This is a guest post, written by Kathryn Sanders, who practices acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine in New York City. Kathryn is a recent graduate of SIOM where she acquired the ability to read medical Chinese. This case study is a good example of using Puerariae Radix (gé gën) to treat head and neck symptoms…
Author Archives: Michael Max
Jue Yin Reversal Patterns
I have been curious lately about the jue yin level. Specifically about how it turns from yin to yang, and more to the point– which yang it opens into. As is often the case when I’m feeling stumped I pull some of the Chinese books that have collected themselves onto my shelf and see if I…
Feeling zesty
I suspect this is true for many of us that practice Chinese medicine. We have patients who come in and describe odd feelings and symptoms that in another doctor’s office would qualify them for a psychiatric evaluation, or at the very least would result in a prescription for mood-altering meds. Perhaps it is because we…
Interview with Arnaud Versluys, part two
This is the second part of an interview with Arnaud. Here we discuss the connections between “illness, pulse, presentation and treatment”, more on the use of abdominal palpation, constitution, and the importance of matching presentation with prescription. For those of you who live in the American midwest, beginning in February of 2011 there will be…
Levels and Formulas
Following up on a previous post where we took a look at how Hu Xi-Shu makes sense of the six levels, and how both yin and yang have exterior, interior and pivot levels. In this post we take a glimpse of how he categorizes different formulas based on which level they treat. Categorizing formulas from…
Interview with Arnaud Versluys, part one
Arnaud learned his medicine in China. Both through the formal university education system and by the side of a teacher not part of the State sanctioned system. He brings a unique view to the study and practice of Chinese medicine, and especially the modern day applications of the classical prescriptions of the Shang Han Lun…
Another look at the six levels
When I first was exposed to the Shang Han Lun in Chinese medicine school, I gathered that illnesses ran through the levels like this: Tai Yang -> Yang Ming -> Shao Yang -> Tai Yin -> Shao Yin -> Jue Yin Furthermore, that mysterious Jue Yin level with its odd mixes of heat and vomiting…
Not exactly a textbook case
Brain damage from traffic accident An excerpt from Deciphering the Shang Han Lun, by Chang Bu-Tao (張步桃) A Mr. Li had a motorcycle accident and was taken to the emergency room and then into surgery. After surgery he was taken to the intensive care unit for observation. His older sister was one of my students,…