#tcvm

[havanalop]

He's getting used to his acupuncture.

[daodogandtigercat]

The Basics of Food Therapy in TCVM (Traditional Chinese Veterinary Medicine)

Food therapy is one of the five branches of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), along with Herbal Medicine, Acupuncture, Tuina and Physical Activity (Tai Chi and Qi Gong - not applied for animals). It is based on basically 3 different principles:

1. Food Energetics and Actions

2. Pattern Differentiation

3. Individual constitution (age/ health status)

Food is the most fundamental substance for life maintenance and should be enjoyed and prepared with love and awareness as well as eaten with pleasure and delight.

Hippocrates says "Let thy food be your medicine and thy medicine be your food". I would like to add to that idea that what can be cured with diet should not be treated with prescription drugs. When diet is prepared and eaten according to the principles and ideas described above food can used as preventative nutrition and health maintenance. Also as treatment of specific diseases or as adjunct therapy to complement the primary treatment of diseases.

It is important to make a differentiation between modern nutrition and  Chinese Food Therapy. While the former focuses on energetics that is measured with calories and break down the components of food into fats, carbohydrates and proteins the latter considers Food Energetics which counts as the tastes, energetic quality (thermal nature: cold, neutral, warm, hot), movement of Qi, channels and organs affinity.

Another interesting perspective of Chinese Food Therapy is that the diets are formulated to each individual, especially when disease is present, taking into consideration the Bian Zheng (pattern differentiation). Also food therapy can be adjust seasonally and geographically which translates that the foods that are locally grown are far more nutritious and therapeutic than foods that are not.  The diets are balanced over a period of time and not on a daily basis like modern nutrition emphasizes.

The optimum diet for each pet is combined by modern nutrition and food therapy. I would like to finish this post with a saying from Victor G. Rocine circa 1930:

"If we eat wrongly no doctor can cure us;

If we eat rightly no doctor is needed."

[havanalop]

11/07/17

A few pictures from Inlé’s first acupuncture session! He was very well behaved. 

[daodogandtigercat]

The patient above was presented with pain and lameness in the hind limbs for over one year period. After consult with veterinarian orthopedist and image diagnostic it was concluded that it was likely to be a soft injury that did not respond to conventional treatment with anti-inflammatories and analgesics. Ziva received one electro acupuncture treatment for her pain and lameness and her condition improved about 70%. After 3 sessions she achieved a full recovery. 

When the Treatment works as a Diagnostic Tool, the beauty of TCVM

Working with TCVM totally changes the way you perceive and practice medicine. To begin with the practitioner need to rely in his/ her power of observation and clinical skills to feel, touch, and perceive the patient’s condition. A lot can be said and done by just using these basic principles. By knowing a constitutional type of a patient we can already define the most common patterns that the patient is likely to develop. For instance, when a patient that presents vomiting if we establish that we are dealing with a earth or a wood constitutional type using the skills of palpation back and front mu points, feeling the pulse, observing the tongue the TCVM evaluation and diagnosis can lead to different possible patterns and treatments. Is the vomiting a result of food stagnation due to a weak earth or is it a result of stomach fire due to liver invading earth? Treating accordingly and having a resolution of the problem will provide a therapeutic diagnosis. If the case worsens we can likely narrow down the first diagnostic tests to either evaluate stomach or liver function.

Following this method we can apply TCVM treatment as a diagnosis to virtually any clinical presentation in order to obtain or estimate a biomedical diagnosis. If necessary orient to further diagnostic techniques. Often the western biomedical methods are extremely expensive making it not available to the majority of the population. Often, they are also inconclusive.

The western biomedical approach might not make much sense of a totally different language TCVM practitioners use to describe diseases as patterns, it is often refuted instead. Nonetheless if we consider that medicine was practiced in such a way for thousands of years in a large group of population with very satisfactory clinical results we must consider simple diagnostic approaches before pursing more elaborated methods. Humans have not only thrived terrible infections, diseases and traumas from wars but also have greatly increased population.  Animals, especially horses, throughout human history have also greatly benefited from such approach.

Certain conditions have been so well documented that accordingly to the number of treatments we can estimate if we are dealing with a less or more severe disease. Taking the example of paresis and paralysis, as a general rule, if the patient respond to one or two treatments channel blockage is often the cause and we are likely dealing with a soft tissue injury. It the patient takes more than 3 treatments it is likely that we dealing with blood stagnation at the bone level which corresponds to a herniated/ protruded disc in the western biomedical approach. More than 6 sessions usually indicates that we are treating blood stasis which is often found in cases of tumors and fractures.

In conclusion TCVM approach and treatment’s strategies can reduce the overall costs often offering very satisfactory results. Simple and inexpensive methods should be applied in clinical practice before trying to pursue specific and more expensive approaches. When TCVM approach fails practitioners can guide and orient further diagnostic plans.

[patrickmahaney]

My patient Jersey sprawls out during his acupuncture electricostimulation treatment, which along with laser helps to reduce muscle spasming and inflammation along his vertebral column and hips and promotes blood flow to a lumbar sebaceous cyst. #veterinarian #housecall #losangeles #acupuncture #tcvm #goldenretriever #dogsofinstagram #lovemypatients (at Santa Monica, California)

[daodogandtigercat]

Herbal Medicine

Herbal medicine is the oldest and still the most widely used system of medicine in the world today. It is common and used in all cultures throughout human history. There are many different “types” of herbal medicine that come from different cultures around the world and all of these have the use of medicinal plants in common, some will also use animal parts and mineral as part of their pharmacopeia.  The different types of systems of herbal medicine vary in the herbs they use, the way they prepare and the philosophy of their treatment approaches. Also, they can be used as a single herb or a herbal formula.

Herbal medicine is increasingly being validated by scientific investigation which intend to comprehend the active principles of the herb and their mode of action on a living being. Many modern pharmaceuticals have been modeled on, or derived from chemicals found in plants. An example is the heart medication digoxin derived from foxglove (Digitalis purpurea).

While the modern pharmaceutical compound can bring a fast and temporary relief to a health condition herbal medicine can be used to treat the underlying cause of the disease. Both approaches can be safely integrated treating both the symptoms and the cause.  There are also herbal compounds that can be used to treat acute conditions like gastroenteritis and even shock. 

Just like conventional biomedical drugs herbal medicines will have an effect on the body and can be potentially harmful if not used correctly.  They should therefore be used with the same care and respect as conventional medicines. If you would like to use herbal medicine as a part of treatment of you pet companion consult with a veterinarian doctor that has been trained in herbal medicine. 

[patrickmahaney]

Cardiff and his buddies Deva and Happy Face enjoy a good romp on the beach and a combination of heat from exercise and cool from the water soaked sand. Did you know that the principles of heating, cooling, and neutral energies can be applied to treating a variety of pet ailments, including cancer? Here's my article for PetMD where I cover Chinese medicine food energy and how it applies to cancer patients like #Cardiff. http://bit.ly/273zc4w #veterinarian #holisticveterinarian #vetmedworld #vetlife #lifeoutsideofveterinarymedicine #petmd #dailyvet #tcvm #welshterrier #bostonterrier #mixedbreed #dogsofinstagram (at Malibu, California)