Have you ever wondered how Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), a medical system that is over 2500 years old has stood the test of time, and is still used by billions of people today? In this episode, we explore the main principles of TCM, and how it is still very relevant today in treating infertility.
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Website: www.adriennewei.com
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to the Practically Fertile Podcast.
I'm Adrienne Wee, doctor ofAcupuncture and Chinese Medicine
, functional MedicinePractitioner and Functional
Nutritionist.
I specialize in using anevidence-based method, blending
principles of East Asianmedicine and modern functional
medicine to help women optimizefertility and get pregnant.
(00:22):
I believe in a world whereevery woman who wants to be a
mother becomes one.
If you're tired of being toldthat you're infertile and you
want to take the right steps toget pregnant naturally and
quickly, this podcast is for you.
Hey, fertile friend, have youever wondered why traditional
Chinese medicine has existed forthousands of years and the fact
(00:47):
that it's still used bybillions of people today?
And this is something we'regoing to explore on this podcast
episode.
First of all, we should be verythankful that modern science
has really helped us understandour bodies better, the inner
workings and nuances, and, as aresult, we're living longer and
more lively.
(01:07):
But what's also frustratingabout modern science is there's
always something new that comesout.
Every day.
There's always some newdiscoveries.
There's always someone tryingto invalidate it or prove it
wrong, and this can cause a lotof confusion, because you end up
with lots of conflictinginformation, and then it's up to
(01:27):
you to interpret them anddecide for yourself what's right
and what's wrong.
For the majority of us that'sjust not practical.
Even doctors themselves can'tagree on things, and I see this
very often.
Progesterone supplementation inthe luteal phase is one example
.
There are just some doctorsthat won't prescribe it, even if
(01:49):
the numbers are very, very low.
Another example is the thyroidhormone, the TSH.
I'm constantly having to helpmy patients find a doctor who
will take a TSH over tubeseriously and treat it.
On the flip side, chinesemedicine has been around for so
long and it has stood the testof time.
(02:10):
This medical system dates backto 200 BC.
Of course, over the years ithas evolved and now traditional
Chinese medicine, the medicalsystem as we know it today,
includes acupuncture, chineseherbal medicine, tui na, which
(02:33):
is our form of body work,moxibustion and cupping.
All of these modalities followthe same principles.
I know there are critics oftraditional Chinese medicine out
there who would like to tellyou that TCM is not
evidence-based, but they'rewrong.
Tcm is actually evidence-basedmedicine.
There's been a lot of interestin studying the effect of this
(02:53):
medicine.
In fact, over the last twodecades there have been 13,000
studies conducted in 60countries around the world, and
that's just on acupuncture alone.
That is twofold higher thanbiomedical studies.
So this number doesn't eveninclude studies on Chinese
herbal medicine.
(03:14):
So it's even higher if youcount studies on Chinese herbal
medicine.
The results have been veryencouraging.
Let me give you some examples.
There's one study that showed60% of women who took
personalized herbs got pregnanttwice as fast as women who only
took Clomid, and in anotherstudy, after two months of
(03:37):
acupuncture, 43% of women withPCOS got pregnant, compared to
33 percent who only tookmedication.
There were some studies ondiminished ovarian reserve and I
know for some of you this couldbe a very devastating diagnosis
.
It's often misunderstood, whichI'm going to talk about in
(03:58):
another episode.
But in a review of threeclinical trials for the use of
Chinese herbs with estrogen andprogesterone treatments, one
study showed a 93% efficacy rate, that this combination reduced
FSH, increased estrogen andhelped to regulate the menstrual
(04:18):
cycle.
Another study showed that thiscombination resulted in the
pregnancy rate of 35% andovulation rate of 54%.
Chinese medicine has gainedworldwide recognition as well.
The World Health Organizationrecognizes acupuncture as an
(04:39):
effective form of treatment forover 40 diseases, ranging from
IBS, anxiety, insomnia, pain andinfertility as well.
So definitely there's somethingabout it that works and, to be
honest, I too had doubts aboutChinese medicine, even though I
(05:00):
grew up with a mom who was aChinese medicine doctor and
nowadays I like to joke aroundand say that Chinese medicine is
in my DNA.
