Joint inflammation problems include:

• pain
• stiffness
• damage to joint cartilage (the tough, smooth tissue that covers the ends of the bones, enabling them to glide against one another) and surrounding structures.

Below you will find discusson on how Chinese herbs for pain and food therapy are employed to bring these conditions back to balance.

UNDERSTANDING JOINT INFLAMMATION?

JOINT IMBALANCE doesn’t happen overnight and once understood, can resolve quicker than you realize. According to Chinese medicine, the primary problem underlying arthritis is obstruction with painful results. With varying degrees, there is an exhaustion of both the Liver and Kidneys and insufficiency of the physical energy (qi). The blood has become blocked by external cold or hot-damp or drying imbalancing influences. The condition includes:

• cold or hot and painful joints
• difficulty in flexing and extending the joints
• aversion to cold or hot with attraction to the opposite condition
• In some cases the limbs and joints will be aching, numb, painful
• overall physical body feels heavy.
• tongue is pale or the opposite

   

There are graduating arthritic conditions where the site of pain and deformity is more intense, with heat or cold predominating, however, the primary appraoch is to get the obstruction to move. This is done by changing the internal environment by opposing the wind-cold/hot-damp/dry and altering any external conditions contributing to the obstructions. Additional attention needs to be given to the general emotional state that may indirectly support the blockage.

HOW DO WE GET BETTER?

JOINT INFLAMMATION: FOOD THERAPY  & CHINESE HERBAL HERBS

“We are what we eat.” Most of us would agree that most conditions of imbalance are determined by what we put in our mouth. We unkowingly create imbalances by not being aware of how critical this area is, especially in the latter years. If we are choose foods and supplements which worsen our condition then it would serve us well to become very aware of our body type and foods which enhance balance. Below, you can begin to choose foods that deliver balance for this obstructive condition: 

Foods That Benefit & Foods To Avoid

Foods to Counter Joint Pain: Asparagus, Cabbage (poultice & ingestion), Celery, Cod, Cherry, Chives, Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Garlic, Ginger, Goats milk, Grape, Kelp, Oranges, Papaya, Pineapple (Bromelain), Pumpkin Seeds, Royal Jelly, Scallions, Sesame oll, Spelt, Spirulina, Soy products, Strawberry, Sprouts (mung, red clover, radish, mustard, lentil, adzuki, garbanzo, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds), Tumeric, Water melon, Barley products, Wheat grass products, Alfalfa products (tablets, tea), Chlorophyll foods, Almonds (5-6 dy.),

Foods to Avoid: Excess meat (some fish is best), Excess protein, Intoxicants (alcohol, coffee, tobacco, marijuana, etc.), refined sugar and other sweets, Oxalic acid foods (rhubarb, cranberry, plum, chard, beet greens, spinach), Solanine foods (Nightshade family veggies: tomato, eggplant, bell pepper, potato, if sensitive), Dairy (cow’s milk & bi-products), Nuts, Nut butters, oil-rich seeds,

HERB FORMULAS FOR PAIN   Formulas are created and rendered, taking into consideration, a person’s constitution, environment, life energy (qi), lifestyle and emotional status to name a few concerns. Chinese Herbs and medicine focuses on bringing all these areas into balance. The chief focus is to provide a formula that specifically targets the painful site, resolves the underlying imbalance in the body without inciting more physical maladies.

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The position that the reason for all the menopause symptoms is due to an imbalance of hormones is a superficial perspective and deserves a deeper look. Menopause symptoms may include:

Are these symptoms tied to deficiency of hormones? Could it be systemic? The whole body is may be suffering from top to bottom.

ANOTHER PROPOSAL – UNDERLYING CAUSE: 

Traditional Chinese Medicine perspective: Menopause is considered a deficiency condition of the liver and qi (life force). When the blood and energy quality is weak and toxic then all of the organs are not able to perform their job. This condition causes the liver to overheat which rises through the body, wreaking havoc in its path. The heart, lungs, digestion, glands, throat, mouth & teeth, nose, eyes, ears, brain, skin and hair become heated and dried resulting in the symptoms, listed above. In addition, the liver does not filter the blood where it becomes sluggish and clotted.

Because the body is deficient of essential body energy and quality filtered blood, then the glands do not perform normally. Their secretions may be sporadic or non-releasing altogether. When the blood is filtered, normally, enriched then all the body’s organs improve. Gradually, the energy comes back and they are able to function normally. The glandular functions, secrete once again, assisting the body in its healthy function.

The body is not absent of hormones. The blood is clogged like sludge. Glands are not receiving/transmitting essential messages, timely and/or minimally!

Then why do we add or give more hormones. Doesn’t that risk an overload of hormones? Remember when you were a kid and your hormones were super revved. We don’t want to risk going through that again. We have enough hormones. If we nourish our blood, exercise, sleep, manage stress, etc. our hormones come back and supports increased balance.

So if Chinese medicine knows the problem, then what is their answer to this to this deficiency? Look below.

What Restores Normal Hormone Function? 

Chinese Medicine Has Had An Answer for this for More Than a 1000 Years!

Traditional Chinese Medicine has 20+ formulas for menopause. But which one is the best? This requires a seasoned Master herbalist to respond to this. While most women fall into 6 major constitution types such as:

• cold
• damp
• deficient
• hot
• dry
• excess

Most menopausal women are a deficient constitution with hot characteristics and benefit 95% of the time from Menopause Comfort. I know that is a little confusing but more info follows. The exception is during the summertime.

