Psoriasis has been diagnosed as a disorder for thousands of years in both the east and western worlds. Chinese medicine has always viewed psoriasis as systemic disease that responds very well to the use of internally administered medicinals. Modern western medicine has struggled with it's understanding of psoriasis, in both treatment and diagnosis, and it has only been in the recent past that psoriasis is being viewed as a systemic problem.

This latest research study that I just posted on the effective treatment of atopic dermatitis with a traditional Korean herbal formula is very interesting.

Over the past year two studies were released in the British Journal of Dermatology showing Chinese herbal medicine to be very effective in the treatment of eczema.

Most
people believe that their stress somehow plays a role in their health.
Whether it is a digestive, reproductive, or skin related problem, most

Sometimes it seems that the simpliest and common things are the best for us. Tumeric (Curcumin Longae) the common kitchen spice and Chinese herbal remedy (Jiang Huang), was shown to be very effective at reducing the thick plaques of psoriasis. In fact the researchers who did the study found that Tumeric was twice as effective as the western drug calcipotriol, also known as Dovonex.

I recently found several research studies posted on the PubMed research data base that make direct parallels to Accutane use and ulcerative colitis.

This morning when I came into the clinic, my colleague Dr. Lorne Brown (founder of Acubalance wellness centre) and I got into a conversation regarding some of the differences and similarities between western alliopathic medicine and Chinese medicine. Lorne had just returned from the Pacific coast reproductive societies annual conference in Palm Springs, where he had spoken on the topic of the integration of western and Eastern medicines. Lorne mentioned that "a big difference between the two medicines is that the body map of Chinese medicine is already complete, whereas the western map is still being discovered". I explained that I love it when the western map catches up to the eastern map and the two maps point to the same place. I guess this is how building blocks are formed, allowing for the integration of the two medicines.

Two research studies that I just posted give clues to the herpes simplex virus (HSV) as being a cause of infertility for both men and women. In Women the Herpes virus was leading to increased inflammation in both the cervix and the uterine lining. When these organs are inflamed and agitated, conception and implantation become very difficult. For men the Herpes virus seemed to lead to decreased sperm counts and motility (how strong of a swimmer they are).

This last week I had the fortune to check in on a patient, whom I hadn't seen for a month and half, and learn about his experiences with how Chinese herbal medicine had helped him. This patient had a very severe form of herpes simplex in his mouth and nose, where by the lesions were constantly bubbling up 24 hours a day! His dermatologist told him he had "won the lottery" in regards to developing such a rare form of the disease. His western treatment involved the use of a strong anti-viral drug called Acyclovir, which seemed to help the condition from breaking out too severely, although he still would have the constant bubbling and occasional daily ulcerations leading to bleeding. Obviously this patient was in a lot of discomfort and agony.