But I went through a phase whenI had the same questions as you
, especially the fact that I gotan undergraduate degree in
chemical engineering.
I was very much scientificallyminded and of course you know
(05:23):
how that turned out.
Obviously I didn't stick withengineering.
I remember sitting in class onthe very first day of
acupuncture school and I said tomyself wow, this all makes
sense.
Things that my grandmother andmy mother would preach to me all
the time, they're all true.
Things like never walkingaround barefooted, never
(05:44):
drinking cold water.
These were real tips that wererooted in the principles of
Chinese medicine.
And that's the thing.
Chinese medicine wasn't justmedicine.
It was a way of life for manyChinese people.
It's much better to prevent adisease than to treat it once it
starts to affect the body.
So let's dive in and talk abouthow exactly does Chinese
(06:06):
medicine work for fertility.
To get started, let's talkabout the core principles of TCM
.
First Principle number one allthe systems in the body are
connected.
Every single system in the bodymutually influence each other
and they affect each other.
So when there's a problem withone system, others will be
(06:29):
affected as well.
Principle number two diseasescome from the imbalances between
the systems in the body.
So typically, if you're notovulating, taking Clomid or
Elastazol, it will force yourbody to ovulate.
If you're having digestiveproblems, you could try Marilax.
If you're constipated, takeImodium.
(06:50):
If you're having frequentdiarrhea, if you have heartburn,
take Tums or Nexium or Pepsid.
But these are all foreverband-aid solutions.
If you stop the medicine, theproblems come back.
On the other hand, if you lookat your body as a connected unit
, then it's easy to see that amore permanent solution isn't as
(07:12):
simple as just taking a pill.
Now, of course, I know that forcertain situations, like an
infection, please takeantibiotics.
If you have a UTI, please takeantibiotics.
Nothing will knock out thebacteria more quickly.
But for most chronic issues, theproblem is never isolated to
one single place in the body.
(07:33):
We have to evaluate each systemand then identify the pattern
of imbalance.
So one way to think aboutbalance and imbalance is that
it's no different than thebiomedicine concept of
homeostasis.
Homeostasis is when all thesystems in a living organism,
(07:55):
for example, humans maintainstability while adjusting to the
changing external conditions.
That means no matter whathappens in your environment,
your bodily functions are notaffected and the internal
environment is steady.
So, technically, if you're inhomeostasis, you don't get sick.
It's the disruption of thestability that causes diseases.
(08:18):
So every day we're constantlytrying to regain stability.
When you are experiencingissues with health, it could be
a common cold, it could be flu,it could be skin rash, could be
endometriosis, pcos, infertilitythese are all signs of
disruption in homeostasis.
So this is what we're talkingabout in Chinese medicine when
(08:43):
you're imbalanced, you are outof homeostasis.
It amazes me how TCM andbiomedicine seem so different,
but in fact they're also verysimilar.
Moving on to TCM principlenumber three, many patterns of
disharmony can cause one diseaseand one patterns of disharmony
can cause one disease and onepattern of disharmony can cause
(09:06):
many diseases.
What this means is, let's sayyou have a headache.
There could be many imbalancesthat are causing the headache.
It could be the liver organsystem with cheese stagnation.
It could be the kidney organsystem with the deficiency.
It could be the heart organwith blood deficiency.
On the other hand, let's sayyou have Qi stagnation, that's
(09:30):
when the vital energy flow issluggish or stuck, you can run
into many issues such as IBS,pcos, migraines, vertical
depression, anxiety.
This gives TCM the edge overbiomedicine because we can
really dig into the underlyingroot issues of any disease.
(09:51):
While identifying the root issueis really useful, sometimes it
can take a while to resolve allthe root issues.
So when you start first usingTCM for fertility, it won't have
an immediate effect on the body, like taking Advil would do for
your headaches or taking Clomidwill do for ovulation.
(10:12):
But we know that Advil is aband-aid solution and taking
Clomid sometimes doesn't workbecause your ovaries might not
be ready due to another problemand because it does take a
little bit to resolve theunderlying root issues.
It can be very tough becauseyou feel like you're running out
of time and you're tired ofwaiting.
