Oriental Medicine Mailing List Frequently Asked Questions Written 4/14/94. Last update 01/20/95. Warning! This document is growing fast. As it stands, at 60 lines per page, this FAQ prints out to 38 pages. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- (c) Copyright, Norman Kraft, 1994, 1995 Short quotations from the following works appear in this FAQ, are attributed in the text and retain their original copyrights as noted: The Web That Has No Weaver (c) Copyright Ted Kaptchuk, 1983 Survey of Traditional Chinese Medicine (c) Copyright l'Institut Ricci, 1986 The Secret Treatise of the Spiritual Orchid (c) Copyright Monkey Press, 1992 Traditional Acupuncture, The Law of the Five Elements (c) Copyright Dianne Connelly, 1979 Between Heaven and Earth (c) Harriet Beinfield and Efrem Korngold, 1991 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- [This FAQ is still under construction. Below you will find administrative information, and some general information about Oriental medicine for those unfamiliar with the subject. Should you have suggestions, please feel free to email them to me at OrMed-Admin@bkhouse.cts.com. NRK (OrMed Moderator)] ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- CONTENTS OF THIS FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS FILE: ================================================= 1. Administrative Stuff 2. General Information 3. Purpose of the list 4. Description of the list 5. * Addresses for the OrMed Mailing List 6. Bounces--Keeping Track of Where You Are 7. FTP Archives and the OrMed WWW Page 8. Specific Questions About the Oriental Medicine Mailing List 1. There is too much traffic on this list to keep up 2. There is too little traffic on this list -- Am I even on the list? 3. This group is useless to me because no one want to talk about the thin gs that I want to talk about. 4. This group is useless to me because the discussion is too technical, not technical enough, too regional, not regional enough, create-your-own-problem-here. * 5. What are the posting guidelines for product reviews? * 6. What is the OrMed Article Archive? * 7. What is the OrMed Product Literature Archive? * 8. I heard something about an electronic journal from OrMed. * 9. What is the OrMed Phonebook? 10. What are the posting guidelines for messages and binaries? 9. Posting guidelines (READ THESE!) 10. General Oriental Medicine Questions: 1. What is Oriental Medicine? 2. What is Acupuncture? 3. What's the story on Chinese herbs? 4. What about Chinese herbal patent formulas? 5. How does acupuncture work? 6. Does Qi really exist? 7. Is there research to back up the use of acupuncture? 8. What should I expect during a treatment? 9. Is Oriental medicine safe? 10. How many treatments are necessary? 11. What sort of medical conditions are treated by Oriental medicine? 12. Where can I get more information about Oriental medicine? 13. What does L.Ac., C.A, etc., etc., mean? * 14. Where are the schools of Oriental Medicine? 11. In Closing ============================================================================== 1) Administrative Stuff: ======================== Just as a reminder, there is one basic rule that is applicable to any mailing list you may belong to: NEVER, NEVER, NEVER SEND PERSONAL MAIL TO ORMED (destined for me or anyone else). The OrMed address is for group discussions of Oriental Medicine. Please keep in mind that everything posted to OrMed goes out to many people all over the world, many of whom pay for their email and do not appreciate receiving someone else's personal mail. No matter how clever your response may be, if it is to only one person use their personal email address to deliver it. Remember that this is a MODERATED list. This means that I will screen all messages going to the list to be sure that they meet the following criteria: 1. They are topically appropriate. 2. They follow the "Posting Guidelines" (see below). 3. They are not for commercial purposes. 4. They are fairly free of flames. In the first seven months of this list, I had to reject just four postings. I'm pretty easy-going about these things, but I reserve the right to take action as moderator should the need arise. 2) General Information: ======================= The OrMed list has grown quite a bit from its early start. From just a handful of interested people, we now boast a membership including nationally known practitioners and writers in the field, acupuncture students, academicians, and many people just interested in Oriental Medicine. We have representatives from the US, Australia, Italy, the U.K., Canada, Germany, France, and more! We are growing every week. 3) Purpose of the list: ======================= The purpose of the OrMed list is to promote a discussion of Oriental medicine among all those who are interested in it. That includes both experts and those who have read a few books or those who are just interested in learning more. We have a really good group of people here, from very well known authors and practitioners of Chinese medicine, to those academically interested in Oriental medicine, to the patients who use this health care system. (Sorry if I left anyone out!) I strongly feel that it is important for this group to allow all members an equal voice. Don't let anyone here intimidate you, regardless of your own background. A wide range of OrMed topics have been discussed here and more are always welcome. For example, translation issues, historical topics, patient concerns, clinical issues, practitioner referrals, theoretical discussions, and basic questions about herbs and acupuncture have all been discussed here and I hope such varied discussions will continue. (In fact, I hope to see a lot more clinical discussion among both practitioners and patients. Don't pass up the resources available here to network with seasoned professionals in the pursuit of difficult cases. There is no other resource with a membership like this one anywhere on the Net!) It is my hope that the professionals on this list see the same advantages I do in the open membership and narrow scope of this list. After all, as professionals in the field of Oriental medicine our greatest task is education. We can't do that if we only talk amongst ourselves. Patients have many forums in which they can watch Western medical professionals speak amongst themselves, and by doing so gain a greater understanding of just what it is that Western physicians do and why they do it. This list can serve a similar purpose for our profession. 4) Description of the list: =========================== I created the OrMed mailing list in May of 1994 to serve as a forum for those practicing, using or interested in Oriental Medicine. The purpose was and is to put together practitioners, researchers, patients and lay people for the exchange of ideas, questions, hopes, techniques and more. This list is intended for the friendly, positive discussion of Oriental medicine. While disagreements and such will pop up from time to time, this list is meant to be a more peaceful (and productive) place than the sometimes hostile environment of USENET newsgroups such as misc.health.alternative. Topics here may range over the entire area of Oriental medicine, but this is not the place to bring up the never-ending controversies about Oriental medicine VS. Western medicine, Oriental theoretical models vs. Western theoretical models, etc. We are here to talk *about* Oriental Medicine, not to critique or defend the theory as a whole. I think you get the idea. We should all remember, as well, that no member of this list holds the true and final knowledge of Oriental medicine. This is a growing, changing and expanding field and we all can learn something from each other. An open mind and an appreciation for the synthesis of opposites helps enormously when discussing this field. This list is NOT a replacement for the consultation of a licensed health professional. Diagnosis and treatment via the net is extraordinarily difficult in any medical tradition, and even more so for the intensely personalized Oriental medicinal treatments. This is not the place to post medical conditions in the hopes of a free diagnosis, though certainly the discussion of various medical conditions will arise. If I feel that the purpose of a post is primarily to obtain inappropriate medical advice, I will reject that post. No free medical advice here. This does not mean that you should not ask questions about treatment you are receiving, or explore the Oriental perspectives on your situation (or someone you know). Just don't use the list for primary medical advice, and always take what advice you do get with a grain of salt. The OrMed listserv is hosted on an Amiga 3000/25, via both SLIP and UUCP connections to a large Internet provider. It functions under the mixed control of my own software and parts of the most recent release of Peti's Amiga Listserv software. It understands most, but not all, of the commands found in the listserv set. It certainly can handle all the important ones. (The major missing feature is file requests, but there are other ways to do that, like the ftp site.) * 5) Addresses for the OrMed Mailing List: ======================================== PLEASE READ!!! A) OrMed@bkhouse.cts.com - goes to everybody on the list. Use this address to send a message to the group. Do not use this address to send a personal message to one person. B) OrMed-request@bkhouse.cts.com - goes to the ListServ robot and expects ListServ commands to be in the message body. If the message does not have such commands (as will probably be the case for many new subscribers who haven't yet discovered that this is a listserv) a (hopefully) cheerful and helpful file will be mailed to you. C) nkraft@bkhouse.cts.com or nkraft@ucsd.edu - these go to the same mailbox, eventually. Mail to these addresses goes to me. That's fine for chatting and responses to anything that I might post as a member of the list, but PLEASE SEND ALL ADMINISTRATIVE (NON-LISTSERV) MAIL TO OrMed-Admin@bkhouse.cts.com (below). D) OrMed-Admin@bkhouse.cts.com - this is the correct address to use for inquiries that cannot be solved