It came to be a reality. I landed an internship at a hospital in Taipei City. I am under the the tutelage of Dr. Liu. Dr. Liu is a seasoned western medical doctor and has also devoted herself to the mastery of Chinese traditional medicine. She specializes in Chinese herbal medicine and does not use acupuncture. Dr. Liu is a wonderful teacher and a generous person, I'm very lucky to have the opportunity to follow her. It's a fast paced clinic and we see an average of 1 patient every 5 minutes. The way Rx are used here in Taiwan differs completely from what you would see in the US.
In Taiwan everyone has medical insurance unlike the U.S. The insurance in Taiwan is affordable and the services are top notch. When patients are seeing a doctor in the Traditional Medicine Department the insurance covers the visit and 15g. per day of "科學中藥" literally "scientific herbal medicinals". We better know them as "granule powders" in the U.S. Most prescriptions last about a week or two. We have little experience using granule powders in the U.S. but it continues to gain popularity so there is a lot to learn from Taiwanese formulisim.
When a doctor here prescribes a Rx they mix several formula powders. At times you may see up to 4 formulas in a single Rx. and at first it was hard to wrap my mind around. Coming from the way we practiced in the US it was always one formula plus a few single herb to modify the Rx.
We mostly focused on one or maybe two of the chief complaints. For example if a patient has an external contraction of wind-cold plus menstrual irregularity and chronic constipation we were taught to focus on the external contraction before moving forward to treat underlying issues. The way I'm seeing formulisim happen here- not at all.
For Example:
Female 40
Started coughing today, slight phlegm in the throat, R side eye pain, R side forehead pain, moves bowels 1 or 2 daily, aversion to cold, during cold weather her hands and fingers are painful and is relieved by warm weather, mouth is not dry, after hemorrhoid operation she is easily constipated. LMP: 12.11.2010 medium amount, some blood clotting, blood color is dark red, viscous blood quality, 7 days total. PMP: small amount, blood color is brown 4-5 day total
Pulse: rough 脈澀
Tongue: Pale red, coating is thin
Improvements from previous treatment: Acne clearing up, sleep much better, decreased urination, less head hair falling out.
Rx:
Chuan Xiong Cha Tiao San 5g. TID 7Days
Nu Zhen Zi 1g. TID 7Days
Han Lian Cao 1g. TID 7Days
Xiao Yao San 3g. TID 7Days
You Ke Xing Su San 5g. TID 7Days
Total: 15g TID 7 Days
(This Rx structure is pretty simple so I used it as an example, you can see why all these are being used. I will post some wilder case studies in the future)
During my shifts, I'm seeing Rx like this every 5 minutes. It's blowing my mind. As far as what is happening here- I'll let you think about it. Perhaps my next blog will be about "科學中藥" theory and will break down for you what happening above.
In Taiwan everyone has medical insurance unlike the U.S. The insurance in Taiwan is affordable and the services are top notch. When patients are seeing a doctor in the Traditional Medicine Department the insurance covers the visit and 15g. per day of "科學中藥" literally "scientific herbal medicinals". We better know them as "granule powders" in the U.S. Most prescriptions last about a week or two. We have little experience using granule powders in the U.S. but it continues to gain popularity so there is a lot to learn from Taiwanese formulisim.
When a doctor here prescribes a Rx they mix several formula powders. At times you may see up to 4 formulas in a single Rx. and at first it was hard to wrap my mind around. Coming from the way we practiced in the US it was always one formula plus a few single herb to modify the Rx.
We mostly focused on one or maybe two of the chief complaints. For example if a patient has an external contraction of wind-cold plus menstrual irregularity and chronic constipation we were taught to focus on the external contraction before moving forward to treat underlying issues. The way I'm seeing formulisim happen here- not at all.
For Example:
Female 40
Started coughing today, slight phlegm in the throat, R side eye pain, R side forehead pain, moves bowels 1 or 2 daily, aversion to cold, during cold weather her hands and fingers are painful and is relieved by warm weather, mouth is not dry, after hemorrhoid operation she is easily constipated. LMP: 12.11.2010 medium amount, some blood clotting, blood color is dark red, viscous blood quality, 7 days total. PMP: small amount, blood color is brown 4-5 day total
Pulse: rough 脈澀
Tongue: Pale red, coating is thin
Improvements from previous treatment: Acne clearing up, sleep much better, decreased urination, less head hair falling out.
Rx:
Chuan Xiong Cha Tiao San 5g. TID 7Days
Nu Zhen Zi 1g. TID 7Days
Han Lian Cao 1g. TID 7Days
Xiao Yao San 3g. TID 7Days
You Ke Xing Su San 5g. TID 7Days
Total: 15g TID 7 Days
(This Rx structure is pretty simple so I used it as an example, you can see why all these are being used. I will post some wilder case studies in the future)
During my shifts, I'm seeing Rx like this every 5 minutes. It's blowing my mind. As far as what is happening here- I'll let you think about it. Perhaps my next blog will be about "科學中藥" theory and will break down for you what happening above.
Comments
what brand of granules do they use????