Viral Meningitis and TCM

Here are some FAQ's about viral meningitis from the CDC:

Q:What is viral meningitis?
A:Meningitis is an inflammation of the membranes ("meninges") that cover the brain and spinal cord. Viral infections are the most common cause of meningitis; bacterial infections are the second most common cause. Other, rarer causes of meningitis include fungi, parasites, and non-infectious causes, including those that are related to drugs.

Q:Can I get viral meningitis if I’m around someone who has it?
A:If you are around someone with viral meningitis, you may be at risk of becoming infected with the virus that made them sick. But you have only a small chance of developing meningitis as a complication of the illness.

Q:Is viral meningitis a serious disease?
A:Viral ("aseptic") meningitis is serious but rarely fatal in people with normal immune systems. Usually, the symptoms last from 7 to 10 days and the patient recovers completely.

Q:How is viral meningitis treated?
A:There is no specific treatment for viral meningitis. Most patients completely recover on their own within 2 weeks. Antibiotics do not help viral infections, so they are not useful in the treatment of viral meningitis. Doctors often will recommend bed rest, plenty of fluids, and medicine to relieve fever and headache.

No specific treatment... that's too bad.

But wait! I hear the sweet, sweet voice of Zhang Zhong Jing telling me that there must be a way to alleviate the symptoms and encourage faster recovery from such a painful disease process.

I had to find out for myself. Really.

Two days of a splitting headache with the sensation of my neck and back wanting to explode, and I found myself in the care of Dr.Yu Hong Chen at the Yo San University Clinic. She's pretty much the most awesome person on Earth. As an intern, I was witness to her genius when she constructed custom formulas for patients that brought them back from hopelessness into well-being. Now it was my turn to be the patient, and she did not disappoint.

The diagnosis? Tai Yang he Shao Yang Bing. Straight from the Shang Han Lun.

The formula? Gui Zhi Tang Jia Xiao Chai Hu Tang, with Ge Gen and a couple of other herbs to address my secondary symptoms.

I also got an amazing acupuncture treatment, working on the Du and Gallbladder channels, followed by some bleeding-cupping along those channels and the Urinary Bladder. Worked like a charm. I feel mostly human again! Life is great!

Bump: Crossfit Pacific Coast

Our classmate Traver Boehm L.Ac has opened up a Crossfit gym in Santa Barbara. Take a look!

Crossfit Pacific Coast

Free Tote Bag from Golden Path Alchemy

Friends and classmates Minka Robinson and Ashley Beckman hand-make incredible all-natural cosmetics infused with Chinese herbs. This month they're giving away a free canvas tote bag with all purchases over $100. Go get yours!

Samples are on display at the Yosan bookstore and I sometimes pop in to spritz myself with something that smells nice. I haven't tried all their products but they get great reviews.

Bump: Being Alive and Carolyn Leigh, L.Ac

Recently Nini and I had the opportunity to see patients at Being Alive, the HIV/AIDS support organization based in West Hollywood. Yosan has an externship program that provides free acupuncture once a week to Being Alive members. This program is supervised by Carolyn Leigh, a licensed acupuncturist and Yosan graduate.

Being Alive does great things for the community. All services are provided free of charge, from support groups to chiropractic, acupuncture and Reiki. If you or someone you know has a diagnosis of HIV, Being Alive is one of the best resources available. Donate your time by volunteering or send a tax-deductible donation via the internet. It takes just a few minutes and any amount helps. There are also a variety of fun events you can attend to support the organization.

Carolyn Leigh is a great supervisor and talented acupuncturist. In addition to Being Alive, she sees patients at the Delson Chiropractic and Wellness Center in Santa Monica and the Chiara Wellness Center in West Hollywood. Call 310-365-6855 to make an appointment.

My Foot

I know we promised you all diabetes, all the time for the month of November, but I have to take this rare opportunity to present you with a fresh case study.

My foot.

So, I was sparring in Kenpo class last Wednesday night when the most unfortunate thing happened. My right foot was forward, my left foot behind, and I was gearing up to punch this guy. As I was lunging forward, but before making any contact with my opponent, I heard a loud "SNAP" and I fell to the floor.

This is what happened:





It's amazing all the different colors the body can make!

I believe it's a severe ligament tear, though I haven't gotten the MRI to prove it. It's definitely not a broken bone, and nothing is completely severed as far as I can tell. The night it happened, I was fortunate enough to be near the clinic while it was still open, and Keven Uchida - a wonderful supervisor and orthopedic specialist - took a look at it. I also showed it to three different MD's who agreed that it's probably not broken. So don't worry. I know those of you out there who know me well and are concerned that I'm not taking the proper precautionary measures can rest assured that I'm not self-diagnosing... not entirely, anyway.

