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Town Online 2020: 04: 27.16: 25
A doctor uses moxibustion to treat a recovering COVID-19 patient in rehab at Hubei Provincial Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Wuhan, on Tuesday. [Foto: proporcionada a China Daily]
New York, 04/27/2020 (The People Online) – “I am writing to tell you that we, three older ladies, have fully recovered. We are very grateful for your help in this difficult time,” says a message published on the Wechat social network that was sent to a specialist in Traditional Chinese Medicine (MTC ).
When the text appeared on the afternoon of April 20, Chen Decheng was so happy that he felt the fatigue of a hard month of work miraculously disappear.
Chen resides in New York, the worst hit area in the United States by the outbreak of the new coronavirus. She clearly remembers how desperate the sender, Xu Lei, 71, had sounded when she confessed to him on the phone that she had a persistent fever, dry cough and other obvious symptoms of COVID-19.
Just as desperate were her 73-year-old sister and 68-year-old friend, who live with her in Manhattan, New York.
Chen, with more than 20 years of experience practicing Traditional Chinese Medicine, through a video call via Wechat diagnosed the three elderly women and prescribed a personalized remedy, based on TCM.
China’s experience
“The recipes were intended to help improve your lung function, lower your body temperature, and boost your immune system,” says Chen, who earned his doctorate from Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine in the early 1990s.
Chen, director of two MTC and acupuncture clinics in New York and neighboring Long Island, believes her approach was in tune with recommendations shared by her Chinese counterparts for the treatment of COVID-19 symptoms.
“China’s experiences on the ground are very useful for professionals living in the West,” says Chen.
In late January, in its guidelines for the treatment of people infected with the virus, the Chinese National Health Commission prescribed the use of MTC along with western medicine.
Several studies conducted in China showed that the application of MTC alone was sufficient to reduce fever, symptoms and viral load in patients in the early stages of infection. For those who are in a severe condition, the use of MTC, in conjunction with various antiviral protocols, could help patients recover.
Jin Ming, founder and medical director of the Ming Qi Natural Healthcare Center in Manhattan, when he returned after spending the Spring Festival in China, brought with him a batch of materials used for the prevention and treatment of COVID-19 symptoms. .
“China was working hard to fight the new coronavirus. No one at the time could have imagined that the situation would worsen so much in the US,” says Jin.
The new virus has infected more than 886,000 people. As of Friday, States exceeded 50,000 deaths. New York State remains the most affected, with more than 268,000 cases and 20,861 deaths.
Patient calls
In late March, both Chen and Jin closed their clinics and transferred their diagnostic and prescription services to online platforms, days before the New York State Governor issued a stay-at-home order to curb the spread of the new coronavirus.
Since then, the two MTC professionals receive daily calls from potential patients, the local Chinese-Americans, who increasingly turn to MTC. They seek alternative help as the outbreak’s progress continues to overwhelm New York’s public health system.
“I was initially a little scared myself. Often a person asks me for an appointment and it always turns out that it is for the whole family,” says Chen.
Thanks to social media apps like Wechat and FaceTime, MTC practitioners can get a “relatively complete picture” of a patient by performing three of the four MTC diagnostic techniques: look, listen and ask, Chen adds. .
COVID-19, as expressed by Chinese experts on MTC, is a disease related to cold and humidity, he stresses.
The deadly disease could cause the imbalance of Yin and Yang – two opposite but complementary energies – in the body, as a result of living in a damp and wet area.
Observing a patient’s tongue is an “important diagnostic tool,” Chen explains because “a pale, clammy tongue with a thick white coating is an indication of excessive moisture.”
As the disease develops, the color of the tongue layer darkens to yellow and the color of the tongue also darkens to red or purple. The patient may worsen when the tongue layer becomes thick, dry, and cracked, even without an obvious cough and shortness of breath.
To help reduce his workload, Chen’s patients would take daily photos of his tongue with a clear date and time indication.
By comparing the photos, the doctor can easily recognize if the patient is getting better or worse.
Western and eastern medicine
Since a cure for COVID-19 has yet to be found, Chen and Jin believe that MTC may help alleviate associated symptoms.
What MTC professionals do is try to adjust the health of the entire body and improve the immunity of the patient so that he can better fight the new virus, Chen says.
Although TCM is not officially recognized in the United States and the West, it has existed for more than 3,000 years, Jin recalls, and its practice has helped combat other pandemics, including SARS.
In addressing the doubts surrounding MTC’s approach in the West and China, doctors believe that the most important thing is to save lives. That is why the method that reduces symptoms a little should be considered as good, and the more it does, the better.
As MTC practitioners often do, Jin, Chen, and their colleagues help prepare and pack the prescribed herbs before delivering them to patients, at home if necessary.
Chen says that most of his patients showed signs of recovery after taking a decoction of medicinal herbs, twice a day for five to ten consecutive days.
For the Chinese community in New York, MTC, in addition to relieving pain associated with illness, also serves as a valuable platform for psychological support, Jin says.
“At least you can get a professional who speaks your own language to ease your fears, confusion and helplessness caused by this new virus.”
TCM’s approach is “different, but can be very complementary to” current evolved molecular drugs in western medicine, which focus more on the microscopic level and on unique goals to treat disease, said Yung-Chi Cheng, professor of Pharmacology from Yale University.
“To meet future health needs, neither oriental medicines, exemplified by MTC, nor western medicines, exemplified by current conventional medicine, are sufficient,” Cheng emphasizes.
“In order to meet unmet clinical needs, the most effective approach to developing the medicine of the future should be the fusion of the” w “(western) and the” e “(eastern) in” we “medicine, he concludes. .
(Web editor: 吴思萱, 赵健)