Some women, who are more hot than the usual population, require a colder formula, Paramalin, to offset the excess internal heat produced in the liver.

“3000 Years of Chinese Herbal Medicine Provides the Best Menopause Formulation”

While not all women have to experience extreme characteristics of menopause, enough are disturbed that real relief is essential. The herbs, below, balance the hormones-progesterone & estrogen, cool nourish and stimulate the liver. This improves the blood which assists all the organs in the body which further lifts the body’s functioning. The herb selection centers and alleviates the conditions listed above.

 These herbs work best for Menopause symptoms by reducing the typical heat signs stemming from the liver managing too much toxicity and/or excess food intake, etc.

1. Radix Angelica Sinensis

Benefits: Blood deficiency related to the Heart and Liver. Especially improves palid, ashen complexion, lusterless nails, tinnitus, blurred vision, and palpitations, irregular menstruation, amenorrhea, and dysmenorrheal, abdominal pain, traumatic injury, and carbuncles due to blood stasis, especially accompanied by cold from deficiency, dry intestines due to blood deficiency. Tonifies the blood and regulates the menses, invigorates and harmonizes the blood and disperses cold, reduces swelling, expels pus, generates flesh, and alleviates pain: used in treating sores and abscesses, treats coughs. Moistens dryness and lubricates the Intestines, Internally, it moistens the organs because of its concentrated fluids and sweetness; externally, it thrusts out to the muscle layer because of its acrid, warm nature.

2. Bupleuri Radix

Bupleurum tonifies the Heart, Spleen, and Lungs, while it facilitates the fluid pathways, Unblocks the orifices and expels heat. Promotes urination, reduces dampness with such symptoms as phlegm and thin mucus, diarrhea, and edema. Supports the body’s energy, makes it an important choice for promoting urination and leaching out dampness. It can be used whenever there is urinary difficulty, edema, phlegm, or thin mucus, regardless of whether the condition is hot or cold, deficient or excessive in nature.

3. Radix Paeoniae Lactiflorae

The Liver directly relates to tendons (sinews), which can cramp and spasm if unsupported by filtered blood from a normal functioning liver. Radix Paeoniae Lactiflorae elevates the Liver Blood quality and thereby relieves pain (cramped tendons, flanks and abdomen). The Liver stores the blood, and reduced blood storage can affect other blood organs, such as the Heart, and the “sea of blood”, which refers to the Womb and its associated vessels. If the Heart lacks the support of Liver blood then palpitations and insomnia follow. If the womb lacks the support of Liver blood then irregular menstruation, infertility or dysmenorrheal presents. Radix Paeoniae Lactiflorae supports the Spleen when the liver is challenged. It cools, nourishes and re-invigorates reduces night sweats.

4. Atractylodes Rhizoma – White

Atractylodes Rhizoma is an essential herb for nourishing the Spleen and Stomach when dampness obstructs its normal functioning. It clears dampness in the muscles and flesh – and thereby restores harmony and halts sweating. Benefits the Spleen when deficient and prevents  miscarriage. Benefits: diarrhea, fatigue, lack of appetite and vomiting. Dries dampness removing obstructions. Stops sweating. Calms the fetus.

 5. Gardeniae Fructus

Cools fire and heat in the Heart, Lungs, Stomach, Liver, and Triple Burner, eliminating hot irritability in situations such as warm pathogen diseases with agitation and insomnia. Gardeniae Fructus is also good for clearing damp-heat, and is used for jaundice and urinary difficulty, guiding damp-heat out through the urine. Gardeniae Fructus drains Triple Burner fire, cools epigastric heat, treats sensations of heat and pain in the cardiac region, dissipates pent-up heat, and mobilizes blocked energy. It is an essential herb for the treatment of heat in the chest.

6. Moutan Cortex

This herb enables body heat drainage, invigorates the blood, disperses stagnation, and vents lurking heat in the body.

7. Zingiberis Rhizoma recens – (ginger)

Ginger opens phlegm and re-energizes, alleviates nausea and vomiting, and driving out all microbes and negative energy.  If only its peel is used, its warm nature is somewhat reduced, but is excellent for unblocking urination. Ginger should be added in small amounts to food, where it strengthens the Stomach.

8. Glycyrrhizae Radix (Licorice)

 Balances the qualities of other herbs, antidote. Enters all 12 channels (meridians) via the Heart, Lung, Spleen and Stomach channels.Invigorates the spleen and improves the body’s energy. Beneficial for weakness, short breath, poor appetite, exhaustion, loose stools. Replenishes the blood and balances the pulse. Stops coughing by moistening the lungs. Brings a neutral balance to the lungs. Clears heat fire due to toxicity for mouth and throat sores. Reduces pain and spasms in the legs and abdomen. Due to the harmonizing effects of licorice, cold and hot as well as any toxicity are offset. Kamcho (Korean) opens up all the channels thus serves to transport other herbal effects to all parts of the body. Licorice is also used as an antidote for many toxic substances, inside and outside the body.

10. Menthae Haplocalycis Herba

Benefits:  sores and rashes on the skin, headache and red eyes, superficial visual obstructions, sore throat, and mouth ulcers.

Summary

The combination of traditional Chinese herbs synergistically improves all the conditions that are benefitted by the herbs singularly.

Would you like to find these herbs contained in proven safe compound that corrects the menopause condition in 2 hours? The formula has been combined to the right amount of each herb to optimize results for women.

Mark Hammer C.M.H.
Master Herbalist-Asian Medicine

May, 2009

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