Chinese medicine on the causes of diabetes.
More than 2,000 years ago in the Yellow Emperor’s Classic of Internal Medicine (“Ling Shu? The Five Changes”) said, “The five organs are soft and weak, and good at disease elimination”. Chinese medicine understands diabetes from a holistic, human body’s large system. The holistic concept and holographic theory of TCM can be described as “seeing the microscopic to know the obvious”, and “one hair will affect the whole body”. In the case of diabetes, if the five viscera and six internal organs are weak, the body’s qi, blood, fluid and essence are not properly distributed, resulting in qi stagnation, dampness, blood stasis and phlegm internal disturbance, which remain and do not go to the disease. In other words, weakness of the five organs is a prerequisite for the development of diabetes, mostly due to congenital deficiencies in endowment, coupled with the loss of nourishment in later life. Diabetes mellitus is generally dominated by yin deficiency, poor diet, fatigue, internal injury, emotional disorders and phlegm-dampness (obesity), which can lead to internal “yin deficiency as the basis, dryness and heat as the standard”, disorder of the five viscera and six internal organs, abnormal distribution of Qi, blood, fluid and essence, resulting in a number of pathological products, such as phlegm, stasis, toxicity, etc.
Original sin of high sugar.
I am fat, but my blood sugar is normal, he is fat, but he is hyperglycemic. Why is there such a difference in the same physical condition? This is what Chinese medicine calls the vegetative factor, the endowment of vegetative deficiency, i.e. the congenital factor. Now there is a clear understanding of these. TCM believes that individual physical differences play an important role in the development of diabetes, and this aspect is the same as what Western medicine calls genetic factors. For example, children less than a month old (premature babies) are prone to diabetes in adulthood, and children born with low birth weight are also at high risk for type 2 diabetes in adulthood. This is a very obvious congenital factor. Of course, these two groups of people can also remain free of diabetes for life if they are well nourished later in life. The early intervention of TCM health care philosophy and methods can play a big role in this regard.
In addition to the above mentioned internal causes (endowment deficiency), there are external causes. Chinese medicine has long recognized that poor diet, excessive fat and sweetness, mental stimulation and emotional disorders, physical obesity and internal growth of phlegm and dampness are the main causes of diabetes. With the continuous improvement of living standards, modern technology competition and fast-paced work, emotionally induced diseases are becoming more and more common. In Chinese medicine, the factors related to emotional pathogenesis are consistent with the Western medical theory of dysfunction of the nervous, endocrine and immune systems in diabetes. Mental tension, mood swings and psychological stress can often cause an increase in the secretion of insulin counteracting hormones such as growth hormone, epinephrine, norepinephrine, adrenocorticotropic hormone and glucagon, leading to an increase in blood glucose and triggering or aggravating diabetes.
Obesity and diabetes. In the Wei, Jin and Tang and Song dynasties, economic conditions were good, and the dignitaries pursued a leisurely life, and were so frugal that they often indulged in wine and dance, pursued exotic delicacies, fatty sweetness and thick taste, and medicine and plaster (the so-called longevity and health medicine). Even the aesthetic standards of the year have changed. For example, Yang Guifei, whom Emperor Tang Xuanzong liked to make “six palaces without color”, was a typical example of fat as beauty. The “Old Book of Tang” on the Yang Guifei records have “posture rich and beautiful, good at singing and dancing, and pass the music” expression. With obesity came diabetes, coronary heart disease, hypertension and other diseases, so the Tang and Song dynasties “rich and noble”, especially the emperor’s life expectancy is generally not long, perhaps many people died of diabetes. From the perspective of modern Chinese and Western medicine, fat people more “phlegm”, phlegm refers to those in the human physiological process or pathological changes in the process, should be discharged from the body, but not discharged, so that the metabolic products or pathological products or excessive accumulation of substances in the body, such as high blood sugar, high blood fat, high blood viscosity, platelet aggregation, etc.. Phlegm stays in the bloodstream and is an important factor in causing complications of diabetes.