with the listserv. If you are having problems with your address, or have a general administrative question about the list, send it here. If you have a question about the moderation of this list, send it here. DO NOT SEND SUCH MESSAGES TO ORMED! E) listserv@bkhouse.cts.com - this is the address that all listserv commands should be sent to. The address OrMed-Request is redirected here. The commands understood by the listserv are as follows: HELP Fetches a friendly, cheerful help file about how to use the listserv (at least I hope its friendly and cheerful, or at lease helpful). This should probably be the first command you send to listserv@bkhouse.cts.com. LIST [address] Lists all mailing lists to which the given address is subscribed. INDEX Lists all the lists available for subscription. I do run a few other mailing lists at this site. Most of them don't have much to do with computers or programming, but they might be interesting to some of you. Not all of them are listserv lists yet, so this command may not be all that useful for quite a while. SUBSCRIBE [address] listname UNSUBSCRIBE [address] listname This is how you join or resign from the OrMed Mailing List. Please get the syntax right: the software isn't very forgiving. For example: SUBSCRIBE Joe Smith OrMed will *not* get you on the list. SUBSCRIBE joe@abc.edu OrMed will get you on the list. SUBSCRIBE joe@abc.edu will get you on the list. SUBSCRIBE OrMed will also get you on the list. UNSUBSCRIBE OrMed will get you *off* the list. FAQ listname Sends the "Frequently Asked Questions" (if available) for the indicated mailing list. For example, "FAQ OrMed" returns the file you're reading now. A listserv command must be the first word on each line in the message. Generally, when mailing to the listserv, you can leave the subject header blank, as it is ignored. F) postmaster@bkhouse.cts.com - this goes to me again. I'm the sysadmin, postmaster, root, owner, etc, of this site. G) OrMed-Sub@bkhouse.cts.com - this is the address used for submissions to the OrMed Article Archive. (See below) H) OrMed-Prod@bkhouse.cts.com - this is the address used for submissions to the OrMed Product Literature Archive. (See below) I) OrMed-Phone@bkhouse.cts.com - this is the address you would use if you want to be part of the OrMed phonebook. See the relevant section below for more information about this new feature of the OrMed list. If you need to get in touch with me, and the address you've picked doesn't get an immediate response, please be patient. Sometimes it takes me longer than I'd like to find the time to answer your question properly. If all else fails, you can call my voicemail at 619-526-0344, but it better be pretty darn important! 6) Bounces--Keeping Track of Where You Are: =========================================== A "bounce" is mail that is not received by the recipient, and therefore gets returned to the sender. The "sender" (that is, the OrMed listserv) is supposed to be set up so that such "bounces" go to me directly. They shouldn't go to you or the list, but sometimes they do. I try to resolve these as quickly as possible. You can help by remembering to UNSUBSCRIBE when you are about to lose or change your account. You can always resubscribe later. The listserv allows you to UNSUBSCRIBE from your new address, if necessary. Use the HELP command to find out how. Unfortunately, the single largest cause of bounces is not dead or changed accounts, it's machines (or routing servers) that are down or otherwise not accepting mail. Neither you nor I can do anything about this. Sometimes when a machine is in one of these fits, the bounce will say that the machine is okay but the user doesn't exist. Later, everything will get better. It's annoying, and it's why I don't remove list members with bounces for a week or so. As the song goes (sung to the theme tune from "Mr. Ed": A host is a host From coast to coast, Unless the host That isn't close Is busy, hung or dead! Great Internet enlightenment can be found by meditating upon those lines. :) Another reason I get bounces is accounts that have exceeded their disk space allocation. If your mailbox is full, you can not receive any new mail. Many Internet service providers limit the amount of mail you can keep in your mailbox. Be sure to check this. 7) FTP Archives and the OrMed WWW Page ====================================== Announcing the OrMed anonymous ftp site and WWW home page! At the end of each month (or thereabouts), I will batch up all the messages sent to the list for that month and make them available via anonymous ftp. Each monthly archive file is a compressed text file named with the following pattern: OrMed-MM-YY.Z for example: OrMed-09-94.Z The files have been compressed with the standard UNIX compress utility. There are versions of this utility available for just about every kind of computer ever made. The internal format of the archive text file is simple mailbox format. What this means is that if you are using a mail reader like Elm, you can use the "Change Mailbox" command to load this file and Elm will display it as a mailbox of individual messages for easy reading and replying. Some members might even prefer to read the list this way. If you are not using a mail reader to read these files, dispair not. They are simple text files that you can view in any text viewer, editor or word processor. You can retrieve these files via anonymous ftp to the address ftp.cts.com, in the directory pub/nkraft. Alternatively, if you are using a World Wide Web reader, such as Mosaic, you can open URL: ftp://ftp.cts.com/pub/nkraft/ormed.html and see our brand new WWW Home Page! From this page, you can access the OrMed FAQ, the archive files, and the introductory message that is sent to each new subscriber. There are also a few links of possible interest to those in the health care field. As new files and other information of interest to OrMed list members comes available, I'll update the page accordingly. 8) Specific Questions About the Oriental Medicine Mailing List ============================================================== 1. There is too much traffic on this list to keep up. This is a common complaint at one time or another on many lists. If you haven't been a subscriber for very long, you might want to stay around a month or so before making a decision about the list. In general, the high traffic times have come in short bursts with near silence in between. Over the long haul, it is unlikely that this list will strain your system resources, or clutter up your mail reader. You can help keep volume problems from developing by following the posting guidelines that are included in this file. One exception to the above is those accessing this mailing list from a commercial system like CIS, which charges for each email message sent to you via the Internet. In that case, I would advise one of two things: a) Get an account on a local Internet provider. These can be had at very low monthly cost, and will give you greater access to the Internet than the more expensive commercial system. Many BBS's also are offering Internet email these days at very reasonable cost. One system in my area offers full Internet email and newsgroup access for $60 per year. With an off-line reader, participation in the list is very inexpensive if somewhat more bothersome. b) Get the archive files from the anonymous ftp site (see above) and read the list on a delayed basis. This makes it difficult to join into timely discussions, but at least you can read the messages at relatively low cost. 2. There is too little traffic on this list -- Am I even on the list? This could be caused by a down period in list traffic, or it could be the result of problems with your address or some server in-between. Stay with the list for a week or so and, if you still don't see any messages, let me know and I'll check out your address. I get this complaint fairly often on all the lists I run, and it is usually just a matter of waiting a few more days. In general, however, when the list is slow all we need is for someone to post something and get a discussion going. Why not you? 3. This group is useless to me because no one wants to talk about the things that I want to talk about. That could be because you haven't asked questions that would lead to the discussions that interest you. If your posts are not generating the responses you desire, try restating what you have said. If you have specific medical questions, always remember that this list is NOT a substitute for seeing a licensed health practitioner. Don't ask anyone to diagnose or treat you via the list. Most practitioners do not respond to such requests. Otherwise, just be persistent, and try to add more focus to your posts. A well-focused question usually stirs up a lot more conversation than simple, general questions like "what is acupuncture?" 4. This group is useless to me because the discussion is too technical, not technical enough, too regional, not regional enough, create-your-own-problem-here. The level of discussion on any particular mailing list will vary. If it seems too technical for you, just be honest and say so! We really do want you to benefit from using this list, and I hope that members would be happy to converse with you at an appropriate level. Conversely, if the discussions are not at a high enough level for you, please understand that not all of our members are professionals or well educated in the field. Try to stir up interest from those who are. Keep track of the other members who are at your level, and try to involve them in your discussions, either publicly or privately. 