anyone have experience of Chinese medicine ?

my daughter had her appointment today ,she says the chinese doctor sat for 45 minutes discussing her symptoms and then decided that acupuncure was the best treatment,he put (according to her,and she was nervous) about 30 needles which looked very different to the ones she had had before, into her head,ears neck, arms and torso.He left her for 20 minutes and came back and adjusted them ,she was left for another 20 minutes.She called me an hour ago ,she was in tears of joy ,she had NO PAIN anywhere and walked easily to the car .She has to have a series of treatments and she is delighted with the result of this first one.He left her with little inplants? as prssure points in case she gets any pain before her next session .Who knew it would have this effect,fingers crossed it lasts

I lived in Singapore for 2 years in the late 60s.
At that time most chinese members of the population still believed in their own traditional cures, but went to a western trained doctor for antibiotics as well to be on the safe side.
If they could afford it.

Hmarie the cream was called piyang ping. I have no idea what the ingredients were as they were in Chinese. We got it from a Chinese practitioner as we couldn't get it in shops. If my son gets a flare up now he cuts out wheat and artificial colours until it clears up. I hope you find something that helps

I was working in mainland China in 1992. One morning I went on to the site, I had a horrendous stiff neck, I could hardly move it. Finally at lunch time, I asked my interpreter, if there was anyone on site, who did acupuncture? He said there was a Chinese medic who did it, in his spare time. He tookmeto see him and did the itepretting and he did me right there and then. It was an old fashioned method he used. He put pins, with a sort of putty on the end of them and placed in my neck and shoulders. Then he lit the putty, I could feel the heat travelling down the pins, in my back and neck. When they had burned out, after about ten minutes, I paid him and left. The pain was gone within an hour. It worked for me.

My daughter suffered from migraines from the age of 8 and got to the stage of being put on betablockers at 11. Fortunately she was refered to the pain clinic at the hospital and was put on acupuncture as an alternative. This worked brilliantly. One 20 minute visit every 3 months and she was migraine free. Sadly the clinic was closed a couple of years ago to save the NHS funds and the migraines have restarted.

she has tried the cannabis oil but its not available in medical strength so it was a bit useless

When I went to the Chinese clinic I queried the use of animal products and the doctor (?) assured me that they only used products approved by the EU/ UK , so no endangered animals etc. as otherwise they could not practice here.

DH tried it many years ago for ongoing gastric problems. He was sold a load of dried bits of bark and stuff which had to be boiled up and then the liquid drunk. It smelt foul, apparently tasted foul and, despite perseverance, did no good whatsoever.

There were reports in the press this morning about research confirming that the use of cannabis patches had been found effective for fybromialga

The first time I had acupuncture was when I'd been housebound for three months with something that the GP couldn't diagnose. By then I was walking like Mrs Overall and in considerable pain. I had one session and came out walking tall and pain-free. Since then I've had it to lower bp, lower eye pressure and boost energy. It's terrific.
I've read that fybromyalgia might be helped by an alkaline diet, but it sounds as though you might have already tried that.
GOOD LUCK.

I had acupuncture for back pain which I had suffered from on amd off for 18 years after the birth of my son. It worked miraculously and I haven't sufferred since - my son is now 55!

The only experience i have of Chinese medicine is many years ago someone i knew had a small child with truly terrible excema which a number of well known hospitals could do nothing for apart from steroid cream which as we all know usnt a good idea long term. The poor child (2) was covered in bandages to stop weeping and more scratching; the excema was everywhere on her body.
Her mother was desperate and told me they had heard about a chinese medicinecplace in london. They had to get there at 6 am and queue outside a until they were given a bit of paper with a time on it, and to return at that time. After consultation she was given a bundle of twigs which she had to boil up as a tea for the little girl. I recall it was a very expensive bunch of twigs and it tasted dreadful, but it did the trick, the excema cleared up almost entirely, i was astonished. As were the hospitals who had been unnsuccessfully treating her. This was the first time i had ever heard of chinese medicine, some time in the late 80's. It was impressive.

The ingredients of Chinese medicine is questionable.
I have never gone into this, although a great believer of alternative medicine, any thing herbal and I am told Chinese medicine can contain herbs is a definite no for me. I take mineral salts and swear by them. These can be taken alongside traditional medicine unlike herbal preparations.

I agree with you totally, Homeopathy is a far better option, but chinese medicine is an expensive abusive process

I did in sheer desperation having been failed by GP, homeopathy and acupuncture (which relaxed me but that was all). Horrible suspicious looking herbs which I persevered with for three weeks and then gave up as I was clearly getting worse not better. It all cost me a lot of money. An NHS neurologist finally diagnosed me 5 years ago and I see him still.

DH went for acupuncture for high blood pressure which was very effective. I went to help weight loss & it was very interesting & seemed to be working but the herbs tasted so nasty I gave it up. Lovely practitioner though. I'd certainly consider it again.

There are some excellent chinese herbs which are now being discovered by the West. Examples are various Chinese mushrooms like Reishi and Lions Mane, and Chinese Salvia or Dan Shen. This latter herb stopped my heart palpitations. There is also a mild pain killer called Corydalis which helps me not to take so many pain killing drugs. It's very mild but does really help, and unlike our normal pain killers, it is actually good for you!

There was a Chines herbalist shop in my town which got closed down-some of the medicines had heavy metals in them

Acupuncture many times- it's wonderful!

thank you all for your input .

yes we've checked out leaky gut syndrome though her GP tells her its nonsense ,I spend huge amounts of time and money on researching things that might help ,some simple herbal stuff like turmeric ,massage/heat chair ,yoga at home ,acti patch...which did help for a few months ,guided meditation ,you name it we've looked at it and tried ,diet is important and I was vegetarian for a long time so she's trying juicing and pre and pro biotics .Sadly nothing seems to help .We'll give the chinese clinic a go and see whhat happens ,they claim to have great success ...we shall see

Mauriherb Any chance you know the name of that cream?

I have used acupuncture successfully for years for symptoms like anxiety and general wellbeing, a boost to the immune system before winter (I don't have the flu jab) also various aches and pains. My daughter suffers badly with hay fever and I've witnessed her go into a session sneezing and with her eyes streaming and emerge like a different person.

When I was working in Shanghai Chinese colleagues advised me not to use the herbal remedies because of some of the ingredients. The inclusion of animal products in medicine is offensive to some, and some plant substances can be harmful. The hazards are widely publicised if you Google it.

Paddyann have you looked into the connection between fibromyalgia and a healthy gut? Latest research seems to show that if your stomach microbes are imbalanced it can be a cause of autoimmune conditions and also leaky gut syndrome which greatly exacerbates fibromyalgia. I'm not saying it's an instant cure but really worth trying as it's changes to one's diet in a gentle way without invasive drugs. Micheal Moseley - the bbc4 medical man- is a big proponent of this so maybe give his book a read. Hope you find a way through

My son used to have severe eczema and there was nothing helping him. We tried a Chinese cream (out of sheer desperation) and we could, literally, sit and watch the sores healing. It was very expensive but it was the only thing that helped. Thankfully son no longer has this problem