Chinese Medicine
Traditional Chinese Veterinary Medicine or TCVM is an ancient method of making sense of the interaction between the body and the natural world, and medical physiology based on universal phenomena. Certain theories are applied which, together, define the concepts of health, disease, balance, vital energy. The theory of Yin-Yang, Five Elements, and Qi are the basis on which treatment is formulated, and includes acupuncture, herbal medicine, tui na (massage therapy), food energy.
Diagnosis is based on correlation between the patient’s history, constitution, environment, diet, palpation of the pulse, inspection of the tongue, and observation any patterns that might indicate the source or sources of the patient’s disease or disharmony.
As an example, let’s consider Heat. A patient may have an elevated body temperature or fever, or the patient’s body temp may be normal but has Heat signs, such as dry mouth, red tongue with a yellow coating, red eyes, warm ears, pink skin, rapid pulse, constipation, cool seeking behavior. Additionally, Heat can be sub categorized into Excessive Heat and Deficiency Heat. The former can be superficial heat (common cold), irritability from Liver heat (emotional), heat toxin (infection), summer heat (environmental), Damp-Heat (stubborn and downwardly migrating).
Each of these Heat patterns is treated differently, and although the example is simple and self evident, it allows differentiation of so many patterns based on an organizing set of principles originating 2000 and less years ago.