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Category: TCM

Community Acupuncture & TCM in CalgaryBlogTCM
By admin Acupuncture, Herbal Formulas, Studies, TCM

Over-Indulgence in Sexual Activities

over indulgence in sexual activities

 

Over-indulgence in sexual activities, either with a partner or alone, depletes the body and may influence a variety of health concerns including weight gain, digestive issues, chronic low back and knee pain, and infertility. Sexual activity pulls from the reserves of the body with the biological goal of reproduction – giving a small part of oneself to complete the task. If unmoderated, this can result in a deficiency in the body which may branch out and affect the digestive system as well as the reproductive system. Although this issue is more astute in men, and more likely to create imbalance if the over-indulgence is not with a partner, the issue can also affect women to a lesser extent. 

So what happens when our reproductive systems are depleted by over exertion? Since ejaculation is a loss of bodily fluids, we then tap into our reproductive reserves to make up for the deficit caused by that loss. That act of replenishment, if the body is not able to recover effectively before a further loss of fluids occurs, causes the body to short-hand the digestive system. Because the reproductive system took more than what the body had intended for it, resources must be acquired from elsewhere. Over a long period of time, a digestive deficiency can become more prevalent, showing as weight gain, loose stool and diarrhea, undigested food in the stool, cold hands and feet, intolerance to cold, feeling more susceptible to cold, and even chronic fatigue syndrome.

When our digestive systems are strong, they create a warming buffer in the body. That layer of warmth adds resistance to cold and the body becomes more resilient. So what can we do to help with weight gain due to the depletion of reproductive energy affecting digestion? 

  • Pace yourself in your sexual activities.Resting more after sex to allow your reproductive system to recover before engaging in further depletion of bodily fluids.
  • Consumption of warming foods.
  • Acupuncture and Chinese herbal formulas.

Herbal formulas that aid in the recovery:

Jin Gui Shen Qi Wan –  A mild and gentle formula that helps to replenish reproductive energy.

Li Zhong wan –  Intended to help digestion to recover by adding a warming buffer.

By admin 0 Comments Acupuncture, Herbal Formulas, Studies, TCM

Cold and Your Body

Cold effects

 

We all know what it feels like to be cold, but how well do we really understand how prolonged exposure to cold environments can affect our bodies? There are widely accepted patterns that can occur such as hypothermia, frostbite and chilblains, but when looking through the lens of Traditional Chinese Medicine, you’ll find that exposure to cold could influence a great deal more patterns of disharmony in our bodies than we might think. 

Exposure to cold temperatures may influence the worsening or developing of a variety of conditions such as Raynaud’s disease, asthma, uterine issues, arthritis and digestive issues. How cold influences these conditions can be understood simply by observing the nature of cold itself. Cold causes things to tighten and slow – we can feel this if we go out in the winter, and we can observe it easily by placing objects outside in the winter – just take a look at your vehicle. There’s no question – here in a Calgary winter – that your vehicle is cold just from a quick glance, but what about when you get in and start it? Does it act or feel the same way as it would in June? Most likely, your answer is no.

Human bodies are able to withstand a great deal, so it can be easy to become detached from the idea that our environment is always influencing our health. Below is a list of a few more health concerns that could be influenced by cold environments:

  • Menstrual cramps
  • Infertility
  • Impotence
  • Low libido
  • Diarrhea
  • Knee pain
  • Lower back pain
  • Plantar fasciitis

So how can someone prevent issues like these from developing or worsening?Wearing thick socks or stockings to keep your feet and legs warm and covering the lower back, lower abdomen and back of the neck whenever you are exposed to cold can help, as well as avoiding sitting on cold surfaces. Sitting on cold surfaces may influence gynaecological and digestive issues.

Diet Recommendations

On colder winter days, increasing warming food and drink intake goes a long way. Warming the interior helps our digestive systems and our muscles and it even helps with thinking more clearly. Some examples of warming foods are soups, broths and stews. Examples of warming non-caffeinated beverages include fresh ginger tea and cinnamon twig tea.

Simply pour boiling water into a mug containing fresh ginger slices or cinnamon twigs, allow it to sit for 5 minutes, then drink. Either can be sweetened with raw honey without detracting from the therapeutic effects.

