Chinese Medicine Guys

Hey Barack: Health News Events -- Quick Shots

Hey Barack,

Barack, I ended up blabbing away again to set up this blog entry, so I put it all in the Back Story section. Read it, if you’re in a professorial mood.

Below is a short and sweet Chinese Medicine Take on health stories in the news lately. 

It’s geared for those with a good grounding in Chinese Medicine. If you need to talk about the details, I’m sure the Secret Service can snatch me up from my home and ship my ass to Guantanamo Bay, where we’ll meet. No one will suspect a thing, it’ll just look like government business, as usual.

MORE HEADACHES IN WARMER WEATHER
More people go to the emergency room for treatment of headaches in warmer weather. Western Medicine doesn’t know why, but a mediocre Chinese Medicine practitioner would be all over it like Charles Barkley rebounding against a team of midgets. Oops, sorry I’ve got to practice being more politically correct. They aren’t midgets -- they’re little people. (I’m only 5 foot 6, so I can tease them -- OK.)

Hey Barack: Low Cost Asthma Attack Option

I imagine Barack and I are on the same team. He’s the star and that’s fine with me, as I’m grateful to be in the “supporting cast”. Barack’s game has slipped. He has a blind spot and it’s hurting the team. It’s a time out and it’s time for me to point out the weakness in his game that’s killing us.

I need to be direct, blunt and uncharacteristically succinct. It’s no time for Presidential formalities or John Dean like ass-kissing the President. He has gotta change his game, if we’re gonna win on Planet Earth. Even Abe Lincoln needed to work on his game. Hell, even Jordan developed a jumpshot.

Hey Barack,

Here’s something I learned watching your long campaign for President. You take a person’s personal story to reflect the bigger picture. For example, the Republicans took Joe The Plumber to illustrate how to politically shoot yourself in the foot. It shows not every glittering plumber one scratches is gold. Sometimes it reveals a septic tank. 

I can’t say anything about all people who have asthma. But I can talk about a particular person with an asthma attack at a point in time. In Chinese Medicine, there’s no magic bullet to cure all people who have asthma. There’s no one treatment to treat all people with asthma. There’s a competent assessment, by a talented practitioner, for a person suffering an asthma attack and specific treatment that’s right for them.

Here’s a story of someone suffering an asthma attack:

Hey Barack: 15 Year Back Pain Cured, Pronto

Hey Barack,

Here’s a short story and imagine living in this guy’s shoes. I think this guy’s tale of back pain is just like so many other people’s – no relief – past or present – after years of suffering. Now, take this guy’s story and run the gamut of everything typically done for a case like this: X-rays, MRIs, pain pills, physical therapy, even surgery – just to mention a few typical options. What’s the health care cost for just this one guy? Now multiply that number by the all the people who have similar health care stories. The dollars add up to billions – I’m sure.

Are you catching my CMG drift yet?

Dear Diary: St. Patty's Day

Dear Diary is a series of blog entries that will captivate you about my everyday life. Do you detect some Irish sarcasm?

Backstory:

My sister Carol just finished editing two blog entry pieces that she sent back to me via email. Usually there isn’t any overall comments with her edit, but she said she liked one of them that was particularly funny. Carol and I are from the same Irish family tree and you don’t keep a funny joke too yourself. A joke is Irish community property. With the related Irish sarcasm being the outhouse in the back that comes with the house. Free of charge.

I was walking into yoga class today and behind the front desk is the yoga teacher. She is down to earth and normal, no wonder her class is usually completely packed. Compared to all the whacked out people teaching yoga, it’s a breath of fresh air for someone to teach it like they inhabit planet earth, instead of a far off Strange Land with Robert Heinlein.

I was feeling so warm about taking her class, that out pops of my mouth typical Irish sarcasm on St Patty’s Day. Whoops, can’t control the Irish beast. I say “What are you doing”. She says “Nothing just sitting here”. I say, so her fellow employee who was folding towels could hear, “You’re quite an inspiration to your fellow workers (just sitting there doing nothing).” I see her cringe, as sarcasm usually isn’t a big hit here in Seattle. Do I stop? No, when they’re wobbling you go for the knock out punch, as part of my raised in Chicago training. I blab on,  “Keep up the good work”.

Hey Barack: $10,000 Panic Attack

I imagine Barack and I are on the same team. He’s the star and that’s fine with me, as I’m grateful to be in the “supporting cast”. Barack’s game has slipped. He has a blind spot and it’s hurting the team. It’s a time out and it’s time for me to point out the weakness in his game that’s killing us.

I need to be direct, blunt and uncharacteristically succinct. It’s no time for Presidential formalities or John Dean like ass-kissing the President. He has gotta change his game, if we’re gonna win on Planet Earth. Even Abe Lincoln needed to work on his game. Hell, even Jordan developed a jumpshot.

