Greetings everyone! I have been blogging sporadically for the last year or so due to so many events occupying my time. I’ve been studying again in Malaysia and in Tianjin, China. Anyhow here is my first blog post for 2019. Rheumatoid Arthritis Rheumatoid Arthritis, or RA, is a disease wherein the body’s immune system attacks it’s own tissues, ending up in swelling and pain of the joints. These patients are at higher risk of coronary artery disease. In turn, this leads to

Cancer Fatigue Fatigue is more than just feeling tired.  It is a feeling of weakness and lethargy day in and day out.  Fatigue is usually not relieved by sleep or rest.  Cancer Fatigue is worse.  It can be caused by both cancer itself and the treatments prescribe for it. The study I am presenting for your perusal today deals with studying if acupuncture can help relieve cancer related fatigue in lung cancer patients. Published in Support Care Cancer, the study is entitled “Ac

Fire Needle Technique Fire Needle technique is a special technique in Traditional Chinese Medicine and Acupuncture where the needle is first heated by direct exposure to flame before it is inserted into the patient.  This is different from warm needle technique because in warm needle the practitioner put some moxa on the handle and lights the moxa. Why a difference?  The Huangdi Neijing (an ancient book on acupuncture) says that strong fire scatters qi, while mild warmth give

Please watch this video about the SMIC Institute of Traditional Chinese Medicine.  It was broadcast on Chinatown TV on IBC 13. Dr. Philip Tan-Gatue, Sister Liu Shengrong and Sister Juan Liu talk about the school and about acupuncture and Chinese medicine.  In this video, you can get a brief glimpse of what Chinese medicine and acupuncture is like and how it can help you. SMIC Institute of Traditional Chinese medicine offers comprehensive courses about Acupuncture, TCM, Herbol

Thanks to Buddy Cunanan for the wonderful chance to talk about acupuncture and Chinese Medicine. Presented here are YouTube videos of the show. Part two: Part Three #acupuncture #chinesemedicine #ChineseTraditionalCures

Courtesy Trisha Sanijon: The Philippine Academy of Acupuncture, Inc. (PAAI) is inviting you to attend its 6th Annual Scientific Convention on November 20, 2014 (Thursday) at the Lung Center Auditorium, Quezon City with the theme “Building Capacities for Good Acupuncture Practice.” The convention will feature updates and guidelines on the certification and accreditation process for institutions and training programs in acupuncture, the acupuncture syllabus, and sharing of teac

Obstructive Sleep Apnea Sleep apnea is a condition where the patient stops breathing while sleeping.  Obstructive Sleep Apnea is the most common kind of sleep apnea.  WebMD has the following explanation: Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) — also called obstructive sleep apnea syndrome — occurs when there are repeated episodes of complete or partial blockage of the upper airway during sleep. During a sleep apnea episode, the diaphragm and chest muscles work harder to open the obstr

Popping The Question The most common questions encountered by any acupuncturist are, in my experience: “Can acupuncture treat (fill in the blank) ?” “How many sessions will I need?” and inevitably, “Does acupuncture hurt?” The Biggest Lie in the History of Medicine People are afraid of sharp objects.  That’s a given.  Sharp objects might gouge your eyes out.  They might mean that a wild animal is tearing through you.  It could also mean a deadly weapon of some sort is going t

Video cameras have recorded Dr. Philip Tan-Gatue leaving Solar News Hostess Pat Fernandez black and blue. With cupping. Watch and see for yourselves! That’s two TV appearances in two weeks.  Happy New Year! #SolarDaybreak #herbalmedicine #patfernandez #chinesemedicinetheory #SolarNewsChannel #acupuncture

When a massive earthquake hit our country hard last October 15, everyone was rightfully concerned about the availability of basic necessities such as food, water and shelter.  Beyond that, medical care was obviously also needed.  It should be noted, however, that the damage was more than just to property, public structures, and physical bodies.  The collective psyche of a nation in general and earthquake victims in particular was hammered into submission. It’s a good thing th

Dr. Philip Tan-Gatue appears on the show “Green Living” to talk about Chinese Medicine. Well, the second half of the show. Dr. Philip Tan-Gatue talks about Chinese Medicine and Acupuncture and Moxibustion Yes, this is several months late, but I only found the video now. Thanks JB! #ABSCBN #acupuncture #chinesemedicine #GreenLiving

Today’s blog entry has little to do with my getting stuck in traffic so near my destination, although that’s the situation that triggers the expression; most especially when nature calls.  In this article’s case, though, I thought it a witty way to catch the audience’s attention towards how acupuncture points can be located so near each other yet have so dissimilar effects.  I had previously blogged about another scientific article that shows the same phenomenon.  (Scientific

photo courtesy of http://lacnadine.wordpress.com/2013/04/24/how-tiny-is-an-acupuncture-needle/ #acupuncture #needle

I have often mentioned to my medical students that the acupoint PC 6 Neiguan is among the acupuncture points most frequently studied in western medicine.  Here is a newer study from Korea entitled: Electroacupuncture on PC6 prevents opioid-induced nausea and vomiting after laparoscopic surgery. This is from the Chinese Journal of Integrative Medicine. Methods are as follows: One hundred and seventy-eight patients, who had received intravenous patient-controlled analgesia (PCA

I recall an old Charlie Brown cartoon where our favorite protagonist asks what the meaning of life or something to that effect.  I also recall best friend Linus commenting that life for them is all about getting good grades.  In grammar school, we try to get good grades to pass and get to junior high.  There, we try to get good grades to pass and move on to high school.  The process goes on to college, to graduate school, and professional licensures. Why is this important?  T

Just recently, I was told by a colleague the story of how a so-called “practitioner” who just finished a few weekends’ worth of acupuncture courses faced a problem he/she could not handle.  Apparently her patient grew lightheaded and nauseated after puncture and stimulation of Hegu LI4.  Now, this is not typical but also not unexpected. What was unexpected was that the so-called practitioner had no idea how to handle the situation. This comes from inadequate training, and suc

Reporting live from Bandung, Indonesia. I’m here to attend the 2012 WFAS International Congress and Workshop on Acupuncture. The theme is Scientific Aspect of Acupuncture for supporting the standardization of International Acupuncture Health Service, Research, Educational and Training. (Whew) #acupuncture #Indonesia

The Holy Grail in medical clinical research is the double-blind, placebo controlled study.  This is the one thing that skeptics claim acupuncture lacks.  Unfortunately for them this is not the case, as this abstract of an article published in the journal Climacteric shows: Climacteric. 2012 Sep 3. [Epub ahead of print] Acupuncture improves sleep in postmenopause in a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study. Hachul H, Garcia TK, Maciel AL, Yagihara F, Tufik S, Bitte

Listy time! There are many books about Chinese medicine and acupuncture books out there.  My wife once joked that I have more books about them in my library than I do about western medicine.  Truly, they are indeed a treasure trove of knowledge.  There comes a time however, when I actually have to recommend books to patients for them to read at home.  Obviously I have to recommend book suited for the non practitioner, lest I bore the patient to death. While thinking about thi

Today I would like to write a bit about one glaring observation I have made about many people who wish to study acupuncture. A typical acupuncture introductory course would undoubtedly begin with coverage of the basic theories of Oriental Medicine. This should be obvious as acupuncture evolved from and developed alongside Oriental Medicine as a modality of that particular medical system. What do I mean by medical system? The National Center for Complementary and Alternative