So, what do you do if you do have a condition related to internal cold? In cases where you are afflicted by cold, there are Chinese herbal formulas and acupuncture techniques that can help correct the issues by warming the organs. One example is Gui Zhi Tang; a very famous herbal formula with only 5 ingredients, many of which can be found in our pantries. For the sake of convenience and to save time and effort preparing the formula, this formula is available in a granulated form (similar to instant coffee). This is an effective formula to induce therapeutic sweating while still preserving your Qi (check out our other blog about Qi). This formula also helps with muscle aches due to exposure to cold such as back pain. Remember: Alcohol consumption should be restricted while you are on this formula. 

This blog is not meant to diagnose or treat anyone, if you suspect that any of your health issues could be related to prolonged exposure to cold, paying a visit to a doctor of traditional chinese medicine should help you better understand your ailments and move towards a resolution.

By admin Acupuncture, Herbal Formulas, Studies, TCM

Why do we sleep?

insomnia treatment

 

The answer is, to repair our bodies.

I will draw an analogy here to help us understand the need for sleep. In order to maintain or fix a vehicle we have to shut it off,  also in order to repair the hardware on a computer,  we must shut it down. Basically, in order to maintain anything physically we must slow it down or shut it off all together. The only time we leave a vehicle or computer on while repairing them is to troubleshoot or to update the firmware.

Before we start repairing a vehicle or computer, we must have access to tools and supplies to replace parts or to maintain the machine. Shutting down machinery without having access to tools or enough supplies to complete the task will not fix the problem. The same could be said of our bodies. In order to maintain our health and allow our bodies to repair, we must sleep while having enough nutrients to complete the task.

Difficulty falling asleep is an indicator that the body is lacking supplies or nutrients required for properly entering sleep. These nutrients are referred to as blood in Chinese medicine, but could be seen as the nutrients in the blood.

The inability to stay asleep is an indicator that the supplies or the nutrients provided in the blood are lacking nutrients necessary to finish the task at hand. Those special parts are called yin in Chinese medicine. You wouldn’t keep a vehicle in a shop knowing that you are missing a special part required to continue repairing the vehicle. You would first need to go out and get that part in order to finish the repairs.

We could use this analogy when we think of blood; blood in Chinese medicine is more like changing and topping off fluids, rotating tires, cleaning the vehicle, changing filters and so on. But sometimes new parts are required in order for the problem to be solved, which is where the idea of Yin comes in.

Repairing yin is more like changing a part or replacing a broken bolt. For instance, changing the oil on an engine is not enough if we have an engine leak, and greasing a wheel bearing is also pointless if the bearings need to be replaced. You could have a faulty car part without having a leak or dirty fluids that need to be replaced, but having prolonged dirty fluids or a leak could cause a faulty or damaged part to occur.

We could wrap this article up by saying that sleeping in Chinese Medicine is a necessary maintenance phase in our daily routine to preserve and prolong health and longevity.

Restoring sleep requires our digestive system to be working optimally for the absorption of nutrients (building\Strengthening yin and blood- Chinese medicine terms)

Acupuncture could play a big role in restoring sleep patterns for the purpose of maintaining our bodies.

Let’s not forget about the second pillar of Chinese Medicine System which is Traditional Chinese Medicine Herbal formulas, Chinese herbal formulas could also help provide a potent dose of super nutrients that are ready to be absorbed while simultaneously strengthening our digestive system .

By admin Acupuncture, Herbal Formulas, TCM

Digestive QI and Muscles

Digestive Qi

Role of Digestive Qi in Traditional Chinese Medicine 

Digestive Qi is required for our bodies ability to extract and separate the useable from the unusable – in other words – it is responsible for elements of digestion and the metabolism of nutrients. In western medicine, it could be likened to the actions of the pancreas and the intestinal tract which absorption fluids and nutrients.

Digestive Qi Deficiency

A deficiency in Digestive Qi will result in food not being properly digested, resulting in poor absorption of nutrients. There are many symptoms associated Digestive Qi deficiency, but the ones that I will discuss in the article are the ones that cause or contribute directly to pain. These include:

– Gas and Bloating

– Weakness in muscles

– Recurrent injuries to muscle tissue

Tonification and Treatment of Digestive Qi Deficiency

(Tonification is a term used in Traditional Chinese Medicine that refers to the strengthening or reinforcing of an organ or bodily substance.)