5. What are the posting guidelines for product reviews? I've long thought about ways to expand the value of the resource provided by the OrMed mailing list. One way to do this is to publish reviews of books, software, tapes, or other products that the list members have read/used. Let's be clear about what I mean by a review. This is an example of two messages which I do not consider reviews: "Yesterday I read _The Newest Chinese Medicine Book_ and I loved it. It was very the best thing in American publishing yet!" "Yesterday I read _The Newest Chinese Medicine Book_ and I hated it. It was very poorly written." A review is an extended opinion about a product, book, tape or service, offered by someone with no financial interest in the object under review, and who is willing to be relatively impartial. I'm sure you've all read reviews in magazines and newspapers, and have some idea of the general format. Of course, these reviews need not take as much time or space as those you would find in a glossy publication. They are placed on the list as a service to the list members, helping them decide how best the spend their time and money, and what is most helpful to understanding Oriental medicine in theory and practice. The format for a review is given in the example below. The headers in the left hand column and format are important, as I would like all reviews to have a similar appearance for easy reading. The format shown is borrowed from one used heavily in other Internet groups for the review of books and software. I know that the format can be a pain sometimes, but the benefits outweigh the inconveniences in the long run. Remember, too, that you need not write more than a paragraph per section of the review. This does not need to be a lengthy process; reviews can be completed in just a couple of hours, if you are familiar with the product. Completed and published reviews will be made available to list members on the ftp site, and through the WWW page. Reviews may be copyrighted by the authors, but must explicitly give permission for publication via the OrMed list and unlimited republication via the OrMed list, the Listserv, the ftp site and the WWW site. Be sure to give an address (email or otherwise) that others may contact for other uses. In short, they are yours and will remain so, but you cannot limit how many people have access to them via list resources, or remove them from the archive once they are there. All reviews are subject to the editorial process, and I (with some help from my SO, a talented editor) will have the final editorial word on all reviews. If you get stuck trying to complete a review, send it to me and together we'll figure it out. Completed reviews should be emailed to OrMed@bkhouse.cts.com (I'll catch them in the moderation process before they go out to the list. That's the essence of the editorial process). The subject line must read: "REVIEW: Name of Work". An example review, with the format intact, is below: DATE: December 20. 1994 BY: Norman Kraft (nkraft@bkhouse.cts.com) This is where you would give any copyright information about your review. It should always begin "This review (c) Copyright 19XX, [Name]". Other terms may follow this initial declaration. REVIEW OF: Title of work AUTHOR: Author/developer/lecturer/etc. FORMAT: Book/tape/service/herb shop/lecture/software/etc. If software is being reviewed, give the system requirements. For example: "Requires Windows 3.1, 4 MB RAM, 4.5 MB disk space, VGA+, and a mouse." PUBLISHER: Name and address of publisher, or operator of service, or where lecture notes may be obtained, etc. Some flexibility is allowed here, since just about anything might end up being reviewed. If necessary, be creative. ISBN: If any PRICE: In US dollars, with other currency values as desired. OVERALL: An overall rating of the reviewed work, one of Excellent/Very Good/Good/Fair/Poor CLINICAL USEFULNESS: An overall rating of the clinical usefulness of the work, if indeed it has any. Rated as one of High/Medium/Low or Not Applicable. LIKES: A paragraph or more discussing, in detail, what you liked about this reviewed subject. DISLIKES: A paragraph or more discussing, in detail, what you feel are the shortcomings of this product. COMMENTS: A area for the reviewer to freely comment on the work, outside the constraints of the above format. Aside from expanding on the likes and dislikes, this part of the review is where the author may compare the work to other similar works, discuss the history of the work, discuss the authors of the work, or provide additional information about the format of the work. Try to remain both professional and polite at all times. If you have a review in mind that you're not sure about, drop the idea to me at OrMed-Admin@bkhouse.cts.com and I'll help to the extent that I can. In general, it's a good idea to let me know what you're working on so that no two people are reviewing the same work at the same time, and so that you don't re-review something already in the archives. 6. What is the OrMed Article Archive? In response to a couple of list members who have written articles that are too lengthy to place on the list, yet would like to make them available to the list membership, I have created the OrMed Article Archive. As a service to the OrMed community, I'm setting up the FTP site and WWW page to keep an archive of such articles. For those of you who have written on subjects within the writer's guidelines (attached below), put your articles in ASCII form, format them appropriately (per the writer's guidelines) and send them to OrMed-Sub@bkhouse.cts.com. Articles will be reviewed for topical adherence, but otherwise will not be edited (still, read the writer's guidelines). All kinds of articles are welcome, from technical discussions of Oriental medicine to patient experiences, commentaries, and more. All accepted articles will be available via the FTP site, the WWW page, and (soon) a mail server that will allow access by email. One last thing for those reading articles put in the archive: Many articles are copyrighted by the authors. They give you the right to download their articles to your system for the purpose of reading them, but if you sell them, alter them, or claim them as your own you are violating copyright laws. If I see any instances of this on the net or elsewhere I will report the violators as quickly as I can find them. As I collect articles submitted to OrMed-Sub@bkhouse.cts.com, I'll announce their availability and the process for retrieving them to the list. Now, the OrMed article writer's guidelines, as promised: ----------------------------- CUT HERE ------------------------------- The OrMed Mailing List Article Archive Writer's Guidelines 1> What is the OrMed Mailing List Article Archive? The OrMed mailing list is an Internet mailing list dedicated to the discussion of Oriental medicine practice and theory. It is open to a wide range of interested people, from practitioners to patients, to those with a casual interest. The OrMed Mailing List Article Archive is a repository for articles written by OrMed list members (and possibly others) who would like to make their works available to the public via electronic networks. Many of our list members have written articles that are of interest or use to the list at large, but are too large or too specific to post to the list. 2> Appropriate topics. The appropriate topics for the OrMed Article Archive are the same as those for the OrMed Mailing List. I encourage all writers to read the OrMed FAQ before submitting an article to the archive. We are interested in articles ranging over the entire spectrum of Oriental medicine. Those I would especially like to see are: * Clinical case histories * Clinical experiences * Patient experiences * Eastern nutrition (Chinese, Macrobiotics, etc.) * Qi Gong exercises as used in the treatment of disease * Discussions of acupuncture points or point prescriptions. * Discussions of herbs or herbal prescriptions * Oriental medicine theory * Issues of clinical reality: running an office, dealing with difficult patients, dealing with difficult acupuncturists, etc. * Ethical practice discussions You'll notice that Oriental medicine theory is down the list a bit. It is an entirely appropriate topic, of course, but it is also what we are likely to get the most of. I'd like the archive to have a bit of balance to it, since it will be accessed by an audience of widely ranging experience. If you have a theory discussion, please submit it, but also be so kind as to think about whether you can submit an article in one of the other areas as well. I'd appreciate all the help I can get in trying to keep this balanced with regard to subjects and authors. Please remember that the article archive is not the same as the mailing list. Articles should be written as if they were destined for publication, instead of the conversational tone often seen in mailing list discussions. It is far better for the archive if we have a few well written articles than to have many off-the-cuff discussions of lower quality. 3> Formatting of your submission. Submissions to the OrMed Article Archive must be sent in straight ASCII text (no word processor formats). They should be formatted with a left margin at 65-70 characters, and should not have page breaks, page numbers, or page headers embedded within. All articles should begin with a header, giving the date, the title of the article, the author, the number of lines, and a brief (65 characters or less) one line summary of the article subject. These headers will appear in the article index and help readers to choose which articles they want to retrieve. Since these articles are ASCII files and not formatted ready-to-print output, endnotes are preferable to footnotes. All quotes from other published sources should be endnoted as to source. A bibliography may be attached giving appropriate credit to the original authors if the endnotes fail to do this. This is a matter of common courtesy to other authors, as well as one of academic honesty. All articles are subject to reformatting as needed to meet these guidelines, and to integrate them into the WWW page. 4> Copyright issues. Copyrights are a difficult issue when it comes to electronic networks. The law in this area is being defined even as I type this. I hate to bring the whole issue up, but it is only a matter of time until something appears in the archive with a copyright notice on it. In general, this is the way I handle copyright issues for the OrMed Article Archive (and the list in general, for that matter): If an article has been previously published in a copyrighted publication (such as a journal, magazine or newsletter), the author must clearly have the right to republish the article via OrMed electronic resources, with the understanding that "publishing" as defined for a resource like this one is a continuous process, not a one-time publication, with readers copying the text to their own systems for reading. This may or may not be in agreement with the publishers of journals who frequently buy "all rights" including your right to republish. Be clear on this issue before submitting your previously published article. You may copyright your articles or not, this is entirely up to you. If you do not copyright it, anyone can copy it and do just about anything they want with it. That may or may not matter to you. You still can use that article, or change it, or sell it, but you won't be able to take someone to court for making money from your work. If you do want to copyright your article, say so clearly in the article header with a line like: "(c) Copyright 1995, John Smith" Below that, you must give explicit permission for the article to be published and retained in the OrMed Article Archive. You retain all rights for republication, derivative works, or anything else you want to do with it (it's yours, after all), but you can't take it out of the archive once it's there. Finally, to better understand your rights under copyright law, go to a library or bookstore and read the section on copyrights in a current _Writer's Market_. It's succinct, accurate and written from the writer's perspective. 