TCMStudy Newsletter 04/12/26 Hey, it's Nicholas! ๐ Do you ever have patients coming in with kidney stones or gallstones? Well for this condition, it turns out that there are some Chinese herbs that are worth their weight in gold. And you donโt have to wait until the disease is fully developed. Like a superior practitioner who digs a well before they're thirsty, you can treat stones before they formโฆ Golden Herbs for Gallstones If you have patients coming in with stones, either kidney stones...
11 days agoย โขย 5 min read
TCMStudy Weekly Update 04/12/26 Hey, it's Nicholas! ๐ Most acupuncture points are bilateral (or on the midline), but did you know that there are some points that exist on only one side of the body? Well, maybeโฆ It turns out that this is a little bit controversial, and it may differ between east and west. One-Sided Points While there are many reasons that you might choose to needle a point on only one side, pretty much all of the acupuncture points exist bilaterally. (Of course, the obvious...
18 days agoย โขย 4 min read
TCMStudy Weekly Update 04/12/26 Hey, it's Nicholas! ๐ Spring is almost here, and soon the caterpillars will be wriggling and the butterflies will be flying. While youโre out taking long strides through the courtyard, I thought it might be fun to talk about an herb with a funny name and an unusual function that you may not have heard ofโฆ ๐ฆ Wooden Butterfly Mu Hu Die (oroxyli semen) is an herb from the Stop Coughing category. Like many others in this group, it moistens the Lung to stop cough....
25 days agoย โขย 3 min read
TCMStudy Weekly Update 04/12/26 Hey, it's Nicholas! ๐ In a previous newsletter, we talked about the herb pair Huang Qi and Shan Yao and their potential effects in lowering blood glucose levels and increasing insulin sensitivity. Here, we can talk about another curious pair: Xuan Shen and Cang Zhu. One tonifies yin and the other dries dampness. How does that work? Xuan Shen and Cang Zhu for Diabetes If you read the book Chinese Medical Herbology and Pharmacology by John Chen and Tina Chen, it...
8 months agoย โขย 3 min read
TCMStudy Weekly Update 04/12/26 Hey, it's Nicholas! ๐ With the rise in popularity of Ozempic, a lot of people have been asking about Chinese herbs for diabetes. (Apparently berberine, an active ingredient in Huang Lian, is being touted as "nature's ozempic.") But rather than prescribing large amounts of an herb that could easily destroy a your Spleen, let's talk about gentler pair: Huang Qi and Shan Yao. Herbs for Diabetic Patients You probably learned in school that diabetes corresponds to...
8 months agoย โขย 4 min read
TCMStudy Weekly Update 8/6/2025 Hey, it's Nicholas! ๐ Lately I've been waking up with itchy eyes, a fuzzy head, and then I have a runny nose throughout the day. It's been making it really hard to get out of bed in the morning! Whenever this happens, it takes me a few days to realize the culprit: allergies. ๐ค Here are some of the things I've been using to fix it... My Battle with Seasonal Allergies... (And the Herbs That Won) Lately I've been waking up feeling like I lost a fight with a bee....
8 months agoย โขย 5 min read
TCMStudy Weekly Update 5/14/2025 Hey, it's Nicholas! ๐ In this article we're talking about unconsciousness. (Remember in Points class when we would talk about how REN-1 could revive someone from drowning? Who do you think was the first person to try that? Who was like, "Oh no, this person is drowning! Let me try sticking a needle in their taint...") More specifically, let's talk about Jing-Well points and when they're actually used to restore consciousness... Jing-Well Points and Reviving...
11 months agoย โขย 6 min read
TCMStudy Weekly Update 5/7/2025 Hey, it's Nicholas! ๐ When you were in school, you probably learned about precautions and contraindications for acupuncture treatment -- basically, when NOT to needle. But did you know that the Huang Di Nei Jing has its own set of prohibitions for acupuncture? Let's talk about those... Prohibitions on Needling In school, we usually learn there are certain situations when a patient should not be needled, or we should at least be cautious and not use too many...
11 months agoย โขย 5 min read
TCMStudy Weekly Update 4/30/2025 Hey, it's Nicholas! ๐ Earlier this week I was trying to track down the quote, "The Yangming channel is full of qi and blood." (A footnote in Deadman says it comes from chapter 9 of the Ling Shu. After a bit of searching, I actually found it in chapter 24 of the Su Wen and then again in chapter 65 of the Ling Shu). But along the way, I ran into an interesting passage where Huang Di asks about beards: Why don't women have beards? If a soldier injures his penis,...
12 months agoย โขย 5 min read