Opinion Poll: The Federal Acupuncture Coverage Act of 2009

Seven Forms of Superior Medicine

According to ancient Chinese thought, it was held that the most superior forms of medicine to least were as follows:

1) Right Thinking
2) Qi Gong
3) Nutrition
4) Tai Q/movement arts
5) Herbalism
6) Acupuncture
7) Surgery

In other words, according to ancient Chinese medical thinking, if the doctor wanted to do surgery for the patient, he first asked,"Have you tried acupuncture?" and if the doctor wanted to do acupuncture, she first asked, ' Have you tried herbs?" and so forth until even if the doctor wanted to perform qi gong, he first asked, "Have you tried correct thinking?"

What does all this mean? Translated into meldern terms, they would be:

The Eight Forms of Superior Medicine for Modern Times

1) Meditation/Prayer/Contempalative Life/ Good (ie:proper) Attitude, right thinking
2) Subtle Energy Cultivation
3) Nutrition based on local organically grown fresh vital food prepared with love and eaten peaceably
4) Excercise done wisely and sustainabley/subtle energy medical arts
5) Botanical medicine
6) Alternative, complimentary, natural therapies
7) Pharmaceuticals
8) Surgery

So why does modern medicine get this hierarchy so skewed?
Well, what do you think............?

Michele Salinas LAc, Dipl CH RN-BSN MSOM

The Driving Cost of Health Care

Here is an excellent article about the driving cost of health care, a good angle to the health care debate. I of course think that a part of the consumer driven health care should be alternative and complimentary care, obviously Oriental Medicine too. I think all my patients would like to see this, as well as the many thousands of Americans who use Acupuncture and Oriental medicine in some aspect of their lives.

--Michele Salinas

The Real Health Care Reform

I think it is "high time" that your local acupuncturist and practitioner of Oriental medicine weigh in on the whole health care reform debate.

This complicated issue keeps taking more and different turns every week. But I guess when it's all said and done with, the core issues are still the same.

I think the biggest call to health care reform has to begin with the mind. And no big pharm nor any hospital I know--except in the extreme cases of mental illness--can do this. For the sake of argument and brevity here, I'm not even going to talk about extreme exceptions. I'm going to talk about the culture at large. An ancient Chinese adage states "When the mind is serene the pain is negligible". Know I accept this to be true without consciously being able to live it because there are so many examples of spiritually adept or advanced or if your vocabulary is better suited to it, humanly wise individuals around the globe and throughout history to show this to be true. True suffering has really not much to do with the majority of what is diagnosed and treated for in the doctor's office and the hospital. I know; it is what ultimately turned me off to being a nurse.

Real suffering has much more to do with wars, anger, greed, selfishness. The individual vs "other". Groups vs other groups. Me vs you. As long as there is a versus, we--all of humanity-- are in trouble. And we all will suffer. When we work to eliminate these big four diseases, we find there really is enough food, sanitation, resources, to go around, and much of the diseases afflicting humanity get resolved. Let natural therapies take care of 75% of the other ailments (chronic disease, health promotion, wellness) and you find what is left over is a limited amount of catastrophic health problems, the very thing hospitals are good at. Most health care doesn't need much of a sterile environment after all, does it? Neither does it require insurance mandates nor diagnostic and treatment codes.

The remedy is compassion. I believe this to be the serene mind quoted about. Compassion for those needing good basic healing and denied it. What a sad state of affairs if we have to shout at each other to communicate, see each other as the enemy, bring guns to "dialogue" with each other. Why deny each other of much needed compassion? Why be afraid of each other? We can and must work together. We need to recognize that most of the media is not here to unite us but to highlight those aspects of our society that pull us apart. (I recommend that you kill your television. I did 30 years ago, and my life has been better ever since.)

Can we take a long spell and stop working against each other and instead work together to create a solution? Can we move away from fear of each other and instead rise above selfishness to care about and for each other?

Which brings me to greed. Yes, this will be easy for me to discuss because I am no longer hungry in my life (but yes I do know what that feel like in a chronic way), and can talk about it from the comfort of a nice home. I've had a good healthy supper. I recognize that any time a few people have access to too much $ money $ at the cost of many then suffering will follow. This is the true disease. It's really not so much about health plans is it? It's that certain affluent lifestlyles are connected to certain mega corporations in the "health care industry". which is no accident that it "happens" to be among the top four wealthy industries in this country. Yet generosity belongs to no industry. If there needs to be an equitable distribution of basic medicine, why begrudge it? So what if we delegate it to our government? A healthy society would be glad to do such for their own. We should find it a joy.

If we look at health care basics, we see the solution actually is very simple. Safe homes and neighborhoods. Clean water. Sanitation. Food from the garden. Clean air. Nourishing relationships. A parent to be there. Education--food for the mind. Ample, biodiverse plants and animals. Stars and fertile soil. Quietude and laughter. And some healing tears.

