Have any of you tried them? I know some of you have tried acupuncture with various results, but from my experience with acupuncture, it's actually the herbal medicine that's the primary form of medication and the acupuncture is only a supplement to the herbs. I recently started an oriental medicine program here and the acupuncture treatment itself was about 7 dollars (cheap!) but the herbs were 160 dollars (expensive!) for a two week supply. I asked the doctor, and he confirmed what I thought about chinese medicine. www.bluepoppy.com (search neuropathy, burning foot) has a wealth of information on eastern medicine's effect on neuropathy. The clinical trials taken place here show that there is really no effect; but they don't use herbal medicine, they only rely on acupuncture. Also, the acupuncture program probably wasn't specialized for the individual.

Anyways, I don't know how you guys feel about eastern medicine, but I think it deserves a shot, if you can afford it at least. I don't think insurance covers it, however. Maybe I'll update if I feel anything. The doctor says 2~3, possibly 6 months of treatment. =| Oh joy.

Good day!

Acupuncture is worth a try.

I am skeptical on the herbs. Many Chinese herbs are contaminated and this
is becoming a huge problem. I would not take any herbal over there without
proof of purity, and free from contamination.
There are few places here even that test their products before giving to people.
So be careful with herbs.

Type in contaminated Chinese herbs into Google:
example
http://www.itmonline.org/arts/cleanhrb.htm

My husband John just started TCM two weeks ago. He's doing acupuncture twice a week and herbs daily. I actually brew the dried herbs daily. It's a bunch of dried twig, seeds, flowers, fruits and roots. The formula changes as needed. John's original reason for trying TCM was to see if he can get his hormones working again. But as you know, TCM is holistic so his doctor is working on restoring his blood counts/bone marrow function as well.

He too has told us that for John's condition, herbs are necessary.

We lucked out and found a TCM doctor who studied in China under a doctor who successfully treated patients with Aplastic Anemia (john's first problem) with TCM and western medicine. We are also fortunate that this doctor is trained in western medicine so he understands all the lab tests.

He mentioned that it would take at least 12 treatments to affect the PN.

So we will take this one month at time and see how it goes. So far, John has more energy, his inflammation is down and his nausea has resolved.

If he gets any relief from the PN, I will post it.

I too was worried about the contamination of herbs but I'm not as worried since I'm working with the whole herb and not a pill. Have to take a leap of faith sometimes.

Marlene

marlene,
I'll be interested in how John does with this treatment. When my neuropathy first started, I had accupuncture treatement by a naturopathic doctor, but no herbal treatment. The accupuncture helped the pain in my back but did nothing for my neuropathy. I've actually started the ReBuilder treatment again. We've been doing it for about 4 days. We thought it might help the inflammation and swelling in my left ankle (ankle break and Rheumatoid).

I've bought herbs from Mountain Rose Herbs. They are organic growers and reputable. Not sure what you are using, but they might be a source for you.

Billye

Hi Billye,

I will certainly post the outcome. The PN is not the reason he's going but it would be nice if he benefits from it. The TCM approach and chinese diagnosing is very different from western methods. If two people walk in with PN, you can be sure that your chinese diagnosis will not be the same. Therefore, your treatments would be different.

This TCM doctor supplies the raw, dried herbs. There's anywhere from 8 - 15 different herbs and he mixes up one bag for each day. Thanks for the tip on the Mountain Rose Herbs.

I'm sorry to hear your struggle with the ankle. I hope the rebuilder helps. BTW....I actually learned how to do reflexology and practiced on John. It really helped alleviate the pain and swelling as well as improved his flexibility. Of courese I had to work his feet very gently at first.

Marlene

Marlene, it sounds like you have found someone you can trust who has helped, and that is great. But as a general rule, I think that people need to be extremely cautious. Herbs are drugs. They are unregulated drugs. This means that contamination can be a problem, but also dosages are not always standardised and can vary widely. They can also interact with other things we might be taking. And often, there are not good research studies to demonstrate their efficacy or side effects or dangers. Gee, I sound like an alarmist, but I do believe that (for all it's huge faults!), the medical model we have today is the best so far in history for the safe use and regulation of drugs. It will certainly be nice when some of the herbs and oriental medicine philosophy are studied more and brought in to the mainstream so that we can all benefit from that wisdom. But for now, I feel that I cannot safely evaluate the care I might get from herbal treatments or from some "doctors" who are not licensed. That is not to say that they might not have something to offer, but the opportunity for harm or unscrupulous practice is out there. I would just advise folks to keep this in mind as they make their medical decisions. I would hate for any of us to get hurt more than we are. This is just my bent -- don't mean to offend anyone.

well I don't know how it is in the states in regards to having a license to practice, but here in Korea, the oriental doctors are seen just as highly as the western doctors, if not higher, due to the eastern culture/ eastern medicine ties. They have to graduate from a top rated university. And yes, there really isn't any good research studies to back it up, but the treatment that you get is a mixture of usually more than 10 herbs, personalized to your symptoms. Acupuncture also seems very suspicious, "wait so you're going to put 10 needles in my body, including areas not affected? And I'll improve?", but sometimes it just seems to "work" for some people. Eastern medicine is so mysterious, but at the same time, theres a reason it's still sticking around after thousands of years. But I do agree with you in that you shouldn't just go blindly into eastern medicine. You should know exactly what the doctor is treating (in terms of meridian points, roots, branches... whatnot) and which herbal ingredients he is using, and use that information to research how much you think you would benefit from this. I'm just saying it seems like the majority of us (westerners) cringe at the thought of eastern medicine as a whole and tend to brush it off.

