Headaches

Nearly everybody at some stage of their life will experience some type of headache. Headaches have many causes all of which present themselves differently. The area of the head, the type of sensation and time of the day will all vary due to the cause of the headache.

Following is a list of the different types of headache and their cause.

Exterior Cause: wind-heat, wind-cold, wind-dampness (these are pathogenic influences).

Interior Cause: liver-yang, liver-fire, liver-wind, liver-Qi stagnation, cold in the liver channel, dampness, turbid phlegm, retention of food, stasis of blood, stomach-heat. (These are derived from stress and a weakened digestive system).

Deficient cause: Qi deficient, blood deficient, kidney deficient. (These conditions are due to over working with no rest or a chronic illness).

An exterior type headache will come on fast and is caused by wind. If it’s due to wind-cold the symptoms you will experience is a stiff neck that lasts only a short time after which the wind may penetrate deeper into the body. You may also have sneezing, clear nasal discharge and aversion to cold.

If it’s due to wind-heat you will experience a sore throat, chills and fever, thirst, and a runny nose with yellow discharge. (yellow represents heat).

If it’s due to wind-damp you will experience a muzziness/ heavy type feeling in the head as if your head is wrapped in a wet cloth. This type of headache usually shows it’s self when someone has dampness in the body and a storm is approaching. The dampness is aggravated by the change of weather. Old injuries may show up also with a pain that subsides after the storm has gone.

Headaches due to disharmony of the liver energy will present symptoms like sore, dry, throbbing eyes, pulsating-distending pain around the eye, temporal or side of the head. You may also experience dizziness, dry throat, bitter taste in the mouth and tinnitus. If it’s due to liver-wind it may affect the whole head accompanied with slight shaking of the head, tremors and or numbness.

If your headache is of a deficient type you will experience a dull ache that comes in bouts. Rest will usually relieve the headache. Deficient headaches come about due to not enough Qi and blood reaching the head. Women may experience this after their periods because of the loss of blood.

The previous headaches described are the most common. Migraine headaches fall into the interior type usually also related to liver disharmony. Most interior type headaches like the liver related ones are a result of emotions. Anger and frustration are the main culprits though worry and fear can sometimes also be the cause. Other causes of migraines can be contraceptive pill, red wine, cheese and strangely enough chocolate.

If your headache is of the exterior type it can be eased by staying out of the wind and pressing in the indentation at the back of your head, by the base of the skull at the top of the spine in the centre. Place pressure there for approximately 1-2 minutes, you should feel it release.

When the headache is from an interior cause, hold your hand out as if to shake hands and squeeze the thumb up along side the index finger to make a crease between the two. At the end of that crease (wrist side) you will see a mound, place your opposite thumb on that mound and press down. This should be tender, if it’s not search until you find the tender spot and then hold the pressure there for a couple of minutes. Follow this by drinking plain water.

WARNING: Do not use this point if you are pregnant as it may induce labour however, IF YOU ARE IN LABOUR press this point like crazy or have your hubby press it. It will calm you and help with delivery.

A deficient type headache will ease with rest and some wholesome food. Root vegies are always good also rice soup (Jook / Coongee). Acupressure point: Measure four finger width down below your knee cap and one finger to the outside of the leg from the shin bone you will find a tender point. Hold this point for a couple of minutes. (If you have a sore throat, runny nose and or sneezing do not use this point!).

So that is pretty much it for headaches from me for today, there are whole books written on them but that in itself may give you headache. If you are having headaches frequently please come and get it treated before other problems start to manifest.

Take care.

Kind regards,

Scott Cansdell.

http://www.backonyourfeet.com.au

Libido or Lack of it!

Today’s subject is on sex drive.

Most people have the desire but lack the drive. As life gets faster, we end up working ridiculous hours and our rest time is compromised which means we have even less time for play.

However this is not the only reason we have a low sex drive. If we look at the body from a Chinese Medicine point of view, our sex drive is connected to the energetics of our physical organs.

When we are conceived we gather energy from our parents. The quality and quantity of energy we receive is wholly dependent on our parent’s state of health. This energy we receive is called Jing. It is stored approximately a hands width below our navel. The important thing to note here is that, we are only given so much of this Jing and each day we live a drop of that Jing is used up. When our Jing dries up we die. Jing is the essence of life and every living being has it. The good news is that we can prevent our Jing from running out by strengthening our Kidney energy.