If we look at rights, we need to see that there should be accessibility to all the care systems that humanity has to offer: Oriental Medicine, Ayuvedism, Homeopathy, as well as the science driven systems of Allopathy and Naturopathy. Let catastrophic care be covered by allopathic medicine,--it's so good at that!-- and open the doors of accessibility to all the other medicines. Let the people have access to them all, and let them choose.

If we honestly face the core issue of health care, we will see that all of the fear really has to do with our disconnect with life and death, and the real meaning of both. We would be able to make wise choices about our lives if we weren't so scared about dying --and thus about living. So many times I see radical actions and unwise decisions by patient and practitioner because nobody is really concerned about the quality of living. So many billions of dollars are thrown at keeping the body going at all cost without true caring for the mind (the spirit). So much is about adding up numbers to one"s life, without any question about whether that really constitutes living or not. So many decisions and actions are based upon a fear of death. But death is part of life just as life is part of death. There is no such thing as a deathless life just as there is no such thing as a lifeless death. It is all a big circle and cycle both.

So in my mind, the health care reform debate is really a symptom, and not an issue in and of itself. Once we get to the real issues, we find that life is worth living, health is worth sharing, societies are worth investing in, and at the so called end, death, is nothing but a blip in the advancing stream of consciousness. And this consciousness does go on.....

OUR PLANET OURSELVES

Natural and human powered environmental influences that can cause health problems:

Wind
"The wind brings a thousand diseases" (1) Health problems that are migratory are considered a "wind" problem in Chinese Medicine. Rapid onset of symptoms can be a"wind" condition. Initial onset of fever/chills and flu are considered "wind" too. Example: rheumatic and dermatologic complaints, headache, migraine, facial tics, flu, viruses and initial bacterial invasions, etc.

In health: invigoration and renewal

Heat
Any health problem that is red, gets better with cold, hot to touch, comes with fever, and worsens in hot weather is a heat type pathogenic influence. Human caused: overcrowded and public interior places in general create these kinds of health problems. Deforestation, suburban living and exurban and suburban commuting, carbon emission, inefficient homes and commercial, as well as industrial places are creating heat health problems on a global scale. Example: chronic fatigue syndrome, fever of unknown origins; hot arthritic conditions; hives and other hot skin conditions; bacterial invasions, migraines, etc. Of course burns and skin cancer

In health: brightness and expansion

Cold
The reverse of the above (heat) description. Human caused: air conditioning causes these kind of health influences. Example: chronic low back pain, chronic neck pain; infertility and menstrual problems; cold arthritic problems, etc. Frostbite is the obvious.

In health: refreshment and consolidation

Damp
Heavy, stiff, achy, sticky, stubborn, fuzzy thinking, worsens with damp. Combines with cold damp and damp heat, their own disease subcategories. Human influenced: pollutants in the air combine with damp to make a clingy, fetid bad air. Sticky foods like high fructose corn syrup, trans fats, fast food, artificial sweeteners, white over processed grains create dampness in the digestive system and wreak havoc, and can easily ooze into other body systems that become stubborn and difficult to treat. Example: sinus problems, weeping skin conditions, obesity, fibromyalgia, a whole host of digestive problems, local and systemic fungal problems; congealed dampness becomes phlegm: asthma, allergies, cholesterol problems, cataracts, complicated degenerative brain conditions, etc. "The nature of damp is difficult to rid"(2)
"All the strange and stubborn diseases belong to phlegm" (3)

In health: moisture and cohesion

Dry

If you observe a dry ecosystem, you know what a dry health problem looks and feels like.
Human caused: desertification and unnatural drought conditions caused by global warming and global wierdness; lack of sufficient water; artificial interior forced air environments, all help influence dry health problems. Example: psoriasis, sjogren's syndrom, asthma, withered conditions, etc. Drought causes hunger and malnutrition.

In health: distinction and definition

The point I am trying to make is that we are so influenced by the environment, natural and unnatural. To deny this is to think we can exist in a bubble (let alone the profound problem of nature deprivation syndrome). We need nature. And nature needs us.

Now is the time to be compassionate to all living things. Let us begin....

to health and longevity

health care reform

I interupt the reularly scheduled article on environmental health=human health to bring you this information, in case you are inclined to let your voice be heard for something I care deeply about....