Poor diet and diabetes. Chinese medicine has long instructed that the onset of diabetes is most closely related to excess nutrition. For example, more than 2,000 years ago in the “Huangdi Neijing Suwen”, the “strange disease theory”, it is written that “this (thirst disease) fat and beauty of the hair also, people must eat a number of sweet and fat also, fat people make internal heat, sweet people make the middle full, so its gas overflow turned into thirst.” In 1980, the prevalence of diabetes in China was only 0.67%. Now our country has become the most diabetic country in the world, and the prevalence of diabetes in China was announced in 2010 as 9.7%. The increase in living standards, i.e., the high intake of high-calorie diets, is probably the most important reason for the increase in diabetes. A limited monthly supply of food, oil and meat stamps, and a diet that had to be moderated even without moderation. Now we who still worry about food! We can say that 30 years ago a family a month to eat a pound of cooking oil (500 ml), now a little exaggerated, a dish can use a pound of cooking oil. 30 years ago, we may only eat meat once a week, but now every meal without meat can not eat. The lack of diet and the excessive consumption of fat and sweetness (high-fat, high-protein diet) lead to damage to the spleen and stomach, obesity, phlegm and internal heat. Obesity and poor diet are environmental factors in the development of diabetes, and this is consistent with the understanding of Chinese and Western medicine.
Exercise and diabetes. Chinese medicine paid early attention to the relationship between exercise and blood sugar. In the “Treatise on the Origin of the Diseases”, Chao Yuanfang of the Sui Dynasty pointed out that people with diabetes should “take 120 steps, more than a thousand steps”. 30 years ago, our roads were not as wide as they are now, and at that time, it was a luxury to spend money on buses to go to work, so they often walked and called it “the 11 bus”. The number 11 bus”. And now? Subways, buses are very popular, and even drive their own cars to work, many people do not walk a few steps a week, not to mention exercise. In many people’s life plan, all kinds of things are lined up, but there is no fitness program this item. Some young and middle-aged people, through the media or health checkups, know the truth that “life is exercise” and feel the importance of maintaining good health, and even spend a lot of money to get a fitness card, but it is often difficult to sustain due to work and other reasons. The general public’s excessive calorie intake and too little exercise is another major cause of diabetes.
Excessive desire and diabetes. The famous doctor Ye Tianshi in the Qing Dynasty said in the “clinical guide to medical cases” that “the state of mind is sad, internal fire spontaneous combustion, is the great disease of consumption (thirst). Some diabetic patients have a long-term disorder of the emotions, serious cases accompanied by depression. Mental factors mainly affect the body’s internal. Secretory, neural network, so Chinese medicine believes that long-term mental stimulation can lead to qi stagnation. Emotional disorders caused by bad mood, can make the internal organs function disorder, the effect on the nervous system can affect the internal organs and hormonal changes in the body, so that endocrine disorders, low immunity, a long time in this state, increased secretion of glucagon, resulting in increased blood sugar. The pace of modern life has accelerated, work and life are not so easy, so the body’s immune function is easily damaged by strenuous work. Diabetes used to be called endocrine disease, but now it is called metabolic disease. Changes in the endocrine-immune-neurological network system can lead to damage to the function of the pancreas, and “labor” can damage our nerves, endocrine and immune system, thus causing metabolic problems. If we know the causes of diabetes, we can make more targeted lifestyle changes to keep it out, summarized in these familiar words (nine words of warning): keep your mouth shut, keep your legs open, and be in a good mood.
Phase therapy.