5> The submission process. All finished articles should be mailed to: OrMed-Sub@bkhouse.cts.com Alternatively, you may FTP to ftp.cts.com, and drop your finished article in the pub/nkraft/incoming directory. If you have a lot of material to send, or you are a very prolific writer, try to space out your submissions. I won't reject an article just because you write 15 a day, but I will space out their addition to the Article Archive, so that I can give equal time to all authors. Remember that I have to read and approved each one of these articles, and that is a time consuming process. Please try to send your best work, not everything that comes out of your keyboard. 6> The editorial process. The editorial process is really quite simple. I will gather together the submitted articles about once per week, and read them. I will check them to be sure that they are appropriate to OrMed topics, clarify any questions about copyrights and such by email, then place the files in the OrMed Article Archives. It's as easy as that. 7> What to do if your article is rejected. Don't panic, don't get discouraged, don't get angry. I'll always attach a note explaining why your article has been rejected, and I'll always try to give you some ideas about how it might be made more appropriate. This is not an adversarial process. Some articles, such as "Why TCM is all quackery" will be rejected as inappropriate topics, as they would on the OrMed Mailing List as well. Otherwise, rejections are more likely to be because you failed to follow the writer's guidelines in some way that requires only small changes or formatting to fix. If you feel really strongly about a topically oriented rejection, I'll take the discussion to the list and see what the group wants to do. Good luck, and I'm looking forward to reading your submission! ----------------------------- CUT HERE ------------------------------- 7. What is the OrMed Product Literature Archive? I've had a lot of positive response to my suggestions about creating an archive for product literature. Since everyone seems to like the idea, I've started putting it together. My idea was this: to allow commercial advertisers, such as Redwing Books, AMTRA (the makers of IBIS), Blue Poppy Press, Eastland Press and others to put product literature or catalogs on the ftp/WWW site for retrieval by interested list members. These would never appear on the mailing list itself, though I might put up occasional messages to let everyone know what is currently in the archives. No sales will take place via the list. No questions about the products may be discussed on the list. This is an informational opportunity only, for the benefit of list members, not an interactive discussion between sellers and buyers. An entry in the Product Review Archive consists of the following: a directory under the main ftp directory contains product information in text form (no fancy> stuff, this is a lowest common denominator idea). Each commercial advertiser is allowed one and only one file in this directory, even if that file is somewhat large. Thus, if you offer several products, you would probably want to make a small ASCII catalog of them. Any commercial folks out there who would like to participate in this service, please send me what you would like to put in the product literature archive. If you need help formatting it, or deciding what to put there, feel free to contact me and I'll help as much as I can. When I have a few items, I'll create the ftp directory, modify the WWW page, and make an index of what is available. I'll then post a message to the list letting everyone know what is available. In a couple of weeks I should have a system in place that will allow list members without ftp or WWW access to get the product literature as well. I won't be editing any of these so be sure that they contain everything necessary for potential customers to contact you should they be interested in the product, such as phone numbers or ordering instructions. Remember, the mailing list is NOT to be used as a medium for discussions between sellers and buyers. Period. I will reject all such messages. To submit a catalog or product description (remember: only *one* file per commercial entity) send it, in basic ASCII format, to OrMed-Prod@bkhouse.cts.com. Alternatively, if you have ftp access, connect to ftp.cts.com and leave the file in pub/nkraft/incoming. 8. I heard something about an electronic journal from OrMed. Once per quarter, I will take the best of the articles submitted to the OrMed Article Archive and put them together into an electronic journal form, via the WWW page. At that time, authors will be contacted for permission, revisions may be submitted, and graphics may be added (since HTML documents allow graphics). No one or two authors will be allowed to dominate the quarterly collection, as this tends to undermine the open nature of a project like this one. This means that we need you (yes, you!) to submit articles to the Archive so that we have the widest selection possible for the Journal. Editorial judgements about what is "best" and appropriate for the quarterly collection are mine alone (as editor), with input from the list. This is an exciting opportunity to publish works that otherwise haven't found a home, in a place for the world to see. 9. What is the OrMed Phonebook? As suggested by a list member, I've started an OrMed Mailing List membership phonebook. This is a text file available at the ftp/WWW site which contains the names, contact information (email addresses, mail addresses and such) and short blurbs. Participation is by no means mandatory, but such a phonebook could serve as a resource to help members contact people and obtain services available from list members to list members. Anyone wishing to participate in the phonebook should send an email to OrMed-Phone@bkhouse.cts.com. The subject line should read "Phonebook entry" and should contain the following information (all lines except name are optional): NAME: EMAIL: ADDRESS: CITY: STATE: COUNTRY: PHONE: OLB: OLB, by the way, stands for One Line Blurb. In this field you can write one or two lines about who you are, what you do, etc. The format is important since this is a semi-automated process. A correct entry for me, for example, would be: NAME: Norman Kraft EMAIL: OrMed-Admin@bkhouse.cts.com EMAIL: nkraft@bkhouse.cts.com EMAIL: nkraft@ucsd.edu ADDRESS: P.O. Box 16684 CITY: San Diego STATE: CA ZIP: 92176 COUNTRY: USA PHONE: Are you kidding? OLB: I'm the OrMed Mailing List moderator. Lines may be repeated for multiple addresses. For example, if you have two email addresses and five phone numbers, just put them each on their own line and repeat the header. You can see this in the above repeated EMAIL lines. Any line is optional, but some checking is done. If there is an ADDRESS line, for example, but no CITY or STATE then the entry is rejected as invalid. When accepted, the program will strip away the headers and format your entry in some hopefully nice, but always interesting way and add it to the phonebook. :) The one above, for example, would end up looking like this: Norman Kraft OrMed-Admin@bkhouse.cts.com P.O. Box 16684 nkraft@bkhouse.cts.com San Diego, CA 92176 nkraft@ucsd.edu USA "I'm the OrMed Mailing List moderator." Have fun with it, and as always if you have any questions, just drop me a note at OrMed-Admin@bkhouse.cts.com. 10. What are the posting guidelines for messages and binaries? Okay, no one actually ever asks this question, but I wish they did! Anyway, here they are: 9) Posting guidelines ===================== 1. Try to keep in mind that your posts to the list go out to many people, located around the world. Many of our subscribers pay for their email services, and international email is, in general, an expensive enterprise for someone along the line, even if not for the end user. If your posting is of a personal nature, or is part of a discussion with just one or two list members, use private email to continue the dialog. Always be aware that what you post to the list should be of interest to the majority of list members. 2. Stay on topic! This list is for the discussion of Oriental Medicine. 3. Please try to be polite in both your posts and your responses. Flaming will not be tolerated and can get a member removed from the list in a hurry. It has no place in a forum such as this one. 4. If you choose to reply to a list message, be sure to trim quoted text as much as possible. Again, this is a matter of courtesy as both members who pay for mail by the character and those who read it over slow modem connections do not appreciate 100 lines of quoted text for a three line reply. (Those of us reading it over fast connections don't appreciate it much, either.) Also, be sure to make proper attributions for quoted text. If you are responding to a discussion, your message should clearly show the author(s) of the quoted portions. 