Written for readers new to Chinese medicine. For education; suitability is decided by in-person assessment.
Western medicine asks: what is it, where, how serious? Its evidence: the lesion, the lab result, the image. Chinese medicine first asks the whole story: what pattern is this, where did it come from, and where might it go? Its evidence: the whole person, from examination. Different questions.
One diagnosis, several patterns
One Western diagnosis can hold several patterns. The liver is only one example: a liver problem may be heat-predominant, dampness-predominant, or blood-stasis type, each treated differently. Any diagnosis can split this way. Conversely, one pattern can appear in different diseases. Treatment follows the pattern, not the label.
Why we ask so many questions
That is why we ask so many questions — to trace where it came from and where it may go: shoulder pain, yet sleep, appetite, digestion, cold and heat. A pattern comes from whole-body signs; no single test supplies it.
The four examinations
Diagnosis is four examinations: look, listen, ask, feel the pulse. From these comes a pattern — a snapshot of imbalance: cold or heat, deficiency or excess, surface or deep.
Tests inform, not replace
Tests and imaging show structure and numbers, a snapshot. A pattern describes the direction of imbalance. Normal does not mean no imbalance; abnormal does not by itself decide treatment. Tests inform our diagnosis, not replace it.
White Cedar is a private Los Altos clinic, not a hospital department. See a Western doctor and us at the same time; a referred patient gets a written progress note after the first visit. Expect a full assessment, a plan with an endpoint, and an honest word about what we cannot do.
寫給第一次了解中醫的人。看同一個病人，兩種眼光。
西醫先問：這是什麼病、在哪裡、多嚴重；證據是病灶、檢驗、影像。
中醫先問清楚來龍去脈：這是什麼證、從哪裡來、又可能去哪裡；證據是整個人，從望聞問切裡讀出來。
問題不同，不是比賽。
同一個西醫病名可分不同證。肝只是一個例子：肝的問題有熱重、濕重、血瘀，治法各異；
任何病名都可能這樣分。反過來，同一個證也可出現在不同病裡。治的是證，不是病名標籤。
肩膀痛也要問睡眠、飲食、二便、怕冷怕熱，因為辨證先問來龍去脈：從哪裡來，又可能去哪裡。
望聞問切：看、聽、問、切脈，得出失衡的快照：寒熱虛實表裏。
檢驗給結構與數字，是某一刻的快照；證描述失衡的走向。
數字正常不代表沒有失衡，異常也不直接決定治法；需要西醫處理的，我們轉介。
雪松館是 Los Altos 的私人診所，不是醫院的一個科；
同行轉來的病人，首診後我們書面回傳進展。
先是完整評估，計劃有終點，做不到直說。
White Cedar Acupuncture · 雪松馆
747 Altos Oaks Dr., Ste 1, Los Altos, CA
669-669-1142 · By appointment · 預約制 · whitecedaracu.com
Haolong Song
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