Hey Barack,

You seem to like a good story. Let’s see if I can make this one short and interesting. It’s how a panic attack cost someone $10,000 that he could ill afford to pay.

Hey Barack: Backstory

I imagine Barack and I are on the same team. He’s the star and that’s fine with me, as I’m grateful to be in the “supporting cast”. Barack’s game has slipped. He has a blind-spot and it’s hurting the team. It’s a Time Out and it’s time for me to point out the weakness in his game that’s killing us.

I need to be direct, blunt and uncharacteristically succinct. It’s no time for Presidential formalities or John Dean like ass-kissing the President. He has gotta change his game, if we’re gonna win on Planet Earth. Even Abe Lincoln needed to work on his game. Hell, even Jordan developed a jumpshot.

Everyday People: Lung Cancer Fears

Relevant Everyday Summary:

This morning on the way out the front door, I hear my housemate Tiberio walking toward the front door. I turn around and he has a worried look on his face. I know he doesn’t want to bother me, but he needs some advice from me. I can tell.

He swings his arms from side to side and says he has pain in his upper back. I know exactly what he is worried about. He’s been a smoker for years. He’s again worried about having lung cancer, as indicated by his pain. I remain calm and listen. I know it’s not cancer, but I need to figure out what is causing the pain to calm his mind down.

Last night when I got up to pee, I heard him loudly coughing in his room. I know he thinks the coughing all night and the upper back pain means he has lung cancer. I ask him where’s the pain. We eventually pinpoint it to a knot in his upper back muscles in back of the one of his lungs.

I ask him when did it start. He said last night and it got worse during the night. I know he doesn’t directly want to ask me if it’s cancer. But from the look on his face, this is his real question. [1] I don’t want to answer his unspoken question directly. I don’t even want to use the word cancer in our conversation, unless I have to more directly reduce his fears.

I know it’s not lung cancer, because I’ve been mostly silently tracking his smoking, coughing and lungs for many years. [2] It’s what I do well. I know it’s a fear he has, so I’ve been paying attention to it. 

Sooo. . .I ask again, “When did it start?” He says, “Last night, I was sitting in bed with my laptop. I started coughing really hard and then I got this pain in my back right there and it really hurts”. He then explained that the pain was in his upper back to one side in back of the lungs. The pain is constant and not stabbing.

Right then I knew what was going on with him and I simply and clearly explain it. He is satisfied with my explanation, looks relieved and says thanks. I’m glad to help a great friend and I own him a lot more than I’ve ever given him. I go out the door, onto my bike to a coffeehouse to write about it. 

Everyday People: Back Story -- I'm No Poet

This is the Back Story to a new series of blog entries called Everyday People. It’s a CMG Take based on everyday people the CMG encounters in his day-to-day life. [1]

Back Story:

It’s Valentine’s Day and I just got out of yoga class this Saturday morning. I’m feeling so loving and spiritual that I was gonna call this piece – “It’s Downward Dog Ya’ Dick.” [2] I was also going to call this piece “Happy Valentine’s Day”. [3] But by the time I edit this piece for the umpteenth time, and by the time it floats up to the top of Carol’s editing list, it might be Christmas.

Why am I feeling so sarcastically loving? Because it’s Valentine’s Day and I haven’t had a girlfriend for five years and I’m not gay. [4]

No, that actually makes me feel good. I just finished yoga and went into this upscale cupcake and coffeehouse to write this memorable piece. But the line was so huge that I left in a second because every guy in Seattle was in line to get his honey some overpriced cupcake to show he loves her. Then they are off to down the street to get flowers to show he loves her even more. Love in America means giving people stuff they don’t need. I guess it stimulates the economy. But who needs it? Not me.

Another CMG Take: NFL Brain Damage

This blog is Chinese Medicine GuyS. It’s GuyS, not guy, because I need help too. Here is Another CMG Take to help us all get better at Chinese Medicine.

I asked Ed Antkowiak, talented licensed acupuncturist, for his response to a blog entry I wrote about brain damage in NFL football players. Ed sent me a Detailed Response that is included in whole below. It includes more depth than my typical blog entries in an attempt for Grasshoppers to experience greater depths of Chinese Medicine. Thanks Ed.

I also wrote Footnotes, to Ed’s Detailed Response, to help the Grasshoppers’ education process. Finally, I’ve summarized Ed’s Detailed Response to make it specifically geared to those new to Chinese Medicine. 

Grasshopper Summary:

Ed agrees that blood stasis in the brain can be a primary diagnosis of brain injury to NFL football players. He further explains that NFL brain injuries are similar to injuries suffered by soldiers and martial artists. He explains the detailed mechanism of how these brain injuries can occur. He also points out that a greater depth of knowledge is needed, than presented my blog entry, to more precisely diagnosis the problem.

Also, Ed explains that the displacement of the bones in the skull can affect the proper blood circulation in the brain. He presents some Chinese Medicine treatment notes from his acupuncturist perspective.