Jun 3, 2022

One of the very early patients I saw years back came to me for hypoglycemic syndrome. The herbs I gave her helped a lot. She later moved to the States. And for many years I didn't hear from her. About 2 years ago just in the midst of the pandemic I got an email from her asking if I could help. Apparently she got what was likely covid but wasn't confirmed as she didn't do testing. But honestly in these times one can assume that any cold or flu is likely covid of one form or another. After the episode she developed gastric problems which was she needed help with. Prior to contacting me she had gone through conventional treatments and it wasn't helping. However as it was long distance I honestly don't know how much help I could provide. Long distance consults are doable as I had seen a few in the beginnings of the pandemic when I wasn't seeing patients directly. However it didn't work for everyone, as it still lacks too much "real-time" information such as what we gather specifically from physical examination techniques like pulse taking. The more complex the issue the less likely it was going to work out it seems. And her problem was on the complex side. We did these long distance telemed sessions for a couple of times. The herbs I ordered from central dispensary services in New York which then prepared and shipped them to the patient in the West. (Sadly we have no such equivalents in Canada, both in price and speed comparison).

How did it go? Effect wise, it was soso in my opinion. Later I didn't hear back from her until recently she moved back here. It turns out, her medical history was very convoluted post the infection. So many doctors she went to. After we lost communication she went to find other doctors, including Chinese Medicine. The herbs they gave her didn't work out, as she developed bad reactions. The patient was already sensitive, and covid made things worse. So they were discontinued.

When she came in to see me however, I was able to do the physical examinations and assessments we do in Chinese Medicine. These methods allowed for much more precision and accuracy in terms of what herbs to use. Yet even then, after the 1st visit, the herbs I gave also caused bad reactions. Thankfully, the 2nd visit, with reevaluation of her problem and modification of the herbs, it went much well. The point of the story is, in person and telemed sessions are not comparable in terms of what patients get. There are some doctors however, who believe you don't need to see the person in-person to prescribe something. I don't agree with this. Missing too much information. Not just with this patient, but the herbs I gave for others through telemed versus what I gave them in-person were usually worlds apart. The effect was also worlds apart.

Chinese Medicine is a very "real-time" medicine, doctor and patient have to be present together in order to assess the "real-time" presentation and treat that. "Real-time" also means "dynamic", because physical assessment information changes as treatments go, and treatments have to change accordingly to match those changes. Some people think Chinese herbs are just this herb 'treats that' and that herb 'treats this'. As if you could just read a book and piece things together. Some patients in the past even joked with me saying I 'went to the forest and just picked up some twigs and leaves and mixed them together in this bag'. They were joking, but really, the complexity of Chinese Medicine is not the thing of a word or two.