All Posts tagged health topics

It can be difficult to resist the temptation to overeat during the Lunar New Year holiday. Unfortunately, gorging on food can overload the digestive system, and many people will suffer from indigestion. There’s also the threat or heartburn, stomach upset, feeling bloated, belching, nausea and lack of appetite – as…

The world is on high alert about a possible pandemic of avian flu. Worries about pandemics, however, are not new. Plagues were a major problem in ancient China. They were called wenyi (pestilence), which covers any kind of fatal epidemic disease. Physician Wu Youxing (1580-1660) published a book called Wenyilun…

New mothers need to pay special attention to their bodies. In traditional Chinese practice, after giving birth a woman stayed at home for about four weeks, usually with a pui yuet (confinement maid) to take care of her and the baby. This was believed to help her body return to…

The first clinical description of diabetes mellitus is said to have come from Aretaeus the Cappodocian – a Greek physician – in about 150AD. He described diabetes as “a melting down of flesh and limbs into urine. Patients never stop making water, but the flow is incessant”. He also calls…

During autumn, the weather changes to cool and dry, and many people get an uncomfortable, dry feeling in their throat, which may become sore. One way people combat this is by sucking lozenges. There are many different types on the market. Some people even use them to try to prevent…

Menstrual problems affect most women at some time during their reproductive life. According to a recent survey by the Chinese University of Hong Kong, one in 10 local women has heavy menstrual problems, and 90 per cent of them aren’t aware of medical advances that allow quick and easy treatment.…

When a patient has symptoms of a pale complexion, dizziness and fatigue, a western-trained doctor may do a blood test to see if anaemia is the cause. However, in traditional Chinese medicine, a blood deficiency may be diagnosed even if the test comes back normal. In TCM, a blood deficiency…

In ancient times, dissection of corpses was widely forbidden because opening up a dead body was thought to be offensive to the bereaved. It’s remarkable, then, how much TCM practitioners understood about organ physiology with such rudimentary knowledge. TCM practice focused on the functional aspects of vital organs such as…

In allergic rhinitis, the patient suffers from frequent attacks of sneezing, nasal discharge or blockage of the nasal passages. It may be seasonal or perennial. Seasonal rhinitis is often called hay fever. It’s prevalent in the teenage years, when up to 30 per cent of young people suffer symptoms in…

Summer in Hong Kong poses a greater risk of dehydration, especially when people are outdoors. This can lead to a substantial amount of body fluid loss and possible symptoms of mild dehydration, such as increased thirst, decreased urine production, fatigue and a light headache. But there are some simple foods…

In western medicine, the spleen – in the upper-left abdominal cavity between the stomach and diaphragm – usually doesn’t get much attention. This may be because we can live without it. In early life, the spleen forms blood. Later, it stores red blood cells and platelets. It also removes non-functional…

In western physiology, the kidneys are a vital excretory organ whose main function is to create urine to help the body get rid of toxins and excess water. In traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), the kidneys also have control over the reproductive, endocrine and nervous systems, This is because the kidneys…

Sars (severe acute respiratory syndrome) infected 1,755 people in Hong Kong in 2003, killing 299. But its impact didn’t end there: the severe inflammation caused by the virus resulted in fibrosis or scarring of the lung tissues of some patients, and 158 patients have been diagnosed with a serious bone…

According to western medicine, colds are generally caused by rhinoviruses, and flu is the result of influenza viruses. Chinese medicine, rather tan taking a microscopic approach, adopts a holistic concept to explain the onset of colds or flu. It says such illnesses are caused by unfavourable influences from climatic and…