Weakness and recurrent injuries to muscle tissue/loss of muscle mass are the result of the body’s inability to nourish the tissues due to the deficiency. In order to strengthen the muscles, Digestive Qi must be able to properly transform food into nutrients by separating the “unusable” from the “usable” elements and transport the nutrients to the muscles tissue.

Addressing the muscle issues without treating the root cause of the imbalance will only produce short-lived relief. In Chinese medicine we use Acupuncture and herbs to address underlying deficiencies like this.

Other signs and symptoms you may have a Digestive Qi Deficiency include:

  • Loss of appetite
  • Loose stool
  • Diarrhea
  • Overthinking
  • Anxiety
  • Low energy
  • Gas and Bloating
By Bob Monroe Acupuncture, Herbal Formulas, Hijama, TCM

Acupuncture For Pain Relief

No matter our job, hobbies, or day to day life, most of us suffer from some degree of pain. Maybe you have sore shoulders from work, or achy knees. Maybe you suffer from headaches whenever the chinook winds roll in. Pain management is one of the most common reasons that a person takes the perceived gamble and first books in for an acupuncture treatment. Those pains can be structural such as carpal tunnel syndrome, tennis elbow, knee pain or low back pain, but surprisingly they could just as likely be things like digestive pain or headaches. 

Acupuncture has been used to help manage and correct all sorts of different health conditions – both big and small – for thousands of years. In modern times, acupuncture is often thought of as analogous to pain treatment, but the greater breadth of acupuncture for the treatment of pain is often underestimated. While most of us can comfortably make the connection between the use of small needles to aid in the recovery of a physical injury or to release tight muscles, it often comes as a surprise to patients to find that it is also a powerful tool for headaches, migraines, menstrual and digestive pain. 

There are many different approaches to the treatment of pain, some direct in which needles are placed in and around the location of the pain itself increasing blood circulation to those areas. Other methods treat pain distally (or from afar), primarily using points on the arms and legs to treat the rest of the body. This method, although seeming a bit peculiar to the uninitiated, is in fact tried and true and often gives near instant relief. With only a handful of carefully selected points on the limbs, stubborn headaches can shift and release in a matter of minutes, digestive or cramping pains can ease and dissipate, and aching muscles can be tamed. 

Take a moment to consider your own daily pains and what methods you use to help manage them. Take a moment and ask yourself if you are just managing pain, or actually resolving it. 

Dr. Bob Monroe, R.Ac, TCMD

Acupuncture for Stress
By Bob Monroe 0 Comments TCM ,

Acupuncture for Stress Relief

Stress affects us all. Whether it’s work stress, stress due to your personal life, or even stress with unclear origins, it can cause a great deal of daily trouble and can have major impacts on our overall physical health. Stress management is an extremely important tool in day to day life, and with the all too often non-stop workflow expected in our society, it is often overlooked in favor of productivity. 

Did you know that stress has a significant impact on our digestive systems? Stress management is a key factor in dealing with issues such as irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), chronic diarrhea, and heartburn (Acid Reflux). In many cases, people dealing with such issues seek over the counter or prescription medications that take a variety of other tolls on the body when used for long periods of time and often function only to mask or hide symptoms rather than truly resolve them.

The impacts of stress on our health and wellbeing are well documented and easy to understand from both a medical and a personal standpoint, but how do you manage it? Acupuncture has enormous capability for stress relief, as well as supportive and even corrective effects on such digestive issues as mentioned above. It helps relieve stress by facilitating relaxation, both of mind and body, causing muscles to loosen and minds to calm; slowing from the breakneck pace of everyday life and allowing room to breathe and think without the distractions we have all come to accept as part of our day-in day-out routines.

It may seem strange that a handful of small needles could relieve the burdens of stress that we tend to carry (sometimes without even knowing it), but the effects can be quite impressive, and the treatments are painless.

Dr. Bob Monroe,

R.Ac, TCMD