Take Your Medicine...Actually, Don't

                                                                           

I’ve just finished reading Ancient Healing for Modern Women: Traditional Chinese Medicine for All Phases of a Woman's Life by Dr. Xiaolan Zhao. A surgeon from Canada and trained in TCM, she writes and explains in a way anybody can understand and gives you a deeper understanding of a centuries old tradition. She underwent psychotherapy to be able to understand her patients on an emotional level, which is not custom in China...Can you even get your doctor now to spend more than 5 minutes with you? Let alone do something of that extent. She explains why she decided to incorporate TCM into her western medical training, stories from her personal experiences (especially during the Cultural Revolution in China) as well as other women suffering with no apparent end in sight  until they decided to open their minds and hearts to a different realm of healing. She expressed the beauty of all the phases of a women’s life. She includes methods of performing trigger point therapy on yourself at home and recipes and advice that you can utilize immediately with whatever might be in your fridge and pantry. Having worked in medicine and having to rely on and ultimately become disappointed in Western medicine through my ordeals, I’ve discovered even more why I decided to explore other avenues. Of course I believe it to be beneficial to everyone, but I’ve decided to concentrate on women’s needs in particular. Why treat an ailment with pharmaceuticals and procedures that can cause other ailments? Such as taking an aspirin as prophylaxis against myocardial infarction and a good chance of inevitably causing or irritating ulcers. I believe in a healthy combination of Eastern and Western medical practices and treatments. Americans are facing multiple epidemics and it's hard for me to continue to take advice and be treated with-what and who-I believe are the causes of those epidemics, from genetically engineered food, animals given hormones and antibiotics, HFCS, pharmaceutical companys and major food corporations. I recommend this book in particular, because of Dr. Zhao’s approach and style. Give it a go.