Most people in the Western world look for medical treatment to get rid of outward physical symptoms. For instance, if you have a headache you head to the medicine cabinet for over-the-counter pain reliever. You probably don't call your doctor for a little headache, but what if your headaches suddenly became more painful and longer lasting than ever before? What if your headaches don't respond to pain reliever as they did in the past? You might consider scheduling an appointment with your doctor then, right?
The point here is that most people receiving modern Western medical treatment get used to treating symptoms rather than thinking about what is happening inside the body to cause those symptoms. As long as an outward symptom can be treated rather quickly and goes away, no further thought is given to it. The reason for the symptom is often brushed off or not thought about at all.
This explains why so many serious illnesses and diseases often go undiagnosed until they are so severe the outward symptoms can no longer be ignored. Sometimes doctors will even fail to diagnose serious medical conditions because they don't realize that minor outward symptoms like headaches are markers of something more serious happening inside the body.
This is one way that Traditional Chinese Medicine, TCM, differs from modern Western medicine. The emphasis is typically placed on what is happening inside the body. It is believed that the outward symptoms seen and felt firsthand are the result of things happening internally. Treatments are offered to relieve symptoms, especially when pain is involved, but treatments are related to the inward cause of those symptoms as well.
Go back to the example presented in the very first paragraph here. If you get a headache you just head to the medicine cabinet for pain reliever and it would take something more severe to make you question what is causing the headache. Those who believe in TCM and follow it in a traditional sense will think of what may be causing the headache first. This makes sense because treating the internal cause of the pain can prevent future headaches from developing.
Traditional Chinese Medicine approaches everything from the inside out. While some fast relief may be needed for pain or discomfort, the real focus is on figuring out what is happening inside the body so the appropriate treatments can be administered.
Herbs and other treatment practices used by TCM are commonly associated with temperatures and tastes. For instance, bitter herbs are used to treat different types of medical complaints than sweet herbs. Different tastes are associated with different organs inside the body and different types of medical problems.
TCM also treats patients on an individual basis. Even though two people have the same symptoms, they are likely to come away with two different herbal supplements. One may be prescribed to acupuncture while the other is not. This is because the symptoms are determined to be caused by two different internal problems. This goes back to the inside out approach to medical care.
This is just one basic concept that must be understood when using Traditional Chinese Medicine as an alternative or supplementary form of medical treatment. There are other things that you can learn if you want to use TCM, but this is the basic concept that will help you navigate the different herbal supplements on the market right now.
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