anyone have experience of Chinese medicine ?

Any medical discipline that believes that ground up tiger penises will cure impotence is to be avoided like the plague. Sorry believers, but think about it. Likewise homeopathy. If diluting something 10 times is potent but diluting 100 times is more potent must be daft. Placebos rule! Voltaire said "The art of medicine consists in amusing the patient while nature cures the disease." For what it's worth my son is a consultant surgeon, and his wife a consultant radiologist. She is of Chinese heritage too.

Beware of bad Chinese medicine practitioners.....

www.ratemds.com/doctor-ratings/dr-yanli-cao-toronto-on-ca

www.ratemds.com/doctor-ratings/dr-chao-wang-toronto-on-ca

she had a brilliant result last week not so good this morning but she says the needles were placed differently so maybe they have to change the areas throughout the course to get the best relits overall,she needs to go back same time next week .Good news she says the pain is not nearly so bad

Oh paddy what good news about the acupuncture. As you know, my daughter suffers too so I'll pass this on asap and encourage her to try it.

Sorry paddyann, you've tried acupuncture with what would appear to be an excellent result - like a miracle!! Fingers crossed that, like me, it does the trick!

I had chronic sciatica some years ago and in desperation I had a course of acupuncture, and low and behold it worked, as they say, a treat! No recurrence from that day to this, almost like a miracle! However, I know it doesn't work for everyone, but might be worth a try paddyann. I wish your daughter well and hope you soon find something to relieve her debilitating condition.

we're lucky enough to have GP's that take time ,I saw mine yesterday about my back/leg issue and was in with her for over 20 minutes ...however I came out spitting feathers as she was reluctant to give me any pain killers ...for what she says is a herniated disc .I got them in the end

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I agree HildaW. I had my six monthly review at rheumatology this morning. It's luxurious becaus we are allocated twenty minutes. That include height, weight, blood pressure, before seeing the specialist. My specialist and I both complete a how Bad are you form. We agreed out of ten (beyond awful) and 0 (no problems) that currently I'm 2 - 3. I've been 9 so I'm very pleased, so are they. During my appointment, the specialists st was asked if he'd see Simone who just arrived, forty mins late. No, because he already had an extra new, very ill patient squeezed in to his clinic. That wasn't going to take twenty mins I thought. So, my appointment was speedy, no time to really review or ask many questions. Hilda's point is well made. When we go,privately, for we get time. It helps.

Whilst I have made my feelings on Chinese medicine obvious, although perhaps with the exception of non-drug related acupuncture - all alternative medicines come with the added bonus of the practitioner being directly paid by the client thus affording them the huge benefit of being properly listened to and time being spent on them.
A frenzied visit to the NHS surgery is always tense, time limited and often at an inconvenient time.
I am sure that whatever treatment is provided whether its 'Alternative' or, mainstream if its in the framework of a commercial transaction we tend to feel we are being treated better. We tend to get what we pay for.....a good long time with the practitioner, no rushed appointments and the feeling that someone is actually listening. I do feel that in itself is very valuable.
Such a shame our NHS Doctors are so overworked and under pressure.

I would never use it because of the reputation of how they get some of their medication, to horrible to contemplate.

Great news

I feel as if a weight has lifted from my shoulders ,

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.