(10:34):
But taking the time to resolvethe underlying imbalances is not
only going to help you getpregnant.
It means a healthier pregnancy,a healthier baby, a better
postpartum experience and also alower risk of secondary
infertility.
So it'll make it easier for youto conceive a second time, a
(10:54):
third time or a fourth time.
All right, moving on to TCMprinciple number four Past
health history, family healthhistory, trauma, diet, lifestyle
, stress, toxin exposure theyall contribute to the patterns
of imbalances.
Hello, this is epigenetics.
We just talked about that inthe last episode.
(11:14):
The Chinese knew aboutepigenetics thousands of years
ago.
They didn't know that it wascalled epigenetics, they just
knew that diseases just didn'tpop up overnight.
There are many influencingfactors that cause imbalances.
So you might be wondering well,how do you discover which
patterns of imbalance someonehas?
(11:36):
If you've ever been to anacupuncturist or a Chinese
medicine practitioner, if you'veever been to an acupuncturist
or a Chinese medicinepractitioner, you've likely been
asked what we call the 10questions.
In reality it's a lot more than10, but these 10 questions
evaluate every single system inthe body and we group the
symptoms together and mostpeople usually have one or two
(11:58):
dominant patterns.
So think of patterns like asyndrome.
It's never just one symptom,it's a group of symptoms, and
that's also why when you starttreatment with Chinese medicine,
it's not just one thing thatimproves.
You feel your entire healthimproves as well.
(12:18):
Tcm principle number five theway to achieve optimal health is
by preventing disharmonies fromforming.
In reality, we know that it'simpossible to be 100% balanced
all the time, but the more youtry to achieve that, the
healthier you will be.
So TCM a lot of times is aboutprevention.
(12:39):
As I mentioned before, it's away of life for a lot of Chinese
people, because it's better toprevent a disease than to treat
a disease.
And some of you might bethinking this sounds a lot like
functional medicine.
You're right.
Functional medicine and Chinesemedicine have a lot of
similarities.
But here's the thing Chinesemedicine is actually the
(13:01):
original functional medicine,being one of the oldest medical
systems in the world, and eventhough they have some
differences, blending the twocan be incredibly powerful.
I've touched on this before ina previous episode, but here's a
deeper look.
Functional medicine is rooted inmodern biomedicine and it often
(13:22):
relies on lab tests fordiagnosis.
This can be extremely helpfulbecause traditional Chinese
medicine can't identify specificissues like vitamin B12
deficiency, vitamin D deficiencyor overgrowth of gut bacteria.
It can't test nutritionalmetabolites in the urine or
pinpoint which hormones might beoff.
(13:44):
But in the past, let's just saysomeone has B12 deficiency and
they go see a TCM practitionerWithout knowing anything about
biochemistry.
The TCM practitioner wouldobserve the patient's symptoms,
identify their unique pattern ofimbalance and then make herbal
(14:05):
dietary lifestylerecommendations accordingly.
If the patient improved, thatconfirmed the diagnosis.
This approach can lead tolong-lasting results, but it may
take time, especially if thepatient's deficiency is severe
and, in contrast, we can getresults from lab testing and we
can address a B12 deficiencymore quickly by supplementing
(14:28):
right away.
But this also means ongoingblood work is necessary to
monitor levels and it's stillnot very evident what is causing
the B12 deficiency to beginwith.
And another example if you'vebeen diagnosed with unexplained
infertility, functional medicinewould likely recommend lots of
(14:51):
tests to uncover biochemicalimbalances.
It can get very costly, but aTCM practitioner could identify
an underlying pattern ofimbalance without any lab work.
Once your unique pattern ofdisharmony is discovered, then a
TCM-based plan can getincredibly specific, right down
(15:13):
to the types of protein,vegetables and even spices you
should be eating.
Functional medicine nutrition,while effective, tend to be
broader in their recommendations.
For example, these foods wouldbenefit the thyroid, so just eat
a lot of them.
But we know that in Chinesemedicine it doesn't matter that
you have a thyroid disorder.
What matters is your pattern ofimbalance, because everyone
(15:38):
will have a different patternthat caused the thyroid disorder
and the recommendations will bevery different for each
individual.
