feel awkward reaching out 🙂
Acupuncture for Styes and Eyes
A patient came in recently with the beginnings of a stye. Her left eye hurt and if she pulled her upper eyelid up, she was able to see enough minor inflammation to cause concern. “It always happens around this time of year,” she said. Why? Why?
Why did her eye stye fly (upwards)?
The eyes—especially and specifically the eyelids—are surrounded by the stomach vessel (this is why there are so many ophthalmological complications around diabetes). Insofar as circulatory directionality in the body, it is the stomach’s job (as well as the large intestine’s) to descend gases and fluids down and out; in contrast to its partners, the pancreas and spleen’s functionality to take food, transform it into nutrients, and send them UP. I digress.
In fall fluids and gases naturally want to descend. If we are not metabolically rooted or strong enough our body will fail to attract them downward. If inflammation is hyperactive in the upper portion of the body our body will fail to attract them downward. This is part of the reason fall allergies occur. It was also, in my opinion, the reason for this patient’s stye.
Because she was able to come twice in the same week, we ended up not needing herbs.
Based on pulse and pattern diagnosis this patient fell more into the former category: Digestion and energy were weak, both of which exacerbated by her menses—prone to dizziness and cramping, either implicating a deficiency of blood.
I needled the large intestine vessel’s point on the hand whose neurological pathway connects to the face, as well as the same vessel’s point by the elbow, whose pathway clears inflammatory heat (flaring upwards). These points alone should suffice in clearing the heat above. For the “vacuity below” I used Stomach 36, logically, to engender ample digestive enzymes and acids to attract (potentially) inflammatory gases downward. Since it is the liver vessel’s job to then SEND our manufactured blood UP to lubricate orifices, such as ophthalmologically, I used Liver 3, then finally the third eye point, Yin Tang, for local circulation, plus to calm the understandable anxiety one feels on the precipice of pain or crisis. Between treatments the patient was diligent about avoiding spicy foods and using warm compresses, and by the end of the week, VIOLA! No doctor’s visit or antibiotics necessary.
When gastric acids, enzymes, and/or blood are weak or thinned, it is only a matter of time before some manifestation of inflammatory and/or dry heat flares upwards. Chinese medicine understands this relationship better than most—it is also why a predominantly great diet and lifestyle are imperative.
Had this patient not recovered from her own self-care and our acupuncture, potential herbal ingredients could include chrysanthemum and/or mint flowers, gypsum stone if the eye felt burning or dry and she had thirst for cold drinks, angelica and chuanxiong root at low doses if she experienced much bloating or lack of appetite, but a high dose otherwise; finally, figwort root if there was additional dryness of the throat. If you or anyone you know is dealing with any ophthalmological issues, please consider holistic medicine to treat not just the symptom!
