Integrating western and eastern medicine

By Graeme Shaw MD

I could not help noticing her in the waiting room .She was leaning over, pale, panting for breath, ankles bulging with fluid. Striking up a conversation with her, she informed me that: she had congestive heart failure and cardiomyopathy - an enlargement of heart of unknown cause. Reviewing her medications, she had of list of pharmaceutical of agents that covered an entire page: water pill, heart medications, pressure pills, diabetes medications, etc. Realizing she had a little to lose, I talked her into trying our cardio-well and Metabo-well herbal formulas that improves all cardio- vascular functions - blood pressure, cardiac output, circulation, cholesterol, etc and promote healthy sugar metabolism. In two week , she had lost almost twenty pounds , her energy was better than it had been for ten years , she was able to sleep flat in bed again and her blood sugar level in normal range for the first time. We were gradually able to reduce many of her medications. This scenario has been repeated over and over again with hundreds of patients in my office. While medications may improve the symptoms, if often does little to help the underlying cause.

Chronic diseases like the heart problem I mentioned, often do not respond very well to medications. The drugs we use are often blocking agents-Beta blockers, calcium channel blockers, ACE inhibitors, H proton inhibitors, antihistamines, etc. In other words they block energy and/ or direct it in another direction. They succeed in acute disorders where there is an excess of energy or imbalance of energy. Sadly, most chronic diseases are the end stage of a disease process that has expended whatever energy there once was. In a state of chronically low energy, blocking agent have reduced effect. One of these advantages of Eastern medicines is their philosophy of medicine predicated on the theory that the body is the energy complex, with meridians and circuits of energy. Blockages, excesses and deficiencies of these energies cause diseases. Eastern herbs are " foods of energy " that can be helpful in chronic diseases by reversing the low energy state .
When one gets over the mysteriousness of Eastern medicine, the herbal supplements can be used with the great effectiveness in chronic diseases. Also they can be mixed with nutrients and pharmaceutical agents without fear of side effects. They are by their very nature a food and have a few side effects.

I use herbs to help me with disorders that are due to imbalances or deficiencies in energy. For example, Diabetes-type II is a weakness of kidney and liver energy. Many patients on oral medications for diabetes can slowly be weaned from them after the use of one or two week of herbs supplements. Chronic viral illness like Hepatitis C, Herpes virus, recurrent upper respiratory illness are due to a deficiency in kidney energy which control circulation and immune system. Supporting the immune system with kidney tonic can resolve many symptoms and many manifestations of chronic viral illness. Chronic cardiac disease is another manifestation of low kidney energy. Hypertension cardiac failure, hyperlipidemia, thrombosis, thrombophlebitis, fatigue all respond to the appropriate combination of kidney tonics.

Allergies are a sign of hyperactivity of the immune system. We treat allergic phenomena with various anti-histamines, corticosteroids, to block the body over reaction to foreign antigens. The ultimate treatment however must be addressed to the over reactive immune system in the first place. Herbal supplements can be use to provide nutrition to the immune system so it is more in balance and not hyperactive. From Eastern point of view, low spleen energy contributes to this dysregulation and the therapy is aimed to reverse this. Environmental allergies or chemical sensitivity is produced by low liver energy due to various cause including toxic metals. Providing liver cleaning and supporting herbs to reverse this deficiency can reduced the chemical sensitivity.
Fibromyalgia is a little understood disorder of the muscular system, sometimes know as "muscular rheumatism". It affects predominantly woman in their middle age, causing chronic myalgias or muscle pain in the neck, upper or lower back, elbows, and knees. While the cause is largely unknown, it is often thought to be a hypometabolism state of the muscles. Since there are few medications that in crease metabolism, drugs have been very effective with disorder. Improving metabolisme can be achieved with natural thyroid medication, and or by using kidney tonics which improve the muscle metabolism.

How do I integrate medications and herbs? Sadly, there is an ignorance or distrust by both Eastern and Western physicians in combining therapeutic agents. Western Doctors find herbs mysterious difficult to understand and of questionable quality. Eastern Doctor find the Western pharmaceutical to be over powering for the body, and filed with side effects. I find use the both - pharmaceuticals for their power , precision and dramatic effects , and herbs supplements for their natural simplicity , lack of side effects and their benefit of reversing of underlying causes of diseases . Often, I will keep patients on the medications for the several weeks it takes for the herbs to slowly reverse the underlying situation .I see very little side effects, or harm by using both herbs and drugs at the same time. The herbs even may be helpful in controlling the side effects of the drugs. After two or three weeks on both, I can gradually taper the medications as I mentioned above until the patients is maintained on herbs or nutritional supplements only. The patients feel better, there are far few side effects.

One reason we fail to appreciate herbs in our disease philosophy is that we can not appreciate how such a benign substance can reverse a serious disease. To be effective against a serious disorder, we imagine that a potent medication with concomitantly large side effects is required. This is a misconception that fail to understand the nature of human body, its disease process and the path of healing. The body has a marvelous recuperative ability .Given the right foods, it can repair it self. Whether this foods is healthy nutrition, a specific nutritional supplements or an Eastern herb. There is nutritive value in medications, so ultimately their chance of reversing a chronic condition are low. The right combination of ingredients can give the body the opportunity of healing it self - the ultimate reversal of disease.