Typically, in my practice.
I don't rush into ordering labtests right away.
Instead, I start with Chinesemedicine.
I first identify the TCMpatterns and then from there I
(15:59):
recommend a blend of traditionaland modern dietary and
lifestyle changes.
And for our in-clinic patientswe create the acupuncture and
herbal protocols depending onthe patterns and their archetype
and many patients.
They begin to see theirpatterns resolve quickly.
They sleep better, feel lessanxious and notice improvements
(16:22):
in their cycle and thenexperience a better overall
sense of well-being.
And these are all essentialstepping stones towards getting
pregnant.
And this is why, when we workon resolving a pattern or a
syndrome, instead of just onesymptom, you don't just notice
improvement in one area of yourlife.
(16:42):
You notice improvement in allaspects of your life.
And you know, if we don't see apositive pregnancy test after
three months because we seeresults between three to six
months, that's when we mightincorporate blood work to refine
our plan further.
So with this approach mypatients in the clinic and
online they can save time andmoney and we get to the root
(17:04):
rather than just keep chasingsymptoms.
Now you might be wondering ifthis approach will work for you
One of my favorite successstories of all times and I will
never get sick of sharing herstory is my friend, tara, who is
also working with me as afertility coach.
Some of you might know Tara shewas dealing with.
(17:27):
When I first met Tara, she wasdealing with PCOS, endometriosis
, and her husband had avaricocele, which meant the
sperm quality wasn't optimal,and she took the time to figure
out where the imbalances werethat were causing the issues.
We never did a lot offunctional tests with Tara.
She got the usual blood testsand diagnostics from her OBGYN,
(17:48):
but we didn't do anything beyondthat.
So she figured out her imbalYN,but we didn't do anything
beyond that.
So she figured out herimbalances, the patterns of
imbalance, and then she focusedon working through the plan to
resolve these imbalances thatwere affecting her fertility.
Her husband was also on boardand used our male fertility
protocols.
So six months later she gotpregnant naturally.
(18:09):
Months later she got pregnantnaturally and the thing is she
didn't stop.
She stayed with the principlesof our methodology and then, two
years later, got pregnant againand in the meantime her husband
did not get a varicosealsurgery, and this is a girl that
was told that IVF was the onlyoption.
And then, just last month, wecelebrated the news that she's
(18:32):
now pregnant again with herthird child, and she's due in
July of this year.
This is one of my favoritesuccess stories, because it just
showed that once an imbalanceis resolved, the results are
long-lasting.
All right, friend, I'm about towrap up here.
I actually had prepared a lotmore to talk about, but decided
(18:55):
to split the content into twoepisodes.
I'll be discussing qi, or yourbody's vital energy, in the next
episode.
It's a concept that's crucialto understand and it's very
foreign to most people.
But one more thing I want toaddress before saying goodbye
today is that one of the biggestmyths about Chinese medicine
(19:17):
that I want to smash is thatit's religion-based.
That's completely false.
Chinese medicine has rootsstemming from Taoism, but Taoism
is not a religion, it's a wayof living.
Tao in Chinese medicine is wayor road the way, so you do not
(19:38):
need to follow a certainreligion in order to benefit
from this medicine.
In fact, vets can doacupuncture on animals, and
animals don't follow a certainreligion and it still works for
them.
So if that's one of the fearsholding you back from trying it
out, don't worry, it's not true.
(19:58):
Well, I hope that I helped todemystify TCM a little bit for
you today and you gained abetter understanding of how this
traditional medical system,even though thousands of years
old, is still very much relevanttoday.
The principles have survivedthe test of time.
However, as a doctor of TCM andfunctional medicine, I believe
(20:20):
that the best approach totreating modern day challenges
is to take the best of bothworlds and use like a blended
approach.
So if you have any questionsabout that, please let me know.
Blended approach.
So if you have any questionsabout that, please let me know.
You can send me a text straightfrom the episode, or you could
follow me on Instagram at DrAdrienne Wee, or please do send
(20:40):
me an email.
I would love to hear from you.
Info at AdrienneWeecom.
Thank you so much, fertileFriend, for spending some time
with me today.
