I went to see Dr. Philip Weeks again last week. My health took a nosedive just before Christmas and I had to increase my intake of Asacol, the western drug I??(TM)m taking to stop my immune system from destroying my digestion system. The downside of Asacol is that in the long term it reduces the body??(TM)s immune system function.
According to Philip my type of ulcerative colitis is caused by my thinking too much: I tend to forever ponder, worry, deliberate, reflect and hypothesize. Moreover, my job at the moment (PhD student) is to come up with something that no one else has ever thought of. Needless to say, that involves a lot of thinking. Not good for my condition.
Luckily, although Ulcerative Colitis is quite a severe disease, my bodily constitution is quite strong. I therefore don't suffer too much, provided I strictly watch what I eat (no dairy, no deep-fried, no gluten), get enough sleep and get regular exercise.
Solution: heal the internal inflammation, reduce the acid in the body and increase the fire of digestion.
Method: regular acupuncture, herbal tinctures and moxibustion (Philip filled my navel with salt and ignited various herbs on top of it)
Some medical practitioners are purists: ??oeAyurveda is the only way!?? Not so with Philip. He, among other things, subscribes to the pragmatic philosophy of Chinese medicine. The Chinese don??(TM)t worry about mixing different types of medicine: herbs, steroids, acupuncture, antibiotics, homeopathy, surgery ??¦ whatever works, mix it all together! The main thing is to help the patient. Unfortunately, the really good Chinese doctors stay in China. Most practitioners of Chinese medicine in the west are not very skilled (and also tend to use all kinds of abominable animal products in their medical preparations).