Our Kidneys are the organs responsible for our sex drive and when our Kidney energy is weak we become infertile, tired, and impotent. If you find that you are becoming obsessed with sex as well as having the following स्य्म्प्तोम्स constant erotic dreams, night sweats, hot cheeks and feet in the evening, premature ejaculation and regular wet dreams this is because your kidney Yin energy is weak. (Yin & Yang)

When our Kidney energy is weak we start over using our Jing and this is when the aging process commences. Some say to refrain from sex while others such as Tantra promote sex as a way to become one with the universe. In today’s society the thought of celibacy would be laughed upon which is a fair comment as we all need an outlet and sex is the most powerful energy we have; powerful enough to create a human being. If we look at sex on an even deeper level when we make love, what actually happens is; we are creating balance between two opposites `Yin & Yang.

Previous in one of my other news letters I spoke of Yin & Yang, man being Yang in nature and woman being Yin in nature and by bringing them both together we get balance. Yang energy is hot and yin energy is cold. If you were to have two Yangs together you will get absolute heat and two Yins together you will have absolute cold. It is said that two Yins’ can benefit from each other for a short time but not two Yangs’ but this is a debate which I will leave for others to resolve.

When we have balance in our life we have health so the fact that men and women balance each others energies is clear statement to me that sex is a healthy activity.

But if you were to have excessive sex would this weaken the body? The rule is, “according to the old scripts” that, if you feel exhausted, have blurry vision, get regular colds, sore knees, sore back or and sex drive is low it is most likely that your kidney energy is weak. If this is the case it can be treated with Acupuncture, herbs and or Qi gong exercises. If you have night sweats, premature ejaculation, hot feet at night this also can be treated.

If you choose not to treat these conditions and are still having regular sex, I guarantee you, it will weaken your Jing and you will age faster than someone with healthy strong Kidneys. If you look at sex workers, over a two year period you will see them age very rapidly.

“There is a secret though!”

If women had orgasms through oral sex choosing only to have intercourse say
2-16 times a year this would preserve her youth. A woman can orgasm many times through oral sex without depleting herself provided she is not tired.

For men to preserve their youth it is best to follow the following rule. If in good health: age 20 you can orgasm 2x per day, age 30 once a day, age 40 every 3 days, age 50 every 5 days and age 60 every 10 days. If he is in poor health halving these numbers is recommended. “The complete system of Chinese Self-Healing”; a book by Dr Stephen T. Chang teaches techniques for men and women; improving health, sex and preserving Jing.

There are many things that can deplete your Jing but remembering to do everything in moderation should be ok. Low libido is a term used when you feel that sex would be just too much of an effort. When you are at this stage it is likely that there is more than just your sex drive that is lacking. Don’t wait for injuries to occur or even worse lose someone you love before seeking help.

If you are experiencing this problem, just say to me on your next visit that your privates are a little tired and I will treat you accordingly. And no I do not have to go down there to fix them, your kidney points are on your back and abdomen.

And be assured you are not the only one with a low sex drive, the only reason I am writing this is because it is a common problem with many of my clients.

If you have any questions please feel free to email me.

I enjoy researching new ideas so please forward all your curiosities.

Until next time, take care and look after your Jing!

Scott Cansdell.

http://www.backonyourfeet.com.au

“I have HEP C, HERPES and ARTHRITIS can Chinese Medicine explain?

Question

“I’m a 57 year old woman with HSV2 Hep c and arthritis.
The herpes is virulent and attacks can be almost continuous despite doctors telling me that it can’t be so. I’m suffering fatigue and one of my fingers is severely inflamed at the moment. Also some blurring in the eyes, I’m wondering about an article on foods suitable for HSV2 . My body seems very acidic at the moment. I have just formed a relationship with a man I care for after many celibate years so the distress I have grown accustomed to is more pronounced with someone in me life and bed and heart. I saw your article on acidic body and wonder if you could write something for those of us battling some of these long term diseases. They seem to be trying to eat my body”

Thank you for the questions.

Whenever I inspect someone’s health and history, first of all I consider the fundamental principles of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). So to analyse what you have described above, it would appear you have and access of heat in the body (inflammation, inflamed) you also have blurring of the eyes which would most likely be related to the liver. (The liver controls the eyes in TCM).