Herbs are "drugs" --mini drugs and as Dakota has posted should be carefully used. This issue is separate from a larger one, and that is of CONTAMINATION.

Some of the drugs found contaminating Chinese herbs are: (that means they were ADDED on purpose):

Valium (diazepam) tranquilizer
Indocin (indomethacin) potent NSAID can cause GI bleeds
Butazolidin (phenylbutazone) no longer marketed in US, dangerous
Digoxin -- potent heart glycoside, poisonous in high doses
Diethylstilbesterol-- female hormone --taken off the market in US
Glyburide--- lowers blood sugar
Phenformin -- lowers blood sugar--dangerous not allowed in US

People with hay fever, or other pollen allergies may react to herbs.

from http://www.cancer.org/docroot/ETO/co...l_Medicine.asp

and this is alarming:
from http://www.itmonline.org/arts/cleanhrb.htm

Did you know that China is now in deep trouble...their drug industry?
Did you know they EXECUTED their former head of their drug agency?
http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/07/10/news/china.php
and
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/...n3028603.shtml

We did find someone who has all the credentials to practice TCM, both in China and in the states at Georgetown University and University of Maryland. The herbs used by this doc are very safe and most are classified as foods or spices; China has done a lot of research on herbs and combining them with western medicine. TCM views all food and herbs as medicine. So if you have a heat condition, warming foods are not good for you. So beef and venison have been added to our grocery list along with Goji berries. TCM is too new in the USA for most to have a level of comfort with it but China has thousands of years of experience. I look back on all the treatments and drugs/herbs, both western and alternative, that John has done and by far, the western medicine has caused the most harm. I know people will say “ but he’s alive” and that is true but something is wrong with our system when restoring health is not part of our health care. His recovery is pretty much in our hands since western medicine can’t help much. It’s not in the medical model and not covered by insurance. All anyone wants to do is to throw another drug at him which does not restore health. Drugs have their place and I am not against western medicine. But it does have its challenges. I do agree that you need to be very cautious with all medical decisions, western and alternative. Both make claims that can be very misleading and I do understand why there’s concern using TCM in light of all the quality control problems in China. But let’s not forget that the USA also has problems with the quality with meat production, produce, environmental toxins, etc. The use of hormones and antibiotic in livestock continues even though it’s well know that it’s a problem. We import so much from other countries and only a small percentage of things are checked. Yes there’s lead in the paint on toys from China but shame on the US Companies for not putting in quality assurance standards and checking it. China needs regulation and if they can’t do it on their end, then we must do it here because I doubt if any company is going to stop doing business in China. Too much profit is at stake. Again, our safety vs profit. BTW....Europe has banned many toxic chemicals that are used in the production of electronics and any electronics imported from China must adhere to those standards. Unfortunately, the USA still gets the toxic products unless a specific manufacture has implemented the same manufacturing standards.

Hopefully by using whole dried herbs, we’ve lessened the risk. Since John gets monthly CBCs/chem panels, we’ll be able to monitor this closely. As with all things, only time will tell.

Thank you all for your concern and just know we have not ventured into this lightly.

Marlene

I gave a lecture locally, and an acupuncturist was there on the program too.

She mentioned that the herbs she uses in conjunction with her acupuncture,
are tested by a lab in Mass.

So I know there are US places that authenticate no contamination.

However, I would not expect a place in Korea (where these practitioners are very common), to provide this information to Aloneoutthere.

It would be prudent to ask for the source of any herbs you are given. And look them up, to see if they are tested when they enter US.

We are entering a difficult international time. Today I saw on CNN that United Air Lines is using uncertified FAA repair people in CHINA to do maintenance on their planes to save $$/expenses. In a repair facility reported on that had 2000 techs, only 5 were certified. It was a disturbing revelation for me.

Contaminated food from China, cough medicine, toothpaste, drugs exported to US for chemo treatments. Lead contaminated toys, contaminated dog toys treats, etc. Now we have airplane repair being done there. There are ALOT of things to think about, not just herbs.

Right now in USA we are looking at foods contaminated by E.coli. I've been following this and it appears that the bugs (also salmonella) get right into the matrixes of the plants..they just don't sit on the outside. Fresh Basil is now being recalled this week.