Acupuncture is the Sniper
Dr. Lihong Liu is a well-know Traditional Chinese Medicine practitioner in China. His book “Thinking about Traditional Chinese Medicine” has made many people fall in love with Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). Even such a well-known TCM doctor was allowed to entered the frontline of the epidemic area to treat patients with coronavirus one month later after the city was closed in Wuhan, China.
The following content was quoted from Dr. Liu’s article.
“From the 10 inpatient cases we looked at, except for a few who were afraid of needling, acupuncture was used for all patients in the first round check. Because the contact and preparation took time, the herbal medicine wasn’t added to the treatment until the third day. I remembered when I gave the first patient acupuncture treatment, my heart was still a little hesitant. The first reason was because of the tight protective suit, my eyes couldn’t see clearly due to wear goggles. The second was that after wearing 3 layers of gloves, my hands are far less dexterous than before. The third reason was it was my first time to give acupuncture to such a patient, I wonder if it would work or not. Unexpectedly, after the needles been applied, the patient froze and said: “How can there be such a magical thing? My chest is completely opened, no tightness.” Another patient described; “The throat and chest were clogged like the roads during peak hours in the past, but after the needles went down, it immediately became the current road-empty and clear.”
Patients’ feedback gave us surprises as well as confidence and strength. At the same time, the different symptoms described by the patients such as chest tightness, shortness of breath, the discomfortable sensation in abdomen, cough of itchy throat, fainting, aversion to cold, muscle ache and sweating were all alleviated or disappeared with acupuncture treatment. This proved what we have previously proposed that the use of acupuncture and herbs for this epidemic is practically significant. Another significance of acupuncture treatment is that as the physical discomfort was quickly relieved or eliminated, the patients’ dull mood was opened, which would help the illness to heal.
In fact, we have always thought since acupuncture can treat flu, it must be able to treat coronavirus pneumonia. The coronavirus is just like an advanced version of the flu. However, due to the limited number of patients each acupuncturist can treat per day, which is difficult to cope with a large number of patients, plus too few acupuncturists who can really master good acupuncture techniques, acupuncture cannot be used on a large scale to treat outbreaks. Use a metaphor to illustrate the role of acupuncture in the treatment of coronavirus; acupuncture is like a sniper that it can kill the enemy, but it cannot be the main force in the battlefield. However, acupuncture can treat specific patients at critical moments. For example, if critically ill patients are treated with acupuncture, they are likely to return to life. The case below is the best illustration:
February 15th, 2020, professor Xu Zou, expert in Critical Care Medicine of Guangdong Province Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine along with a group of the western medicine specialists went to Hankou Hospital of Wuhan to conduct a TCM round, just happened to meet a severe patient with coronavirus pneumonia and had shortness of breath, irritability and difficulty breathing. The doctor in the medical team immediately gave the patient ventilator, yet the patient was profuse sweating, irritable and had difficulty cooperating with the ventilator. His vital signs showed breathing rate was 30-40 times/min (normal rate is 16–20/min), blood oxygen saturation was 59%(normal rate is above 95%), heart beat rate was 130-140 times/min (normal rate is 70-90 times/min). The patient’s condition was at stake. The western medicine doctors immediately asked a TCM physician to help check the patient.
After quickly understanding the condition, professor Xu Zou immediately took out the acupuncture needles and applied the needles at the two points of the patient’s lower extremities and soothed the patient’s emotion. The patient’s irritability gradually eased, and professor Zhou then continued to apply needles at the two points on the patient’s upper limbs. After about 10 minutes, the patient calmed down and his vital signs stabilized. His breathing rate dropped to 25 times per minute, his heart rate dropped to 90 beats per minute, and his blood oxygen saturation rose to over 80%. After leaving the needles for 30 minutes, the blood oxygen saturation increased to more than 90%.
The western medicine doctors who participated in the rescue said: Without witnessing it, It is hard to believe that a few fine needles accompanied by respiratory supportive system of western medicine could rescue critically ill patients of coronavirus. They can’t help but lament the magic of Traditional Chinese Medicine.
Later, the patient was diagnosed and prescribed herbs using TCM, plus supportive therapy by western medicine. The patient had been removed the ventilator after one week and his condition improved significantly.”
People who do not understand acupuncture may think that acupuncture can neither kill viruses nor bacteria, how can it cure the flu and how can it treat coronavirus pneumonia. In fact, you don’t have to kill something to cure the disease, you can just drive it away. Remove the things that attract the virus and let them leave automatically to cause the patient return to normal, yet the role of acupuncture is right here. Form the real case, we can always give: Learn more about the moisturized things in traditional Chinese culture and reduce some confrontations, which will be more beneficial to healing and health care.
Author: Dong Jiang <Zhen Hui Tian Xia> 3/1
Source: Tongyou, Sanhe, Guangdong Province Hospitals of Traditional Chinese Medicine
https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/CJKe-GJ5_uh-pRYVNWtLZA
