On sickness and the power of Chinese herbal medicine

Founder’s Note : This is a guest post by third-year CCM student, Melinda Iglesias. Asalways, the guest posters love comments – so feel free to leave some below! I’m hoping to see more from Melinda in the future here on DH. In the meantime, you can find her on Twitter. For three years prior to coming to school at NCNM, I managed a thriving acupuncture clinic. This experience was instructive and influential in my decision to study Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine. Throughout that time, I had the good fortune of witnessing first-hand scenarios ubiquitous to being a practitioner of Chinese medicine. A favorite moment (and one that many can resonate with) is the quintessential phone call from a patient the morning or day of their appointment informing you that they are feeling ill. The first few times I received this phone call, I would think to myself, “How fortuitous to have an acupuncture appointment on the day you’re sick.” The patient would then invariably explain that they were in fact too ill to come in for their appointment. I would sit on the phone confused for a moment and then engage in some sort of a dialogue inquiring as to why the patient didn’t think acupuncture could help ameliorate their current symptoms, “and even more so, help today!” The irony, of course, is that there is a very strong likelihood that the acupuncture treatment and herbal medicine they were calling to cancel would help. People often underestimate the vast array of s...
Source: Deepest Health: Exploring Classical Chinese Medicine - Category: Alternative Medicine Practitioners Authors: Tags: Acupuncture, Herbs & Other modalities Source Type: blogs