Until next time, take care ofyourself and your amazing body.
You're one fertile cycle awayfrom getting pregnant.
Welcome to the Practically Fertile Podcast.
I'm Adrienne Wee, doctor ofAcupuncture and Chinese Medicine
, functional MedicinePractitioner and Functional
Nutritionist.
I specialize in using anevidence-based method, blending
principles of East Asianmedicine and modern functional
medicine to help women optimizefertility and get pregnant.
(00:22):
I believe in a world whereevery woman who wants to be a
mother becomes one.
If you're tired of being toldthat you're infertile and you
want to take the right steps toget pregnant naturally and
quickly, this podcast is for you.
Hey, fertile friend, have youever wondered why traditional
Chinese medicine has existed forthousands of years and the fact
(00:47):
that it's still used bybillions of people today?
And this is something we'regoing to explore on this podcast
episode.
First of all, we should be verythankful that modern science
has really helped us understandour bodies better, the inner
workings and nuances, and, as aresult, we're living longer and
more lively.
(01:07):
But what's also frustratingabout modern science is there's
always something new that comesout.
Every day.
There's always some newdiscoveries.
There's always someone tryingto invalidate it or prove it
wrong, and this can cause a lotof confusion, because you end up
with lots of conflictinginformation, and then it's up to
(01:27):
you to interpret them anddecide for yourself what's right
and what's wrong.
For the majority of us that'sjust not practical.
Even doctors themselves can'tagree on things, and I see this
very often.
Progesterone supplementation inthe luteal phase is one example
.
There are just some doctorsthat won't prescribe it, even if
(01:49):
the numbers are very, very low.
Another example is the thyroidhormone, the TSH.
I'm constantly having to helpmy patients find a doctor who
will take a TSH over tubeseriously and treat it.
On the flip side, chinesemedicine has been around for so
long and it has stood the testof time.
(02:10):
This medical system dates backto 200 BC.
Of course, over the years ithas evolved and now traditional
Chinese medicine, the medicalsystem as we know it today,
includes acupuncture, chineseherbal medicine, tui na, which
(02:33):
is our form of body work,moxibustion and cupping.
All of these modalities followthe same principles.
I know there are critics oftraditional Chinese medicine out
there who would like to tellyou that TCM is not
evidence-based, but they'rewrong.
Tcm is actually evidence-basedmedicine.
There's been a lot of interestin studying the effect of this
(02:53):
medicine.
In fact, over the last twodecades there have been 13,000
studies conducted in 60countries around the world, and
that's just on acupuncture alone.
That is twofold higher thanbiomedical studies.
So this number doesn't eveninclude studies on Chinese
herbal medicine.
(03:14):
So it's even higher if youcount studies on Chinese herbal
medicine.
The results have been veryencouraging.
Let me give you some examples.
There's one study that showed60% of women who took
personalized herbs got pregnanttwice as fast as women who only
took Clomid, and in anotherstudy, after two months of
(03:37):
acupuncture, 43% of women withPCOS got pregnant, compared to
33 percent who only tookmedication.
There were some studies ondiminished ovarian reserve and I
know for some of you this couldbe a very devastating diagnosis
.
It's often misunderstood, whichI'm going to talk about in
(03:58):
another episode.
But in a review of threeclinical trials for the use of
Chinese herbs with estrogen andprogesterone treatments, one
study showed a 93% efficacy rate, that this combination reduced
FSH, increased estrogen andhelped to regulate the menstrual
(04:18):
cycle.
Another study showed that thiscombination resulted in the
pregnancy rate of 35% andovulation rate of 54%.
Chinese medicine has gainedworldwide recognition as well.
The World Health Organizationrecognizes acupuncture as an
(04:39):
effective form of treatment forover 40 diseases, ranging from
IBS, anxiety, insomnia, pain andinfertility as well.
So definitely there's somethingabout it that works and, to be
honest, I too had doubts aboutChinese medicine, even though I
(05:00):
grew up with a mom who was aChinese medicine doctor and
nowadays I like to joke aroundand say that Chinese medicine is
in my DNA.
But I went through a phase whenI had the same questions as you
, especially the fact that I gotan undergraduate degree in
chemical engineering.
