(03) 9852 0851
7A Macedon Road, Templestowe Lower, 3107
# AHDH # Attention-Deficit-Hyperactivity Disorder # Behaviour Issues
A primary school boy has visited my clinic with his parents for ADHD and emotional issues. ADHD is a disorder which often starts in childhood and may persist into adulthood. A child usually shows limited attention and hyperactivity, and may experience troubled relationships and difficulty at school or work.
Like many other children with ADHD, this school boy had issues at school with his poor concentration and class disruption, and sometimes showed aggressive behaviour. He also experienced a few other symptoms and they are:
His pulse was quite weak. His facial characteristics showed that his Kidney and Gall Bladder energy were low. From Chinese medicine perspective, poor Kidney and Gall Bladder energies cause poor concentration, insomnia, constipation and/or hay fever.
I prescribed weekly Chinese herbal medicine for the boy. Because it takes time to build up his energy, it took us almost 5 months. Throughout 5 months, his sleep became much better that he had no issues falling sleep and he slept throughout the night. His appetite was improved but was still picky. No constipation any more. 1 per day with easy to pass the motion. Throat clearing and hay fever showed improvement but was not completely resolved. Most importantly, his concentration has highly improved that his parents no longer received phone calls from school. In fact, he starts to academically performing very well. His behaviour was no longer aggressive, and his emotion was very stable. We finished the treatment after 5 months, and I advised him to come back next year for a month for maintenance.
Although I am not claiming that I can fix all the ADHD, I personally find that ADHD is generally well managed by Chinese herbal medicine as in this case. If you or your child suffers from ADHD, please consider trying Chinese herbal medicine.
Thank you.
Published on 28 February 2024
# Acnes # Heavy Period
A young lady client in her 20s has visited me for her acnes and heavy period, which she had been suffered for over a few years. She was taking hormone pills to control both the heavy period and acnes.
Acnes were presented all over her face, especially on her cheeks and the severity was fluctuated with her hormonal changes. Her menstrual cycle was regular without much period pain nor emotional swings, but the bleeding amount was too heavy for 4-5 days. Her other health issues were the cold hands and feet, lower back pain and shoulder back pain. Her pulse was tense and rapid, and her facial characteristics showed that she is naturally low in her kidney energy.
I advised her the health issues she has from Chinese medicine perspective and explained that it would take about 3 menstrual cycles to treat her conditions. I supplied her decocted Chinese herbal medicine and acupuncture treatment on weekly basis. After her 2nd menstrual cycle, her acnes were all under control without having many new ones. She still had to take some pills to control her heavy bleeding but she did not have to take as many pills as before to control. After her 3rd menstrual cycle, she no longer needed to take hormonal pills and the period amount was under control. She also did not suffer from cold hands and feet, lower back pain and shoulder pain.
Acnes and heavy period are the common conditions that Chinese medicine clinics can manage. If you do suffer from these conditions, please consider trying Chinese herbal medicine.
Thank you, and wish you all the best in 2024, the blue dragon year!
Published on 30 December 2023
# Cold hands and feet # Chilblains # Period Pain # Light Period # Constipation
A female client in her mid-30s visited for her prolonged cold hands and feet. She suffered from this condition since she was a little child and it progressively got worse. Hands and feet become too cold and they get numb and swollen. During the winter time, she suffered from chilblains too. The colour of her left and right hands was obviously different that her right hand was a lot darker than the left.
She also suffered from period issues. Her cycle was good that she was getting it every 28 days. However, it only lasted for 2-3 days with very light bleeding amounts. She also had quite strong period pain on her lower abdomen and had large-sized dark red blood clots.
Her other signs and symptoms were flushed face, constipation (once in 3 days, hard bowels), hair loss and fatigue especially in the afternoon.
Her facial characteristics, signs and symptoms indicated that her body constitution is too weak to warm herself to the extremities. Hence, I provided her decocted Chinese herbal medicine and acupuncture treatment for 3 months on weekly basis. After the treatment, her hands and feet were quite warm and they no longer get numb nor swollen. The colour of her both hands also became indifferent to each other, which indicates that the blood flow to her extremities are evenly supplied. She was also able to pass her bowels almost daily with good bowel quality, and her energy became better that she did not feel much tired in the afternoon. Hair loss was also become minimal. Lastly her period pain and blood clots were disappeared in her latest cycle and the bleeding amount was increased that it lasted for 5 days with 2 days of heavy bleeding. Since her signs and symptoms were all recovered, we decided to finish the treatment.
Do you suffer from chilblains, constipation, and/or menstrual issues? Try consider having some herbal medicine and/or acupuncture treatment please by a registered practitioner.
Thank you.
Published on 2 November 2023
# Endometrial Hyperplasia # Continuous Vaginal Bleeding # Abnormal Vaginal Bleeding
A lady client in her 50s visited for her continual vaginal bleeding for past 5 months. She was already on hormone medicine (6 pills per day) prescribed by the gynaecologist but the bleeding was not still controlled. The bleeding usually got worse at night and often caused severe pain on her lower abdomen. Because her age was near menopause and bleeding was not stopped, she was recommended to have the hysterectomy. But she was not too favourable of the surgery and was seeking an alternative. Her other symptoms were bloating, dizziness and constipation that could not pass daily and was difficult to pass.
Confirmed diagnosis by the gynaecologist was endometrial hyperplasia. Endometrial hyperplasia is when the lining of your uterus (endometrium) becomes too thick and it may cause abnormal menstrual bleeding, short menstrual cycles, heavy menstrual bleeding, bleeding after menopause or amenorrhoea (no period). It is known to be caused by high estrogen and insufficient progesterone productions.
I diagnosed her condition as endometrial hyperplasia caused by uterus weakness from Chinese medicine perspective, and prescribed her some decocted herbal medicine. After about 2 weeks of taking the herbs, her bleeding amount was substantially decreased and by 7th week, the bleeding was completely stopped and she no longer needed to take any hormone pills. Her lower abdominal pain and dizziness were also disappeared. She easily passed bowel once in 1-2 days and bloating was reduced.
If you suffer from abnormal vaginal bleeding, please also consider trying some Chinese herbal medicine and/or acupuncture treatment. Thank you.
Published on 28 September 2023
# PMS # Premenopausal Syndrome # Anxiety
A female client has visited our clinic for her anxiety and PMS issues which she has experienced for years. She usually feels very anxious and her emotion fluctuates, but her conditions become too severe before her menstrual cycle.
Her other signs and symptoms include:
Her facial characteristics showed that she is constitutionally weak in her uterus energy, and from Chinese medicine perspective, emotions of females can be fluctuated due to the uterus weakness.
I prescribed her Chinese herbal medicine on weekly basis for 2.5 months to strengthen her uterus energy and to stabilise her emotions. Her emotions were gradually settled throughout the treatment that she no long felt much emotional swings during her normal days. By her second cycle since the treatment has started, she did not experience any emotional swings nor period pain. Her bowels also became moderate that she only passed 1-2 times per day and had no diarrhoea before the period. Her heart rate has also decreased to mid 70s bpm.
From my experience, Chinese herbal medicine is very effective in managing the PMS and period pain. If you experience any menstrual issues, please consider taking some Chinese herbal medicine.
Thank you.
Published on 30 August 2023
# Central Serous Retinopathy # CSR # Eye Condition
A male client in his 30s visited my clinic for his central serous retinopathy on left eye. CSR is a condition where fluid leaks under the retina, and it causes serous detachment and vision distortion or loss. It usually affects just one eye at a time but both eyes can be affected at the same time
This client was initially diagnosed with CSR in September 2022 by the ENT specialist and it was confirmed by the specialist that the condition is resolved in February 2023. However, as in many of the CSR conditions, the condition reappeared 1-2 weeks after. His main symptoms were the black dots in the central part of his vision and resonating-like headache near left eye. He also experienced decreased vision.
His other signs and symptoms were:
His pulse was very deep and loose with quite slow heart rate at 64 beats per minute.
His facial characteristics showed that he constitutionally lacks in Kidney energy.
In TCM’s perspective, the eye is controlled by the liver energy, and the liver energy is described as the son of the Kidney energy. As his pulse, facial characteristics and symptoms indicate that the patient is low in Kidney energy, I prescribed the acupuncture and decocted Chinese herbal medicine to strengthen the Kidney, thereby I can improve his eye condition.
Throughout the 3 months course of the weekly treatment, most of the client’s symptoms were improved, and recently he was confirmed by the eye specialist that his CSR is resolved.
Do you suffer from any eye-related issues that are not easily treated or frequently happens again?
Then please also consider seeing a Chinese medicine practitioner as we may provide you different treatments and solutions. Thank you.
Published on 3 August 2023
# Tennis Elbow # Intrasubsnace Tear # Lateral Epicondylitis
A lady client in her 60s visited my client for her elbow pain. It was on her right-side elbow, and the most recent medical scan showed that there was 6mm of intrasubstance tear. Because of this tear, patient had difficulty in flexing and extending her elbow and was experiencing severe pain in movement. Even small movement of the elbow caused severe pain.
The client was very healthy otherwise. Her appetite, digestion, bowel movement and urination were all proper without significant issues. She did not experience any other body pain as well. Her pulse was basically showing her pain but the pulse rate was very stable in early 70s per minute.
I supplied decocted Chinese herbal medicine and acupuncture treatments. First 3-4 sessions only showed minor improvement. This is usually due to the inflammation and patient kindly understood this issue. We repeated treatments for 7 weeks altogether and she did not experience any pain afterwards unless she lifts the heavy objects. I advised her to finish the treatment with me, and recommended her to continue applying taping on elbow and to avoid lifting heavy object for one further month.
Many people nowadays experience muscular pain due to the tear of muscles or tendons. Acupuncture and Chinese herbs usually cannot cure the torn muscles or tendons unless it is very minor tear. But acupuncture and Chinese herbs can help clients to live without the pain. If you suffer from this type of pain, please do consider trying acupuncture and/or Chinese medicine. It may help you to fasten your recovery process.
Thank you and wish you all the best luck in July 2023!
Kind regards
Published on 29 June 2023
# Acid Reflux # Sudden Weight Loss # Indigestion # High Stress
A male client in his late 30s has visited our clinic for his digestive issues. He was under high stress from his work over a few months, and he recently started to have nausea, stomach aching and acid reflux. The digestive issues were too severe that he could not eat much and had lost over 10kgs in weights. He was also hospitalised for a few times but all the tests and scans performed in the hospital showed nothing significant. He also could not properly sleep because his acid reflux woke him up. His bowel motion also became irregular. His heart rate was over 90 beats per minute. His facial characteristics showed that the client is emotionally sensitive character. He described himself as highly sensitive character.
According to Chinese medicine theory, the high stress can easily put pressure on our digestive system and can cause many issues such as acid reflux, burping, indigestion, and IBS etc. The symptoms can be worse if the person’s natural body type is sensitive to the stress.
After having decocted Chinese herbal medicine and weekly acupuncture for 4 weeks, the client’s conditions were all successfully resolved. He did not experience most of the symptoms and he was able to eat most of the foods again.
There are different Chinese herbal medicines for the digestive issues to address different symptoms and causes. If you suffer from the acute or chronic digestive issues and would like to resolve naturally, please consider taking Chinese herbal medicine and/or acupuncture. Thank you.
Published on 1 June 2023
# Tinnitus # Ringing in the Ear # Pressure in the Ear # Insomnia
A male client in his 40s visited our clinic early this year for his tinnitus issue. It has started a few weeks ago on his left ear after the swimming. He constantly experienced low pitch tinnitus throughout the day and sometimes he also experienced the pressure in the ear.
His other symptoms include:
His energy was quite low and his tongue coating was white. His facial characteristics showed the constitutionally low Kidney energy.
In Traditional Chinese Medicine, the energy of Kidney is thought to be opened through the ears. If Kidney energy is declining due to some reasons, such as over working or poor sleep, it may result in the tinnitus or even loss of hearing.
