H1N1 FLU: Panic And More Panic

By Mary Cissy Majebe, O.M.D.

Each of us has heard repeatedly about the new “swine flu” that is approaching. I want to share with you treatment and prevention strategies from a Chinese medicine perspective.

Chinese medicine has a long history of treating epidemics. There are MANY treatment methods. One is based on a system called the Wen Bing School. This school of thought teaches that there are four levels of heat that an illness such as a flu can traverse. These four levels are wei, qi, ying and blood.

When an illness is still at the wei level, major symptoms will be muscle aches, headaches, fever and chills. Sensory orifice symptoms will often be the predominant factor. When the illness progresses to the qi level, the fever will rise, and there will be more signs of heat such as sore throat, mouth sores, dry lips, red eyes and cough. When the illness reaches the ying level, it will also have symptoms of insomnia, night sweats, and agitation. In the last stage, there will be bleeding of some type, whether mild as in bleeding gums, or more severe. At all of these levels, Chinese medicine has the tools to address the illness and restore health.

In case you, or one of your loved ones, develop a flu this winter, there are specific treatments for each of these levels that can assist you in regaining your health. We want you to know that the Chinese Acupuncture Clinic is ready to assist you. At the same time, we will hold the thought that this flu season will be part of the natural ebb and flow and will not manifest with the severity predicted.

I have been asked by many of you if I get a flu shot. In researching the H1N1 flu, at this time it appears that this flu is not as serious an illness as the other more common flu varieties. I question the wisdom of an immunization that bypasses our bodies’ normal defensive system and is introduced at the blood level. Since this appears to be a mild flu, even though it is highly contagious, would it not be better to allow the body to develop some immunity to this flu by getting sick and then allowing the body to recover naturally? I strongly question the wisdom of trying to eradicate ALL illness with either a pill or an immunization.

I wonder what the consequences long-term may be in not allowing children to experience illness and develop natural immunity.

I chose not to get a flu shot, BUT, for those of you who do choose to have a flu shot, I recommend the following:

Therapy After the Flu Vaccine

Food Therapy: Sesame Milk
Grind ½ cup of sesame seeds (black is best), then cook for 15 minutes in 1 cup water and drink the liquid. Do this two times the day of the vaccination and two times the next day. For children, reduce the dosage to one half-cup two times a day for the two days.

Sesame seeds are high in Omega 3 & 6 oils, which clear heat from the body at the level of essence. We always want to protect the essence level.

Home Health Care: Gwa Sa
After returning home from receiving your flu shot, Gwa Sa the Urinary Bladder meridian to release any latent heat created by the vaccine.

Use a Gwa Sa spoon (Chinese ceramic soup spoon) to scrape downwards on either side of the spine, beginning at the base of the occiput to the bottom of the shoulder blade area.

Acupuncture Care
Telephone the CAC and have a mini-treatment. With acupuncture and gwa sa, this mini-treatment will clear heat that can become latent and create other problems. (The reduced fee for this treatment is $50 to enable us to attend to your health-care needs during this time.)

Protection From the Flu

Essential Oils
Our clinic is making every effort to be pro-active in protecting the health of all of our patients. We have developed an Essential Oil formula that can be applied to specific acupuncture points daily for assisting your body’s Wei Qi (your defensive qi, i.e. immune system) to remain strong.

Essential oils have both anti-viral and anti-bacterial properties. To use this formula, apply topically one time a day to Ren 17 (the point directly on your breast bone at the level of the nipples) and Lung 7 to Lung 9 (located on your wrist, thumb-side up). I would like to caution you regarding the use of essential oils that are not medical grade. To ensure good results clinically, it is important to use a medical grade essential oil.

Because these oils have anti-viral and anti-bacterial properties, we will be diffusing them in the clinic this winter to better protect your health and the health of our staff. The essential oils that we utilize are organic and are extracted without the use of solvents. We will be using a combination of Pine, Eucalyptus and Tea Tree in our office.

Jade Wind Screen
If you want a tonic for this winter’s flu and cold season, we suggest a formula called Jade Screen. This is ONLY to be taken when you are healthy. Do not take this formula if you have any upper respiratory signs or a fever.