5. Do not use this list for commercial purposes. Messages advertising or selling products or services from those with a commercial interest in them will be rejected. Period. I don't care what the rest of the net is doing. Pointing out that a new book or product is available is fine. Stating where to get more information is fine. Reviews of the a book, product or service is fine. Selling it to us is not. 6. Finally, remember that this list is moderated (by me). I don't generally get involved in a heavy-handed way, but those who consistently violate the basic rule of "be considerate" may receive warnings from me, or even be removed from the list. I also reserve the right to reject any posting which is clearly not appropriate. Such a rejection will always result in a message to the sender stating the action and the reason for doing so. 10) General Oriental Medicine Questions: ======================================== 1. What is Oriental Medicine? Oriental medicine is a very broad term covering the traditional medicines of China, Korea, Japan, Viet Nam, Tibet, and other Asian and Oriental countries. In general, the techniques of Oriental medicine are acupuncture, moxibustion, herbology, massage, cupping, gwa sha, breath work (Qi Gong, aka Chi Kung) and exercise (Tai Ji, aka Tai Chi). To find out more about Oriental medicine in general, I would recommend two books, both of which are widely available: _Between Heaven and Earth_, by Harriet Beinfield and Efrem Korngold, Ballentine Books, New York, 1991 _The Web That Has No Weaver_, by Ted Kaptchuk, Congdon & Weed, New York, 1983 A couple of others I recommend: _Survey of Traditional Chinese Medicine_, by Claude Larre, Jean Schatz and Elisabeth Rochat de la Vallee, Traditional Acupuncture Institute, Columbia, MD, 1986 _Arisal of the Clear: A Simple Guide to Healthy Eating According to Traditional Chinese Medicine_, by Bob Flaws, Blue Poppy Press, Boulder, CO. To quote a few others on this question of definitions: "Chinese medicine is a coherent and independent system of thought and practice that has been developed over two millennia. Based on ancient texts, it is the result of a continuous process of critical thinking, as well as extensive clinical observation and testing. It represents a thorough reformulation of material by respected clinicians and theoreticians. It is also, however, rooted in the philosophy, logic, sensibility, and habits of a civilization entirely foreign to our own." Ted Kaptchuk, _The Web That Has No Weaver_. "Eastern philosophy is based on the premise that all life occurs within the circle of nature. Things within this matrix are connected and mutually dependent upon each other. Nature is one unified system, the Tao, with polar and complimentary aspects: Yin and Yang....When the elements of nature are in balance, life is harmonic and flourishes...When people are like gardens, then doctors are like gardeners. The role of the Chinese doctor is to cultivate life." Harriet Beinfield and Efrem Korngold, _Between Heaven and Earth_. "Traditional Acupuncture is a healing art and science which teaches how to see the entire human being in bodymindspirit, how to recognize the process of health and illness, and how to go about the restoration of lost health in an individual. The main difference between Western medicine and Oriental Medicine is the basic theory of the Chinese that there is a Life Force, called Ch'i Energy, and that this Life Force flows within us in a harmonious, balanced way. This harmony and balance is health. If the Life Force is not flowing properly, then there is disharmony and imbalance. This is illness." Dianne Connelly, _Traditional Acupuncture: The Law of The Five Elements_, Centre for Traditional Acupuncture, Columbia, MD, 1979. "Health is the natural state of the universe. It makes no sound. Healthy beings are those who are healthy without consciously knowing it or understanding why...This is the starting point of Chinese medicine, whose focus is the movement of energy through the collective network of pathways that surround and penetrate all living beings." Claude Larre, SJ, _Survey of Traditional Chinese Medicine_, Traditional Acupuncture Institute, Columbia, MD, 1986. "There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy." Shakespeare, "Hamlet" 2. What is acupuncture? Acupuncture is the technique of inserting thin, metal needles into specific points on the body for therapeutic effect. It has a long lineage of use in China, with references to its practice dating back over 2500 years. These points are arranged in lines and patterns on the surface of the body, following energetic pathways of Qi (aka Chi or Ki), called Meridians or Channels. These points, while on the surface, connect to deep flows and patterns of Qi within the body. Through manipulation of the needles, considered an art form in itself, disharmonies in the flow of energy through the Channels can be influenced. There are many schools of thought on how acupuncture should be practiced. Among the more popular are modern Traditional Chinese Medicine as practiced today in China, Chinese Five Phase, Japanese Meridian Therapy (a Five Phase school of thought), and the Worsley (Traditional Acupuncture) schools of thought. Each has its own sophisticated approach to the concept of treatment, but the basic principles of classical Chinese medicine are shared by all. After all, this is a medicine that developed over a vast area and a vast time by many people who each, in their own way, had a piece of the puzzle. We are only now beginning to realize that there is a puzzle; one day, we may begin putting it together. No particular approach has been shown superior to another. The skill and talents of the practitioner are usually the determining factor for successful treatment, whatever school of thought they follow. 3. What's the story on Chinese herbs? Chinese herbal medicine has been around for thousands of years. Over the last 1500 years, the Chinese developed very logical, sophisticated and effective models for the treatment of disease and promotion of health with herbs. Chinese herbal medical theory and practice is much more developed and comprehensive than Western herbal traditions, and relies on carefully balanced formulas. These formulas are combined in ways that are simple in principle, but show a remarkable sophistication behind their construction. They are made up of individual herbal substances with complementary (or sometimes antagonistic) properties to achieve what are often complex therapeutic goals. While classical formulas are often modified to suit a particular patient's needs, the base formulas have stood the test of use over hundreds of years and millions of patients, and there are hundreds upon hundreds of these base formulas. Chinese herbal medicine is powerful and effective. A couple of good books to get started with are: "Chinese Herbal Medicine" by Daniel Reid "The Way of Herbs" by Michael Tierra 4. What about Chinese herbal patent formulas? Chinese patent formulas are pills, powders, syrups, plasters and other preparations sold prepackaged in Chinese pharmacies, groceries, and sometimes in your local health food store. Most of these are based on classical Chinese herbal formulas which have proven especially useful over time. They are the equivalent, in some ways, to over-the-counter drugs in the West in that they are generally milder in action than a raw herb formula, yet quite effective for many conditions. The "bible", so to speak, of patent medicines as used in the US is "Chinese Herbal Patent Formulas" by Jake Fratkin. There is also an excellent section on the use of patent formulas in "Between Heaven and Earth" (referenced above). 5. How does acupuncture work? In the Chinese framework, the human body is seen as an energetic construct of functions, in contrast to the Western view of the body as a mechanistic collection of parts. As mentioned above, acupuncture is based on the concept of Qi (of which energy and function are two of the most commonly understood aspects) flowing throughout the body. When this flow is balanced, smooth and freely moving, health is maintained. When the flow is absent, deficient, interrupted, excessive or blocked in an area, illness or pain results. By stimulating appropriate acupuncture points along the affected channels, the energy is again balanced and allowed to flow freely. This is, of course, a gross simplification of the whole issue, which can be further explored in books such as "The Web That Has No Weaver" and "Between Heaven and Earth." The latter book, especially, has a wonderful discussion of the human body as a garden, and the acupuncturist as a gardener, carefully tending, watering and feeding the garden. Another approach that I often take is derived from my own undergraduate studies in math. Chaos mathematics and systems theory were born of the quest to understand massive, unpredictable processes like the weather, and out of the frustration of modern science's lack of a model to predict something as simple as the path of a column of smoke from an incense stick. The problem, in each case, is that the smoke and the weather are not "things" at all, but rather integral parts of greater systems of incomprehensible complexity. Thus, if a butterfly takes to flight from a flowering plant in Japan, its movements have some (if infinitesimally small) effect on the weather in California, and the movements of that column of smoke from the incense in your living room. Moreover, we know that our planet and our solar system are inextricably linked into the dance of the galaxy, and the movements of other planets and solar systems, and ultimately, the movements of the galaxy itself. We should never consider the human body somehow separate from these processes. Every action we take has a measurable effect on our environment and, to some