I was very much scientificallyminded and of course you know
(05:23):
how that turned out.
Obviously I didn't stick withengineering.
I remember sitting in class onthe very first day of
acupuncture school and I said tomyself wow, this all makes
sense.
Things that my grandmother andmy mother would preach to me all
the time, they're all true.
Things like never walkingaround barefooted, never
(05:44):
drinking cold water.
These were real tips that wererooted in the principles of
Chinese medicine.
And that's the thing.
Chinese medicine wasn't justmedicine.
It was a way of life for manyChinese people.
It's much better to prevent adisease than to treat it once it
starts to affect the body.
So let's dive in and talk abouthow exactly does Chinese
(06:06):
medicine work for fertility.
To get started, let's talkabout the core principles of TCM
.
First Principle number one allthe systems in the body are
connected.
Every single system in the bodymutually influence each other
and they affect each other.
So when there's a problem withone system, others will be
(06:29):
affected as well.
Principle number two diseasescome from the imbalances between
the systems in the body.
So typically, if you're notovulating, taking Clomid or
Elastazol, it will force yourbody to ovulate.
If you're having digestiveproblems, you could try Marilax.
If you're constipated, takeImodium.
(06:50):
If you're having frequentdiarrhea, if you have heartburn,
take Tums or Nexium or Pepsid.
But these are all foreverband-aid solutions.
If you stop the medicine, theproblems come back.
On the other hand, if you lookat your body as a connected unit
, then it's easy to see that amore permanent solution isn't as
(07:12):
simple as just taking a pill.
Now, of course, I know that forcertain situations, like an
infection, please takeantibiotics.
If you have a UTI, please takeantibiotics.
Nothing will knock out thebacteria more quickly.
But for most chronic issues, theproblem is never isolated to
one single place in the body.
(07:33):
We have to evaluate each systemand then identify the pattern
of imbalance.
So one way to think aboutbalance and imbalance is that
it's no different than thebiomedicine concept of
homeostasis.
Homeostasis is when all thesystems in a living organism,
(07:55):
for example, humans maintainstability while adjusting to the
changing external conditions.
That means no matter whathappens in your environment,
your bodily functions are notaffected and the internal
environment is steady.
So, technically, if you're inhomeostasis, you don't get sick.
It's the disruption of thestability that causes diseases.
(08:18):
So every day we're constantlytrying to regain stability.
When you are experiencingissues with health, it could be
a common cold, it could be flu,it could be skin rash, could be
endometriosis, pcos, infertilitythese are all signs of
disruption in homeostasis.
So this is what we're talkingabout in Chinese medicine when
(08:43):
you're imbalanced, you are outof homeostasis.
It amazes me how TCM andbiomedicine seem so different,
but in fact they're also verysimilar.
Moving on to TCM principlenumber three, many patterns of
disharmony can cause one diseaseand one patterns of disharmony
can cause one disease and onepattern of disharmony can cause
(09:06):
many diseases.
What this means is, let's sayyou have a headache.
There could be many imbalancesthat are causing the headache.
It could be the liver organsystem with cheese stagnation.
It could be the kidney organsystem with the deficiency.
It could be the heart organwith blood deficiency.
On the other hand, let's sayyou have Qi stagnation, that's
(09:30):
when the vital energy flow issluggish or stuck, you can run
into many issues such as IBS,pcos, migraines, vertical
depression, anxiety.
This gives TCM the edge overbiomedicine because we can
really dig into the underlyingroot issues of any disease.
(09:51):
While identifying the root issueis really useful, sometimes it
can take a while to resolve allthe root issues.
So when you start first usingTCM for fertility, it won't have
an immediate effect on the body, like taking Advil would do for
your headaches or taking Clomidwill do for ovulation.
(10:12):
But we know that Advil is aband-aid solution and taking
Clomid sometimes doesn't workbecause your ovaries might not
be ready due to another problemand because it does take a
little bit to resolve theunderlying root issues.
It can be very tough becauseyou feel like you're running out
of time and you're tired ofwaiting.
(10:34):
But taking the time to resolvethe underlying imbalances is not
only going to help you getpregnant.
