Chinese medicine is truly holistic medicine. It begins with universal laws of nature which we can see manifesting outside the body; like when you water a tree, it will grow; put wood on a fire and it will burn; put metal into a fire and it melts. The Chinese say that what exists outside the body in nature also exists inside the body and that the external environment influences the internal environment.
Let’s explore what that looks like by taking a peek at the details of someone I treated recently. JP grew up in the southwest where it was very dry. During her 24 years, she enjoyed good health with no real problems beyond the occasional cold which was always accompanied with lots of mucus. She often craved sweets and she indulged herself especially with the stress of her recent move to DC. Her fitness program included running or walking for 2-3 miles several times per week and she swore off processed food and sodas.
Shortly after moving to the DC area, she began to experience numbness and tingling in her arms and legs after walking or running…something she had never experienced before. These sensations would start about a mile into her run/walk and would make it impossible to continue. Once she stopped running, the sensations would last anywhere for a half hour to 2 hours and then disappear only to return again with exercise.
Her doctor did blood tests and even sent her to a neurologist for evaluation. Neither doctor offered an explanation for what was going on and no treatment was recommended either. She wondered if she ever would be able to exercise again without the weird tingling sensation.
She came for a comprehensive energetic evaluation because she heard that this process is very effective at getting to the heart of what is really going on especially when it is something “weird.”
During the comprehensive energetic evaluation we specifically looked for what relates to the tingling sensation in the limbs after exercise. Here is what we found.
- Organ drainage issues particularly as it relates to the lymphatic system which included the spleen, thymus gland and lymph nodes.
- Compromised spleen, liver and lymph node function
- Sensitivity to gluten and dairy products
- Candida infestation
- Mercury toxicity
- The body’s top priority for dealing with the tingling sensation in the limbs after exercise was an enzyme product called Sugar/Starch Digestion.
The organ primarily involved in sugar/starch digestion is the spleen, which produces insulin and, in Chinese Medicine, also controls the muscles and the lymph system. Additionally, the spleen is greatly impacted by external damp from humid weather conditions and internal damp produced by the Candida infestation. Further testing indicated that the Candida condition has been with her for about 5 years.
THE HOLISTIC UNDERSTANDING
JP moved from a dry climate to a moist humid climate. The existing internal damp condition in the form of Candida made it very difficult for her to make the adjustment to the demands of the external humid conditions. Because the spleen does not function well with excess internal or external damp, its ability to metabolize sugars and starch was compromised along with its capacity to excrete the waist from the muscles by way of the lymph system during exercise. Due to the inefficient lymph system, the muscle waist – carbon dioxide, lactic acid and or metabolites – backed up and in JP’s case affected the nerves in such a way to produce the numbing and tingling after exertion. Given time, the lymph system was able to clear the waist and the tingling sensations disappeared.
Thanks to the holistic framework provided by Chinese medicine and our ability to query the body’s internal wisdom, we were able to solve the puzzle present by JP’s “weird” symptoms.
Additionally, we were able to recommend the exact herbs, supplements and diet to strengthen and raise the health of the internal environment so that she will be able to live symptom-free in humid DC.
If you or a friend has a chronic condition or some “weird thing” going on, you will want to make an appointment for a comprehensive energetic evaluation. As in this case, we are often successful where others are not because we take a holistic approach and rely on the body’s wisdom to crack the “mystery.”
You can read more about this cutting-edge work at http://stillpointmindandbody.com/energy-medicine/
Daniel Ebaugh, M.Ac., L.Ac. @ The Still Point 301 920 0801
