## Herbal Programming

Chinese and Kampo herbal programming.

by 20h

## Intro

This talk is about how chinese and japanese herbal medicine evolved.

A short introduction to the chinese medicine thinking is given.

In the summary it is shown how looking at old traditions and developing
them further can help us gather new insights.

## History

In 168 AD the first scriptures on Chinese herbal medicine were found.

During the 8th century the recipes started to standardize.

After the 12th century the bagang diagnosis was used.

In the 17th century the materia medica, a summary of the medicine, was
written.

## Ba Gang

There are categories for typisation of diseases:

They can come be on the inside or outside.

They can be caused by full or empty energy.

They can be caused by Yin or Yang.

They can be caused by heat or cold.

## Yin and Yang

There is always two sides of the energy:

Yang is the sun / bright / warm side.
Yin is the moon / dark / cold side.

You need an cooler to cool down the heat, in an equilibrium.

## Five Elements

All of the above can happen in the five elements of

Earth, Metal, Water, Wind, Heat

Those elements have (chinese) organs, which sounds like western organs
but are completely different.

But, the elements are also connected to the psyche and ghosts, similar
to the current model of Freud of mental levels.

## Comparison to Western Medicine

In the West we had a similiar system unter Galenos / Galen.

He used the four elements of black bile, yellow bile, phlegm and blood.

All of those elements could be cold and warm.

All of those elements had some organ and other features.

So this is similar to the Chinese model.

## Herbal Principles

Herbs in China were classified according to what they do in BaGang.

For example: Removing heat, increasing Yang, Yin etc.

These features can be modified by modifying the herb, by for example
roasting it in honey or cooking it.

## Herbs

If you modify one thing in a body, you will nearly always get side
effects, depending on the dose.

But what if you reduce the dose and add another herb, to reduce the
side effects?

What if you add a herb to faster eliminate one herb to reduce side
effects or change the main effect?

Here come the formulas.

## Chinese Formulas

There were different schools of formular design.

Over time the formulas got complex and another logic was created out
of oberservation:

There is a emperor part, which gives the main ingredient and effect.

Then comes the minister part, which is there to support the emperor
and treat some side disease.

There is then the assistent part, which helps the emperor.

And the envoy, which directs or reports the current formula to some
organ or simply spreads the effect of the rest.

## Chinese Formula Programming

Depending on the above bagang levels, you can prescribe in Chinese
herbal medicine whatever you want. But you should follow the above
structure.

This of course leads to esotericism.

You will see the opposite in Japan on the next slides.

## The Japanese Way (Kampo)

The Japanese herbal medicine is the kampo medicine.

The Japanese introduced the Chinese formulas and medicine.

Due to the abundance of special herbs with esoteric means, they had to
reduce their formulas and reduce doses.

In the 18th century the Dutch came to Japan and with their superior
surgical skills convinced the emperor to abandon the old ways.

The Western medicine is named after the Dutch: Rampo medicine.

## The Japanese Scientific Way (Kampo)

Beginning of the 19th century, the Japanese doctors rediscovered their
own herbal tradition and started to extract the main molecules
responsible for some formula's effect.

Thus in 1901 Jōkichi Takamine isolated epinephrine, which is used in
especially emergency medicine to save lives. The main working direction
of epinephrine is like adrenaline, to restart the heart or increase its
power.

After the 1930ies the Japanese healthcare insurance is paying for
kampo medicine herbs, which are listed.

Only doctors are allowed to prescribe kampo medicine in Japan.

This keeps a high scientific level.

## Kampo medicine today

Nowadays all herbs in kampo medicine have monographies. This means,
when you buy one gramm of something, you will get a specified drug
dose from a pharmacy. It is the same like in western medicine.

Most of the herbs are now seen in chromatography and all of their
active ingredientes are more and more researched.

Some formulas are known to help in western diagnosis, where western
medicine has no solution.

## Kampo medicine today

Through research and reducing of the complexity, you now have three
ways to use Kampo:

1. You go from western diagnosis to a formula.

2. You use a special belly inspection method and get a formula.

3. You use a special belly inspection method and modify a formula.

The last one is the master level.

## Treatments where Japan Kampo is ahead

When surgeons cut out a part of your colon, maybe because of a cancer,
there is a chance, that the nerves do not properly connect together
again. Kampo knows a formula, which prevents this, scientifically proven.
The Japanese guidelines say to use this formula in this case.

In the elderly medicine, Kampo knows formulas to increase vitality.
They use the epinephrine above, in a low dose. This can be easily
described using how we use epinephrine to increase the heart power.

If you have a fatty liver with an inflammation, Kampo has a proven
formula to treat this.

And more.

## Summary

I wanted to show you, how you can move from complete esotericism to
a science-based medicine in many steps. The doctors over time wanted to
help the patients, not fool them. They used their best knowledge from
their experience. We should not leave this experience behind.

China wants to keep its herbal and traditional medicine pure and
esoteric, as a cultural export good.

Japan, due to its special status, is able to modify the old ways and
adapt to have a bright future in the western treatment canon.

This is why you hear so many different opinions on the whole topic.
Some learned it the esoteric way and some the scientific way.

## Outlook: Acupuncture

On Saturday I will hold an introductionary talk and (practical) seminar
on acupuncture. Not the Chinese acupuncture, but the German one.

Germany has the biggest acupuncture medical society out of China. There
is its own branch of ear acupuncture and we are slowly, but steadily
proving what part of acupuncture is scientifically correct and what
isn't. This is a bit like the work Japan did the Chinese herbal medicine.

Please see the talk then, for hard scientific facts behind acupuncture.

And you will learn how to treat common symptoms for your daily life.

## Questions

Do you have any questions?

## Thanks

Thank you for listening!

Comments and critique please send it to:

	Christoph Lohmann <20h@r-36.net>