It means a healthier pregnancy,a healthier baby, a better
postpartum experience and also alower risk of secondary
infertility.
So it'll make it easier for youto conceive a second time, a
(10:54):
third time or a fourth time.
All right, moving on to TCMprinciple number four Past
health history, family healthhistory, trauma, diet, lifestyle
, stress, toxin exposure theyall contribute to the patterns
of imbalances.
Hello, this is epigenetics.
We just talked about that inthe last episode.
(11:14):
The Chinese knew aboutepigenetics thousands of years
ago.
They didn't know that it wascalled epigenetics, they just
knew that diseases just didn'tpop up overnight.
There are many influencingfactors that cause imbalances.
So you might be wondering well,how do you discover which
patterns of imbalance someonehas?
(11:36):
If you've ever been to anacupuncturist or a Chinese
medicine practitioner, if you'veever been to an acupuncturist
or a Chinese medicinepractitioner, you've likely been
asked what we call the 10questions.
In reality it's a lot more than10, but these 10 questions
evaluate every single system inthe body and we group the
symptoms together and mostpeople usually have one or two
(11:58):
dominant patterns.
So think of patterns like asyndrome.
It's never just one symptom,it's a group of symptoms, and
that's also why when you starttreatment with Chinese medicine,
it's not just one thing thatimproves.
You feel your entire healthimproves as well.
(12:18):
Tcm principle number five theway to achieve optimal health is
by preventing disharmonies fromforming.
In reality, we know that it'simpossible to be 100% balanced
all the time, but the more youtry to achieve that, the
healthier you will be.
So TCM a lot of times is aboutprevention.
(12:39):
As I mentioned before, it's away of life for a lot of Chinese
people, because it's better toprevent a disease than to treat
a disease.
And some of you might bethinking this sounds a lot like
functional medicine.
You're right.
Functional medicine and Chinesemedicine have a lot of
similarities.
But here's the thing Chinesemedicine is actually the
(13:01):
original functional medicine,being one of the oldest medical
systems in the world, and eventhough they have some
differences, blending the twocan be incredibly powerful.
I've touched on this before ina previous episode, but here's a
deeper look.
Functional medicine is rooted inmodern biomedicine and it often
(13:22):
relies on lab tests fordiagnosis.
This can be extremely helpfulbecause traditional Chinese
medicine can't identify specificissues like vitamin B12
deficiency, vitamin D deficiencyor overgrowth of gut bacteria.
It can't test nutritionalmetabolites in the urine or
pinpoint which hormones might beoff.
(13:44):
But in the past, let's just saysomeone has B12 deficiency and
they go see a TCM practitionerWithout knowing anything about
biochemistry.
The TCM practitioner wouldobserve the patient's symptoms,
identify their unique pattern ofimbalance and then make herbal
(14:05):
dietary lifestylerecommendations accordingly.
If the patient improved, thatconfirmed the diagnosis.
This approach can lead tolong-lasting results, but it may
take time, especially if thepatient's deficiency is severe
and, in contrast, we can getresults from lab testing and we
can address a B12 deficiencymore quickly by supplementing
(14:28):
right away.
But this also means ongoingblood work is necessary to
monitor levels and it's stillnot very evident what is causing
the B12 deficiency to beginwith.
And another example if you'vebeen diagnosed with unexplained
infertility, functional medicinewould likely recommend lots of
(14:51):
tests to uncover biochemicalimbalances.
It can get very costly, but aTCM practitioner could identify
an underlying pattern ofimbalance without any lab work.
Once your unique pattern ofdisharmony is discovered, then a
TCM-based plan can getincredibly specific, right down
(15:13):
to the types of protein,vegetables and even spices you
should be eating.
Functional medicine nutrition,while effective, tend to be
broader in their recommendations.
For example, these foods wouldbenefit the thyroid, so just eat
a lot of them.
But we know that in Chinesemedicine it doesn't matter that
you have a thyroid disorder.
What matters is your pattern ofimbalance, because everyone
(15:38):
will have a different patternthat caused the thyroid disorder
and the recommendations will bevery different for each
individual.
Typically, in my practice.
I don't rush into ordering labtests right away.
