Clinical Experience in the Treatment of Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Shen Pi'an Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a chronic multisystem inflammatory autoimmune disease with a complex and highly variable range of symptoms that can affect any part of the body. Based on Professor Shen’s 50 years’ clinical experience in treating SLE patients with Chinese medicine, this article summarises the main aspects of TCM aetiology and pathology as well as offering a practical insight into the main treatment principles he employs on a regular basis. Read the whole article
Reinventing the Wheel: A Top Down Perspective on The Five Elements, Part 1 Lonny Jarrett The author elaborates the Five-Element model as an archetypical representation of the relationship between the one and the many, examining the implications of the model for the individual, culture, and cosmos. Additionally he examines the five elements as a basis for understanding the relationship between the absolute and the relative, spirit and psychology, simplicity and complexity, and the virtues of autonomy and communion. This discussion occurs in the context of transcending the culturally conditioned pluralistic, relativistic, and humanistic psychological model that has prevailed in the West for the last 50 years.
Treating Multiple Sclerosis by Mediating the Internal Environment of the Body Wanzhu Hou The author discusses the Chinese medical understanding of the causes and treatment of Multiple Sclerosis and presents a case which illustrates how treatment with Chinese medicine mediates the body's internal environment and benefits the recovery of damaged tissues during the treatment.
Chinese Medicine in Ilula, Tanzania: An Experience in Learning Elisa Rossi A fascinating account of a Chinese medicine training course given by the author and a colleague, Giovanni Giambalvo Dal Ben, to a group of health workers in rural Tanzania, on behalf of Agopuntura Senza Frontiere (Acupuncture Without Borders). In a journal-style report, the author shows how the group, who knew nothing of Chinese medicine and who had very limited experience of studying, got to recognise the basic pathological patterns without any previous knowledge of wu xing, jing luo, zang fu. In her view, it was deeply reassuring that Chinese medicine is so close to reality that a theoretical model is not strictly necessary to be able to use it, at least in the first steps of the learning process.
Ulcerative Colitis: A Case Study Mazin Al-Khafaji The author presents a typical case of ulcerative colitis from his practice to outline some of the fundamental principles required for treatment of both the acute and chronic phases of the disease.
The Treatment of Autoimmune Diseases with Canonical Chinese Medicine: Three Case Studies Nadine Zaech The author presents three cases of autoimmune disease,including two paediatric cases, which she treated successfully with Canonical Chinese Medicine formulas drawn from Zhang Zhong Jing’s Shang Han Za Bing Lun or Treatise on Cold Damage and Complex Disorders. The cases (involving paediatric rheumatoid arthritis, adult-onset Still’s disease and nephritic syndrome) suggest that autoimmune diseases, which may be only poorly managed by Western medicine, can be effectively treated with formulas and strategies first laid down in the classical texts of China’s Han Dynasty. From this Canonical Chinese Medicine perspective, many autoimmune conditions require tonification of the rule of imperial fire through the application of yang-warming decoctions containing fu zi (Aconiti Carmichaeli, Radix Lateralis Preparata.) If the patient’s symptoms flare up, the yang conformations will need to be treated and damage often involves more than one realm, thus often requiring the application of chai hu gui zhi gan jiang tang or triple yang disease formulas containing bupleurum chai hu (Bupleuri, Radix).
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