Thoughts on Volume III

Transcription

1 Thoughts on Volume III There are so many topics to think about, some important, some less significant. As days go by, I can see that my thoughts are triggered by many. The history of a patient, a sentence in a lecture during a congress, the clearly stated opinion of a colleague, a page in my old, old textbooks, or in the notes I took from Professor Huang Weisan. Sometimes, as I am immersed in acupuncture thinking, the idea juts comes out of the blue, spontaneously. As a result this third volume does have a backbone and a main theme, stemming from the way I work and the way I teach. SOME functional disorders can be treated by acupuncture, and I realized that I had unconsciously developed a way to do it using the symptoms (objective and subjective), and relating them to a system of points, some justified by neuroanatomy and neurophysiology, some relying on the importance given by the Chinese decision making on the points, and some in between, in a kind of blurred area in which you use this or that point or formula, knowing that it works, but not quite able to explain why. As acupuncture was integrated nearly completely into the Chinese medical system, it became more and more dependent on the theory of the system, assimilating the properties of a point to those of a plant, which is completely unjustified. Thus this melting of one into the other seemed to give coherence as a whole, but actually defies reason and logic. This I explain in the book, describing the steps that led me to discard most of the theory of Chinese medicine, explain my reasons, and rely more and more on basic elements for a diagnostic and treatment procedure in between the past and the present. As I went along this path, quite a few ideas or arguments or information came into my mind, which I put here and there in short articles. At first glance the book seems a mixture of many different topics. But slowly the main idea emerges, following my thinking process and giving a rough but useful solution to the complexity of pathological patterns. In between the path of this process, information and ideas on different subjects make the core of the book less monolithic and more digestible, following the trend of the other books.

2 Suggestion of tables for the Stomach function STOMACH Specific Back Shu point BL-21 Adjacent Back Shu point BL-20, BL-22 Mu point CV-12 Important local points ST-21, CV-11, CV-13 Important regional points CV-15, ST-22, ST-23, SP-16 Important distant points ST-36, PC-6, ST-44 Points with general function

3 Points with specific function, or depending on the individual symptoms The Pancake Treating System From the practical point of view, how do I treat my patients when they are suffering from a functional disorder? I call it the pancake system. Actually I invented the term quite a long time ago when a patient asked me why I proceeded in the way I did. To humour him and to make him smile or laugh, I told him: Well, you see, first I ask you to settle on your stomach so that I can insert needles in your back. Then, when your are cooked on that side, like a pancake on the fire, I turn you around, make you lie on your back and cook the other side by inserting needles on the front part of your body. This method came to me naturally over the years, a long time ago. As I have several cabins, it allowed the patient to stay for a longer time in both positions, not that this is really necessary, but the patients seem to like it that way, providing I don t leave them for too long. Some don t like to lie on their stomach. Some occasionally think that I have forgotten them From time to time a more curious patient asks me: Why do you always start by inserting needles in the back, and then in the front? Couldn t you do it the other way

4 round? Well, Mr. Patient, it s like this. There are five cabins, in which sometimes I have five patients with whom I use this method. Usually I rely on my memory to remember which patient has already been treated on the back. But sometimes, for an unforeseen reason like an upsetting telephone call or letter which I have just read or a state of fatigue because I have just come back from the other side of the world and have a strong jetlag, my memory fails me and suddenly I am not quite sure which stage I have reached with each patient.. If I always use the same procedure, just by looking at the patient and seeing that he is on his stomach, I know that I still have to do the other side. If he is lying on his back I know that he has finished with his treatment. Some patients are disappointed because they thought it had something to do with the coming and going of Qi or the balancing or the alternation of Yin and Yang. But they see the logic of my system. There are patients who cannot lie on their stomach for several reasons: they are too fat, they hate that position, or they have a cervical arthritis and cannot stay like that with their head twisted for even a short time. Women may have big sensitive breasts, or a surgical scar. Some patients NEVER stay on their stomach and find it extremely uncomfortable. Some also suffer from a frozen shoulder and don t know where to put their arms. In those cases I ask them to sit on a chair in front of the couch and lean on it with their arms. I insert needles in their back and, after a while, I take them out and ask them to lie on their back. No longer is it the typical pancake system, but at least I have inserted the needles first in the back and then in the front. But I can t insert the needles very deep because, if they move even slightly, it will hurt whereas when they are on their stomach they can relax their muscles. Some of them even fall asleep and snore, which causes giggles in the other cabins. I must be careful, when entering the cabin: they suddenly wake up, don t remember where they are and want to get up while they still have their needles in their back.

5 While they are seated with the needles in their back I must insist that they don t move too much lest they experience pain and they might faint. I ask them to call me if they feel queasy, or cold, or in pain. I immediately remove the needles. I could make the patient sit on the couch with his legs extended, put needles in his back and then make him recline on the needles which I have purposely inserted obliquely in a downward direction. These being thin and supple, they bend under the weight of the patient who doesn t feel any pain. But usually patients don t like the idea as they are afraid that the needles are going to enter the body completely. So I explain that the handle of the needle prevents this. Sometimes I use this system, for example if the patient is in a hurry, but in general I try to avoid it. Another possibility is to put the patient on his side. But it is a little bit more difficult to locate the Back Shu points in that position as the trunk is twisted and curved to suit the half reclined upper part of the couch. But if they insist, I do it. With the pancake method I first stimulate the Back Shu points, and then when the patient is on his back I put needles in the other points. This systematic approach is by no means a must. I find it convenient and use it whenever I can, that is to say with most of my patients. I use the pancake system for functional disorders as I have to insert needles on both the anterior and the posterior part of the body. Needless to say, for other kinds of disorders I use more appropriate positions depending on the problem. The patient can be seated, lying on his back or, on his side.

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