This month’s article rounds out the treatment of pediatric asthma. From the previous article, we saw how the typical American diet contributes to internal phlegm, organ dysfunction, and emotional frustration and volatility (internal ‘wind’). The only missing ingredient is the trigger, or external ‘wind’; this could be a change of season (“common cold-induced”), or an over-reaction to the environment (“allergy-induced”), or even simply air being taken in quickly (“exercise-induced”). So, how do we go about changing this recipe?
True dietary change takes time, as the body’s sensibilities and one’s social constructs adjust to new tastes and other qualities of food. Fortunately, big changes are neither necessary nor recommended. Simply taking a break from certain aggravating foods, while taking the opportunity to replace them with others that are lacking, may be enough to change the course of the disease. This allows for the other treatments to work for the child. One of these, pediatric ‘tui na’, or massage, we talked about in the first article. Really this amounts to physical contact that brings the child’s awareness to the patterns of tension related to his illness. Once identified and focused upon, they often change themselves. Such external interaction is often essential, whether received from the practitioner, the child’s parents, or even from other kids as they play.
The other treatment is internal medicine, taken as herbs. These work according to the same principles as food, except that they are more concentrated and specific to a goal. This difference allows for relatively quick changes: excesses of phlegm, heat, and/or cold can be resolved, emotions regulated and spasms controlled, and deficiencies corrected. Note that, since nourishing and increasing function are warm and building processes, direct supplementation and tonification too early or too much, in the presence of excesses, would simply lead to more of the same: phlegm, heat, and tension.
This is why the process of healing goes in cycles and stages. Take a child who presents with acute asthma. He is first treated to release exterior wind (the ‘pathogen’, ‘allergen’, or simply excess air), expel and transform phlegm, and extinguish interior wind (settle emotion and stop spasming); tonification likely would not be a part of this picture. As the acute condition resolves, there still remain the internal excesses of phlegm (hot or cold) and tension. Again these receive greater emphasis than the deficiencies, although tonification would likely creep in. The child may go through several acute episodes as the internal excesses are “brought to the surface” (coughed up, discharged through the nose, or sweated out), in addition to being cleared downwards (through the bowels and urine). As this cycle is broken, more and more tonification can be given; eventually, no further treatment is needed, the child is strong on his own right, and can fend for himself.
It is, however, important to follow up with seasonal visits for a time. This would help ensure against exposure to outside triggers, yet more importantly serve as a continued guide to the child and parents in good eating and lifestyle habits. If the inside is clear, calm, and strong, then outside influences are hard pressed to enter.
Next month, we shall elaborate on how Oriental Medicine thinks about food, as this understanding forms the cornerstone of internal herbal medicine, as well as being a central part of our daily sustenance and health.