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Sounds like you have a good plan! Yes, it is always better to actually have a real-life diagnosis with someone who knows your language, can see your face, read your pulse, etc…You’ll get a much more accurate result that way.
I believe you may have Kidney-Spleen Yang deficiency due to several things you said–you tend more towards having diarrhea and you have hemorrhoids..additionally, you have cold arms and legs, the muscles of which are controlled by the spleen. It’s also possible that you have lung qi deficiency or heart yang deficiency, which would be an explaination of your profuse sweating. But overall, I didn’t find alot of symptoms of either one of those in my questioning, so I’m just calling an exterior deficiency which can usually be stabilized with herbs like astragalus and white atractylodes, given in the right dosages, which, btw, improve your spleen’s function greatly.
Yes, pass on all this info to your herbalist and let me know how it all goes for you!
That image I attached of zusanli didn’t go through. Here is a link to show you the location
http://www.healthphone.com/consump_english/a_energy_train/first_aid/images/
Wonderful. Well, I have a diagnosis and a treatment strategy for you.
The problems you describe are called Kidney and Spleen Yang Deficiency. Additionally, you have an exterior deficiency brought about by the wei qi not closing the pores. This is due to a lung qi deficiency. Even though your breathing has improved, you still need some more work on your lung. SO just keep those organs in mind when you’re practicing five animal qigong, etc.
As for you’re sleep difficulties, if I hear you correctly, you’re waking at 3 in the morning? That is usually due to a liver imbalance/excess that spills over into your lung meridian. The BEST treatment for this is to visit an acupuncturist and have him needle your entry and exit points and spread liver qi. 3 o’clock is also significant in Anthroposophic medicine for the liver. If I were you, I would definitely mention that time of waking to your Anthroposophic MD.
For self-treatment, you could get one of those moxa sticks (see link for instructions) and use it over BaiHui (top of your head, and the strongest yang point in your body) Mingmen, Dantien, Zusanli (see image), and the Yongquan on the bottom of your feet. Moxa those points in that order. Moxa on mingmen isn’t difficult at all if you lie on a bed on your stomach.
Herb wise, I’ll give you some suggested single-herbs that you can try to look for when you look at formulas. Deer Antler would be the number one herb for you, followed by ginseng (Korean is best, although Chinese would be good too), Astragalus, Cinnamon Bark and Cinnamon twig (they do more than what I said earlier about the feet; specifically they’re very good for your condition) and then those herbs should be balanced with yin tonics such as ho shou wu, rehmannia, goji. Other herbs that are extremely important are white atractylodes, and poria. Also, schizandra would be a great herb for you. Astragalus needs to be taken for quite some time and with these other herbs to be effective. It helps your sweating problem as well as raises your qi, thus helping your hemmoroids.
That formula I suggested (Ten Complete Supertonic) contains many of the herbs I suggested, so that’s where I would start. Then, you might consider buying a deer antler product and a ginseng product. I know that company ships to Europe, although I’m not sure the shipping prices. And don’t let deer antler’s price scare you off too much–the results are profound, and you don’t usually need as much as you’d think. That company also has herbalists that work for them if you have any questions. SOrry, I don’t know of any Chinese herb companies in Europe..That’s just the company I recommend to everyone here in the US.
As for safety, moxa is safe, but of course, you could burn yourself with the stick so please be careful. Also, moxa and the herbs I suggested will make you MUCH warmer and the effect will eventually become permanent. But please make sure that you don’t become too hot as you could damage your yin. And just in case you have some underlying yin deficiencies, back off any of these remedies if you start getting hot symptoms like afternoon fever, palm heat, etc. But based on what you told me, you should be fine with these remedies–I feel I just have to throw out that caution for you to be mindful of.
Please let me know how this all works for you!
http://www.ehow.com/how_2098092_give-moxa-treatment.html
Ohh.. you have warm feet and legs, but cold arms and hands? That’s different, it could be a few different causes then. Let me ask you a few more questions, if you don’t mind.
You say this problem started 10 years ago… Is there anything in particular that occurred then to you? Like, did you smoke pot and then shortly thereafter start feeling this way, or was it a somewhat gradual process?
How is your digestion? Do you get gas and bloating much? Have you ever had hemmoroids? What about your bowel movements? How often do you have them? Is there anything unusual about the color or shape? Do you tend more on the constipated side or the diarrhea side? If one or the other, how bad does it get and how often does that happen?
Do you have palpitations or weird feelings in your chest? Do you have much anxiety? How is your sleep? Do you have trouble concentrating? How is your memory? Tell me about your enthusiasm levels.
From your diet, should I take it that you are vegetarian? The reason I ask is that there is a remedy that the Chinese use for mercury toxicity–duck fat. It’s better than cilantro or chlorella, hands down, to flush mercury out of your body. You just cook with it however you like, throw it into rice, etc., but just have it daily for some time and you’ll see a big difference if mercury toxicity happens to be the underlying issue.
I noticed you said you go to an Anthroposophic MD. Even though I’m from the US, I’m quite familiar with them. There is a oil combination that works quite well (that you may want to ask your Anthroposophic doctor about) which you could spread on your skin on kidney/adrenal region composed of rosemary and formica and then you mix it in with an inexpensive oil, such as castor or grapeseed oil, etc. You can apply it to your kidney region as well as your Kidney 1 points on the bottoms of your feet. It works very well as a warming agent, although I’m also aware of other remedies with cuprum, mustard seed, etc applied topically–those can work very well as well. Anyways, talk to your doctor about any topical warming remedies because they work very well.
