Treatment of Diabetes Mellitus with Chinese Medicine

This book is a textbook and clinical manual on the Chinese medical treatment of diabetes and its many complications. Among its 29 chapters, in addition to diabetes, you will learn how to treat such conditions as:

Hypertension
Hyperlipidemia
Coronary heart disease
Cerebral vascular disease
Diabetic neuropathy
Diabetic nephropathy
Diabetic retinopathy
Diabetic dermatological conditions
Opportunistic infections
Diabetic acromelic gangrene
Syndrome X

Preface

This book is a clinical manual on the Chinese medical treatment of diabetesmellitus (DM) and its many complications. The Chinese medical materials have been compiled by myself and Lynn Kuchinski. The Western medicine materials have been written, checked, and/or edited by Robert Casa񡳬 MD. This book has been patterned after Blue Poppy Press?s critically acclaimed Chinese Medical Psychiatry. Each Western medical condition contained herein is discussed in terms of its Western medical definition, epidemiology, etiology, pathophysiology, diagnosis, current standards of care, and prognosis. These Western medical sections are then followed by Chinese medical sections describing disease categorization, disease causes and mechanisms, treatment based on pattern discrimination (both acupuncture and Chinese medicinal), abstracts of representative Chinese research, representative Chinese case histories, and a concluding ?Remarks? section discussing clinical tips and concerns. Other sections in this book describe the history of diabetes in both Western and Chinese medicines, Chinese materia medica and DM, Chinese formulas and DM, acupuncture, tuina, and Chinese foot reflexology and DM, exercise and qigong and DM, and Western and Chinese dietary therapies and DM as well as discussions on the integration of Chinese and Western medicines, syndrome X, and dealing with such issues as patient adherence and denial. At the back of this book, the reader will find a glossary of Western medical terms pertaining to diabetes and its Western medical diagnosis and treatment. The reader will also find the most extensive Chinese medical bibliography on DM of which we are aware. However, even this extensive bibliography is only a fraction of what exists on the Chinese medical treatment of DM within the Chinese language literature. The books and articles in this bibliography only represent those which reside in my and Lynn Kuchinski?s personal libraries and, as such, are random in their representation. By this I mean that they are only those articles which happened to appear in the handful of Chinese medical journals to which we both subscribe. Nevertheless, as the reader hopefully will see through the copious reports of Chinese research and case histories included herein, Chinese medicine can be an effective complement and alternative to modern Western medicine in the prevention and treatment of this increasingly prevalent disease.

As with other Blue Poppy Press publications, the Chinese medical terminology used in this book is based on Nigel Wiseman and Feng Ye?s A Practical Dictionary of Chinese Medicine, Paradigm Publications, Brookline, MA, 1999. Deviations from that norm are noted in the text or by endnotes the first time such deviations occur. Chinese medicinals are identified first by Latin pharmacological nomenclature followed by Pinyin romanization of their standard Chinese name in parentheses the first time they are introduced in a given section. In subsequent discussions in the same section, those medicinals are only identified by their Chinese names. Chinese formulas are identified by their Chinese names in Pinyin romanization followed by our denotative translation of those names in parentheses. Acupuncture points are identified first by their standard Chinese names in Pinyin romanization followed by standard channel abbreviation and number notation. In terms of acupuncture channel abbreviations, Blue Poppy Press uses Lu for lung, LI for large intestine, St for stomach, Sp for spleen, Ht for heart, SI for small intestine, Bl for bladder, Ki for kidney, Per for pericardium, TB for triple burner, GB for gallbladder, Liv for liver, CV for conception vessel, and GV for governing vessel, and we use O?Connor and Bensky?s numbering system as it appears in Acupuncture: A Comprehensive Text, Eastland Press, Seattle, 1995, for the alpha-numerical identification of extra-channel points.

We hope this book will be of great benefit to English-speaking practitioners of Chinese medicine and all their patients suffering from diabetes and its myriad complications. In order to continually expand, refine, and advance the materials included herein, Blue Poppy Press has created a companion web site located at www.chinesemedicaldiabetes.com. Laypersons suffering from diabetes who wish to learn more about Chinese medicine and what it may offer them should see Lynn Kuchinski?s Controlling Diabetes Naturally with Chinese Medicine, also available from Blue Poppy Press. The authors would sincerely appreciate any feedback on or amendments and corrections to this work.

Bob Flaws

Dec. 6, 2001

Preface

1. Diabetes Mellitus & Western Medicine
2. The History of Diabetes in Western Medicine
3. The Disease Causes & Mechanisms of Diabetes
4. Diabetes Materia Medica
5. Commonly Used Chinese Medicinal Formulas in Diabetes
6. Acupuncture, Acupressure & Tuina and The Treatment of Diabetes
7. Diet & Diabetes
8. Exercise & Diabetes
9. The Treatment of Diabetes Based on Pattern Discrimination
10. Gestational Diabetes
11. Hepatogenic Diabetes
12. Diabetic Ketoacidosis
13. Nonketotic Hyperosmolarity
14. Diabetic Lactic Acidosis
15. Diabetic Hypertension
16. Diabetic Hyperlipoproteinemia
17. Diabetic Retinopathy
18. Diabetic Neuropathy
19. Diabetic Arteriosclerosis Obliterans & Acromelic Gangrene
20. Diabetic Dermatological Complications
21. Diabetic Heart Disease
22. Diabetic Cerebrovascular Disease
23. Diabetic Nephropathy
24. Common Opportunistic Infections in Patients with Diabetes
25. Diabetes & Other Endocrine Disorders
26. Diabetic Psychological Disturbances
27. Syndrome X
28. Patient Adherence & Practitioner Monitoring
29. Integrating Chinese & Western Medicines

Appendix A
An Analysis of Chinese Medicinals Used in Ancient Formulas for the Treatment of Wasting & Thirsting

Appendix B
Western Diabetes Medications & Their Possible Side Effects

Glossary

Bibliography

Formula Index

General Index

Book List