Who Is Most At Risk for the Flu & What You Can Do

I have read and studied the information that is coming from the CDC regarding the H1N1 flu. By looking at this information, it is possible to predict which patients will have the most difficulty with this flu and to prepare for the symptoms that might accompany the flu.

Many of you have heard your practitioner speak of Internal and External pathogenic factors. The external pathogenic factors include cold, damp, heat, wind, dryness and fire. From looking at the groups of people that are having difficulty with this flu, we can see some patterns.

Many of the children who have done poorly with this flu have neurological issues such as seizure disorders or cerebral palsy. From a Chinese medicine perspective, each of these conditions has an Internal pathogenic factor of Wind. Wind from our perspective can be due to an excess of internal heat or an insufficiency of fluids. These two factors can exacerbate the onset and course of this flu.

For this reason, it is necessary to nourish the body with fluids. HENCE the statement you always hear to drink plenty of fluids should say, “DRINK, DRINK, and DRINK plenty of fluids!” The second factor, heat, tells us that it is important to REST, as this can also help to keep a fever from becoming too high. This is difficult, because a fever is one of the body’s defenses against both bacteria and viral conditions. It is only when the fever is high that it consumes the bodily fluids that can lead to a more serious condition.

We suggest that you seek care at the beginning of an illness this winter and not delay. On the other hand, we hope to see that you are able to avoid this flu, by remembering these simple suggestions.

The most simple solutions are often the best:

Get a Good Nights Sleep
Eat a Healthy Diet
Engage in Light Exercise
Keep Stress Levels Low

We cannot eliminate being exposed to viral or bacterial invasions, but we can try to keep our immune systems strong in order to ward off illness. I wish you all good health this winter season!

Chinese Medicine for Autism: Exploring an Eastern Approach for Helping Children

By Dr. M. Cissy Majebe, O.M.D.

The treatment of Autism with Chinese Medicine (CM) first began to interest me in 1993 when a parent brought a three-year-old, non-verbal child into the clinic. I acquired a special interest in the treatment of children diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorders from working with this child.

Currently, Autism is recognized as a developmental disability with primary symptomology affecting social interaction and communication skills. Autism is a behaviorally-defined syndrome.

Within a Western framework, there are no clear causes of Autism, although it is believed to be a biological neurological disorder affecting brain function. There are strong indicators for a genetic basis, and there is also a growing concern that environmental toxins and pollutions may be contributing factors, as well as viral infections.

Currently, there are no medical tests for the diagnosis of Autism. In regard to treatment, the only real option Western Medicine offers is intervention with early educational programs.

For those of you who may have little experience with Chinese Medicine, let me begin by saving that Chinese Medicine is a comprehensive health care system that has its own system of diagnostics. It includes not only acupuncture, but also herbal medicine, nutritional therapies, Tui Na (massage techniques), aromatherapy, spinal manipulations and lifestyle counseling. CM, as a system, allows the practitioner to utilize different combinations of techniques, based on the constitution and specific needs of the individual.

The World Health Organization recognizes Chinese Medicine's ability to treat many common disorders, including disorders of the bones, muscles and joints, respiratory, gastrointestinal, circulatory and urogenital disorders, addictions, eye, ear, nose and throat disorders and emotional and psychological disorders. It is this history of the effectiveness of CM with psychological and neurological disorders that provides a basis for the effective treatment of Autism.

In CM, Zang-Fu is a term for the organs of the human body. Many of the organ names are familiar terms. These terms refer not only to a physical organ but to the energetic functions of the organ as well. Each organ relates to an emotional response, sensory organ, and soft tissue. Autistic children often experience difficulties with sensory integration. In the treatment of Autism, the three primary organ systems of concern are the Heart, Spleen, and Kidneys; these organ systems are associated with speech, hearing, and taste, respectively.

"On an emotional level, the state of the Heart determines a person's capacity to form meaningful relationships." This quote from The Foundations of Chinese Medicine, by Giovanni Maciocia, is paramount to the understanding of Autism within the framework of CM.

