Bread and Jam as cure for digestion problem?

Today a friend called and asked me to come and treat her. She has sever diarreah since yesterday, and she is very weak. She fell down once today. I came over and saw her, she looked weak and a little bit green. I suspected that the earth element is too weak so i asked and she confirmed that she also feels an uprizing movement from the Diaphram up, like wanting to voimt. She also could not breath well because this pressure on the diaphram.
Her pulse was very weak everywhere, except for the Large Intestine which was full and Tense.
I selected a treatment to restore the earth element to the stomach and the middle burner. I used St-37 + st-39 on both feet, and co-11 on the right hand. The sea points for both Intestines strength the entire system and create better middle by acting in different directions. The earth point of the Large Intestine was selected to stable the Large Intestine, and to create the YangMing division, to better assist in treating acute digestion problems.
The pulse appeared right away, and was stable, and after the treatment she felt better already. she asked me what to eat but said "Please don't say rice...", so I asked her what she like to have. she said bread with some sweet paste on it. To her it sounded so unhealthy, but in her case the bread is a great stabelizer, as it absorbs the liquids, and the jam or sweet paste can give her some strength she needs so much now.

Time and Place for Everything.

Benny.

Acupuncture Ear Chart

Acupuncture charts are very common among chinese medicine practitioners, we all use them to locate points, and we all hang them in our clinics. (Aren't we?)
I have seen many acupuncture charts until today, and i noticed how different they are in their point location. They all agree about a certain area for certain points, but they definetly not pin-pointing the same location on all charts.
I have found just now a great acupuncture ear chart, with all the points i learned about and some more, divided nicely into different colors and shapes. Please have a look and tell me if you know of a better one online.

Anemia caused by Iron deficiency in infants

I recently started treating a 14 months year old baby boy, that his (standard) blood test at 1 year age came back with Hemoglobin 10, when it should be 13 for kids his age. The herbal treatment just started and we will find out how it worked only after the next blood test, in a month or two. Meanwhile I searched the web for some information about Iron-Deficiency Anemia, and found this great article, That reminded me that treating this Anemia is first based on proper nutrition and the herbal treatment is only supportive. In this article you can find lists of foods you should eat when you have this Anemia or Suggest to your patients if they have it. I will return to report on this baby as i get further news from his mother. Because this case has no symptoms except some numbers on some paper, I used (after consulting with my teacher) a standard blood-tonifying formula:
Shan Yao 12
Fu Ling 12
Bai Shao 12
Bai Zhu 12
Gu Ya 12
Ma Ya 12

If any of you have experience with such case I would appreciate it if you post your suggested formula as a comment.

Benny.

Chinese Medicine case study - Water in the Yang Ming

A Friend came to me last week, complaining about an open sore on the left side of his tongue. He has bitten his tongue a week before, and the wound was now infected, hot and a bit swollen. It was pretty painful.
I took his pulse and noticed that the pulses of both the Stomach and the Large-Intestine meridians were wiry and floating. I decided to use the cooling water energy to calm down the place, and to use the Yang Ming meridians to get the water to the right place.
I needled points st-44 and co-2, being both water points on the Yang Ming meridians, and added st-6 to direct the calming effect of the stomach meridian strait to the center of the wound.
My friend felt relieved almost immediatly, and the pulses of the Stomach and Large-Intestine meridians were now much softer and deeper. After 20 minutes he felt much better. I asked him to wash the place with salt water (1 teaspoon for 1 cup of water) and put leaves of Sage on the wound. After 3 days the wound was gone.

Spring equinox

Today, march 21st, is the spring equinox. Astronomically this means that the length of the day and night are equal today. This is true all over the world and this may be the only natural phenomenon that unites the entire planet together, even the northern and southern hemisfers, which usually have opposite seasons.

This special day brings with it special qualities that the chinese medicine recognize. The two basic forces that drive the world, the Yin and Yang, are today equal in their power and presence, and therefore bring harmony to this day. This day is the spring equinox, therefore is brings powers of growth and prosperity, which are the forces of the spring.

Another quality of this day is maximum movement of Qi between Yin and Yang. This day brings the most powerful transformation forces and allows for changes that might not be possible in other days of the year.

The yellow emperor learned from his doctor teacher that in order to maintain health according to the quality of spring we should encourage instead of punish.

Many traditions celebrate at or around this day. some even place their new year day in this date. traditions show us that people have long recognized the special qualities of this day and made efforts to mention it in their rituals and ceremonies.

Here are some links worth reading about march 21st equinox:

• Description of various religions ways to celebrate spring equinox.
• Wikipedia enrty for March 21ts, including events and holidays, famous people and more.
• A very simple astronomical explenation about seasons and equinoxes.
• A more scientific one.
• Interesting article about seasonal effects on peoples moods from chinese medicine perspective.

So,

Happy Spring celebrations,

Benny.