degree, changes the very fabric of the universe. The same is true *in reverse*. It is a fundamental concept to many philosophical and religious systems that we are complex beings deeply interconnected to and enmeshed with our environment and to each other. The Chinese philosophies which gave rise to much of acupuncture, such as Taoism, are wholly in this line of thought. Each day, this basic viewpoint becomes more the basis of Western physics as well. So, how does acupuncture work? Imagine for a moment, our solar system. Each planet calmly following its appointed path, the system as a whole calmly moving through the blackness of space. Now, let's say that a planet sized finger came into our solar system and gave Mars a little push. That push would change the orbit of Mars around the sun. It would also change the orbits of the other planets and of the moons that orbit them. The change to our orbit, and our moon, causes a change in the tides here on Earth, which causes a change in the weather, which affects crops in the American Midwest. This affects their price in the supermarket, which affects your purchasing patterns, which affects your diet and ultimately your health. (Depending on which way the push went, however, such change could be very good for either winter coat manufacturers or swimming suit designers.) What has happened here is that this giant finger has introduced change into the system, and this change has made itself part of the complex interactions around it, and altered the system in ways which we could never have predicted. A similar push in another solar system would have quite different effects. Now let's say that the finger gives Mars just the right push in just the right direction, with maybe a little push on Venus, and sets everything back into its normal orbit and movement. Weather and crops are restored to normal, eventually supermarket prices go back to normal, and fisherpeople can happily use their tide tables to predict the ebb and flow of the oceans again. Harmony (such as it is) is restored. In acupuncture, we see your body as a system of functions and movements not unlike that of the interplanetary system considered above. Once in a while, the harmony of your system is disturbed, and this results in what we call illness. Acupuncture is the science and art of causing change in this system; of giving just the right push to set things back to normal. It has developed over time by giving lots of right and wrong pushes to millions upon millions of systems and recording the results, until we have some pretty good maps from which to design our treatments. This is why there can be no really effective sets of points which treat a given condition in every person. Each person starts with a unique system which reacts and interacts differently with the influences upon it. Acupuncture points and needle techniques must be selected not only for the symptoms, but how those symptoms are expressed within the whole person who brings them to the acupuncturist. No acupuncture student likes to hear this, but there really are no "best points" for sinus congestion, or for a headache, or high blood pressure. Such symptoms must be seen in their relationship to the entire person. That is *still* a gross oversimplification of the issue, but one I have found very helpful. Can we "prove" that acupuncture works? Probably we cannot, to the extent that we can prove an apple falls when we drop it and explain why. We cannot "prove" current ideas in physics either, within the usual meaning of proof in the biomedical fields, yet these ideas appear to work quite well in practice. Quantum mechanics, game theory, systems theory, chaos mathematics: none are measurable in the double blind study, nor will they ever be, yet they are clearly fields of accepted science. Many systems are simply too large, too complex, too chaotic to be measured in a conventional sense, or "proven." They rely on subtle observation, and a certain amount of intuition. The body, in all its functions, movements, thoughts, emotions, structures and interrelationships is a system far too complex for us to ever fully understand despite our arrogant insistence that we can. It is not a machine, it is life! Yet because something like acupuncture has some mystery about it, or is beyond our present reach, does not mean that it is not useful to us. 6. Does Qi really exist? This is entirely a personal comment. Ask one hundred practitioners of Oriental medicine or philosophy this question and you will probably get one hundred and fifty answers. My perspective comes from over 25 years of practicing martial arts, my college studies into Eastern philosophy and my current practice and education in Oriental medicine. Not that any of that adds the weight of authority when talking about something as close to the edge of unknowability as Qi. In fact, sometimes I think I know less about it now than I did before I started all of that. Great debates have taken place throughout Chinese history about whether Qi really exists, whether there really are channels, and if the needles really do what we think they do. Similar arguments rage even now in the West, especially between practitioners of modern biomedicine and practitioners of Oriental medicine. I have often found that these are primarily the result of mutual misunderstandings between the debaters as to how the idea of Qi is used in Oriental medicine. Oriental medicine is not attempting to make a precise material and mechanical description of health and illness. It is rather a map of the body's functional aspects and a proven, reliable guide for diagnosis and treatment. Oriental medicine is eminently practical: the entire theory is based on observation and practice. Throughout its long history, if a particular illness was effectively treated with a particular acupuncture point or herb, the map was updated to reflect the new knowledge. All in all, though, whether or not Qi "exists" in the Western sense has never really concerned me. After all, practitioners of Oriental medicine do not draw a syringe of Qi for lab tests. It may exist, in terms of something that can be measured in a lab, but probably not. Perhaps some aspect of it can be measured, but we are always faced with the problem of measuring something with tools that are made up of that something. What is important, however, is that the principals of Qi, Yin and Yang are the basis of a reliable and effective model for a concept of health and the diagnosis and treatment of illness. Some take Qi to be a material/ energetic substance. I tend to take it as an aspect of function and movement. It is probably both of those things and a lot more. It is difficult for us in the West, with our material and reductionist tendencies, to ever fully comprehend what the Chinese are talking about when they speak of Qi. None of that is really the issue, however. The map is reliable, it works, and it gets myself and the patient where we need to go. I can ask little more than that. To quote one favorite writer, Claude Larre, on this: "The question is not whether this term meridian or acupuncture point is right or not, this is just a convention...The problem is that thousands and thousands of Chinese characters and expressions are not grounded in our minds as they are in the Chinese mind. Notwithstanding the differences of appreciation the Chinese may have from one text to another, from one author to another, or from one main text to a commentator, they all belong to the same family of minds...[The] differences of views expressed in Western textbooks of Chinese medicine are just unreconcilable contradictions, if not pure nonsense. They stem from the imagination of people of different origins not sharing the same approach to life. If it is not necessary to know what Qi is, it is at least necessary to be conscious of one's own life. "Whenever we find an acupuncturist, whether a student, practitioner or teacher, who knows through bodily consciousness, that he or she is a permanent product of the universe, and has the feeling of something on the move, he needs a word for expressing this, and the word is Qi." (from _The Secret Treatise of the Spiritual Orchid_, Monkey Press, Cambridge, U.K., 1992.) 7. Is there research to back up the use of acupuncture? There is considerable research confirming the efficacy of acupuncture. Initial studies in the West centered primarily on the pain control aspects of acupuncture, since this fit most easily into the Western model. Research has shown that acupuncture is very effective at pain control as it releases powerful endorphins from the brain. Research has also shown that acupuncture can affect sugar, cholesterol and triglyceride levels in the blood, the functioning of the gastrointestinal system and the activity of the endocrine system. More current research has confirmed the efficacy of acupuncture in a number of Western disease definitions. For a good overview of this research, from a Western scientist, I'd recommend "The Scientific Bases of Acupuncture" by Bruce Pomerantz. It is written at a fairly technical level, but is quite readable. I would especially recommend this book to those with a background in biomedicine. Another book that is perhaps more appropriate for the general public might be "The Vital Meridian" by Alan Bensoussan, which concentrates more on neurophysiology and acupuncture's effect on the central nervous system. The approach is a bit less technical and a bit more readable. 