Posted in Bob Flaws’ Blog by Bob Flaws People who have heard me teach or who have read very much of what I have written know that I, like the Chinese themselves, refer to our medicinals as that – medicinals – not herbs. In the Chinese literature, the same word is used for Chinese and [...]
Posted in Bob Flaws’ Blog Here are three more short abstracts from issue #5, 2008 of Bei Jing Zhong Yi Yao (Beijing Chinese Medicine & Pharmacology). Hope you find them interesting and useful. Follow up: Overlap Syndrome Overlap syndrome is a combination of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) with obstructive sleep apnea-hypopnea syndrome (OSAHS). In [...]
Posted in Bob Flaws’ Blog by Bob Flaws On pages 10-11 in issue #6, 2008 of Xin Zhong Yi (New Chinese Medicine), there’s an article titled “An Introduction to Prof. Zhou Fu-sheng’s Experiences Treating Male Menopausal Syndrome.” Prof. Zhou has more than 40 year’s clinical experience treating andrological disorders. In this article, the authors (students [...]
Posted in Bob Flaws’ Blog by Bob Flaws In Chinese medicine, it is said that “The hair is the surplus of the blood.” Therefore, hair loss is usually attributed to blood vacuity. However, there can be different kinds of blood vacuity and, hence, different formulas for the treatment of these different patterns of hair loss. [...]
Blog by Bob Flaws For years, we at Blue Poppy Herbs have been saying that the difference in potency of commercially manufactured Chinese herbal extracts as compared to the same herbs cooked at home by patients on their stove-tops is not simply their different extract ratios. Without having any actual proof, we have intuitively said [...]
Posted in Bob Flaws’ Blog by Bob Flaws For a number of years now, many Western practitioners of Chinese herbal medicine have been concerned over the effects of the phyto-estrogens in Dang Gui (Radix Angelicae Sinensis) on estrogen-dependent cancers, such as certain cell lines of breast cancer. While Chinese medical oncologists in China routinely prescribe [...]
Posted in Bob Flaws’ Blog by Bob Flaws On pages 512-513 of issue #7, 2008 of Bei Jing Zhong Yi Yao (Beijing Chinese Medicine & Pharmacology), Lie Jing-han et al. published an article on the theory behind why cupping or indirectly moxaing Shen Que (CV 8) can effectively treat chronic urticaria or hives, an otherwise [...]
Posted in Bob Flaws’ Blog by Bob Flaws As an extension of my previous blog, I’d like to say something about the next article in the same journal. This is a report on another piece of animal research, again in rats. This study appeared on pages 621-622 of issue 10, 2008 of Shi Yong Zhong [...]
Posted in Bob Flaws’ Blog by Bob Flaws Luo Bu Ma (Herba Apocyni Veneti) may be unknown to many students and younger practitioners of Chinese medicine. In part, this is because it is not found in most entry-level Chinese materia medica, nor is it found any major traditional Chinese formulas. However, I think it is [...]
Posted in Bob Flaws’ Blog by Bob Flaws The other day, I happened to overhear one practitioner telling another practitioner that, in the absence of “any real patterns,” they could always have their patient take a “tonic” formula such as Bu Zhong Yi Qi Tang (Supplement the Center & Boost the Qi Decoction). At the [...]
Posted in Bob Flaws’ Blog by Bob Flaws Yesterday I translated an article on the prevention of nocosomial fungal infections with Bu Zhong Yi Qu Tang (with one or two added ingredients). Nocosomial infections are infections contracted or developed in hospitals which are not the reason for the person being hospitalized in the first place. [...]