Because this client was suffering from poor sleep for a long period of time, I diagnosed him with Kidney deficiency causing tinnitus. I prescribed him some decocted Chinese medicine and acupuncture on weekly basis to strengthen his Kidney energy and to improve his sleep quality.
The pressure in his ear, poor sleep, frequent bowel and shoulder pain were all recovered after a month of treatments. But because the tinnitus was still presented minorly, we repeated another month of treatments, and his tinnitus was completely resolved.
Tinnitus is not easy condition to be treated, especially if the condition is presented for a long period of time. Usually the earlier you start the treatment with tinnitus, the easier and better you recover from the tinnitus. Are you suffering from the tinnitus? Then please consider Chinese medicine and/or acupuncture to treat your condition. Thank you.
Published on 28 April 2023
# Abnormal Uterine Bleeding # Menorrhagia
Abnormal uterine bleeding is the bleeding which occurs between monthly periods, prolonged bleeding or extremely heavy period. There are many possible causes of the abnormal uterine bleeding such as uterine fibroids, polyps, stress, or hormonal changes.
The young lady client I saw was in her mid-30s and was suffering from abnormal uterine bleeding. Her duration of heavy bleeding was only for about 2 days, but her period lasted for about 1.5 weeks. She then had another cycle in 1.5 weeks after. This pattern of her abnormal uterine bleeding continued over a year by the time she visited me. She also has quite strong emotional swings before the cycle. She cannot recall any issues or causes or her abnormal bleeding other than being under stressed at her work.
Apart from her abnormal uterine bleeding issue, she was a healthy lady without any significant health issues. Her pulses were weak but at stable rate of 75 bpm. Her face was little pinkish and her lips were quite pale, which indicated that she was suffering from blood loss.
I prescribed her the decocted Chinese herbal medicine which was designed to stop the abnormal uterine bleeding and to increase her blood energy. The client repeated the Chinese herbal medicine for 2 months. While she was taking the herbs, there was not any abnormal bleeding. She had two healthy period which lasted for 7 days. Her emotional swings were very minimal as well.
Abnormal uttering bleeding is usually very well managed by Chinese herbal medicine. Usually, it takes between 2 to 3 months of Chinese herbal medicine and/or acupuncture treatments to control the issue. Please consider trying Chinese medicine treatment if you do suffer from abnormal uterine bleeding. Thank you. Wish you all the Happy Easter!
Published on 31 March 2023
# Autoimmune disease # Pain all over the body # Pain below left rib # Constipation
A tall and slightly overweighted male client in his 50s has visited the clinic for his autoimmune issues. He has been suffering from joint pain all over his body, pain below his left rib region and pain on sole of his feet. His pains were ‘like inflammation and nerve pain like.’ He has been taking oral steroid for about a year which did not help much. Recently he was prescribed with another immune suppressants, but also found not helping his conditions much. His pain was quite severe that he was not able to attend his work for weeks.
His other signs and symptoms were
His pulses were slipper and rapid and his facial complexion was quite red overall.
His presentations were quite clear from Chinese medicine perspective that he was suffering from Yang Ming and Shao Yang syndromes. I have prescribed him decocted Chinese herbal medicine which he took twice a day, and he also received the acupuncture treatment weekly.
After 5 weeks of treatments, most of his pain has disappeared that he planned to go back to work from a week after. He no longer suffered from headache and he passed his bowels almost every day. He also did not feel hot at night any more and his sleep was quite solid and he did not have excessive thirstiness.
Although treatment periods can vary between different conditions, I believe that Chinese medicine has strong advantages in managing the autoimmune diseases because it helps to improve your immune system. If you have been suffered from autoimmune conditions, perhaps try seeing Chinese herbalists to see if it can be managed.
Thank you for reading and have a wonderful day!
Published on 27 February 2023
# Steroid-induced rosacea-like dermatitis (SIRD) # Rash # Steroid Rash # Hives
A male client in his 70s visited last month for his steroid-induced rosacea-liked dermatitis (SIRD). SIRD typically presents dark red skin with some papules and telangiectatic vessels, which happens after applying the steroid cream. This client has also presented typical SIRD or steroid rash on arms, stomach, legs, back and hip where he applied steroid cream for his dry skin, which was prescribed by his dermatologist. He experienced severe itchiness and felt burning under his affected skin areas. Apart from his skin conditions, he did not have much other symptoms except rapid heart rate (over 90 beats per minute), which may have caused by his rashes.
SIRD or steroid rash is very well managed by Chinese herbal medicine. It usually takes 2 to 6 weeks to clear all the redness and itchiness. For this client, I have also prescribed decocted Chinese herbal medicine for 4 weeks with some acupuncture treatments to support his redness and itchiness. After taking all 4 weeks of Chinese herbal medicine, his skin was no longer itchy and the skin colour was recovered to his usual skin colour. His dryness of skin has also improved and his heart rate has dropped to 70s, which is quite healthy rate.
If you use steroid creams for various dermatological conditions such as rosacea and dermatitis, there is always risk to have steroid rash or even steroid rebound rash. If you do suffer from this condition, please consider trying Chinese herbal medicine as early as possible for early recovery.
Thank you.
Wish you all the best in 2023!
Published on 31 January 2023
# Hay Fever # Migraine # Vomiting
A lady in her 40s visited our clinic for her chronic migraine and hay fever issues. Her migraine has started after her first labour. It happens 2-3 times each month and is usually before or after the menstrual cycle. She feels that she has heat inside her body when the migraine happens and if it is severe, she ends up with vomiting. Her hay fever is chronic as many Melbournians. She sneezes morning and night and feels her forehead is heavy and itchy. She also feels thirsty and drinks a lot of water.
Her other signs and symptoms were:
Considering all her signs and symptoms and her body constitution, I diagnosed her with excessive heat in Shao Yang pathway, which is closely related to her uterus conditions. Hence, the decocted Chinese herbal medicine and acupuncture treatment were provided once a week to control her excessive Shao yang heat. Throughout the 2 months treatments, she only had once occasion of mild headache, which settled down quickly without vomiting. Her hay fever symptoms were all settled down even in high pollen weather. She felt more energy as well and her bowel motion was adjusted to once a day with mostly form shape. Her sleep has also improved that she does not wake up at night unless her child wakes her up. Her heart rate has gradually decreased to low 70s beat per minute which indicates that her excessive heat is coming down.
Many people do suffer from migraine nowadays. Painkillers and migraine injections are also effective in controlling them. But if you want to try something different and does not want to continuously take drugs after the initial treatment period, consider taking some Chinese herbal medicine and/or acupuncture!
Thank you for reading this case, and I hope everyone enjoys a good day today!
Published on 26 November 2022
# Warts # Verruca Vulgaris # Constipation
A 10-year-old girl visited our clinic with her mother for her warts on feet. It started on her left feet a year ago, and she has already tried cauterization and freezing treatments for 3 times. But the warts continuously regrew and she recently had ones on her fingers as well. The number of warts has also significantly increased over time. The warts usually become worse when she is tired.
Her other symptoms include:
There are a few different reasons for warts in Chinese medicine perspectives. In this girl’s case, her facial characteristics showed that she is weak in her kidney energy. If there is lack of Kidney energy, there is lack of body’s vital energy movement which then gets stagnated and can be presented as warts. Therefore, I prescribed some decocted Chinese herbal medicine to increase her kidney energy in order to free flow her stagnated energy.
After taking decocted Chinese herbal medicine for a month, warts were all disappeared. She was also able to pass her bowels every day and her left ankle pain was relieved. Teeth grinding was reduced but still presented. Hence, we decided to take Chinese medicine for further 2 weeks.
Warts are quite easily managed with Chinese herbal medicine in most of cases. If you are suffering from the warts, try some Chinese herbal medicine!
Thank you.
Published on 31 October 2022
# Bell's Palsy # Facial Palsy
A male client in his 40s visited our clinic for his Bell’s palsy on right hand side. Bell’s palsy started after he experienced severe headache. He was not able to make wrinkles on his right face and had trouble drinking fluids due to lack of lip movement. His sensation on right face was very limited as well.
Client’s other conditions were as below:
Bell’s palsy can be caused by many different reasons from TCM perspective. Because there are many different reasons, there are also many different ways of treating the Bell’s palsy.
After considering the client’s constitution and his symptoms, I decided that his Bell’s palsy was caused by liver issues. I provided some decocted Chinese herbal medicine and acupuncture to adjust and strengthen his liver.
After 5 weeks of treatments, his Bell’s palsy was resolved. He was able to make wrinkles, had proper sensation on his face and had no trouble eat and drink. His energy level was better and was having sound sleep. His bowel motion was also adjusted to the healthy 1-2 times per day and his heart rate was dropped to 72 beats per minute.
Bell’s palsy is usually very well managed with Chinese medicine and acupuncture. Usually, the earlier we see the client after experiencing Bell’s palsy, the better the results are. But even the long-term Bell’s palsy can be improved with Chinese medicine acupuncture too. Do you know anyone need help for their Bell’s palsy? Please recommend them to have some Chinese herbal medicine and acupuncture!
Thank you for reading my case everyone =)
Published on 30 September 2022
#Long Covid # Chronic Cough # Lung Abnormality # Repeated Flu
A high school boy has visited our clinic for his chronic cough. It started after he caught COVID 4-5 months ago. Since then, his cough has not been stopped, and he also experienced flu several times. His most recent medical scan showed that he has abnormality in his lower lobe of the lung which possible be caused by COVID. Coughing happens throughout the day with white phlegm. He was on antibiotics for several weeks and also on steroid, but the coughing persisted.
Since the COVID, he has been experiencing many other symptoms such as:
Post COVID symptoms can be quite effectively and easily treated by Chinese herbal medicine. I have prescribed him decocted Chinese herbs for 4 weeks. His cough was gradually decreased each week and it has completely stopped at end of 4th week. I recommended him to check with his GP to test lung sound with stethoscopes, and it was confirmed that his lung sounds perfectly normal. His appetite was returned to normal and he did not have any sweating at night. His energy level has improved and his did not fee hot hands and feet. His motion was still 1 in 2 days but was easier to pass.
I have read many newspaper articles talking about long COVID and I have personally seen many clients suffering from long COVID too. But I find in my clinic that most clients are well recovered with Chinese herbal medicine. So, if you do suffer from long COVID, please consider trying Chinese herbal medicine.
Thank you for reading and have a wonderful day.
Published on 31 August 2022
#Long Covid # ST pain # Post Covid Fatigue # Brain Fog
An early 40s client has visited the clinic for her post COVID symptoms. She contracted COVID in early March this year with reasonably mild symptoms such as mild fever, sore throat and coughing. She recovered quickly from COVID itself. However, now she suffers from long Covid symptoms. Her post COVID symptoms were:
The disease like COVID is considered to be a type of Warm Disease or Warm Toxic in Chinese medicine theory and it typically attacks certain energy channel in our body. It usually attacks different but deeper channel compared to the Common cold or flu. This causes many people to suffer from long period of post infection symptoms.
I prescribed her decocted herbal medicine for her to take to strengthen her impacted channel. After repeating the Chinese herbs for 3 weeks, all her post Covid conditions were resolved.
I believe, and have seen in my clinic a lot, that Chinese medicine can offer a lot to help people suffering from long Covid. If you do suffer from Long Covid, please consider taking some Chinese herbal medicine.
Published on 26 July 2022
# Hay Fever # Asthma # Sinus # Dry Cough # Wheezing
A lady in her early 60s has visited our clinic for her long-term hay fever and asthma, which she has suffered since she was in 20s. She experienced runny and blocked nose throughout the year and it was particularly severe in the early morning. She was on anti-histamine on weekly basis otherwise her daily life was quite severely affected. She also experienced wheezing and dry coughing over many years. She has received the sinus surgery a few years ago but it did not do much for her conditions.
Her other symptoms include
Her facial characteristics indicate that she is constitutionally low her Kidney or congenital energy. This is one of the most common causes of the chronic hay fever, asthma and sinus from TCM perspective. It can also cause slow pulse rate, lower back pain and cold hands and feet.