8. What should I expect during a treatment? In general, when you go to a practitioner of Oriental medicine do not expect it to be like a visit to a Western doctor. OrMed practitioners depend highly on what they see, feel, smell and hear during your meeting with them, and use little or no modern medical equipment. OrMed practitioners are more interested in the overall picture of you than the complaint that brought you in. In the course of your first interview, which could take anywhere from 20 minutes to an hour, the practitioner will ask you detailed questions about your health, diet and lifestyle, trying to learn more about who you are, and what influences are at work in your life and upon your body. They will take your pulse at the wrist, at three places on each. They will look at your tongue. They may press on some acupuncture points on your body. When they are done, they'll make a working diagnosis and begin your treatment with acupuncture, herbs, moxibustion, cupping, or all of these. Most commonly, each treatment will include at least some acupuncture, with herbs used to support the treatments between appointments. Some practitioners see it the other way around, with herbs as the primary therapy and acupuncture supportive. In most cases, the working diagnosis originally arrived at will be refined as the practitioner see the results of the treatments. Most people find acupuncture treatment very relaxing, and many report feelings of well-being, sleepiness, and even mild euphoria. On the other hand, some people have emotional releases during acupuncture, and some find it makes them angry. Others say that treatments are energizing and practically dance out of the room. Some are inspired to poetry, others to boredom. In short, there are as many responses to acupuncture as there are patients. What is important is that the treatments lead to effects that are healing for you, whether those effects are warm and fuzzy or not. Those with repressed/suppressed emotions often find those emotions expressed during the treatment. This is expected, normal, and all part of the healing process. Remember, the Chinese never did develop the mind/body split that we take for granted here in the West. In Oriental medicine, the mind, body, emotions, spirit, are all one and no process, be it disease or healing can affect one without affecting the others. The needles used for acupuncture are much thinner than those used for injections or blood drawing. Usually, even needle-phobic people are surprised at how easily the needles are placed. We once managed to insert several acupuncture needles inside the hole in the middle of a blood drawing needle. Acupuncture needles are solid, and do not inject or remove anything from your body. The vast majority of practitioners here and in the Orient and Asia use disposable needles, so that you are getting brand new, sterile packaged needles each time. Just a note on the use of disposable needles. There are practitioners who use reusable needles. Common public wisdom is that these practitioners should be avoided or asked to use disposable needles. Personally, I think this is a lot of noise about nothing. The practitioners using reusable needles are using needles which are of far superior construction to disposable needles. They are sharper, they insert more smoothly, and there is an art with ancient lineage in their construction. These practitioners have good reason for using the needles they use. As long as they are sterilizing their needles (as required by law in the US) there is really not much to be concerned about. After all, acupuncturists use the same sterilization methods (an autoclave, usually) that doctors, surgeons and hospitals use for their equipment. If, however, you are not comfortable with this, just ask the practitioner to use disposable needles with you. I have yet to meet a practitioner who doesn't have boxes of disposable needles on a shelf somewhere. It might be comforting to know that there are very few confirmed cases of serious disease being transmitted via acupuncture needles. There are no cases of HIV being transmitted via acupuncture needles, either from patient to patient, or from patient to practitioner. Moxibustion is the process of burning an herb over specific acupuncture points. You are not burned in this process, and most people find moxa very warming and relaxing. Many people do this for themselves at home, thus supporting their treatments between visits. In fact, ask your practitioner if there are points you can moxa at home; usually there are. Get involved in your healing, in every way you can. 9. Is Oriental medicine safe? In general, anything with the power to heal has the power to do harm. Oriental medicine, however, is a very conservative treatment approach that has been proven quite safe. In fact, as compared to the risks of many Western medical procedures, Oriental medicine is the most conservative option and should be considered among first-line approaches to problems which are not immediately life threatening. One of the great advantages of acupuncture has been the usual absence of serious side effects. While accidents can happen in the course of any invasive therapy, acupuncture has shown itself to be very safe. Still, one must be aware that acupuncture is an invasive therapy, and has the potential to do harm to internal organs and vital areas of the body. For this reason it is best to leave acupuncture to those professionally trained in it. Chinese herbs are somewhat different. There is a dangerous myth that herbs are so gentle and natural that they could never harm you. If there are herbs strong enough to treat serious medical conditions, they also have the potential to do serious harm. When prescribed by a knowledgable professional, however, Chinese herbs have few, if any, side effects and are powerful tools for improving and maintaining your health. In many American states, in-depth herbal training and clinical internship is a required part of the training for a practitioner of Oriental medicine (in California, it makes up nearly half the program). Those trained in the use of Chinese herbs rarely encounter serious side effects in their usage. Most of the problems with herbs we hear about in America these days are due to self-prescribed misuse and overuse of herbal medicines. There are far fewer reported problems with herbs than there are with, for example, over-the-counter drugs. Far, far fewer. Chinese patent medicines, on the other hand, are generally more gentle in action, and it's probably harder to get in trouble with them. Still, consider them the way you would any other medicine. Always be sure that you take them per the directions (usually found on a sheet of paper inside the box), and only for the conditions indicated. "Chinese Herbal Patent Formulas" by Jake Fratkin is an excellent guide. Also read the boxes very carefully. Some Chinese patents have been appearing in this country adulterated with Western drugs. Thus, in a patent frequently used for the onset of flu, one might find various decongestants, aspirin-like substances, cough suppressants, and who knows what else. Avoid these. 10. How many treatments are necessary? This is always a tough question in regards to the treatment of any medical tradition. Each person is unique and will respond to treatment differently. The length of treatment depends on the type, severity and duration of the condition. In general, however, you should notice some change, in your condition, even if just a small one, within four weeks. If you do not experience a change in that time frame, discuss this with your practitioner. It may be that your condition may be unusually tenacious, or it may be time to change some aspect of the treatment. Always talk to your practitioner about your concerns. There are many tools at hand for any practitioner of Oriental medicine. With your input, they can find the treatment that works best for you. 11. What sort of medical conditions are treated by Oriental medicine? That's a big question. When comparing Oriental medicine's efficacy in treating a condition described by Western terms, it must be understood that personalized therapy is the hallmark of Oriental medicine. Five people with stomach ulcer may well receive five completely different treatments, depending on other facets of their overall condition. As such, it is difficult to state comprehensively that Oriental medicine can treat ulcer, per se. It all boils down to terminology. Some folks have tried to do this sort of West-East correspondence, and have compiled various lists of Western diagnostic categories that are effectively treated by Oriental medicine. The World Health Organization is one of these, often quoted in articles and brochures about Oriental medicine. Generally, Oriental medicine can effectively treat almost any condition, and is perhaps at its best in treating functional and chronic conditions. While mechanical and acute conditions can be and are treated very effectively with Oriental medicine, conditions that are immediately life threatening belong in a hospital. We cannot afford to become parochial about our health- care choices. No system of medicine is "better" than another. Each has its strengths and weaknesses, and we should take advantage of the strengths in each system available to us. Even though Western practitioners of Oriental medicine don't usually work on critical care cases, OrMed has been used to treat just about everything. In China, there are Traditional Chinese Medicine hospitals, and other hospitals where traditional and scientific medicine is combined. There, one will see acupuncture and herbs being used even in emergency rooms. One must keep in mind that for thousands of years, traditional medicine was the only medicine in Asia and the Orient. In some places it is still the only medicine, and works successfully. Western practitioners generally don't have the training or facilities to do critical care with Oriental medicine, but I always find it interesting to know that it is being used that way with millions of patients in China. In the West, practitioners treat about 80-85% (an estimate arrived at by myself and a family practice physician I work with) of the same ailments a Western MD specializing in internal medicine or family practice would see. In Western terms, Oriental medicine has been used to treat a variety of neurological, musculoskeletal, digestive, EENT, dental, respiratory, gynecological, and emotional conditions, among others. The World Health Organization has published a list of conditions that their studies indicated were amenable to Oriental medicine. The list is comprised of some 100 Western conditions. In terms of what I have seen in practices around Southern California, patients are treated for a wide range of conditions from simple colds and flu, to diabetes, to MS and Parkinson's, to chronic heart disease, to chronic headaches, to musculoskeletal injuries, to various digestive, gynecological and urogenital problems. In the books referenced throughout this FAQ, you can find more information on this topic. 