Additonally, there are some Anthroposophic doctors here in the states who prescribe herbal mixtures (homeopathic) which you inject into certain areas of your body (such as the lower dantian) and can be extremely powerful. Acupuncturists in China have also been using similar methods, injecting their own herbal remedies into certain acupoints and it is one of the most powerful and quickest methods that I have ever seen. You should ask your doctor about this!
I’m glad to hear that you’re going to get your mercury fillings removed. Yes, I absolutely do think it very well could have to do with your yang deficient symptoms, especially at your age. Typically, we don’t see kidney yang deficiency in people until they are much older than you are, unless there is an issue such as mercury causing hypothyroidism. And, of all the thyroid medications, Armour is the best, as it contains T3 and T4, thus improving your symptoms without giving you all the terrible side effects that synthroid patients typically go through.
Have you had all your thyroid levels checked? If you are not hypothyroid, but do have the symptoms, sometimes they diagnose you as a “subclinical hypothyroidism” case and treat you with thyroid hormone anyways. I DO NOT RECOMMEND THIS!! Oftentimes, in these cases, it is deeper energies which need to be addressed. Patients who use thyroid without having low thyroid levels (not just TSH but t3 and t4 blood-levels) will have ALOT of side effects and will NOT address the root issues, which can be EASILY addressed through certain remedies and inexpensive herbs. If you do have low thyroid levels, however, then Armour is the best way I know of to treat this problem.
If you go back to an acupuncturist, I would recommend that you request moxabustion. Just needles without moxa will not do much for a condition such as yours, from my experience. You can cheaply obtain moxa sticks online or at Chinatown without any sort of license or anything. After igniting it, you would want to hold it a few inches away from your skin–where it is comfortable– and hold it over several points: Kidney 1 (Bubbling well point on soles of feet), Mingmen, and the Lower Dantien. Do this several times a week, and it will make a major difference.
Herb-wise, I recommend Astragalus (Huang Qi) for several reasons. One, it helps in the cases of spontaneous sweating, and two, it raises the yang. Additionally, cinnamon bark warms the kidney yang and has a descending action, warming the feet as well. There is a famous formula in China called Shi Quan Da Bu Wan, it is very safe, and contains both of these herbs in it. One place you can get it is here: http://dragonherbs.com/prodinfo.asp?number=312
That company, although located in the states, has the highest quality herbs on the planet. They’ve also got some more expensive herbs and formulas, such as Deer Antler and formulas containing it, which are extremely powerful! If your budget allows, you could certainly try deer antler products, but I must warn that they are extremely powerful and you should back off if the feeling becomes too strong. But I can’t think of anything stronger if you wanted to try it out. That company also sells a product called Microcosmic Orbit, which is made up of some kidney astringent herbs, which basically help to form the “outer shell” of one’s egg and keep the essence from dispersing all over the place. I have not tried this formula yet with Michael’s practices, but will do so soon and report to everyone how it’s going.BTW, even though it is warming (and cheap) I do not recommend alot of garlic (and spices in general) in your particular case because of your spontaneous sweating. When you sweat as much as you do, you lose alot of life force and this makes your problem worse. For warming, better ideas would be ginger and cinnamon twig (and also cinnamon bark, as I said earlier). These will warm you without causing you to sweat additionally, and the astragalus and white atractylodes in the formula I mentioned will really help your sweating issues.
As a practical suggestion regarding the pornography issue—have you ever considered installing an internet filter on your computer? They make filters for adults which specifically target porn and nudity online if that’s your issue. You might want to look into one of them. They can also send a list of the websites you visited to a friend or accountability partner of your choice, just to keep you honest.
I did have a few other questions for you too:
You said you used to sweat all night–do you ever get a hot sensation at night when this happens? Or in the afternoons? Or is purely a cold sweat? Does this worsen in the winter or in the summer?
Do you ever feel cold sensations in one part of your body and warm sensations in another part (if so where?), or is it just cold all over?
How is your urination? How often do you urinate? Is it clear, cloudy, or just normal?
Are you overweight or underweight, or normal?
Do you have tightness or constriction anywhere in your body? Any pain?
How is your breathing?
Can you tell me about your diet? What does a typical meal look like for you…especially a typical breakfast? Also, how much fat do you eat in your diet?
Yeah, I think you’re on the right path here. I’ve had adrenal issues on again/off again. One of the biggest things is, for a man, not too much ejaculation. I think Winn’s foundation courses are amazing, and after them, the sex course..those all would be great. I’m currently on the foundation course and I can see huge changes happening in my body.
I know it’s expensive to see a TCM doc sometimes–let me ask you something..with your adrenal issues, do you tend to feel more hot or more cold? Really, what are your symptoms that you’re experiencing and how long has this been going on? Also what age are you? I can recommend a few things that really work (for free of course) but I need to get some basic info about your prob. I’m a TCM doc, and, yes, I agree it is much better to have someone there actually looking at your tongue/pulse, looking at your face, hearing your voice, etc. but I can certainly determine some things simply by symptom and what I’d recommend would only be safe tonics and a remedial diet.
Cheers!