But I am self-treating, and it's been great!

Day One:

• 30 minutes on ice immediately after injury
  
• E-stim acupuncture at SI-3 and SI-4 on contralateral for 15 minutes
• Dr. Brady Chin's dit da jow all over top and bottom of foot
• San Huang San plaster made of huang qi, huang lian, da huang, pu gong ying, hong hua, and zhi zi powdered, mixed with just enough green tea to make a thick paste. Wrapped my foot loosely in gauze roll and medical tape overnight
• Five Photos Brand hit pill (these always make my heart a little thumpity, but work like a miracle every time)
  

Day Two:

• Woke up with no swelling and no bruising, but my skin around my foot was red. Removed plaster, and within five minutes my foot started to balloon. Reapplied dit da jow til dry, then another coat of plaster and gauze. The swelling went down immediately
• Needled contralateral hand sensitive points near SI-3, SI-4, LU-10, Luo Zhen, Yao Tong Xue, and SJ-4. Manually stimulated for 20 mins.
• Change of plaster and gauze overnight
• Jin Gu Die Da Pian patent pills for the pain
  

Day Three:

• Definite bruising! All blurple in color
  
• Acupuncture treatment at the clinic with Kumiko Yamamoto (wonderful intern, by the way). E-stim acupuncture with same points on contralateral hand. Additional points without e-stim: ST-36, SP-9, SP-10, LV-8, GB-34, and Yin Tang
• Epsom salt soak
• Plaster and gauze
• Jin Gu Die Da Pian
  

Day Four:

• More purple and green in color
  
• Epsom salt soak
• Moxabustion all around foot for 30 minutes
• Dit da jow
• Jin Gu Die Da Pian
  

Day Five, Day Six, and Day Seven

• I stopped using the plaster because my foot wasn't swollen; it had effectively kept the swelling to a minimal, and then no swelling at all. The bruising seemed to reach its climax around day six (the pics are from day five), and is now lightening around the edges
  
• Moxabustion 2 times a day over affected area on foot, and on reflective areas on the opposite foot. Also ST-36, SP-10, GB-34, UB-60, KD-1 on affected foot/leg.
• Acupressure on contralateral hand
• Jin Gu Die Da Pian
  

And here I am on day eight! I can move my foot fairly freely in all directions, and wiggle all my toes, but am still unable to put any weight on it. Throughout the week, I've been doing strengthening exercises with all my new-found spare time, flexing and extending through the ball of my foot and ankle. I can stand on it just long enough to pick my other foot off the floor, as long as I'm holding on to something for balance.

There is no swelling, but there's a significant amount of bruising all along the top of my foot, as though I've spilled a bucket of ink on it or something. It's kind of purple, kind of blue, kind of green all in one. It still hurts, but at least I'm sleeping through the night now and can get around on my crutches without it hurting due to movement.

All in all, a steady and fairly speedy recovery. I'm planning on using a tendon soak from here on out, coupled with the moxa, acupuncture and exercises. I'm not taking the pills anymore, since they're really dispersing and moving, and hope to be back on my feet in another week.

If you have any questions about the herbs I used or where to find such wonderful remedies, feel free to contact us!

Yosan Bump

If you've read the sidebar, you know that I and my co-blogger Nini Mai are clinic interns at Yosan University of Traditional Chinese Medicine. Yosan is in Los Angeles at 13315 West Washington Boulevard, near the border of Culver City, Venice and Marina Del Rey.

We both transferred from Pacific College of Oriental Medicine in New York City, where we began our Chinese medicine careers. While there are great things about Pacific, in the end the negatives outweighed the positives and we made the move to the West Coast.

Part of what attracted us to Yosan was the fact that it is a nonprofit institution. It may surprise you to learn that most of the acupuncture schools in the United States are for-profit companies. I can really feel the difference - while no school is perfect, I can tell that at the end of the day, the people in charge at Yosan have our best interests at heart and want us to get the best education possible.

Yosan has an interesting history - it was founded by two brothers, Drs. Daoshing and Maoshing Ni. Dr. Dao and Dr. Mao, as they're known around school, are the sons of OmNi (nee Hua-Ching Ni) who is a well known master in the Daoist tradition. In addition to the standard TCM curriculum, Yosan has an extensive series of qi-development courses, most of which overlap with the forms taught at their Chi Health Institute.

Yosan is named for Hua-Ching Ni's father, Yo San Ni.