Posted in Bob Flaws’ Blog by Bob Flaws On pages 21-22 of issue #8, 2008 of Xin Zhong Yi (New Chinese Medicine), there is an article titled “Observations on the Relationship between Breast Cancer MRI Images & Chinese Medical Patterns” by Huang Yong et al. Follow up: The authors of this article all work in [...]
by Bob Flaws Within traditional Confucian society in China, there was a long-running debate over whether the practice of medicine was a so-called big or little Dao. A big Dao meant a path to self-cultivation, a spiritual practice if you will, a means to self-transcendance, while a little dao meant a mundane art, craft, technique, [...]
by Bob Flaws Back in the mid-1980s when the AIDS epidemic was just taking off, I wrote a book for a family member with AIDS titled Nine Ounces. This book (long out of print) consisted of nine or so chapters describing various ways that Chinese medicine could help keep that person asymptomatic for as long [...]
by Bob Flaws In Chinese, the words gu fang [古方] mean “ancient formulas,” while the words jing fang [经方] mean “classic formulas.” Both these terms refer to herbal formulas created in China prior to the Jin-Yuan dynasties (1280-1368 CE). These are the formulas which form the core repertoire of Chinese medicine’s formulas and prescriptions. Many [...]
by Bob Flaws Fibromyalgia can be a very difficult and frustrating condition to treat. Sometime, regular acupuncture can even make the symptoms of body pain worse. On pages 108-109 of issue #7, 2008 of Si Chuan Zhong Yi (Sichuan Chinese Medicine), Tang Su-min et al. published an article titled “Clinical Research on the Treatment of [...]
by Bob Flaws We all know that San Qi (Radix Notoginseng) is described as stopping bleeding in Chinese medicine. That suggests that it somehow promotes clotting or coagulation. Clotting involves the formation of a platelet plug or thrombus due to stimulation of the platelets by various clotting factors, such as prothrombin. This ability of San [...]
by Bob Flaws Last Friday, I posted a blog based on an article in issue #2, 2009 of Si Chuan Zhong Yi (Sichuan Chinese Medicine). Well here’s another one. It from an article appearing on pages 50-51 of the same issue. The original article is by Long Yong-ting from the Clinical Research College of the [...]
by Bob Flaws Recently a Blue Poppy customer told us how successful Blue Poppy Burn Ointment is for radiation-induced burns. Radiation burns are damage to the skin or other biological tissue caused by exposure to radio frequency energy or “ionizing radiation.” When radiotherapy is used to treat various types of cancer, burns from the radiation [...]
by Bob Flaws Recently I was asked to teach a class on gynecology at an American CM school. As a guest lecturer, I asked what the students wanted me to talk about. Many of the students wanted me to talk about uterine myomas (a.k.a. fibroids). This is understandable since 20% of women over 35 and [...]
by Bob Flaws Yesterday, I closed out my Facebook quotes for the day with one from the Ling Shu (Spiritual Axis/Pivot): “Wind, rain, cold, heat, [if these] do not obtain vacuity [i.e., meet with vacuity], evils are not able solely/by themselves to damage a person.” I also mentioned that this idea was hugely important in [...]
abstracted & translated by Bob Flaws, L.Ac. Keywords: Chinese medicine, Chinese herbal medicine, gynecology, perimenopausal depression, Xiao Yao San In Shi Yong Zhong Yi Nei Ke Za Zhi (Journal of Practical Chinese Medicine Internal Medicine), #12, 2009, p. 57-58, Dong Feng published an article titled, “The Treatment of 45 Cases of Climacteric Depression with Modified [...]
by Bob Flaws Huang Qi Jian Zhong Tang (Astragalus Fortify the Center Decoction) comes from Zhang Zhong-jing’s Jin Gui Yao Lue (Essentials from the Golden Cabinet/Casket) originally published in the late Han dynasty circa 200 CE. Huang Qi Jian Zhong Tang is basically Xiao Jian Zhong Tang (Minor Fortify the Center Decoction) plus Huang Qi. [...]
by Bob Flaws In Chinese medicine, there are only three basic causes of any and all uterine bleeding other than due to traumatic injury. These three are qi vacuity failing to manage or contain the blood, evil heat causing the blood to move frenetically outside its vessels, and blood stasis forcing the blood outside of [...]