Chinese Medicine

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There is an element of Chinese culture that I have been anxious to try, and that is Chinese traditional medicine. The trouble with wanting to try something like this is that it means that one is HOPING to have a medical problem that requires attention…

A number of years ago, I pretty well swore off pain medication for most ailments. I’m one of those oogly-boogly types that understands pain (and other discomforts for that matter) to be your body’s way of communicating with you. By popping pain pills, I feel that I am simply muting the public service announcement and doing nothing about the information on the screen. Well, not using pain medication, on the other hand, means that one really needs some way to handle pain and discomfort because otherwise one is just… uncomfortable and in pain all the time. For me, about 3 or 4 years ago, that was chiropractic care. I found that my chiropractor could help to get to the source of a number of oddball problems, from back pain to stomach aches, colds and fevers, headaches, moodiness, the list went on. He and I spoke at length about my trip to China, and both felt pretty reassured that I’d be able to find a pretty good natural doctor in China.

Well, I’ve been here almost 6 months now… it’s about dang time!

About 6 weeks ago, something went funky with my back. I have a small handful of ailments back there, so it was really a ticking time bomb that something should go haywire with my spine. Between all the lifting, squatting, crawling, jumping and so on with my job, something went out of place and I’ve been generally… well… bitchy since it happened. I went to my blind masseuse regularly to find only temporary comfort; stretched a lot at home, but felt like I was making it worse. Finally, I got help and made an appointment to see an orthopedist. So, I got ready for my appointment, sought the help of a good friend’s amazing English/Chinese skills just in case, and headed to the hospital. Upon arriving at said hospital, I discover that, rather than being made through my lovely, peaceful, separated, totally racist international clinic in the 5^th building of the hospital, I was meant to wait in line to receive a number and crawl over people to accomplish this. This process evidently continues by one literally barge in on someone else’s appointment to receive answers (as several other people did during my appointment in return). Meanwhile, when I finally DID get my appointment, I practically vomited out the following (not even giving Juliet a moment to consider translating):

I have a mild scoliosis curve for which I was receiving chiropractic and PT care in the States. Recently, I have been experiencing higher amounts of pain that is starting to spread into headaches that are pretty severe. I’m wondering if we can check this out and if maybe you can recommend a natural treatment like chiropractic.

The doctor looked at me, told me to stand up, felt my spine and sat me back down with this sage advice:

I think the pain is coming from the scoliosis, but the scoliosis doesn’t seem that bad. I’ll write you a prescription for some pain medication, we don’t really do natural treatments here.

I’m sorry, what?! Here? This… this is China. This is China! We have an entire section of herbs and weird poo-colored pills at grocery stores dedicated to “Chinese Medicine.” What do you mean you, “don’t really do natural treatments…” Are you in the wrong place, sir?

Frustrating. Mafan (favorite word…).



However, I made use of my first ounce of Guanxi as the result of all of this.

Guanxi is the principle of relationships in China. It is a long and traditional way of being that finds people developing relationships of a variety of types that will ultimately come back around to support and better their own life. Some people develop Guanxi at restaurants and receive better service and food because of it; some people develop Guanxi in business and find their sons/daughters/grandkids being hired by major corporations as a result; you get the idea. Even we “Westerners” do this to a certain extent. Granted, our American Guanxi doesn’t often date back hundreds of years or over several generations. Anyway, Guanxi is a significant driving force here in China, and I’ve finally bought in.

My friend Juliet and her family have become a rather significant entity in my life. Thanks to my mom’s visit, I’ve been fully welcomed as a member of their family – complete with an open invitation to dinner any time, with or without Juliet’s presence. Linda, Juliet’s mother, is actually quite upset with me that I haven’t taken her up on this invitation in the 3 weeks that have passed since its extension… I never stop hearing about it. But anyway, one of the great things about this family is that they have loads of connections all over Hangzhou – all in high places. One of these connections happens to be at a high-ranking traditional hospital.

Juliet and I trekked over to said hospital on a Thursday afternoon that was quite busy. Juliet made a phone call, we were promptly met at the door, escorted past the registration lines, through a few back doors and into a doctor’s office. This top-ranking Chinese doctor had me x-rayed, diagnosed and treated in a matter of a few hours, no questions asked beyond, “when are you available for your next treatment?” The treatment, consisting of an herbal steam infusion (wherein I am to take a 30 minute nap on a bed with well-aimed holes that release a smelly, lightly-pressurized steam into my sore areas) and an orthopedic “manipulation” (a lot of funny bending and stretching), left me feeling absolutely amazing for at least 24 hours (…until the Salmonella that’s evidently on a rampage in Hangzhou managed to find me… could’ve done without that part). I’m set to return twice a week until things start to set with some semblance of permanency. Well done, Huang-family Guanxi.

So, thanks to a little traditional medicine, things are back to looking up. I’m back to being my chipper self (well… between… moments of… well… I’ve had food poisoning, okay?? Let’s suffice it to say I haven’t been ALL happy-go-lucky this week…) at work and am generally feeling better.

I’m getting ready to move again – more to come on that – but in general I’m starting to take in more of a life-at-home approach rather than an extended vacation ideology about this whole China thing. This means that things that need caring for aren’t being put off anymore… I live here, I need to get things taken care of here; I can’t put things off a few weeks until I’m “home” because I AM “home.” And with that, it’s on to Book II.

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Comments

[grandma]

had to chuckle: In Malta, they never heard of the dog, maltese(which Daisy was) In Italy, when invented, they never heard of pizza....Now, China and its far-eastern cures....huh?.....And as the expression goes, \'this too shall pass\'.....You\'re on the right path....I do meditate and feel strongly that Zen folks do too.....:).....says so in fine print. love ya....grandma