12. Where can I get more information about Oriental Medicine? The best way is to speak with a practitioner in your area. Go in for a check-up, ask lots of questions. Lots and lots of questions. The second best way is to read up on the subject. The books referenced throughout this FAQ are a good start. "Between Heaven and Earth" is available widely. For an excellent source for books about every aspect of Oriental medicine, get a copy of the Redwing Book Company catalog. Redwing specializes in books about Oriental medicine, and the catalog consists of 30+ pages. You can reach them by mail or phone as below: Redwing Book Company 44 Linden Street Brookline, Mass. 02146 (617) 738-4664 (800) 873-3926 (orders) email: textware!redwing@spdcc.com Another good source of high quality books for both professionals and the general public, with a somewhat smaller catalog, is Blue Poppy Press. You can reach them at: Blue Poppy Press 1775 Linden Ave. Boulder, CO 80304 (800) 487-9296 13. What does L.Ac, C.A., etc., etc., mean? [This portion is extracted from a message I wrote to the Immune Disorders mailing list a few months ago. If I've missed any licensing/certification systems that a reader is familiar with, especially those from outside the United States, please let me know and I'll add the information here with appropriate credit (you'll be famous!). I expect a few howls about some of the opinions expressed in this article, but they come from over twenty years experience with this field of medicine and I stand by them. -Norm.] L.Ac., Lic.Ac, C.A., Dipl.Ac.: Lic. Ac. and L.Ac. are the abbreviations for Licensed Acupuncturist, but only in those states which *license*, as opposed to certify, acupuncturists. Licensure is only done in some states. In others, the abbreviation would be C.Ac., C.A., or some other version of Certified Acupuncturist. California acupuncturists had certification status for quite some time, until the late 1980's. In many states, this is still the case. In other states acupuncture may even be illegal, although happily these states can be counted on one hand. Another thing you might see following someone's name is Dipl.Ac. meaning that the practitioner is a diplomate of the national NCCA exam. This is an acupuncture only (no herbs) exam used by several states to qualify practitioners. It is, in my opinion, quite substandard as an exam, however, especially when compared to the state exams in such places as California, New York and Hawaii. Of course, others will offer different opinions about the NCCA. Your mileage may vary. OMD: One has to be very, very careful when making statements about OMD degrees. OMD can indeed be a meaningful degree on top of a 3 year program of study in Oriental medicine. On the other hand, there were schools practically giving them away for a few weekends work and a book report in the 80's. OMD is also the degree awarded by many Chinese schools to graduates of their 4-6 year programs, which more closely follow the pattern and intensity of Western medical schools than what we generally see here in America. Also, in two or three states, after passing the state exam in acupuncture, the license awarded the practitioner gives them the right to use the letters OMD after their name, though in these cases OMD has no academic meaning. In short OMD can be anything from a fine academic degree to a piece of paper of little value, and very few practitioners from the latter group are going to be honest about how they got theirs. In general I'm fairly suspicious about OMD degrees awarded by American acupuncture schools in the 70's and 80's. No American school is currently offering OMD degrees, due to the poor reputation given to the degree in earlier times. An accredited OMD program has recently been developed and will be appearing in schools very shortly. MTOM: Most of the practitioners graduating from acupuncture schools these days do so with MTOM (Master of Traditional Oriental Medicine) degrees. These are three year degrees that can require anywhere from 1750 (in NM) to nearly 3000 hours (in CA and NY) of education and internship. In general, the old-time practitioners and acupuncture educators I know say that today's MTOM is better trained with greater knowledge than the OMD's of the 80's. You have to remember that many of those OMD's came after initial training programs of just 1000 hours, which was all the schooling one needed to practice in the 80's. Those who graduate from the new accredited OMD programs will generally have in excess of 4000 hours of education behind their degrees. This is roughly the number of hours required in most MD and DC programs. None of this is meant to belittle anyone's educational background or credentials. Personally, I think that practitioners of Oriental medicine in this country have blown all out of proportion the importance of trailing letters after their name. This is all part of the inferiority complex that many in our field suffer when they look at all the Western medical profession. What counts is what happens in the treatment room. A good practitioner is a good practitioner, regardless of what certifications they hold. Some of the finest practitioners I know have nothing more than L.Ac. after their name. I've even known one or two outstanding practitioners who learned their art through apprenticeships and hold no degrees or certifications whatsoever. There's much more to the practice of Oriental medicine than meets the eye. 14. Where are the schools of Oriental Medicine? A list member recently wrote to me pointing out that for all of my discussion of Oriental medicine and educational standards and whatnot, I had left out information about contacting schools. Below are the addresses of some of the major schools of Oriental medicine in the United States. I would appreciate input from readers about other schools, either in or out of America. I do not claim that this list is in any way comprehensive. If I've left out any school, I apologize. Just let me know and I'll add them. In general, a discussion of the pros and cons of each school is far beyond this document. If you are considering the study of Oriental medicine, however, I encourage you to evaluate these schools as you would any other graduate educational opportunity. Schools of Oriental medicine vary widely in teaching methods, atmosphere, length of program, and emphasis. Call as many schools as you can, get their catalogs, read them, visit the better schools, ask lots and lots of questions and be demanding in getting satisfactory answers! It is your money, time, effort and future career that are on the line in making the decision of which school to attend. Academy of Chinese Culture American Academy of Acupuncture and Health Sciences, and Traditional Chinese Medicine, Oakland, CA Houston, TX (510) 763-7787 (713) 780-9777 American College of Bastyr University Dept. of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Acupuncture & Oriental Medicine, San Francisco, CA Seattle, WA (415) 282-7600 (206) 523-9585 Colorado School of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Denver, CO (303) 329-6355 Emperor's College of Five Branches Institute: College Traditional Chinese Medicine, of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Santa Monica, CA Santa Cruz, CA (310) 453-8833 (408) 476-9424 International Institute of Midwest Center for the Study of Chinese Medicine, Oriental Medicine, Santa Fe, NM Racine, WI (800) 377-4561 (414) 554-2010 New England School of Northwest Institute of Acupuncture, Acupuncture & Oriental Medicine, Watertown, MA Seattle, WA (617) 926-1788 (206) 633-2419 Oregon College of Pacific College of Oriental Oriental Medicine, Medicine, Portland, OR San Diego, CA (503) 253-3443 (619) 574-6909 Pacific Institute of Oriental Samra University of Medicine, Oriental Medicine, New York, NY Los Angeles, CA (212) 982-3456 (213) 482-8448 Santa Barbara College of Southwest Acupuncture College, Oriental Medicine, Santa Fe, NM Santa Barbara, CA (505) 988-3538 (805) 682-9594 Southwest Acupuncture College, Tai Hsuan College of Albuquerque, NM Acupuncture & Herbal Medicine, (505) 888-8898 Honolulu, HI (800) 942-4788 Texas Institute of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Austin, TX (512) 346-3336 Traditional Acupuncture Tri-State Institute of Institute, Traditional Chinese Acupuncture, Columbia, MD New York, NY (301) 596-6006 (212) 496-7869 Worsley Institute of Yo San University of Classical Acupuncture, Traditional Chinese Medicine, Miami Lakes, FL Santa Monica, CA (305) 823-7270 (310) 917-2202 11) In Closing ============== Of course, if this list really isn't what you had hoped it would be, you can, of course, unsubscribe. We'll miss you, though. I hope that this list can provide a good environment for the discussion of Oriental Medicine, without the needless flamage of newsgroups such as misc.health.alternative. You can help reach that goal by contributing to the list, and following the posting guidelines. Remember, too, that this list not a town square, as a newsgroup may be thought to be, but a family. Respect one another. Try talking amongst yourselves as if we were all sitting around a dinner table, in a warm house, with conversation and music going on all around. How would you talk with an acupuncturist, or a acupuncture patient, that you met at such a place and time? Why not try it here? And don't forget to carry your dishes to the kitchen when you're done. :) I wish for you the best of health and happiness. Norm. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- The OrMed Mailing List Subscription requests: send a message Administrator: Norman Kraft containing "SUBSCRIBE [address] OrMed" OrMed-admin@bkhouse.cts.com or to listserv@bkhouse.cts.com. nkraft@bkhouse.cts.com Post messages to: OrMed@bkhouse.cts.com ----------------------------------------------------------------------------