Let's talk about what diseases Chinese medicine can cure

This is the 4764th article of Da Yi Xiao Hu

Hello everyone, today I want to talk to you about the topic of "what diseases can Chinese medicine cure". In the outpatient clinic, many patients come to consult with examination reports, whether Chinese medicine can cure a certain disease or a certain symptom, whether Chinese medicine can cure a certain abnormal indicator, whether there is any way to relieve symptoms, etc. In fact, it shows that many patients are not clear about what diseases Chinese medicine can treat. In many cases, patients generally look for the corresponding Western medicine department according to their symptoms. After a period of treatment, there may be some symptoms that have not been relieved, and some people will think of trying Chinese medicine. Often, when they come to Chinese medicine for treatment, the condition is more complicated. Surgery has been done, hormones have been used, and there is really no other way. They go to Chinese medicine as a last resort, which greatly increases the difficulty of treatment by Chinese medicine.

So, today I will talk to you about what diseases TCM can treat, or what are the advantages of TCM treatment? This is from the perspective of TCM treatment thinking - syndrome differentiation and treatment. Syndrome differentiation and treatment is the basic thinking of TCM to analyze and treat diseases. It is a unique research and treatment method of TCM for diseases. It is divided into two parts: syndrome differentiation and treatment.

The so-called syndrome differentiation is the process of understanding and analyzing the disease. In simple terms, doctors collect the patient's symptoms and signs through the four examinations of "looking, smelling, asking and palpating", that is, the patient's own uncomfortable symptoms or abnormal indicators and signs found in the examination, and through comprehensive analysis, they distinguish the cause, location, nature and relationship between the evil and the righteousness of the disease, and summarize and judge it as a syndrome of a certain nature. For example, a patient catches a cold, which manifests as aversion to cold, fever, nasal congestion and clear runny nose, no sweat, pale red tongue, thin white fur, and floating and tight pulse. These are the symptoms manifested by the patient. The doctor judges it as wind-cold syndrome, and wind-cold belongs to the syndrome. There are also patients who often ask whether they have spleen deficiency or kidney deficiency, qi deficiency or yang deficiency, which also belong to the syndrome, while headache, diarrhea, backache, and insomnia are symptoms.

Discussion of treatment, also known as application of treatment, is the process of determining the corresponding treatment principles and methods based on the results of the previous syndrome differentiation. If the previous syndrome differentiation is wind-cold syndrome, the treatment method of dispelling cold and relieving the symptoms can be determined, and the corresponding prescriptions or Chinese patent medicines can be selected for treatment.

In other words, as long as there are abnormal symptoms and signs, Chinese medicine practitioners can identify the pathological changes in the patient's individual qi, blood, yin and yang, determine the cause and pathogenesis of the disease, and then formulate a treatment plan. However, if the patient's condition is too complicated, the cause and pathogenesis will become more complicated as the disease progresses, and the treatment will be very difficult regardless of whether Chinese or Western medicine is used.

True Chinese medicine is not as finely divided as Western medicine. Instead, it uses overall syndrome differentiation and analysis to find the root cause of the disease and then treat it. If we must classify diseases according to Western medicine, we can really list many names of diseases that Chinese medicine can treat. Each type of disease has many syndromes, and each type of syndrome can exist in many diseases. Among different diseases, some are treated mainly with Chinese medicine, while others can be treated in conjunction with Western medicine.

According to internal medicine, gynecology and pediatrics

Traditional Chinese medicine can treat diseases in many disciplines, including internal medicine, surgery, gynecology, pediatrics, and surgery. Traditional Chinese medicine is a relatively three-dimensional discipline and is not limited to treating diseases in one or several departments. Currently, traditional Chinese medicine hospitals have traditional Chinese medicine pediatrics, traditional Chinese medicine gynecology, traditional Chinese medicine internal medicine, and traditional Chinese medicine surgery.

According to the severity of the disease

Traditional Chinese medicine can treat difficult and serious diseases, such as malignant tumors. Traditional Chinese medicine can treat cancer by changing the internal environment of the human body, eliminating internal factors such as cold or heat, deficiency or excess, dampness or dryness, and restoring the body to balance. Some cancer patients who have been diagnosed with cancer for 7 or 8 years through traditional Chinese medicine are still alive and well. Traditional Chinese medicine can also be used for health preservation and disease prevention, and physical conditioning. It is better for the conditioning of the elderly, children, and sub-health of young and middle-aged people.

Classification by organic and functional diseases

Traditional Chinese medicine can treat organic lesions that are visible to the naked eye or measurable with the help of instruments in modern medicine, such as swelling, congestion, nodules, polyps, effusion, etc., or seek post-operative treatment from traditional Chinese medicine after the nodules and polyps have been removed by modern medicine surgery. It can also treat functional diseases similar to modern medicine, which may or may not have abnormal biochemical indicators, but many patients will have this or that discomfort, and the examination indicators cannot find out, such as allergic reactions, gastrointestinal dysfunction, insomnia, general fatigue, inexplicable weight gain, etc., which are all within the scope of diseases that traditional Chinese medicine has the advantage of treating.

According to acute and chronic diseases

Traditional Chinese medicine can treat acute illnesses such as colds and fevers, as well as infectious diseases such as SARS and COVID-19. In 2003, the mortality rate of patients treated with traditional Chinese medicine was almost zero, without incurring huge medical expenses and without leaving any sequelae. In the COVID-19 epidemic, traditional Chinese medicine has played an irreplaceable role in alleviating symptoms in the early stage, shortening the course of severe cases, reducing the transformation to critical illness, reducing the mortality rate, and late rehabilitation. Traditional Chinese medicine is also good at treating chronic diseases such as hypertension, diabetes, coronary heart disease, etc. Those patients who have been taking medicine for life can be effectively treated with traditional Chinese medicine.

True TCM does not treat diseases simply based on the name of the disease, but rather based on syndrome differentiation and treatment based on symptoms and signs. Therefore, the spectrum of diseases that TCM can treat is very broad. Not only can it be treated alone, but it can also be used in conjunction with other treatment methods to enhance efficacy and reduce toxicity. Moreover, the earlier TCM is involved in treatment, the more benefits will be gained.

That’s all for today, I hope it can help you!

Author: Zhao Ying, Department of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Shanghai Changzheng Hospital