Client started to receive weekly acupuncture sessions and decocted Chinese herbal medicine. Her asthma, dry cough and wheezing were resolved after about a month but runny and blocked nose in the morning were quite slowly recovered. It took about 4 months of treatment to completely resolve her runny and blocked nose.
If you suffer from chronic hay fever, sinus and/or asthma, try taking Chinese herbal medicine and acupuncture as early as possible. Condition improves quicker as you suffer for a shorter time.
Thank you for reading this case and have a good day.
Published on 4 July 2022
# Diverticulitis # Pus in Stools # Blood in Stools # Insomnia # Boils on buttocks
A young lady in her 20s has visited my clinic for her severe diverticulitis. Diverticulitis is an inflammation or infection in one or more small pouches in our digestive tract. It can cause various symptoms such as stomach pain, nausea, fever, changes in the bowels and pus in stools. There is no complete known cure of this condition due to its nature and affected site, but making it become inactive is possible.
This client was initially diagnosed in 2019 but the symptoms only got worse from end of last year. Her bowels contained fresh blood and blood clots as well yellowish to brownish pus. She also recently passed wind often together with the pus, and hence it was quite inconvenient for her. She also experienced frequent abdominal pain even during her sleep and therefore her sleep quality was quite poor. She was taking some prescribed western medications but did not find much improvement.
Her other symptoms were:
From TCM’s perspective, it seemed that the client was suffering from damp heat retention and the Yin deficiency condition. The “boils on her buttocks since she was young” is quite important in this case. The boils, especially in lower half of our body, are usually caused by the damp heat retention. If this condition does not get resolved early enough, it progresses and can cause the conditions like diverticulitis.
The acupuncture and the Chinese herbal medicine were prescribed and performed on weekly basis for 6 weeks altogether. Her blood and pus in stools were cleared after 3 weeks and most of her other conditions were settled by 6th week.
Are you suffering from diverticulitis? Or any other bowel related conditions like haemorrhoids or Crohn’s disease? Please consider taking Chinese herbal medicine and/or acupuncture! Thank you.
Published on 2 June 2022
# Stomach Cramp # Acid Reflux # Bloating # Digestive Issues
A lady in her early 40s has visited our clinic for her chronic digestive issues. She was often getting stomach cramp on her upper stomach and it was usually caused by having meats at night or cold foods. She also suffered from bloating and acid reflux. She was regularly taking somac to ease her conditions but her symptoms were persistent.
Her other symptoms were as below:
Her pulse rate was high on 80s and it was quite tense. Her face shows that her body type is sensitive and easy to get stagnation of energy flow.
Her body type and symptoms were indicating that her digestive conditions are caused by stagnation of her energy flow. I prescribed some Chinese herbal medicine and acupuncture to promote her energy flow in order to relieve her stomach issues.
Most of conditions have improved while she was taking Chinese medicine and acupuncture for 2 months. She did not experience any stomach cramp and reflux. Bloating still happened if she eats too late but otherwise, she said it was quite comfortable. She was able to easily pass her bowels once a day and did not experience any haemorrhoidal pain. Frequency of occipital headache was reduced and her heart palpitation and shoulder stiffness were also improved.
Digestive conditions such as stomach cramp, acid reflux, nausea and burping are the very common conditions that we see in our clinic. Most of times they are well managed with Chinese herbs and acupuncture. If you also suffer from these conditions, please consider to try some acupuncture and/or Chinese herbal medicine.
Thank you for reading this case and wish you all the best in May.
Published on 29 April 2022
#Type 2 Diabetes # Lethargy # Lower Back Pain
A male client in his early 40s has visited our clinic at the end of last year primarily for his Type 2 diabetes. He was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes a few months ago and was on the diabetic medication. But his rating was still higher than the normal range. Instead of increasing his diabetic medication, he wanted to control it with Chinese herbal medicine.
He also felt very tired because his work was very physical and he was also studying part time after work. He had another issue with lower back that he often feels very heavy and painful especially when he wakes up in the morning. He did not have any other issues. His pulse was very deep and rapid. His facial characteristics showed that he is constitutionally lacking in Kidney / prenatal energy.
There are many reasons for the diabetes from Chinese medicine perspective. One of the most common causes is the weak Kidney energy. Since his face was showing that he is constitutionally weak in Kidney energy, I decided to boost his Kidney energy with Chinese herbal medicine.
Client took the herbal medicine for 4 weeks and his rating was consistently under control without increasing his Western medication. His energy and lower back pain have also improved. When I recently saw him while he was picking up herbal medicine for his sister, he mentioned that his glucose level is still within the normal range.
I would not say that Chinese medicine can cure the diabetes. Similar to Western medicine perspective, Chinese medicine also sees that the diabetes is the disease that requires long term management instead of curing it. However, Chinese medicine can deal with many issues relating to the diabetes such as sudden increase of glucose level and complications like skin issues, loss of appetite, pain and etc. If you do struggle with your diabetes, I would recommend you to consider some Chinese herbal medicine.
Thank you.
Published on 28 March 2022
# Eczema # Atopic Dermatitis # Rash # Hives
A female client in her 30s has visited my clinic for her skin issues. For about half a year, she suffered from two different skin conditions at the same time – atopic dermatitis and hives. She has experienced atopic dermatitis since she was young but it was not severe as she was getting older. However, since the start of last year, her atopic dermatitis had flared up again, mainly on her upper body and face. And this time, she also suffered from hives at the same time, mainly on her limbs, stomach, back and groin. Her skin was very red and flaky and it was very itchy and burning, which was worse at night and during hot weather. Her conditions got worse after her suffered fever early this year. She has been seeing Western medicine dermatologist and other Chinese medicine practitioners but her conditions did not settle down.
Her other conditions were:
She also had fast heart rate which was over 80 beats per minute and her face characteristics showed that she is of heat body type.
From her presentations and history, I diagnosed her as having wind damp heat and prescribed her decocted Chinese herbal medicine and weekly acupuncture. Her skin conditions were still up and down for first month but it then gradually settled down. After about 2 months altogether, her conditions were all resolved. Her insomnia and constipation were also all resolved and her emotions were more stable.
Many dermatological conditions such as acnes, hives, atopic dermatitis, shingles and psoriasis are quite common these days. There are many managements or treatments available. Chinese medicine and acupuncture are one of them. If you are suffering from certain skin conditions, consider getting some Chinese herbal medicine and acupuncture too. Thank you.
Published on 21 January 2022
# Post Pfizer Syndrome # Post vaccine Symptoms # Chest Pain # HT Palpitations # Fatigue
A lady in her 30s has visited our clinic for various symptoms that she was experiencing past 2 months which have started after getting her Pfizer vaccine. She had the vaccine jab on her left upper arm.
After the vaccine, she started to experience extreme fatigue, pain on left side chest, fast heart rate (87 beats per minute on first visit), shortness of breath and numbness of her left arm. She sometimes also experienced pain along her left leg. Prior to receiving the vaccine, she did not experience any of these symptoms, and her symptoms were progressively getting worse over 2 months. She did report to the hospital and have done a few tests such as blood test, ECG and ultrasound but nothing was found to be clinically significant.
From Traditional Chinese Medicine’s perspective, the vaccine is considered as the exterior pathogen. This exterior pathogen can attack our body and can cause exterior and/or interior issues. In this client’s case, she was suffering from typical pattern where the exterior pathogen caused the internal damages.
I have applied the acupuncture and decocted Chinese herbal medicine to relieve the exterior pathogen and to strength her internal energy. After 3 sessions of acupuncture and a week of herbal medicine, her heart rate had come down to 68 beats per minute which is within healthy range. She also did not experience much symptoms any more except slight tension on LHS chest. We decided to repeat for further 2 weeks of Chinese herbal medicine.
I have been quite often seeing clients suffering from post-vaccine symptoms this year. It appears that the acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine work well in most cases and usually clients get to recover within a week to about a month. If you do suffer from post vaccine symptoms, please do consider acupuncture and decocted Chinese herbal medicine.
Thank you everyone for all the support this year.
I wish you all the Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year 2022 =)
Published on 7 December 2021
# Headache # Constipation # Paediatric
A primary school girl visited our clinic for her persistent headache. Her headache was very persistent that it happened almost every day for a few months. Headache usually caused pain on her frontal and occipital head regions. Her mother and herself were not aware of any factors that trigger or worsen her headache. Her MRI and CT scan showed nothing medically significant as well.
Her other signs and symptoms were:
From Chinese medicine perspective, there are many reasons causing the headache and one of the most common one is the heat accumulation. This client also seemed to be having a lot of heat in her body which can be explained by headache, red cheeks, insomnia, constipation and thirst. I thought it may be caused by her over eating tendency and preference for the meats than vegetables. I advised her mother to control her eating, especially at night, and try to offer her more vegetables. I also provided her some decoded Chinese herbal medicine to clear her heat accumulation.
After 2 weeks of taking Chinese herbal medicine, the girl was able to easily pass her bowels every day. She also did not experience any nausea, stomach pain, thirst nor numbness of legs. Her sleep has also improved that she was able to fall sleep easily. With all the symptoms improved, she of course no longer suffered from the headache.
Headache can be caused by issues in our head. But now always. It can be caused by many different reasons like the girl in this case. If you are suffering from the chronic and/or frequent headache, consider having Chinese medicine and/or acupuncture.
Thank you. Wish everyone to enjoy the upcoming releases of lockdown restrictions =)
Published on 25 October 2021
# Psychological Issues # Depression # Suicidal Thoughts # Period Pain
A female client in her early 20s has visited our clinic for the above-mentioned issues. She was easily depressed and she sometimes even had suicidal thoughts. She also suffered from heart palpitation and insomnia that she found it difficult to fall sleep and had lots of vivid dreams every night. When I questioned her whether there were some triggers for her psychological issues, she said she cannot think of anything. Then throughout the questionings, I noticed some issues with her period. Her cycle was irregular that she sometimes had twice cycles in a month. It lasted for too long with heavy flow for 5 days. Her period pain was very high. Her lower back was painful and she felt her lower abdomen was sinking and stabbing. She also had breast pain for 2-3 weeks prior to her period and skin around her nipples was very itchy before and after the period. Her emotions were a lot worse during the cycle as well.
Her other signs and symptoms were:
Psychological issues can be caused by many different reasons from TCM perspectives. One of the causes is the weak uterus. If the uterus energy is too weak, it often causes psychological issues from TCM knowledge. You can quite easily see many ladies have slight up and down of emotions during their cycle. Since this client had quite many issues with her period and also her facial characteristics showed that she is constitutionally weak in her uterus, I focused on improving her uterus health to manage both her period and psychological issues. The primary treatments were done through the decocted Chinese herbal medicine and the acupuncture treatment was performed to support further.
Throughout the three months of weekly treatment, her emotions were very stable even during her period. Her cycles became regulated (28-30 days) with minimal period pain. The duration of her cycle was also regulated that she now finished her cycle in 7 days with 2.5 days of heavy flow. Her energy and digestion were also improved. There was also improvement on her psoriasis that she no longer had any itchiness or white flakes.
I believe that the pain management and IVF support is well known for TCM. But Chinese medicine and acupuncture also assist in many other areas. I personally believe that emotional management is one of our key strengths through Chinese medicine and acupuncture. If you are experiencing psychological difficulties, try considering some Chinese herbs and/or acupuncture.
Thank you for reading everyone.
Have a good weekend =)
Published on 2 Oct 2021
# Period Pain # Heavy Bleeding # Dysmenorrhea # Menorrhagia
A lady in her 40s visited our clinic for her severe menstrual pain and heavy bleeding which have started since she was a teenager. Her cycle was regular (28 days) but she had extremely severe lower abdominal and lower back pain and dizziness before and during the cycle. She could not go out of the house and had to take a rest at home with taking high amounts of pain killers. Her extremely heavy bleeding lasted for 5-6 days with very large (approx. 10cm in length, 3-4c, in width) blood clots. She also suffered from lower abdominal pain and headache during ovulation.