Prevention is the key to diabetes, which is often referred to as “treating the disease before it starts”. “It is a method of prevention or treatment to prevent the onset and development of diabetes. The first is to prevent the disease before it happens, emphasizing the regimen to prevent the occurrence of diabetes; the second is to prevent its transmission after the disease, emphasizing early diagnosis and early treatment to control the development and evolution of diabetes; and the third is to prevent the complications of diabetes after the prognosis. Of course, treating the disease before it happens is easy to say, but there are still many people who cannot do it. Chinese medicine has obvious advantages in the treatment of diabetes. In particular, in the process of treatment, TCM can measure the current condition in time to see how far it will probably develop in three years, and how far it will develop in four years, so that it can intervene more purposefully in advance to intercept and reverse it.
According to the three stages of diabetes development, evidence-based treatment can be used.
1. Early stage “Yin deficiency and heat”. Those with high blood glucose and late diagnosis usually have “three more and one less (drink more, eat more, urinate more and lose weight)” as the main symptoms. Thirst, excessive food and easy hunger, not necessarily emaciation, combined with constipation is “Yin deficiency and heat”. The treatment formula is commonly used in the formula for eliminating thirst, A plus or minus, mainly to clear the heat of the lung and stomach. Commonly used drugs are raw earth, geranium, dendrobium, bitter melon, yu zhu and so on. It helps to nourish stomach and Yin, and to improve bowel movement.
2. Middle stage “Qi and Yin deficiency”. Qi deficiency plus Yin deficiency, this period is the most common in the course of diabetes. Qi deficiency is a feeling of lack of energy, weakness, spontaneous sweating, shortness of breath, coupled with hot flashes and night sweats, back pain and tinnitus, and other symptoms of yin deficiency. Most of the standardized proprietary Chinese medicines on the market treat this as the main evidence. The treatment formula is commonly used to add and subtract Ginseng and Astragalus Dihuang Tang, which mainly focuses on nourishing Qi and generating fluid. Commonly used drugs are princely ginseng, raw astragalus, raw earth, maitong, yam, shamrock, xuan ginseng and so on. The old habit of using Liu Wei Di Huang Wan alone may also have some effect on “deficiency of both qi and yin”.
3, late stage “Yin and Yang two deficiency”. The main thing is that the form is cold, the face is swollen, the waist and knees are cold, or the hands and feet are cold, the night urine is more, excluding the prostate is the kidney Yin deficiency.
The actual fact is that the actual person is not a person, but a person is a person.
Of course, specific to the individual, will vary. For example, after the diabetic elderly ischemic stroke, the use of acupuncture to recover is very good, in addition to acupuncture analgesic pain relief is also very strong; diabetic patients always feel hungry, then you can use the ear needle buried beans method; insomnia, constipation can be ear buried beans. So everyone should choose the right way according to their own constitution in order to achieve satisfactory results.
Beware of pseudo-Chinese medicine.
Nowadays, there are very many fake herbal medicines sold in the market, and many other drugs that are advertised as a radical cure for diabetes, also under the banner of Chinese medicine. In fact, simply choosing Chinese medicine for treatment does not have a significant effect on lowering sugar, much less curing diabetes at all. This is the most important point that we need to understand about TCM, which is about a balance. You have abnormalities in the function of your internal organs, you regulate it to make it normal, this is the real role of Chinese medicine. The actual fact is that the actual people who are not sick usually use some medicinal food to take care of it, and when they get sick, they use some herbal medicine to take care of it. So in contrast, for those who are older, obese, high in blood fat, and a little higher in blood sugar, Chinese medicine may be better than the side effects of Western medicine.
When sugar, fat, blood pressure and weight are all somewhat problematic, but Western medicine cannot be used, it is best to choose Chinese medicine, which has advantages in this field. In addition, TCM is unique in improving symptoms. There are many symptoms of diabetes: loss of energy and slipperiness, poor energy affecting work, severe insomnia, constipation, etc. In the treatment of these symptoms, the advantages of TCM are obvious. There are also abnormal glucose tolerance, that is, pre-diabetes, many Western medicine can not eat, or eat serious hypoglycemia, or eat belly bloating, always fart, and sometimes even dare not go to public places, this time is also more suitable to use Chinese medicine for the first stage of conditioning.