When Will You Consider Turning to Holistic Chinese Medicine?

Recently, I had an online consultation with a 37-year-old woman from Spain. She described a dizzying array of symptoms and conditions. I asked ChatGPT to help sort through her issues, and it turned out she had at least 14 different Western diagnoses:

Eczema, food intolerances, hormonal imbalance, ovarian cysts, uterine cysts, premenstrual syndrome (PMS), irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), psoriasis, plant allergies, middle ear infections, vaginal candida infections, sleep disorders, night sweats, and back pain.

I even had ChatGPT list the Western medical specialties she’d need to see:

•Dermatology (for eczema, psoriasis, and other skin issues)

•Allergy and Immunology (for food intolerances and plant allergies)

•Gastroenterology (for IBS and digestive problems)

•Endocrinology (for hormonal imbalance, night sweats, and certain sleep issues)

•Gynecology (for ovarian cysts, uterine cysts, PMS, and vaginal candida infections)

•Otolaryngology (ENT) (for ear infections)

•Sleep Medicine (for insomnia and nighttime teeth grinding)

•Orthopedics or Rehabilitation (for back pain and injuries)

Having to visit eight different specialties is clearly absurd, yet so many people have already become accustomed to thinking of healthcare in such fragmented terms.

So, how do I approach this case from a Chinese medicine perspective?

The key is to perform a comprehensive analysis of all her TCM diagnostic information to map out her complete pattern. Her TCM pattern is quite complex:

Liver and kidney yin-yang deficiency + blood stasis with blood deficiency + phlegm-damp accumulation + liver qi stagnation + exterior syndrome + spleen deficiency.

Based on this analysis, I chose a combined classical formula treatment:

Shenqi Wan + Wen Jing Tang + Gancao *** Tang + Xiao** San, further supplemented with herbs to release the exterior and eliminate dampness – a total of 26 herbal ingredients. After just one week of treatment, she reported significant improvements across the board.

This perfectly encapsulates my mantra:

“I adjust your whole system, not treat your Western disease names.”

In other words, what we call “holistic treatment in Chinese medicine” involves using the traditional diagnostic methods to deeply understand your internal pattern. We then tailor traditional formulas precisely to treat the entire system. When the underlying pattern improves, the various Western diagnoses naturally resolve.

Take this patient as an example: would visiting eight different specialists really solve her problems? In fact, without an overall understanding of her constitution, treatments from different Western specialties may even conflict. For instance, treating an infection with antibiotics—cold-natured medications—can worsen her digestive issues and exacerbate kidney deficiency. This is the classic case of “suppressing one problem only to see another arise.”

Far too often, patients turn to Chinese medicine only after Western treatments have failed. But perhaps, choosing holistic Chinese medicine earlier could be the turning point in your health journey.

When will you consider turning to Chinese medicine?