Her other signs and symptoms were:
There are various reasons for period pain and heavy bleeding from TCM’s view. In this client’s case, it appeared that her conditions were resulted from excessive heat which was caused by stagnation of her energy (Qi & Blood in TCM). I prescribed her decocted Chinese medicine and advised her to continue for 2-3 cycles.
Her heavy bleeding was resolved after 4 weeks of taking the Chinese herbs. However, her period pain was still quite high and she felt it was better by 30-40%. We continued the Chinese herbs for next two cycles and each time she felt that the pain was relieved by 30-40%. By her third cycle, she did not experience any period pain for the first time in her life. She still had a bit of clots but the size was a lot smaller (approx. 5 cents sized). While her menstrual conditions were improving, most of her other symptoms have also improved. She easily fell asleep without waking up at night. Her bowel motion was controlled to 1-2 times a day with good shape. She no longer had headache nor coldness on chest and hip.
Do you suffer from period pain? Heavy bleeding? Or any other menstrual issues? Please consider taking some Chinese herbs, a natural way to manage your menstrual issues!
Thank you for reading this case and I hope everyone stays healthy and safe during this extended lock down. Hopefully the situation improves and lockdown finishes soon!
Published on 27 August 2021
# UTI # Urinary Tract Infection # During Pregnancy # Genital Irritation
A young lady in her early 30s has visited my clinic for her persistent urinary tract infection during her pregnancy. She has been taking antibiotics for 2 weeks but it did not resolve her issues. As general UTI, she suffered from frequent urination, low grade burning sensation when urinating, and irritation around her genital region. She also felt very low energy throughout the day. She looked very pale and tired, and her pulses were deep and weak.
From TCM’s perspective, not all UTI is caused by the bacteria. People can still experience UTI-like symptoms for various reasons such as fatigue. During pregnancy, many pregnancy ladies can suffer from UTI-like symptoms when they are very fatigue. In this case, TCM believes that the pregnant lady does not have much energy to lift up the placenta which then pressures down on the urinary bladder to cause UTI-like symptom. Therefore, the treatment focus is also on improving the energy of pregnancy lady.
After taking 2 weeks of decocted Chinese herbal medicine, the client did not have any UTI symptoms. She also felt a lot more energy and less night sweating. Because night sweating, from TCM’s perspective, should not present during the pregnancy for both the pregnancy lady and the foetus’s health, we decided to continue for a few more weeks to stop the night sweating and to further boost her energy.
Common symptoms, from TMC’s perspective, of lack of energy during pregnancy are fatigue, lower back pain, hives, swollen legs and UTI. If you experience any of these symptoms, please consider trying Chinese herbal medicine.
Thank you. Hope the lock down #5 will be lifted tomorrow. Fingers crossed!
Published on 26 July 2021
# Carpal Tunnel Syndrome # Wrists Pain
A mechanic in his 30s was suffering from the carpal tunnel syndrome on both wrists for over 6 months. Whenever he applied pressure, especially during his work, he had the pain on both wrists. He also felt that he was losing strengths on hands which affected his work.
His other signs and symptoms were:
His pulse rates were on high 70s and they were deep and loose. He also drinks alcohol on regular basis, about 3 to 4 times a week. His eyebrows were quite dark and his lips were quite red.
Considering his nature of work, appearance and symptoms, I concluded that his carpal tunnels were resulted from lack of liver blood energy. In TCM, liver is the one that supplies the strengths to person’s tendons and muscles. But the person can quite easily lose liver energy from over working and regular alcohol consumption especially if you constitutionally have weak liver energy like this client.
I applied acupuncture treatment to strengthen his liver blood energy in order to strengthen his wrists. After 5 treatments, he no longer had the wrist pain. His overall conditions have also improved that he does not have lower back pain, frequent bowel motions (1-2 per day now) nor cold sweats. He then wanted to improve energy level and so I have provided some Chinese herbal medicine for him to drink.
Do you have carpal tunnel syndrome? Or any tendon issues? Consult your local acupuncturist or Chinese herbal medicine practitioners.
Thank you for reading and wish you all enjoy your end of financial year =)
Published on 30 June 2021
# Pregnancy Support # Infertility # Yellow Palms # Hypothyroidism
A female client in her late 20s visited my clinic for pregnancy support. She was trying for a few months but it was not successful. Her menstrual cycle was 26-28 days with 3-4 days of good flow and finished in 6 days. She experienced minor lower abdominal pain on day 1 of period. She also had a bit of blood clots recently.
Her other signs and symptoms were as below.
Her near normal menstrual patterns showed that her difficult pregnancy is not due to the uterine issues itself. Instead, I focused on her yellow palms. Yellow palms, from TCM perspective, indicate that there is stagnated flow of Qi in the body which can cause various issues such as digestive issue and difficult pregnancy.
I prescribed her decocted Chinese herbal medicine and provided acupuncture to free flow her energy movement. After 8 weeks of treatments, she did not have any digestive issues, no headache, pulse rate became moderate at about 68 bpm and her palms were no longer yellow. We decided to stop the treatments and see how she goes.
After 2 months, her husband came to see me for his lower back pain and said his wife is 6-weeks pregnant =)
Do you have yellow palms? Or find difficult to get pregnant when there are no menstrual issues? If yes, trying consider to have acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine. TCM often provides you different concepts. Thank you and have a good day everyone.
Published on 1 June 2021
# Jaw Pain # Locked Jaw
A female client in her late 30s has visited my clinic for the jaw issue which she has suffered for over 6 months. She gets locked jaw, pain around jaw, earache and pain on back of her eye. She has seen the specialist but her jaw condition did not get better.
Apart from her jaw issue, she also had difficulty in falling sleep, constant headache, thirsty at night, back pain and shoulder pain. Her pulse rate was within standard rate but it was very deep and weak especially in her Liver energy.
The energy of liver in TCM’s perspective control the muscles and tendons in our body. If liver energy has some issues, either being weak or stagnate, people tend to suffer from musculoskeletal issues. Since this client was suffering from various muscular and tendon issues and her pulse also showed that her liver energy is very weak, I decided to strengthen her liver energy by performing acupuncture. After 4 acupuncture treatments altogether, the client was not getting any jaw pain. She also did not suffer from her headache, back and shoulder pain as well.
I find that the jaw pain or locked jaw are quite easily resolved with acupuncture and/or herbal medicine. If you have some jaw issues, try consider having acupuncture and/or herbal medicine too. Have a great weekend everyone =)
Published on 30 April 2021
# Fatigue # Lower Back Pain # Breast Cancer
A female client in late 40s visited my clinic for low energy. She had right-side breast cancer a few years ago and ever since she had the surgery and chemotherapy, she always felt very fatigue especially in the morning.
Her other symptoms were:
From TCM’s perspective, any surgeries and chemotherapy drain the energy (Qi & Blood) out of your body. Also, the high pulse rate and the fact that she still has the pain on surgical location indicate that the client was not fully recover from the cancer surgery and chemotherapy.
I provided her the decocted Chinese herbal medicine to restore her energy and to fully recover the surgical area. After a few weeks of herbs, client felt more energy, better sleep, less LBP and not much pain on the right-side arm pit. Her pulse rate was also dropped down to normal range. We still repeated the herbs for a few more weeks to further strengthening her body.
If you find yourself having lethargic and/or suffering from pain after some surgeries or chemo or radiotherapy, please consider having some Chinese herbal medicine to boost your energy and to relieve your pain or other health issues.
Have a safe Easter holiday everyone.
Thank you.
Published on 30 March 2021
# Runny Nose # Coughing # Paediatric # Children's Health
3 years old child has visited the clinic with her mother for her constant runny nose and coughing. Her condition has started since she was 6 months old and it continuously presents unless applying steroid nasal spray. Runny nose was clear to yellow colour and was quite sticky although there was no foul smell. Coughing happened mainly at night. She also sometimes sweats at night and her hands and feet were quite cold.
Through questioning, it was noted that the child started to have solid foods since she was 5 months old and she often eats snacks. She also sleeps at night soon after she finishes her meal or snacks.
TCM has different view to Western medicine about the time that child can starts to have solid foods. TCM believes that the child’s energies of organs are continuously growing after the birth and there is different phase of development for different organs. TCM believes that child’s stomach is usually ready for solid foods at about 10 months and that’s when the soft solid foods such as congee should be introduced. If the solid foods are introduced too early, then it can harm the stomach condition of the child and can cause issues such as indigestion, runny nose and coughing. Also, it is recommended to have empty stomach for 2.5 hour to 3 hours prior to lying down at night to help proper digestion.
Considering the child’s history and present symptoms, I decided that it was the indigestion which was causing her constant runny nose and coughing at night. I prescribed her 2 weeks of decocted herbal medicine and the child’s conditions were well resolved when I followed up. I recommended her mother to reduce the snack intake and also avoid sleeping soon after the dinner.
If your child suffers from recurrent coughing or runny nose, consider having some Chinese herbal medicine.
Thank you and wish you a wonderful day =)
Published on 25 February 2021
# Digestive Issues # Reflux # Stomach Pain # Bloated
A male client in his mid-40s has visited my clinic for his stomach issues which he has suffered for a few years. He was having severe reflux, stomach pain and was easily bloated. He also felt his saliva was too watery and he too easily felt hunger. He passed his bowels twice a day but the quality was varied from runny to hard. He also suffered from shoulder pain, calf pain when he walks and lower back pain. He was also quite tired especially in the morning. His pulse rate was too low, at 40 beats per minute and his pulse was deep and slow. He was quite fit but his face was very asymmetric.
From TCM perspectives, the stomach conditions can be caused by many reasons. It can be the problem of stomach itself, but it also can be caused by kidney, liver, lung and so on.
Considering all his symptoms, signs and his face appearance, I diagnosed him as kidney yin and yang deficiency and prescribed him decocted Chinese herbal medicine and acupuncture weekly for 3 months. Usually, kidney issues from TCM perspective takes longer treatment period.
After the treatments, he did not suffer from any of his stomach issues and he also did not suffer from shoulder, lower back and calf pain. His heart has also increased to low 50s per minutes and he felt a lot more energy.
Chinese medicine, in my belief and from my experience, has strong efficacy in treating the chronic conditions, such as digestive issues, chronic fatigue, period pain, migraine and so on. If you are currently suffering from chronic conditions, please do consider Chinese medicine and acupuncture.
Thank you.
Have a good day everyone.
Published on 1 February 2021
# Anxiety # Excessive Armpit Sweating # Frequent Bowel Motion # Insomnia
A female client in 20s visited my clinic for her anxiety which has started many years ago. When anxious, she tends to have light headed, chest pain, numbness of hands and feet, and crying a lot. Her other signs and symptoms were excessive sweating under arm pits, frequent loose bowel motion and frequent wake up at night. Her pulse rate was within normal range but it was very tense. Her nose was very high, her face was of red complexion, and the colours around her eyes were quite dark.
Client’s symptoms and appearances indicate that there is fire in her liver and heart energy, which is the common reason for the anxiety from TCM perspective. Excessive fire in heart can also cause sweating under the arm pit and cause some bowel issues. The fire in liver disturbs the sleep and causes the insomnia.
Decocted herbal medicines and acupuncture were prescribed to her on weekly base. While repeating the same treatments over a few weeks, she did not experience much anxiety and when she was anxious on one occasion, the severity of her symptoms was not severe as before. Her arm pit sweating has reduced a lot that she no longer pays much attention and her bowel frequency was regulated to 1-2 times per day. She also sleeps deeper without often waking up. We have decided to repeat for a few more weeks to further strengthen her liver and heart energies.
Anxiety is quite common nowadays and there are many treatments available such as counselling and drugs. Although those common treatments are effective in many cases, Chinese medicine and acupuncture can assist in different aspects as well and I find that they are quite effective in many psychological issues. If you do have any psychological issues, please do consider trying traditional Chinese medicine and acupuncture.
Thank you for reading my case and I wish you all a happy new year 20201 =)
Published on 31 December 2020
# Acnes # Pregnancy Support # Infertility
A female client in her mid-30s visited my clinic for pregnancy support and for acnes.