Instead, I start with Chinesemedicine.
I first identify the TCMpatterns and then from there I
(15:59):
recommend a blend of traditionaland modern dietary and
lifestyle changes.
And for our in-clinic patientswe create the acupuncture and
herbal protocols depending onthe patterns and their archetype
and many patients.
They begin to see theirpatterns resolve quickly.
They sleep better, feel lessanxious and notice improvements
(16:22):
in their cycle and thenexperience a better overall
sense of well-being.
And these are all essentialstepping stones towards getting
pregnant.
And this is why, when we workon resolving a pattern or a
syndrome, instead of just onesymptom, you don't just notice
improvement in one area of yourlife.
(16:42):
You notice improvement in allaspects of your life.
And you know, if we don't see apositive pregnancy test after
three months because we seeresults between three to six
months, that's when we mightincorporate blood work to refine
our plan further.
So with this approach mypatients in the clinic and
online they can save time andmoney and we get to the root
(17:04):
rather than just keep chasingsymptoms.
Now you might be wondering ifthis approach will work for you
One of my favorite successstories of all times and I will
never get sick of sharing herstory is my friend, tara, who is
also working with me as afertility coach.
Some of you might know Tara shewas dealing with.
(17:27):
When I first met Tara, she wasdealing with PCOS, endometriosis
, and her husband had avaricocele, which meant the
sperm quality wasn't optimal,and she took the time to figure
out where the imbalances werethat were causing the issues.
We never did a lot offunctional tests with Tara.
She got the usual blood testsand diagnostics from her OBGYN,
(17:48):
but we didn't do anything beyondthat.
So she figured out her imbalYN,but we didn't do anything
beyond that.
So she figured out herimbalances, the patterns of
imbalance, and then she focusedon working through the plan to
resolve these imbalances thatwere affecting her fertility.
Her husband was also on boardand used our male fertility
protocols.
So six months later she gotpregnant naturally.
(18:09):
Months later she got pregnantnaturally and the thing is she
didn't stop.
She stayed with the principlesof our methodology and then, two
years later, got pregnant againand in the meantime her husband
did not get a varicosealsurgery, and this is a girl that
was told that IVF was the onlyoption.
And then, just last month, wecelebrated the news that she's
(18:32):
now pregnant again with herthird child, and she's due in
July of this year.
This is one of my favoritesuccess stories, because it just
showed that once an imbalanceis resolved, the results are
long-lasting.
All right, friend, I'm about towrap up here.
I actually had prepared a lotmore to talk about, but decided
(18:55):
to split the content into twoepisodes.
I'll be discussing qi, or yourbody's vital energy, in the next
episode.
It's a concept that's crucialto understand and it's very
foreign to most people.
But one more thing I want toaddress before saying goodbye
today is that one of the biggestmyths about Chinese medicine
(19:17):
that I want to smash is thatit's religion-based.
That's completely false.
Chinese medicine has rootsstemming from Taoism, but Taoism
is not a religion, it's a wayof living.
Tao in Chinese medicine is wayor road the way, so you do not
(19:38):
need to follow a certainreligion in order to benefit
from this medicine.
In fact, vets can doacupuncture on animals, and
animals don't follow a certainreligion and it still works for
them.
So if that's one of the fearsholding you back from trying it
out, don't worry, it's not true.
(19:58):
Well, I hope that I helped todemystify TCM a little bit for
you today and you gained abetter understanding of how this
traditional medical system,even though thousands of years
old, is still very much relevanttoday.
The principles have survivedthe test of time.
However, as a doctor of TCM andfunctional medicine, I believe
(20:20):
that the best approach totreating modern day challenges
is to take the best of bothworlds and use like a blended
approach.
So if you have any questionsabout that, please let me know.
Blended approach.
So if you have any questionsabout that, please let me know.
You can send me a text straightfrom the episode, or you could
follow me on Instagram at DrAdrienne Wee, or please do send
(20:40):
me an email.
I would love to hear from you.
Info at AdrienneWeecom.
Thank you so much, fertileFriend, for spending some time
with me today.
Until next time, take care ofyourself and your amazing body.
You're one fertile cycle awayfrom getting pregnant.
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