Download - Alcoholism and Oriental Medicine
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Alvaro Porras Toledo
Professor Ruth Hayes-Morrison
October 19, 2010
Alcoholis! and Oriental Medicine"
The addiction to alcohol is of #reat $revalence, es$ecially in our current ti!es of national
financial crisis% &ith all the increased financial stresses and burdens, alcohol beco!es even !ore of an
attractive esca$e% 'evertheless, $eo$le often use alcohol to deal (ith all )inds of stresses and life
trau!as, es$ecially life trau!as%
As an Oriental Medicine $ractitioner, it is i!$ortant to understand (hy a $atient !i#ht be
addicted to alcohol% Tellin# so!ebody to *uit drin)in# +ust because its bad for their health (ouldnt be
effective% Often (hen a $erson drin)s alcohol, he is tryin# to self !edicate% There is nothin# unnatural
about (antin# to let #o of stress% t is i!$ortant, thou#h, to choose a stress-release !ediu! that you
can control instead of it controllin# you%
Alcohol is so (idely available and acce$ted that its vital to educate $eo$le fro! very early on
about (hat alcohol is, and (hat it can do to you (hen ta)en in e.cess% The !a)in# of alcohol #oes
bac) to at least 10,000 / as su##ested by the discovery of late stone a#e beer +u#s% n ancient #y$t,
the #od of beer and (ine Osiris (as (idely (orshi$ed% Alcoholic bevera#es (ere !ainly used for
rituals, #atherin#s, !edicine, and funerary $ur$oses% #y$tians also had nor!s for $ro$er consu!$tion
of alcohol and (arned a#ainst drin)in# e.cessively% i!ilarly, this tradition ha$$ened across the #lobe
in other cultures3 includin# Persian, 4ree), /abylonian, hinese, and other indi#enous tribes% n fact,
the !ain co!$onent of the hinese character for !edicine is that of a +u# of alcohol%
Alcohol should be treated (ith res$ect for it accesses the s$irit, hence the co!!on na!e #iven
to hard li*uor, s$irits%" Alcohol is one of the freely available substances that crosses the blood- brain
barrier% n s!all doses, at the ri#ht ti!e and the ri#ht $lace, it can rela. the nervous syste! and
increase circulation% n e.cess, it creates da!$ heat and has a to.ic effect on the body% There is
another as$ect to be ta)en into account, (hich is the *uality and ty$e of the alcoholic bevera#e, but that
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is another to$ic in itself%
o, (hen does drin)in# alcohol turn into alcoholis!5
Accordin# to the 6niversity of Maryland Medical enter3 Alcoholis! is a chronic, often $ro#ressive
disease in (hich a $erson craves alcohol and drin)s des$ite re$eated alcohol related $roble!s 7li)e
losin# a +ob or a relationshi$8% Alcoholis! involves a $hysical de$endence on alcohol, but other factors
include #enetic, $sycholo#ical, and cultural influences"% A$$ro.i!ately 1 !illion $eo$le in the 6nited
tates are addicted to alcohol or abuse alcohol% :urther!ore, alcohol is involved in al!ost half of all
traffic deaths% y!$to!s of alcoholis! include3
ravin# alcohol
'ot bein# able to control the a!ount you drin) /lac)outs 7not re!e!berin# events or conversations8
/eco!in# irritable (hen you can t #et a drin) at your re#ular ti!e
Havin# le#al $roble!s or an inability to sustain a relationshi$ or a +ob
&ithdra(al sy!$to!s, such as nausea, s(eatin#, sha)iness, and an.iety, (hen you sto$
drin)in#
'eedin# !ore alcohol to feel its effects
;rin)in# by yourself in secret
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to *uit5 li)e to ta)e both a$$roaches de$endin# on the $atient and the course of the treat!ent%
(ould su$$ort the $atient e!otionally and try to (a)e hi! u$ throu#h acu$uncture% ven thou#h, he
!ay not (ant to *uit alcohol at first, (ith $ro$er treat!ent, the $ractitioner can #o inside the dar) cave
(here the $atient is lost and li#ht a candle% t is not a$$ro$riate to order $atients (hat to do (ith their
lives, but to sho( the! a (ay out of their addictions% >ou can #ive the! a #li!$se of ho( thin#s
(ould be better if they freed the!selves fro! their chains% Ho(ever, at so!e $oint durin# the
treat!ent you !i#ht see it necessary to be !ore drastic and #ive the $atient an ulti!atu!%
deally, you (ould (ant the $atients to start #oin# to AA !eetin#s by their o(n free (ill% f
they #o there to $lease so!ebody else, and not because they have the true desire to *uit, they (ill !ost
li)ely )ee$ drin)in#% They could even !a)e a habit of attendin# the !eetin#s (hile drun)% A
recoverin# alcoholic said, AA is not for those (ho need it, but for those (ho (ant it%" Thats (hy
there are alcoholics that #o to AA (ho rela$se% t is (ithin the $o(er of Oriental Medicine to ali#n
$atients (ith their true selves and to i#nite their (ill to ta)e control of their lives%
o far, there has not been any valid scientific research sho(in# si#nificant i!$rove!ent fro!
alcohol de$endence throu#h a $articular acu$uncture treat!ent% a#ree (ith the research in the sense
that there is no standard treat!ent of acu$uncture that (ill hel$ !ost alcoholics% Alcoholis! is a
delicate condition !ore closely lin)ed to the s$irit of the $erson, and as such, it should be a condition
that is treated individually% Research often detaches the $ractitioner fro! the $atient% /ut (hen it co!es
to treatin# the s$irit, the $ractitioner needs to be !ore sub+ectively involved in the case than if it (as
so!ethin# basic, such as a fro?en shoulder%
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Additional Notes:
;idnt find any scientifically conducted research sho(in# that acu$uncture hel$ed alcohol de$endence37 has been sho(n to hel$ (ith o$iate de$endence thou#h8
htt$3@@(((%ncbi%nl!%nih%#ov@$ub!ed@191=B
htt$3@@(((%ncbi%nl!%nih%#ov@$ub!ed@191B2199
htt$3@@(((%ncbi%nl!%nih%#ov@$ub!ed@119212
Ho(ever, acu$uncture does sho( better results for hel$in# substance abuse $atients (hen incon+unction (ith $sycho-educational treat!ent3
htt$3@@(((%ncbi%nl!%nih%#ov@$ub!ed@1921=C
hinese haracter for Medicine3
References:
6niversity of Maryland Medical enter
htt$3@@(((%u!!%edu@alt!ed@articles@alcoholis!-000002%ht!
htt$3@@(((%alcoholis!-infor!ation%co!@Alcoholis!Dtatistics%ht!l
htt$3@@?hon#(en%co!@d@[email protected]%ht!
htt$3@@en%(i)i$edia%or#@(i)i@HistoryDofDalcoholicDbevera#es
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19413653http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19152199http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11932132http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19241647http://www.umm.edu/altmed/articles/alcoholism-000002.htmhttp://www.alcoholism-information.com/Alcoholism_Statistics.htmlhttp://zhongwen.com/d/194/x229.htmhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_alcoholic_beverageshttp://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19152199http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11932132http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19241647http://www.umm.edu/altmed/articles/alcoholism-000002.htmhttp://www.alcoholism-information.com/Alcoholism_Statistics.htmlhttp://zhongwen.com/d/194/x229.htmhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_alcoholic_beverageshttp://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19413653