She had her first pregnancy 5 years ago but was not able to have second pregnancy yet. Her period cycle was within healthy range with good bleeding amounts and she did not experience significant period pain. But her acnes usually flared up during her menstruation and they were located around her mouth and chin and were of large sizes.
Her other symptoms were:
From TCM’s point of view, female’s acnes along the chin and around the mouth indicate the presence of damp heat in uterus which can be the main factor for the difficult pregnancy. Hence, I aimed at clearing her acnes by focusing on removing damp heat in her uterus in order to support her pregnancy. I prescribed her weekly acupuncture and decocted Chinese herbal medicine.
The acnes were disappearing from second week and after about 2 months of the treatments, she hardly had any new ones. Her other symptoms were all improved. We repeated further 2 months and the blood test showed that she was in 5th week of the pregnancy.
Acnes does not only cause by the skin issues. It can be caused by many internal reasons. Infertility or difficult pregnancy can be also caused by many different reasons. If you do have similar issues, please do consider Chinese medicine as well. Have a good last day of November. Thank you.
Published on 30 November 2020
# Frozen Shoulder # Shoulder Pain # Fatigue # Insomnia
A male client in his middle 50s said that he has been suffering from frozen shoulder for about a year. The range of motion of his left shoulder was very limited that he could not lift more than about 45 degrees. His shoulder was also continuously painful throughout the day.
His other symptoms were:
His pulse was very weak with 69 beats per minute. He had a surgery on left kidney in his 20s and since then, his left kidney does not function properly. His face was asymmetric and his lip colour was purple. He was of moderate body size.
From TCM’s view, the shoulder pain, especially in males, is often caused by their low energy in kidney. Low kidney energy can also cause lack of energy as well as insomnia because it fails to calm your mind at night. This client was obviously suffering from kidney energy deficiency considering his symptoms, pulse, face shape and his surgery history.
Frozen shoulder treatment usually takes min. 2-3 months because it does not just involve the muscles and usually has some tendon issues. I prescribed him weekly decocted Chinese herbal medicine to boost his kidney energy and applied acupuncture on right hand side to treat his left frozen shoulder.
We have repeated weekly treatment for 2.5 months and he now has no issue with his left shoulder. He has no pain and his range of motion is not limited at all. His energy is better that he no longer requires the afternoon nap. His sleep is better that he does not wake up every night and less dreams. The itchy throat and dry eyes have also improved.
If you do also suffer from frozen shoulder, consider trying acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine.
Thank you for reading and wish you a happy long weekend =)
Published on 31 October 2020
# Child Growth Support # Frequent Bowels # Poor Appetite
A 8-years-old primary school boy was having some growth issues. He was very slim and short in height compared to his classmates. I asked his mother how much he grows each year and she said that her son hasn’t grown much this year. (Please note that I could not measure his height myself in my clinic because this consultation was done through tele-health due to the stage 4 restrictions)
His other conditions were:
From TCM’s point of view, the frequent bowel motion and too much sweating can lead to the lack of energy. Abdominal pain, husky voice and poor appetite indicate that there may be some constitutional weakness. Hence, I thought his lack of energy with constitutional weakness may have contributed to his slow growth, and I prescribed decocted Chinese herbal medicine to address those issues.
After a month of having Chinese herbal medicine, he now only has 1 bowel motion each day and strong appetite and he very rarely has abdominal pain. His mother said that her son has put on some weights, which I believe will help him to grow in height too.
When do you need to concern about your child’s growth?
If you notice that your child has one of the above issues, it would be beneficial for your child to have a consultation with TCM practitioner and/or your local GP as early as possible.
Thank you for reading my case and wish you a great Chinese Moon festival =)
Published on 30 September 2020
# Headache # Severe headache # Constipation
A middle school boy visited my clinic with his mother for his severe headache. The headache started without a certain triggering factor. It just started when he woke up in the morning and he felt the headache throughout the whole day over a week on daily basis. He was taking Codeine 8mg and Paracetamol 500mg over a week but it did not reduce his headache at all. He also felt tired, which was worse in afternoon.
His other noticeable symptoms were:
His pulse was on a bit high, 81 beats per minutes. His face was red and he was overweight according to BMI.
Headache, rapid pulse, red face and overweight body constitution indicate that this client was suffering from wind-heat (TCM terminology).
The boy preferred to have Chinese medicine instead of acupuncture. So, I prescribed him the decocted Chinese herbal medicine to clear his wind-heat. After taking herbs for 2 weeks, his headache was completely gone. He felt more energy, no sinus, and no sweating on hands and feet. He was also able to pass bowel about 6-7 days in a week. Now I am seeing his brother for different issue and his mother said that headache did not come back until now (that is, 4 weeks after stopping herbs).
Headache can be caused by a few different factors. Usually when I treat headache according to the factors and the client’s body type together, most headache was relieved quite quickly. If you suffer from headache or migraine, try consider having some acupuncture and/or Chinese herbal medicine.
Thank you for reading my case and I hope everyone good physical and mental health during this stage 4.
Published on 31 August 2020
# Period Pain # Irregular Period Cycle # Menstrual Issues
A teenager girl came to this clinic with her mother for her period issues. A healthy female would experience 28 days (± 2 days) period cycles, 6-7 days of period duration and very minor or no period pain. But since her menarche, her cycle was either too short or long and often lasted over a week. She also suffered from severe lower abdominal cramping and pain.
Interestingly she was a very healthy person otherwise. Apart from cold hands and feet, she did not have any other issues. Her sleep, digestion, bowel motion and urination were all healthy and she did not experience any fatigue or pain in the body. Her pulses were tense with 64 beats per minute.
Like this client, when a patient does not experience any other symptoms apart for his/her chief health issue, I usually treat them according to his/her constitution.
From her face, it was noted that she constitutionally has heat in heart and small intestine which can quite often causes period issues in females because small intestine is the one that regulates the blood in uterus from TCM’s point of view.
I prescribed her the decocted Chinese herbal medicine and acupuncture to control her constitutional heat. After the first month of treatment, her cycle became more regulated to 33 days with very minor period pain. But because the cycle was still longer than the standard cycle, I repeated the same Chinese herbs and acupuncture for another month. The period cycle then became 27 days, lasted for 7 days and she did not experience any period pain. Patient wanted to try one more cycle to make sure that her cycle comes on time again with good duration and no period pain. Thus, we have repeated further 1 month and it was all healthy again.
From my experiences, many of period related issues can be managed by Chinese medicine and acupuncture. If you or your family/friends suffer from similar issues, please do consider trying Chinese herbal medicine and acupuncture.
Have a good day and stay healthy!
Thank you.
Published on 31 July 2020
# Warts # Water Warts # Molluscum Contagiosum # Warts over whole body
A 5-year-old boy visited my clinic with his mother for his water warts. It started from below his breast area and has spread to his stomach, face, back, arms and legs. The skin wasn’t itchy but water warts’ typical flesh-coloured, dome-shaped with a dimpled centre lesions were all over his body. From Western medical perspective, the water warts are thought to be caused by viral infection. Western medicine usually believes that it takes about 9 months to 2 years to recover from water warts. This boy was also told by the GP that it may take over a year to recover.
His other conditions were as below:
His pulse rate was moderate for the young boy but it was quite weak.
I diagnosed him with Spleen weakness and prescribed him decocted Chinese herbal medicine to strengthen his spleen and thereby to reduce the warts.
The warts were healing quite fast. Most of the warts reduced sizes after a week, and after 4 weeks, they were completely disappeared. The different skin colours were still observed on the areas where water warts were presented but they will naturally heal over the time. Boy also starts to eat more, less sweating while sleep, less blocked nose and no dry coughing.
I have not seen a lot of water warts yet and therefore I cannot say that Chinese medicine is definitely effective for water warts. However, for those cases I have seen so far, it took between 2 to 4 months to recover from water warts. If you or your children are struggling from water warts, perhaps consider trying Chinese herbal medicine too.
Have a good day everyone.
Thank you =)
Published on 30 June 2020
# Myelodysplasia # Fatigue # Headache # Burning Feet # Insomnia
A client in 40s visited our clinic in early this year for her myelodysplasia, which was diagnosed about a year ago. Myelodysplasia is where the immature blood cells in the bone marrow fail to mature and therefore there are lack of healthy blood cells in the body. Usually there are not many symptoms in early stage but it may cause fatigue, shortness of breath or frequent infections as the condition progresses. In this client’s case, the rate of cells which produce blood cells were too low and therefore she was on the waiting list for the bone marrow transplantation.
Her symptoms were:
It was also noted that she has suffered from lots of emotional issues. Her pulse rate was quite high at 88 beats per minutes.
After checking her face, constitution, pulse and symptoms, I decided to take 2 steps in treating her condition. It was necessary to firstly soothe her emotional stagnation and then to strengthen her body. I provided her weekly decocted Chinese herbal medicine and acupuncture. After 3 months of treatments:
Most importantly, and thankfully, her most recent blood test which was conducted 2 weeks ago showed that there was a significant increase in her blood cells that the specialist has confirmed she no longer requires bone marrow transplantation.
I am still seeing this client and I think it is still too early to say that she is cured. But at least it is a positive sign that the rate on the blood test is now within normal range. After the discussion with the client, we plan to continue on for another 3-4 months of treatment to further improve her conditions.
Thank you very much for reading this case.
Published on 27 May 2020
# Shingles # Herpes Zoster
A female client visited me in early Feb this year. She said that she has skin irritation for 4 days. It started from her right-side nose to her right eye brows and it travelled to her forehead and then to right side temporal head. It sometimes causes her slight pain and itchiness. There were no vesicles yet.
The symptom and the location of her skin irritation suggested the possibility of shingles. When I asked her how it started, she mentioned that it started after the strong headache when she was stressed. She also mentioned that she repeatedly gets herpes on her nose. It appeared that the herpes on her nose was attacking her immune system after the stress trigger.
Her other signs and symptoms were:
Her facial colour was red and showed signs of high stress too.
I told her that she is suffering from initial stage of shingles on her head. I advised her not to scratch the affected skin areas in order to prevent from spreading the virus.
Traditional Chinese medicine very effective in treating shingles. I prescribed her the decocted herbs for a week. When she came back a week after, she said her irritation is a lot less but it sometimes still happened. I repeated same Chinese herbal medicine for further 2 weeks and it was completely cleared without any vesicles.
For shingles, it is very important to start the treatment at early stage and not touching the affected areas. Even if it has progressed further that you experience severe pain and many clustered vesicles, Chinese herbal medicine works very well to quickly calm it down.
Many of you may be under a lot of stress as the lock down progresses. Please make sure you do not overly stress in order to keep the good level of immune system.
In Chinese medicine, there is a saying that the Spring (good time) comes after the Winter (hardship time). So, be positive and stay healthy!
Thank you.
Published on 4 April 2020
# Enuresis # Bed-Wetting # Child Growth # Child Health
A primary school boy, age 6, visited with his mother for his bed-wetting issue, which happens almost every day.
He managed to self-urinate by 11-month-old but he started to have this issue for last 7 months. His mother believed that his issue has started after having younger brother 9 month ago. His mother said that her son was under huge stress about having the younger brother that his nails did not grow for last 8 months.
His other issues included:
His height and weight were within normal range for his age. He avoided eye sights and had many white spots on his face, which both in TCM’s view indicates the lack of energy. His eyes and ears were quite big which indicate Kidney and Liver issue.
Although his enuresis may have resulted from his stress, I decided to strengthen his Kidney and Liver energy so that he can better manage his emotional issues. Decocted herbal medicines were prescribed to him.
After 4 courses of weekly treatment, he now does not urinate while sleeping on most of the days (only once in last 2 weeks). He also can fall sleep within 30 minutes, eat more amounts than before, and pass bowels 1 in 1-2 days. He still suffers from leg and knee pain but the frequency is significantly reduced.
I recommended his mother to repeat the treatment for 2-3 more times to further strengthen his energy to completely stop the bed-wetting and leg pain.