You have also stated that your situation has been quite stressful and again this will be producing more heat in the body. Now arthritis can be caused by wind, dampness, cold or a combination of the above. Even though you experience pain and inflammation TCM will treat the condition with warming treatments. We do this because warmth will move stagnant blood and energy that has ceased moving freely due to the wind, cold or dampness. An analogy would be frost bite, this is an extreme case but the same rules apply, stagnation becomes so intense it burns.

Stagnation is also caused by, you guessed it the liver! The liver’s job is to smooth the flow of energy and blood around the body. If you have or are currently living a stressful life, eating badly, not sleeping well, bombarded by pollutants you have consciously or unconsciously been abusing your liver this can create stagnation and pain leading to arthritis.

Over working body parts and working in cold environments will also do this.

· So to relieve your pain we need to clean up your diet, eat and drink complimentary warming foods and beverages and take up some useful Qi Gong, Tai Chi or Yoga exercises They are all gentle but strong enough to make your body strong and free up all your stagnation.

Hepatitis C Virus is toxic heat in the blood which the liver again plays a significant roll in. You may also experience jaundice, itching, sweating, brittle nails, irritability and tiredness all of which are related in someway with the liver. The liver will attack the digestive system causing digestive problems, jaundice, bloating plus other discomforting problems. Finger nails become brittle because the nails are ruled by the liver.

Herpes is another form of toxic heat in the body as well as weakening of the digestive system / immune system. To treat this symptom we need to target the liver first followed by the spleen.

In summary, dampness and heat toxins are a spleen and liver problem. Problems with your bones will be due to dampness, wind or cold and to treat all of the above we need to calm the liver, cool the blood, warm the kidneys and dry the dampness.

Diet

Green vegetables and juices will help detoxify the blood and calm the liver. Drink hot water as this will strengthen the bones and kidneys. Add ginger when steaming vegetables as this will warm the digestive system to remove the dampness.

Drink fresh papaya juice and leave 10 of the papaya seeds in the juice when blending it. They are high in vitamin C and will help with Hep C. Also look to for anti-oxidants from the health food store. I would highly suggest Professor Masquelier’s Pycnogenol OPC’S. Make sure his picture is on the box.

· Get your self a copy of The Jook Book or recipes on congee. And look for a recipe that uses “chen pi” which is dried mandarin skin, this helps with dampness.

· Wheat grass juice you will also find beneficial, it’s very high in nutrients and great for de-toxing the liver naturally. You can get shots of wheat grass from boost juice bars and other fresh juice shops. Or if you’re keen get your self a Champion Juicer and make your own. It’s not difficult to grow and you can purchase small kits. Almonds are very good because they will alkaline and clean the blood.

Others – millet, Udos oil, avocado, sunflower sprouts, raw almonds, carrots, dates, coconuts, celery, cucumbers, lemons, limes, cauliflower, brussel sprouts, asparagus, green beans, broccoli, cabbage, green leafy vegetables, soy beans, walnuts, wheat grass, tofu, lima beans, turnip tops, peppers, beet tops.

The fact you suffer toxic heat would indicate that you are most likely acidic so all alkaline foods and drinks would be very good for you.

Do not drink any liquid for 30 minutes before or after taking food.
Ensure that 75% of each meal is fruit and vegetables high in water content.
Chew well and allow time for digestion and rest for 15-30 minutes after food.

The following foods should be taken in limited amounts, but preferably not at all: fried and oily food, hot and spicy food, dairy products, sugar, eggs, coffee, tea and alcohol. All of these will heat up the liver, weaken your immune system and make you more acidic. Also limit your meat intake and consider white meat as it’s less heating. Beef can actually make you more toxic and so can duck. Stay away from all shell fish because it will flare up your skin (cold sores etc).

Shopping List

· The Jook Book

· Healing with Whole Foods

· The Tao Of Balanced Diet

· Champion Juicer

· Qi Gong

· Yoga exercises

· Tai Chi

I hope this information has helped!

PS. If you are not on the BOYF mailing list please click on the link below and sign for my monthly News letter.

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Take care,

Kind regards,

Scott Cansdell

http://www.backonyourfeet.com.au