Oriental Medicine
...78,79,942,943) When people get sick, they usually take both of these medicines in the U.S. However, those cause side effects, which the people who take these drugs do not know about the side effects or do not think about the side effects. I have had negative experience with drug side effects. In my case, when I was a high school student, one day I got a headache. So I took an anodyne, which is like Tylenol. However, that medicine did not work, so I took more medicine. And just then, I got a stomach ache and vomited. So I went to a hospital, and I had a gastric lavage done there. One of doctors said, “That was a very serious side effect, you have to check the side effects of medicine that you take.” Another case is that when I attended a university in Korea, I had surgery on my mouth. At that time, I went to an oral surgeon one a week for treatment because, the oral surgeon was so far away. So I usually took a kind of antibiotic medicine twice a day. During that month, I usually felt tired and lost 20 pounds, and then I felt sicker than before. Weight loss and lack of energy were the side effects of the medicine. But if I had used Oriental medicine there would be no side effects. Oriental medicine has been selected by the world health organization for health care needs of the 21st Century because Oriental medicine has been practiced for over 2000 years. The treatments of Oriental medicine traditionally include acupuncture, moxibustion, and herbal medicine. The sciences of Oriental medicine involve the inductive method while the western medicine is directed to a deductive method. Again, the science of Oriental Medicine would be macro while the Western Medicine would be micro. In a sense, it would be expected that a combined treatment between Oriental and western medicine would be synergetic effects. (www.koma.or.kr 3, Robert 1-5) The first is that acupuncture. When an acupuncture needle is insert into the cutaneous skin of ill human beings acupuncture takes an effect. Even if scientists took the effort to pursue the effect of acupuncture that somehow relives pain or illness, the mechanism of acupuncture has not been well explained. According to holistic0online.com “Acupuncture has been shown to stimulate the immune system. It also affects the circulation, blood pressure, rhythm and stroke volume of the heart, secretion of the gastric acid, and production of red and white cells. It also stimulates the release of a variety of hormones that help the body to respond to injury and stress.” (2) However, people consider it as alternative means of medication. We must understand the peripheral pain mechanism in order to deal with these challenges. Thus, acupuncture that would be related to the brain in understanding the process mentioned above and controls the bodies’ energy. In recent years, there have been attempts to analyze the acupuncture mechanism in terms of western medical science. A continuing series of attempts are considered in the category of the autonomic nerve system as particular stimulation with “conscious sense.” And the acupuncture mechanism is viewed with the theory and concept that it is related to chemical substances and endorphin, morphine-like substances, according to Western medicine. As we know, the somatic nerve system such as movement, sensation, consciousness and thought are directly related with peripheral pain and the afferent tract of the cerebral cortex. It has been developed that the theory of acupuncture mechanism and its anesthesia with mechanophysics affects the neuron-physiology such as the somatic and autonomic nerve system. It is clear that acupuncture may provide a treatment that can reduce the pain of human body. One of the great advantages of acupuncture is the infrequent occurrence of serious side effects. Needles are either the one-time disposable type, or sterilized like any other medical instrument under meticulous conditions. The acupuncturist can adjust treatment at any time to react to changes an individual's condition. The second Oriental medicine treatment is that herbals medicine. “Herbal Medicine, sometimes referred to as Herbalism or Botanical Medicine, is the use of herbs for their therapeutic or medicinal value. A herb is a plant or plant part valued for its medicinal, aromatic or savory qualities” (www.holistic-online.com 1). A pharmaceutics of dispensary of Chinese medicine said every disease is from nature, so every remedy is in nature. Herbal medicine is the oldest form of medication known to mankind. Herbs have been used all over the world ever since human beings existed. Herbs played an important part in the development of modern civilization. Primitive man observed and appreciated the great diversity of plants available. The plants provided food, clothing, shelter, and medicine. Much of the medicinal use of plants seems to have been developed through observations of wild animals, and by trial and error. As time went by, people gathered well-known herbal medicines and used it in their lives. They methodically collected information on herbs and developed well-defined herbal recipes. By the end of the 20th century, much of the recipes for scientific medicines were learned from the method of making herbal medicines of native peoples. Many people believe that herbs are just as effective as drugs, but without the side effects. Herbs perform many healing functions in the body, but they should not be used casually. The world of herbal medicine offers a wide range of applications...