If you do have child with bed-wetting issues, consider try Chinese herbs too.
Thank you.
Published on 06 February 2020
# Lower Back Pain # LBP # Stomach Pain
Male patient in late 30s, BMI 29.72, no significant previous medical history.
Main issue was the lower back pain (LBP) which he suffered for last 6 years and it became a lot worse for a month now. X- ray showed that the herniated disc at L4-5.
The LBP started while he was lifting heavy things at work. LBP presented constantly throughout the day and it travelled down to his right leg and he often felt numbness on right foot too. The pain was quite severe (VAS = 7-8/10) that he woke up at night due to the pain.
One interesting symptom was that he always suffers from bloating and the ‘stretching sensation from umbilicus to xyphoid process’ before the severe onset of his lower back pain.
Other signs and symptoms were as below:
From TCM perspective, there are quite many cases where lower back pain is caused by improper diet and stagnation of foods. By considering his stomach condition and LBP together, I thought his LBP is caused by food stagnation.
I applied acupuncture and provided him the decocted Chinese herbal medicine, which I repeated twice in 2 weeks. After 2 weeks, his pain rate was quite low (2-3/10) and it didn’t travel down his leg any more. He did not have frequent bloating and there was no pain between his umbilicus and xyphoid process. His bowels were more regulated that he only passes bowels twice a day although there was still incomplete sensation. Tinnitus did not present any more.
As his condition was improving quite well, we plan to continue on for next few weeks so that he wouldn’t experience any more pain on LBP and to treat his stomach condition.
Thank you for reading and wish you a great afternoon today.
Published on 9 January 2020
# Pregnancy Support # Infertility
An early 30s client has visited for pregnancy support.
Her menstruation was a bit irregular, ranging from 25 to 33 days. She sometimes has blood clots and usually experience painful abdomen on first 2 days of period.
Her other symptoms included:
Her complexion was red and her features indicate involvement of congenita heat in her body.
Her pulse was deep but tense and was 68 beats per minutes.
To assist the pregnancy, it is quite common to first adjust any menstruation / period issues. I thought her irregular period cycle and period pain was caused by heat in her Small intestine and Heart (from Chinese medicine perspective). Also most of her symptoms were able to explained by the Small intestine and Heart heat as well.
Hence, I prescribed her decocted Chinese herbal medicine to clear this heat. Client was a bit scared of needle, so we decided to use Chinese herbs only.
I repeated same Chinese herbal medicine for 9 weeks. During the course of Chinese herbal medicine, most of her symptoms were improved. She did not have much period pain on her next cycle. Sleep became deeper without much dreams. Even if she woke up at night sometimes, it was much easier to fall back to sleep. She no longer had sweating on hands and feet and no more heat sensation on hands and feet.
Mostly importantly, on her 10th visit, she told me it was confirmed that she is 4 weeks pregnant. I provided some information about pregnancy care and things to be cautious during pregnancy from Chinese medicine perspective. Hope the client’s pregnancy period goes well and smooth.
Thank you and wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year 2020!
Published on 6 December 2019
# Acnes
A female client in her late 30s with moderate body size (BMI 22.1) visited my clinic for her acnes.
Her acnes were located mainly on her chin and on both sides of cheeks. They get worse 2-3 days before the menstruation and after having spicy foods or eat late at night. Acnes are hard to mucous types and skins are the acnes are slightly reddish.
Other signs and symptoms:
Her pulse was deep, slippery and rapid (83 on right, 82 on left).
I diagnosed her as having damp heat in stomach, which causes the acnes. I provided her decocted Chinese herbal medicine and acupuncture treatments to remove her damp heat in order to help her acnes.
After 5 weeks of weekly treatments, her acnes were calming down that they were mainly presented on her left cheek. Her sleep was getting deeper. She did not burp much and had no diarrhoea. The mouth smell was calming down and she did not have much discharge. Her pulse was still deep but it was 71 beats per minute. Her cycle was regulated to 28 days and the acnes did not get worse during the period/
I repeated same treatments for further 3 weeks and her acnes were all resolved. Most of her other symptoms have also improved. I advised her to reduce her consumption of spicy foods (heat) and always dry her hair carefully (damp).
Thank you for reading my case and have a wonderful Melbourne Cup holiday!
Published on 4 November 2019
Digestive Issues - Stomachache, Acid Reflux & Burping
A male client in his 30s visited my clinic for his digestive issues, which he has been experiencing over 5 years. He was suffering from chronic and severe stomach ache, difficult to digest, burping throughout the day, acid reflux and frequent vomiting. Because of his severe digestive issues, he was only able to eat small amounts of foods each time. He also could not pass bowels for a few days and sometimes it even took up to 1 week for the bowel motion. He felt cold hands and feet when he is indigested.
Since his digestive issues, he also suffered from difficulty in falling sleep, lack of energy and motivation and easy weight loss. He was about 177cm tall but only weighted 55kg at the time of his first visit. His blood pressure was normal but his pulse was very rapid (92 beats per minute) and tense.
Scans showed nothing significant except minor stomach ulcer and therefore he was quite frustrated that he is not getting any treatments to improved his conditions.
Many of his symptoms and signs (e.g. burping, reflux, constipation, slim body size and rapid pulse) indicated to me that he was suffering from Yin deficiency with deficient heat. When there is lack of Yin energy, there is insufficient downward moving energy in our body. Hence the health issues such as reflux, indigestion, hot flushes, constipation and etc. can be manifested
I have provided him acupuncture treatments and Chinese herbal medicine over 4 weeks. During the course of his treatments, many of his conditions have improved. He no longer has frequent burping, no stomach aching nor vomiting, significantly less reflux and his bowel was more regulated that he was having the motion once in every two days. I have advised him to continue his treatment for another 4-8 weeks in order to prevent the recurrence of his issues.
Thank you again for reading my case, and I wish everyone to have a great day =)
Published on 07 October 2019
Case Study - Insomnia
During the month of June 2019, I had a male patient in his 30s who suffered from insomnia. It took him very long time to fall sleep. He was usually able to sleep after 3 am but he also woke up early too.
His energy is very low in general and his appetite was very poor. He also had quite bad reflux which was worse when he lied down. His bowel and urine seemed all healthy. He sometimes had dizziness, shoulder pain and lower back too. He mentioned that he gets stress and anxious quiet easily and he sometimes even felt like panic attack.
He was of very slim body size and his face and ears were very red. His pulse was quite rapid as well that he was more than 90 beats per minutes.
Insomnia can be caused by many different reasons from Chinese medicine / acupuncture perspectives. In male patients, it usually happens when their energies are quite low. This patient fell in this category. Acid reflux, slim body size and red ear indicate the possible Yin deficiency especially in Kidney or LU energies. As his Yin energy deteriorates, he can become much more active in the active due to the deficient heat arises in his body, which may describe his fast heart rate.
Hence, I applied acupuncture and herbal medicine to increase his Yin energy and to assist his sleep. After 2 weeks of treatment, he found that it was much easier to fall sleep and his overall condition was better. I believe that his response to Chinese herbal medicine and acupuncture was quite quick because he was still young. Usually it may take between 2 weeks to 2 months before a person feels good with insomnia. He repeated 2 more weeks to maintain and to further improve his better conditions. I also recommend him to do warm bath in the afternoon or mediation to bring down his rising deficient heat.
Thank you for reading my case once again.
Have a good day everyone =)
Published on 05 August 2019
Case Study - Chronic Indigestion
A female client in her 60s suffered from chronic indigestion for many years.
She suffers from severe stomach pain and discomfort, especially below the xyphoid process, and she burps quite often whenever she has indigestion. Her appetite is generally good but her digestion always gets worse after having foods made by flour, e.g. bread.
Her other health issues were (1) very shallow sleep and (2) chronic fatigue, which is worse in the morning. Her bowel motion (1 per day, well-formed) and urination (4-5 per day) all appear to be healthy.
Her blood pressure was normal and her pulse was tense and 67 beats per minute.
Her facial complexion was yellow in general and red around her cheeks.
If the person suffers from indigestion especially below the xyphoid process, it is usually caused by emotion-related indigestion. Her taut pulse and poor sleep also indicated that she has some emotional issues.
I used the acupuncture to soothe her QI flow and to resolve the food stagnation. She felt better with indigestion after the first session of acupuncture. I also prescribed her some decocted Chinese herbal medicine to regulate her digestion and energy. She has been taking herbs for 4 weeks now. She finds her energy is improving and has not had any indigestion issues so far. I advised her to come back after 3 months to follow up again.
In order to improve digestion, it is always recommended to walk slowly for 15-30 minutes after the meal. Have a minimum of 3 hours gap between your last meal and sleep time. Lastly, enjoy having your meal without thinking about other issues.
Have a good day everyone =)
Published on 05 July 2019.
Case Study - Coughing in Child
4.5-year-old girl visited the clinic with her mother for her coughing and common cold symptoms.
She was having dry cough which was worst at night and in early morning, runny nose, sneezing and slight temperature. She also felt like she needs to throw up. She did not want to drink fluid and had difficulty in passing the bowels.
Her palms were warmer than dorsum of her hands and her ears were cool.
Her pulse was tense and was stronger on right side.
Upon stomach palpation, she felt uncomfortable when I pressed her umbilicus and middle of the stomach.
Her signs and symptoms were typical example of coughing in children caused by food stagnation (indigestion). The symptoms are usually very similar to common cold / flu that some children even suffer from high temperature. But if the child’s palms are warmer than the dorsum of hand, uncomfortable stomach upon palpation and dry cough worse in early morning are the typical symptoms of indigestion in children. From TCM’s view, the food stagnation can create the heat in the body which then pushes up the diaphragm and causes the coughing.
I prescribed her 7 days of granules. When her mother visited me for her own case on another occasion, she confirmed that her daughter’s coughing and other symptoms were resolved in a few days after taking granules.
I see many parents worrying about their children’s coughing and common-cold like symptoms. I hope that this case provides them some information to distinguish coughing caused by indigestion.
Have a good day everyone =)
Published on 04 June 2019
Case Study - Chronic Fatigue
A patient in his late 60s visited for his chronic fatigue. For over a few months, he felt extremely tired, especially in the afternoon that he had no motivation to do things. He also felt whole body ache when he wakes up the in the morning. He said that there is not anything that caused his fatigue. It just started naturally.
His other symptoms included:
He was on some medications for diabetes, high blood pressure and cholesterol.
His facial complexion was red and his pulse about deep and slow.
From TCM perspective, the chronic fatigue can happen by a few different issues.
In this case, I thought his heart and kidney energy was low after considering his age, symptoms, pulse and facial complexion.
I prescribed him herbal medicine to boost his kidney and heart energy.
After 4 weeks, he felt improvements in most of the symptoms although not 100% better yet.
He felt less tired, no body ache when wake up, less acid reflux, no night sweating, no headache, no numbness, less shoulder stiffness and less coldness in feet.
For a person with chronic fatigue to get better, it usually takes 3-6 months of herbal medicine and/or acupuncture. This patient agreed to try for another month and hope that his conditions improves further.
Thank you for reading. Have a good day everyone.
Published on 06 May 2019
Case Study - Period Pain & Acnes
A high school teenager girl visited our clinic with her mother for her severe period pain and acnes. Her period cycle and duration were good but she had severe lower stomach, lower back and breast pain throughout her period. She started her period at age of 12, which is considered to be a bit early from TCM perspective. TCM views that female’s body changes every 7 years and therefore it is ideal to start period at age of 14. This early menarche (first period) indicates that her uterus is weak or contains a bit of heat.
From TCM perspective, female’s acnes are very closely related to the uterus conditions, especially when the acnes are mainly located on forehead and on T-Zone of the face. This client’s acnes were mainly on her forehead and chin. Thus, I thought that her acnes are caused by her uterus conditions.
Her other major symptoms included:
Her faces were red on cheeks and her upper lip was slight raised. This facial character indicates that there is a bit of heat in her organs. Her pulses were weak but rapid.