Thank you and good day

Michele Salinas

June 24, 2009 Greetings Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine (AOM) Community: The American Association of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine asks you to reach out with this message to your patients, friends, family and colleagues. This letter is also available on our homepage at www.aaaomonline.org. JULY 7 or JULY 21, 2009 HR 646: FLOOD THE PHONE LINES » CALL YOUR CONGRESSIONAL REP (www.house.gov) » CALL YOUR SENATORS (www.senate.gov » CALL THE PRESIDENT (202-456-1111) ASK THEM TO PASS HR 646, THE FEDERAL ACUPUNCTURE COVERAGE ACT Our lobbying team needs one more thing to persuade congress to support HR 646 – proof that patients care about this bill. The act of calling asserts persuasive proof and asserts our collective voice. Crisscrossing the country, we’re asking you to JAM THE PHONE LINES into your representatives’ offices. Ask them to co-sponsor HR 646, encourage a companion bill in the Senate, and request the Obama administration fold HR 646 into our president’s healthcare reform package. When China faced a healthcare crisis in 1949, with too many people to treat, too little money, and too few doctors to provide care, they turned to traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), now commonly referred to as acupuncture and Oriental medicine (AOM). The U.S. presently faces a similar crisis. We have unmet health care needs, virtually no preventative care, and spiraling costs we cannot support. AOM has been providing an uninterrupted system of prevention and wellness world-wide for over 5,000 years. AOM makes primary health care more affordable because it provides successful treatments for chronic and acute conditionsat a fraction of the cost of Western medicine. It differs from Western medicine by emphasizing patient education and preventive care and by teaching patients how to take personal responsibility for their health, along with treatment. Allowing patients to decide what forms of healthcare services they choose in a free and open marketplace has been a long-standing principle in American economic history. Currently, Americans are forced to decide among the most expensive health care services in the world. Most insurance plans currently do not give the option to choose one of the safest, most effective, and inexpensive forms of medical care—acupuncture and Oriental medicine (AOM) (this includes acupuncture, Asian herbal medicine, medical massage, diet modifications, and breathing and movement therapies). When American medical consumers are given an opportunity to choose a less expensive, safer healthcare in the form of AOM, everybody wins. A bill pending in the House of Representatives, HR 646, redresses this inequity. Place your support behind HR 646 by writing your Congressperson at http://www.aaaomonline.org/hr646, and join our Facebook community at http://www.aaaomonline.org/facebook to spread the word! EDUCATE YOURSELF: Before calling, take a few minutes to learn about the bill. HR 646 bill: (Authored by Congressman Maurice Hinchey) http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c111:H.R.646.IH: Congressman Hinchey published a plea to his congressional colleagues on June 8. http://www.aaaomonline.info/hinchey_acupuncture_dear_colleague.pdf HR 646 Federal Acupuncture Coverage Act 2009 Fact Sheet http://www.aaaomonline.info/hinchey_hr_646_fact_sheet.pdf Thank you for the growing consumer reports we’ve seen in the past few weeks as our AOM in U.S. Healthcare/ HR 646 Acupuncture in Medicare campaigns have taken hold. Expanding our advocacy will create a rippling impact, assuring 54,000,000 Americans will be given the right to access – the right to choose AOM as a medical modality in their lives! Please call your Congresspersons on Tuesday, July 7th, or Tuesday, July 21st, and ask them to support HR 646 and AOM in healthcare reform. Note: Should you no longer choose to receive AAAOM Updates and News Alerts, please notify us. Your name will be removed from our files, and we apologize for the inconvenience. AAAOM PO Box 162340 Sacramento, CA 95816 916-443-4770 916-443-4766 Fax 866-455-7999 Toll Free info@aaaomonline.org | www.aaaomonline.org # # #

I thought I would start out entering my new venture of blogging to talk about how ecological health = human health. Why take on such a huge task? Because I can put it off no longer.

Yesterday I was scootering out with my 150cc vehicle when I noticed yet again what can only be noticed if you walk, bicycle or scooter/cycle for transportation. The air and atmosphere was warm but pleasant, the breeze comfortable--even in stopped positions--in the country, in the shade, under the big trees. As I took a break under a stand of 8 trees, I enjoyed the air flow provided by the thousands of leaves, as well as the soothing rustling sound they made. Birds sang their sweet entoxicating melody. It was 92 in the sun, higher in the parking lot a few feet away. But where I was it was cool and sort of magical, certainly mesmerizing.

Do we as a society take note of these things?

In contrast, coming into town, especially waiting at the red lights, it felt more like 100 degrees. I was feeling downright irritable, I see so many violent animal roadkill, deer, cats, dogs, squirrel, groundhog, possum. Trash where my eyes gaze, oil stains blighting parking lots, noise and more violence as I navigate my way through automobiles, those potential weapons of mass destruction. What opium was to China in some ways makes gasoline to Americans. A scant tree here or there to break the sickly monopoly of commercialization.

People will not get the sensual difference between the beauty of the former and the ugliness of the latter as long as they remain isolated in their air conditioned car and climate controlled home. There is alot of research about how historically civilizations fell and species went extinct in relation to climate and ecosystem destruction. The New Yorker discusses this in a recent article on the endangerment of frogs and bats in a recent edition.

We will not understand what a noisy and traumatic stressors we put forth in the world in the form of decibels rocketing from our machines. Unless we open our windows, both physical and psychological.

Cycles repeat themselves. The rise and fall of the oceans, the dinosaurs, the mammoths, wilderness, and now, I feel, humankind.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/29/opinion/29krugman.html?_r=1

http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/al_gore_s_new_thinking_on_the_climate_crisis.html

http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/al_gore_warns_on_latest_climate_trends.html

I will explore the implications of individual health and Oriental Medicine in my next installment.

In the pursuit of truth, love, purity, and beauty in the world of forms,

Michele Salinas, LAc, Dipl. CH, RN-BSN, MSOM

Lotus Center Greensboro NC

The superior physician treats when there is no disease