What comes to your mind when you think about alternative medicine? Placebo effect? Unfounded pseudoscience? Maybe even astrology? Let me tell you about my experience.
I had my first traditional chinese medicine (TCM) appointment at the end of last summer. One of my close friends had recommended it to me after it had helped her with her anxiety attacks. I didn’t have anxiety attacks but I was definitely not in a good mental state. Working a stressful job, going through a break-up and the disappointment of not being able to move back to the city of my dreams had left me exhausted both mentally and physically. I had nothing to lose so why not give it a try? I thought to myself. And oh boy, did it do wonders.
‘It is nice to talk about things that affect your well-being to someone whom you are not just another patient to but look at you as a whole person.’
My first appointment was only supposed to go 1 hour but it took 2.5 instead. During that time I was able to open up and talk about everything that was on my mind and I also got to know my TCM practitioner. She told me about herself, the practice, how it worked and what the basics were. After a while it felt like I was talking to a friend and it was easy to talk about things I might not have been comfortable discussing with a medical doctor. A lot of times, when I walked into a doctor’s practice or a hospital, it felt very impersonal. Don’t get me wrong, I understand why doctors don’t have time to chit chat with their patients and I also don’t always want to talk to my doctor for longer than I have to. But for some aspects of my health I believe it is beneficial. I don’t want to tell my doctor I don’t sleep well for example because what would they do? Give me sleeping pills? Tell me to exercise and eat well? Answers like that have never helped me because they felt so disingenuous. It is nice to talk about things that affect your well-being to someone who looks at you as a whole person and not as just another patient.
‘Going to TCM therapy has shown me alternative ways to approach health.’
This brings me to my next point: the holistic approach. Holistic medicine is basically a type of treatment where they look at you as a whole person to treat any health issues instead of looking at the illness only and looking for methods to fix it specifically (=allopathic approach). The holistic approach of TCM was something I often thought was lacking within our current healthcare system. Why not look at the whole person instead of just looking at the specific ailment they have? Going to TCM therapy has shown me alternative ways to approach health. I had a messed up period for which I went to four different doctors. I got screened and tested several times after which they had found nothing. I was prescribed some hormonal pills that were supposed to fix everything within a week but did nothing. Even though they tried their best, all I heard was that they couldn’t find everything and I should just wait for it to go away. I was frustrated and on the brink of giving up on this before I started with TCM therapy. At one of our appointments, she pinched me at my elbow and after I said it hurt she informed me that I probably had a blockage somewhere that was causing my hormonal fluctuations. I’ve been taking specific homeopathic drops to regulate my hormones now and it has been slowly going back to normal. I can’t say whether it is due to TCM methods or due to my body truly regulating itself over time that my period is going back to normal now. But I know it provided me with a great sense of comfort to know that there were other ways to approach health issues which my doctors had given up on.
‘I never liked needles and I couldn’t imagine how it could possibly be relaxing to have a dozen of them poked into me.’
During our sessions we usually talk about my overall well being followed by acupuncture, cupping and a gua sha massage. Acupuncture was the thing I had nervously anticipated the most. I never liked needles and I couldn’t imagine how it could possibly be relaxing to have a dozen of them poked into you. My therapist was very understanding, showed me the needle and told me about its effects on my body. Even though I was still unsure, I wanted to give it a try. The first needle was not bad at all; the needle was so delicate it didn’t hurt, in fact I barely felt it. I let her carry on onto the rest of my body: my arms, hands, legs, feet, my ears and even my forehead. All the while we were chatting about things like the pandemic, silly anecdotes and more serious ones and anything else that came to our mind. After half an hour or so I felt relaxed in a way I’ve only felt after a day at the beach on vacation. I felt sleepy, but in a soothing and peaceful way. Now, every time I walk out of the practice I notice my eyes having the kind of relaxed glow people usually have after a long, good massage. My friends have asked me for my therapist’s number after seeing what it did for me.
- ‘Is it not in a way disrespectful to obliterate a treatment millions of people have been researching and practicing for thousands of years?’
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Finally, I am convinced everyone should give alternative medicine a try. It doesn’t have to be TCM, it can be any other kind of holistic approach that could give you something you need and that western medicine with its pills couldn’t fix. In my limited view as a patient, I believe TCM definitely has aspects that I think could be beneficial to western medicine. But because it is often viewed as pseudoscience people deter from even considering it as a therapy method. I know that I used to think alternative medicine wasn’t real medicine but after I experienced it on my own body and learned more about it I knew that my view was completely askew. We should start asking ourselves where these biases come from. Why do we often view alternative types of therapy as hocus-pocus and western types of ‘modern’ medicine as the ultimate truth and cure to everything? Is it not in a way disrespectful to obliterate a treatment millions of people have been researching and practicing for thousands of years? Do I believe alternative medicine is the all-in-one solution for all ailments and disease? No – but western medicine isn’t either. Wouldn’t it be great to live in a world where we can combine the wisdom of different cultures to find approaches to health that work for everyone? Until then I’m hoping I can keep an open mind on my journey to learn more about my body – needle by needle.
Find out more about TCM here