Considering all her conditions, facial characteristics and pulse, I diagnosed her as having deficient heat in her SI which then affects her uterus.
She took herbs 6 weeks so far (2 weeks x 3 visits) and had a few acupuncture treatments. She had very minor period pain this time and her acnes were settled down since 2nd week of herbal medicine. Her sweating on hands has almost disappeared. She finds easy to fall sleep now, and there has not been stomach pain nor headache since the treatment.
Key recommendations for her were:
Now her mother plans to have herbs once or twice a year to maintain her good health, and it was very pleased to hear that they were satisfied.
Thank you for reading my case.
Wish you all a good day.
Regards
Published on 29 March 2019
Case Study - Infertility / Pregnancy Support
Female client in her late 30s came for her infertility issue.
She was my old client who also had same issue a few years ago when I was in the different location.
At that time, she was successfully pregnant after a few months of herbal medicine & acupuncture treatments.
She came for her second pregnancy support this time.
After the first labour, she was having regular cycles but all the sudden she did not have cycle for past 3 months. Other symptoms included cold hands and feet, left thumb pain, lower back pain, shallow sleep and emotional swings during the period.
During the consultation, I found out that she went through huge emotional period for a while. Her pulse also showed that she had some stagnation in her body. Thumb pain usually indicates depression issues considering its meridian. Cold hands and feet can be resulted from a variety reason and one of the possible reason is due to the stagnation of her energy.
I prescribed her Chinese herbal medicine to regulate her cycle by soothing her circulation, and I also provided acupuncture treatment to strength her uterus as well as to promote circulation.
After about 3.5 months of treatments, she found out that she was 6-weeks pregnant.
I provided her some Chinese medical recommendations for pregnant period.
Hope she and her new boy go through easy and comfortable pregnancy.
Thank you for reading this case.
Have a nice afternoon everyone!
Published on 14 February 2019
Case Study - Right side body pain
Male patient in 40s visited our clinic for his right-side shoulder, upper back, lower back and leg discomfort and pain. Pain has started after some physical works. He felt pain and discomfort throughout whole day, and he also felt very tired recently.
His face was red, eyebrows were dark and his mouth was quite big. These appearances all indicated that there is some blood deficiency with possible heat in his body. When I checked his pulses, it was quite deep and loose, which also indicate blood deficiency.
Hence, I have applied acupuncture points on his left-side to boost up his blood energy and clears his deficient heat. Cupping was also performed after the acupuncture.
After 2 acupuncture sessions, he felt no discomfort and no pain. I still advised him not to do heavy physical works for a while and try to sleep early to increase his blood energy.
Thank you for reading my case.
Have a good day =)
Published on 01 February 2019
Case Study - Tennis Elbow (from post-natal weakness)
A female patient in her late 30s came to see me for right tennis elbow which she was suffering over 6 months. She does not believe there was anything triggered the pain. Her pain was constant dull in nature which was worse with pressure and in elbow extension.
Her other symptoms were:
I also noticed that she breastfed her child for about 2 years. I understand that breastfeeding over a year is recommended by Western medical doctors. However, in Chinese medicine, we do not recommend breastfeeding over 1.5 years. In most cases, I recommend breastfeeding between 12-14 months only because
Considering this, I diagnosed her tennis elbow as part of her post-natal weakness which led to weakness of her tendon. So, I applied acupuncture points on her left side (SAAM acupuncture technique) to boost her energy as well as to strengthen her tendon.
After 5 weekly treatments, she did not have pain, less thirsty, no headache, and no middle back pain. I advised her to revisit sometime next year to have some Chinese herbs to boost up her energy.
Thank you for reading my case study.
Have a good afternoon!
Published on 28 November 2018
Case Study - Insomnia
A mid-50s female patient has visited for her chronic insomnia. She said that although she is sleepy, she cannot fall sleep when she lies down on bed and usually takes her over an hour to fall sleep. She also wakes up at night because of urination (usually 2 per night) and she finds difficult to fall back sleep afterwards.
Her other sings and symptoms were:
- Feeling her body becomes very hot at night
- Sore and swollen legs in afternoon
- Put her feet out of blanket at night
- Shortness of breath and coughing in heavy air areas, especially indoor
- Tired easily
She was very tall and her cheek bones were quite big compared to her face size. These indicate that she may be constitutionally lack of Yin energy, which may cause her insomnia.
I prescribed her cooked Chinese herbal medicine for a week initially.
When she came back after a week, she said she felt better with shortness of breath, no coughing, and less sore and swollen legs in afternoon. But her insomnia was not changed much.
Although her main issue did not improve much, the improvement of her other symptoms were the signs of Yin energy being increased, and hence I repeated same cooked Chinese herbal medicine for next 3 weeks.
After 3 further weeks, she was able to fall sleep in less than 30 minutes with less hot sensation at night and less number of waking up for urination.
Now we plan to continue herbal medicine for next 2-3 months to more improve her insomnia and energy.
Thank you for reading this case and have a wonderful day.
Published on 29 October 2018
Case Study - Diarrhoea
A male patient in 50s visited our clinic for diarrhoea, which was started after having beef for dinner about 2 weeks ago.
He was having minimum of 3 bowel motions each day and the quality of bowel was varied between loose to watery diarrhoea.
His appetite was reduced and had slightly increased gas in stomach. He was thirsty at night and tired all the time.
His pulse showed that there was a stagnation in his upper and middle systems, which I thought was the reason for his diarrhoea.
Patient preferred to have acupuncture than having Chinese herbs.
So I applied acupuncture points to relieve the stagnation in his systems as well as some points to directly stopping diarrhoea. Total of 10 acupuncture points were applied in his extremities.
I also recommended him to purchase Shan Zha from a herbal shop to have as tea because Shan Zha is a great herb to relieve indigestion and diarrhoea from having meats.
Patient came back for check-up in 4 days. He said that he did not have any diarrhoea since the first visit although his bowel was still slightly loose.
I applied same acupuncture points to control the loose bowel quality.
Acupuncture and Chinese herbs are usually very effective in treating indigestion, diarrhoea, food poisoning and allergic hives reactions. Usually it takes a lot short time to treat the conditions if the patient suffered conditions for a shorter time.
Thank you and have a great day =)
Happy Chinese Moon Festival to you!
Published on 24 September 2018
Case Study - Gout on Big Toe
A male patient in 40s suffered from gout on his left-hand-side big toe.
He was suffering from gout on this location for 3-4 years, and it became worse in recent few weeks.
Pain was of dull in nature and the toe was swollen. The reddish skin on the toe indicated that there may be some inflammation too. Due to his pain, he was not able to walk properly.
Other signs and symptoms included:
In a big toe, there are 2 acupuncture meridians flowing – spleen and liver. This patient’s pain was mainly along the spleen meridian where the spleen, from TCM perspective, is the main organ to control the digestive system together with the stomach. This explained his bloating due to poor digestive system, which may have resulted from frequent meat consumption. Also, when the person suffers from poor digestive system (i.e. weak SP/ST), the body cannot generate enough energy (i.e. Qi & Blood in TCM) as well as resulting in stagnation of dampness. The damp stagnation may cause many symptoms such as shallow sleep, snoring, swelling of hands/face/body, spine sclerosis and weight gain etc.
Hence, I have tried acupuncture to strengthen his spleen function and to remove his dampness by needling on his extremities on opposite side to his gout location, which is a unique and common method in SAAM acupuncture. I have also advised him to reduce his consumption of meat.
After 3 treatments with 3-day intervals, the patient was freed from the pain. However, I have advised him to do some exercise and to keep the good diet to maintain his health in order to prevent the reoccurrence of his gout.
Thank you for reading my case and wish you a happy day =)
Published on 22 August 2018
Case Study - Shoulder Pain & Stomach Pain
A female client in her 40s visited me for RHS shoulder and neck pain which was on and off for years. She complained sharp and deep pain and sometimes stiffness too. Pain was worse with movement. Pain location was on anterior shoulder joint.
She also suffers from indigestion and stomach pain, which wakes her up in early morning. She tends not to eat too much even though she is very busy at her work because of her indigestion and she also doesn’t feel hungry.
She suffers from constipation over years which recently has improved with probiotics.
She often gets severe dizziness and LHS tension headache together with eye pain sometimes.
She had 20 years history of depression.
Her hands and feet are cold and her pulse was deep and tense.
In TCM perspective, she was having Tai Yin meridian issues. It means that her energy is not freely flowing as well as her digestive system became weak. So I acupunctured her to free flow her energy as well as to strengthen her digestive system.
After 5 sessions of acupuncture treatments, she did not have any shoulder pain but she was still experiencing stomach pain. I then prescribed her decocted Chinese herbal medicines. She called me after a week and mentioned that her stomach pain is gone and she eats well with hunger sensations. I advised her to come back for more herbal medicine for 1-2 weeks to further strengthen her stomach.
Thank you for reading and have a good weekend everyone =).
Published on 13 July 2018
Case Study - Painful and Tearing Eyes
A male client in his 40s visited our clinic for painful, fatigue and tearing eyes, which he has suffered for a few weeks. His eyes were congested and his face, ears and nose were appeared to be red colour. The client mentioned that he has been busy with his work both physically and mentally where his work involves a lot of time watching the monitor. He also suffered from minor lower back pain, difficulty in passing bowel and very fatigue especially after his work. His pulses were weak and slippery.
From Chinese medicine perspective, the eyes belong to the liver. There is a phrase saying that ‘energy of Liver is opened through eyes’. So, most eye conditions indicate that the client has liver and gall bladder issues from Chinese medicine perspective. Tearing eyes especially occurs when the liver energy of a person is very low. If you use your eyes too much, it also damages the liver energy.
Difficulty in passing bowel can happen in a few different situations, but considering his pulse and weakness of liver, I concluded that he is lacking Liver blood energy which fails to moisten the large intestine.
Hence, I prescribed him herbal medicine for a week and acupuncture points to strengthen his liver.
When he finished his herbs, he came back and said that his eyes are no longer painful but still slightly fatigue. Hence, I prescribed him same herbal medicine for extra week.
If you also have some eye issues, try some acupuncture and/or Chinese herbal medicine!
Have a great day =)
Published on 28 June 2018
Case Study - Sinus during Pregnancy
A pregnant patient was suffering from severe sinus during her pregnancy.
She felt like bruise around her nose and could not smell anything. Her ears were blocked and upper gums were sore as well.
She suffered from pneumonia 8 weeks before her sinus and she was still coughing with yellowish phlegm and vomited a few times as well. Her bowels were also very runny since the sinus.
Her pulse was very tense and slow for a pregnant woman, which indicated that her body was too cold.
I prescribed her decocted herbs for 1 week to assist sinus. This decocted herb is commonly used during pregnancy to help with common cold, sinus and even pneumonia. This herb is to harmonise the body of pregnant woman without causing sweating, urine promotion and diarrhoea. The following up chat with her, she was happy that she was recovered from her sinus.
In TCM's perspective, when a pregnant woman suffers from external diseases such as sinus and common cold, the treatment method should be focusing on avoiding sweating, urine promotion and diarrhoea in order not to harm the foetus.
So please remember! If you are pregnant and suffers from common cold in this winter season, please don't voluntarily cause sweating because it may harm your foetus.
Have a wonderful day =)
Publichsed on 25 May 2018
Case Study - Migraine
A female teenage client visited our clinic with her parents for migrain which she suffered over 1.5 years.
Migraine usually happens on occiput and LHS forehead with LHS eye pain. After the migraine attacks, she becomes lathargic and suffers from numbness of her limbs and blurred vision.
The attack was too severe that she frequently missed her school. Parents and the client are not aware of any triggers.
Her other symptms included - ST soreness, psoriasis on nape, rashes and difficult to wake up in the morning.
her pulse was very weak but tense, and her tongue had white coating from mid to root of tongue.
Her face was of oval shape with large forhead and eyes, eyes are deep and had dark circles. She was quite pale and was of slim body build.