According to Chinese Medical theory, autistic individuals suffer from a Heart imbalance that inhibits connecting on an emotional level with other people, including their immediate families. A person with Heart imbalances might manifest a lack of joy in life, anxiety or inappropriate laughter and talking. A person with a Heart Qi disorder could either manifest with excessive talking or aphasia (problems with speaking or an inability to speak).

Children diagnosed with Autism may present with digestive anomalies that may be deemed irrelevant by Western Medicine Physicians. In CM these children exhibit signs and symptoms associated with Spleen Qi Deficiency. On an emotional level, persons with extreme Spleen Qi imbalances often manifest obsessive-compulsive behaviors.

Autism is usually diagnosed before the age of three. CM sees this disorder as having a Pre-natal origin, compounded by a Post-natal weakness. The Pre-natal component would translate as genetic influence, whereas the Post-natal aspect would relate to all that has occurred since birth. Pre-natal factors in Autism indicate Kidney involvement. Kidney Qi is important for brain development, along with Heart and Spleen, according to Chinese Medical theory.

Basic methods of diagnosis include observation of the patient, such as listening, smelling, examination by questioning and physical examination by palpation. Observation includes CM specific skills such as tongue, pulse and facial diagnosis. It also includes close attention to how the patient relates to and moves in the world.

In CM, imbalances arise from three different sources: external factors, internal factors and miscellaneous factors.

Wind, Heat, Fire, Cold, Dryness and Dampness are external pathogenic factors in CM. These factors create imbalances that lead to disease.

In CM, Internal Pathological Factors are the Seven Emotions. Each of these emotions is associated with an organ system. Those that relate to Autism include: fear or shock that weakens the Kidney, over-pensiveness that weakens the Spleen and shock and anxiety that weakens the Heart. The over-pensiveness that is discussed in classical Chinese writings is related to the obsessive behaviors or obsessive thought patterns that often manifest in Autism.

Miscellaneous factors include genetic influences, poor nutrition, lack of exercise and excessive mental stimulation, such as an inordinate amount of television viewing. Air pollutants, food additives and preservatives are other miscellaneous factors. Antibiotics and Immunizations are also considered miscellaneous factors.

Phlegm is the primary pathological factor related to the development of Autism in CM. In regard to Autism, Phlegm is generally an External Pathogenic Factor, but it can also manifest from Internal and miscellaneous causes. Phlegm is said to be either substantial or insubstantial, meaning that it can either be the mucous we expectorate and drool or a kind of "fog" that blocks the sensory organs. This "fog" would present itself as poor concentration or hearing, a lack of response to external stimuli, etc. In CM, the diagnosis of Autism generally can be classified as either Phlegm Misting the Heart or Phlegm Fire Harassing the Heart.

The Autistic child will have symptoms that are linked to Heart, Spleen and Kidney imbalances. The Heart imbalance relates to the difficulties the child has in establishing meaningful emotional relationships with others, and communication and speech difficulties. The Spleen deficiency is linked to digestive anomalies that contribute to the development of Phlegm. Kidney involvement is related to the young age at which this condition develops.

The development of Autism is a multi-faceted pathway. There is no single direct cause and effect for Autism Spectrum Disorders in Chinese medicine, although there are a set of co-factors that must be present. Recall that in CM imbalances are related to External, Internal and Miscellaneous factors. The External and Internal factors can be a source of difficulty, but a major focus in Autism is on the Miscellaneous factors. Genetic factors can set the stage, but there must be other co-factors in order for Autism to develop. Nutritional and lifestyle factors must be addressed in the treatment plan. The manifestations of Phlegm and the root cause of Phlegm must be addressed. It is due to the very different pathways in the development of Autism that makes it difficult to assign causality.

As I stated previously, Chinese Medicine treats the constitution and specific needs of the individual, not the disease. With a behaviorally-defined syndrome, such as Autism, such treatment is especially appropriate, because the practitioner is able to accurately diagnosis and treat a patient who may be manifesting any number of diverse and seemingly unrelated symptoms. The foundation for effective treatment in CM would use a multi-tiered approach that includes synergistic CM modalities, such as herbal medicine, acupuncture, Tui Na (massage), nutrition, aromatherapy, and manipulative therapies. This multi-tiered approach should include the intervention with early education treatment that Western medicine recommends.

Originally published as an article in various publications in 2002.