A person with big forehead are usually emotionally very senstive and oval face shape often indicates some stomach / spleen disorrders. With this in mind, I diagnosed her with disharmoney between her liver and stomach considering her symptoms.
Because the clent was a bit young for the acupuncture and she was scared of acupuncture, I prescribed and decocted raw herbal medicine for a week to boost her stomach energy and to relieve her tension.
She repeated herbal medicine 6 times. During this period of time, she only had one migrine attack at early stage of treatment but with a lot less symptoms.
She wakes up more easily in the morning and most of her other symptoms have improved.
I recommened her parents to provide healthy meals to their daughter and maybe introduce her some relaxing activities such as yogo to maintain her health. I hope she maintains her good health =)
Published on 05 April 2018
Case Study - Urticaria (Hives)
A male client in his 30s came for urticaria all over his body which he has experienced for past 2-3 weeks.
He was of slim to fit body nature with dark eye brows and big nose.
His urticaria appeared slightly swollen from his skin with clear to pinkish colour and they are of coin sizes.
Client said that his urticaria started from his arms and back, and now it sometimes appears on his legs and stomach too.
His main complaint was the itchiness from urticaria which gets worse at night times
His other signs and symptoms included (1) excessive fatigue (2) excessive sweating (3) yellowish green phlegm with occasional blood inolved and (4) min. 3 nocturia per night.
His pulse was deep yet tense. His tongue body was very moisture with deep crack in centre and thin white coating at root.
An interesting fact was that the client eats until very late at night which he has done it for a while.
I diagnosed with him Spleen deficiency with damp accumulation, and prescribed him some herbal medicine to boost his digestive function and remove dampness to help his urticaria.
I noticed that quite many number of people eat until late night these days. In Chinese medicine, eating at late night can harm your digestive function and can results in symptoms like fatigue and itchiness in your limbs and stomach, which usually gets worse at night time. It is a quite common pattern of urticaria resulting from inappropriate eating habits.
Please remember to finish your dinner before 7pm. If you do have late dinner, please also don't forget to walk around for a while and sleep 2-3 hours after your dinner to keep your stomach healthy!
Have a wonderful day =)
Published on 22 February 2018
New Year Holiday Period
Dear Clients,
We are closed from 1 January 2018 to 6 January 2018, and then will be back to usual clinic hours from 8 Janary 2018.
We wish everyone a happy new year 2018!
Published on 28 December 2017
Case Study - Prolonged Coughing
70 years old female patient, suffered coughing for over 3 years. She often gets phlegm and itchy throat as well.
Her scans showed that her esophagus is narrowed with about 85% of normal lung capacity.
She also suffers from falling sleep at night and frequently wakes up due to the nocturia. She has good appetite but has difficutly digesting them. She feels slightly dizziness and her bowels tend to be loose.
Her pulse was slow (about 54 beats per minute) and deep, an her voice was very small.
From TCM perspective, prolonged coughing especially in elderies are often caused by lack of energies (Qi and/or Blood), and this patient also falls into this category.
Both acupuncture and herbal medicine are effective in this case. But because the patient was unable to come often for acupunctue as she lives far away from the clinic, I prescribed decocted Chinese herbal medicine to increase her energies.
Patient came back after 4 weeks with less coughing with very little phlegm.
She was prescribed with another course of decocted herbal medicine.
TCM classifies coughing in about 16 different types with different causes such as coughing from external pathogens (e.g. common cold), indigestion, damp retention, seasonal and etc.
Both acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine are effective for coughing even when the coughing persists over a month.
Thank you fore reading.
Have a lovely day =)
Published on 28 December 2017
FYI
Please check the following link to find the acupuncturists around your area who provide pregnancy related acupuncture services. www.pregnancy.com.au
Thank you.
Published on 17 October 2017
Case Study - Frequent Nose bleeding & Abdominal Pain
A 10 year old female patient came to our clinic with her mother for her frequent nose bleeding and abdominal pain, which have been issues for a while. She experienced nose bleeding a few times a week, and had one episode of abodminal pain each day.
Her other symptoms were nocturia, nausea, frequent forehead headache, tired in the afternoon, constipation (1 in 2 days) and tingling in her feet.
She was slim to moderate body size with red cheeks and dry lips.
Her pulse was tense without much strength.
My diagnosis was that she was lacking Xue energy in her spleen.
When a child lacks the Xue energy in spleen, his/her body cannot hold the blood within the vessel and this can lead to freuqent nose bleeding and/or easy bruising.
This also causes the dryness of bowel pathway, leading to constipation, as well as poor circulation to cause pins and needle in extremities.
Of course, spleen - a main digestive organ from TCM view - weakness can cause some digestion issues as well as 'forehead (belongs to digestion in TCM)' headache.
Typical appearance characteristics for this condition include red cheeks and dry lips.
I provided decocted herbal medicine over 4 weeks.
During those 4 weeks, the client did not have any nose bleeding and decreasing frequency of abdominal pain.
Other symptoms all got better except the bowel motion which still tended to happen 1 in 1-2 days only.
I recomended her mother to consider continuing for 3-4 more weeks to adjust her bowel motion as well.
If you see your child with red cheeks and dry lips, he/she may also lacks the energy in spleen.
Providing them foods with some sweet taste can help them to recover in initial stage.
Thank you and have a good day =)
Published on 27 September 2017
Case Study - Pregnancy Support
A female client in her mid 30s came for pregnancy support as she was difficult to pregnant again after a miscarraige a year ago. She did not have any major issues affecting pregnancy from hospital checks.
After a consultation, I found that she had 2 major issues.
First issue was that she had her miscarriage in 2nd month of pregnancy. Even months (2,4,6,8) during the pregnancy are where your uterus should be closed. But if there was a miscarriage during these even months, it may indicate that the uterus was damaged from the miscarriage.
Second issue was that her stomach and uterus were too cold. A person would not want to stay in a cold room for a long time. Similarly, when the female's uterus is too cold, it is difficult for a foetus to settle it and therefore it may lead to infertility.
I prescribed her 3 courses of 2 weeks of decocted herbal medicine to address above two issues. After 3rd course of medicine, she was successfully pregnant.
There are many reasons affecting pregnancy. Please consult gynaecologists or Chinese Medicine practitioners as early as possible if you also experience same issues. There are always higher successful chances when you are even 1-day younger =) Have a great day.
Published on 23 August 2017
Case Study - Acnes
A female client in her 20s visited for her acnes. Acnes were all around her cheeks on both sides and around her chin. She also had some on her forehead as well. They were very tiny and white colours. Her skin was dry and face skin sometimes peeled off. She also felt that her face was tight and sometimes itchy, but there was no swelling or soreness.
Her other signs and symptoms were:
- difficult to fall sleep because she cannot stop thinking when lying on the bed, and her sleep was generally very shallow
- She tends to easily sweat
- Thirsty and dry lips when wake up in the morning
- Moderate to large amounts of vaginal discharge
Her pulse was fast (88-90 per minute), float and loose.
Considering her constitution, S&S and pulse, I diagnosed that her acnes are from deficient heat in lungs.
She was prescribed with 7 days decocted herbal medicine.
When she came back a week after, most of her acnes were disappeared, and decided to continue for 1-2 weeks more.
Please note that acnes can be caused from various reasons in Chinese Medicine perspectives, e.g. Lung, uterus, stomach, kidney, liver issues etc. Treatment period varies depending on many factors such as constitution, where the problem lies and how long the client had acnes etc. Some may take 1-2 weeks to treat but some many take longer periods.
Published on 23 August 2017
Information - Foods to Avoid during Pregnancy
Here are some information about foods to avoid during pregnancy according to UNESCO registered Oriental medicinal book called Dong-Ui-Bo-Kam.
Thank you for reading.
Published on 29 June 2017.
Case Study - Prolonged Menstrual Bleeding & Indigestion
Early April 2017, Female client, mid 40s, came for her prolonged menstural bleeding and indigestion.
Her duration of menstruation was almost 20 days with small amount of blood. This has happend over a few cycles.
She did not have much discharges, no clots, and had very minor lower stomach pain during menstruation.
She also had lower back pain which sometimes travels down her leg and she needed back support aid.
Her sleep was very shallow, her appetitie was poor and frequently experienced indigestion especially below solar plexus.
Her pulse was overall deep but Guan positions on left and right hands were very tense.
TCM Diagnosis
I diagnosed her with Spleen Qi deficiency.
Spleen is a vital organ in TCM system which controls the digestion and motions of four limbs, supports lower back in females, and maintains the blood flows within the vessles.
Because her spleen did not have enough Qi, it failed to support the lower back, causes indigestion and failed to regulate proper blood flows.
Acupuncture Treatments
Client did not want to try herbal medicines, and hence I applied acupuncture to strengthen her spleen as well as some points to ease her lower back pain. Acupuncture points such as SP 2, SP 1, LR 1, SI 3 were applied.
I also provided her short Chinese massage after acupuncture treatment.
Same treatment was repeated after a week.
Follow Up & Treatment
Client came back in late May 2017. She mentioned that her bleeding stopped after second treatment and her lower back pain was relieved that she no longer required back support aid.
She came for her indigestion this time which started after a late dinner. She experienced headache near her vertex and her limbs were aching. She was nauseus and felt her stomach is bloated too much.
I explained to her that this has happened because her spleen is not fully recovered yet and she requires more treatments to strengthen her spleen.
I applied acupuncture treatment to strengthen her spleen again. This time I also applied moxibustion on her stomach to provide some warmth and to promote circulation and strengthen Qi.
After the treatment, she said that she felt something moving down her stomach and believed that her indigestiona and bloating were relieved.
She was also prescribed with some herbal pills for indigestion.
Prognosis
In TCM, lower back of a female is often associated with her spleen and stomach strengths.
Once they lose the strength in their spleen and stomach, many of them experience lower back pain.
It is commonly seen among females with C/S.
By the time when a female experiences lower back pain because of spleen and stomach weakness,
it usually equires 1-2 months treatments to fully strengthen her spleen and stomach again although lower back pain and other symptoms can be relieved in a shorter time.
For the same reason, I asked this client to come back in 2 weeks time for a check up and further treatments to prevent the repetition of her health issues.
Published on 29 May 2017.
Case Study – Lower Back Pain
A female client in her late 40s visited this clinic in middle of April 2017.
She was suffering from severe lower back pain, which initially started 4 years ago and was previously diagnosed with herniation of lumbar discs at GP clinic.
Pain became severely worse this week, and she was considering to have a surgery.
She said that she could not stand up for two days this week and felt her whole body is numb including hands and feet. Although she had pain on whole lower back, more severe pain trembles down on her left thigh and lower leg.
She mentioned that she mainly lies down on her bed at home and she is on sick leaves from her work.
What is herniation of lumbar discs?
Spinal discs serve as shock absorbers between the vertebrae (back boners) and it supports the upper body to allow movements in all directions.
When a disc herniates, and leaks its inner material, it aggravates the nerve and triggers back pain and nerve pain down the leg.
TCM Diagnosis & Treatment
She mentions that she does physical works at her job and she is always tired, which well showed from her loose and no-strength pulse, especially at Guan (one of TCM pulse location). Her face is slightly pale but her cheeks were red. She was of very slim size.
I diagnosed her with Liver Qi & Blood deficiency and acupunctured on LR 8, KI 10, LR 3, LU 8 on her right-hand side. I usually acupuncture on opposite side to pain location and this is based on traditional acupuncture theory – “acupuncture on left when the disease is on right, and acupuncture on top when the disease is at bottom”.
Treatment Progress
She came back every 2-3 days afterwards and had similar acupuncture treatments with cupping and/or massage. She also had 1 week dose of Chinese herbal medicine to boost her liver energy to help her relieving pain and fatigue.
After 6 acupuncture treatments and 1 week of Chinese herbal medicine, she was able to do her daily job and walks about 2 hours without pain. She insisted to go back to her work, and I recommended her to do less hours of work for further 1-2 weeks. I hope that she looks after her body well from now on, and takes a good rest for her body to recover especially when she overworks.
Published on 03 May 2017.
