High Brow Culture in China

While you come in a rush, when you leave please flush

There has been a big push in the last decade in China to get people to make simple adjustments in their day to day life that will greatly improve public health. Don't spit in public. Don't litter. Wash your hands. The fun thing about these campaigns is that the Chinese like to play on homonyms. The image above, stuck to the wall in the back of a bathroom stall, reads:

"Lai Ye Chongchong, Qu Qing Chongchong"

In this case, the focus is on the word "chong", which here means "to be in a rush" and "to flush the toilet". (This campaign is brought to you by "Comfortable Rectum, healing hemorroids with a patch you stick on your belly button.")

In chinese, the number of sounds are far more limited than in English. In order to have a rich and articulate language, they relay on 4 tones so that the sound "chong" for instance, can be pronounce with 1 of 4 tones. However, even within the same sounds with the same tone, there are numerous meanings which can only be clarified by reading the character. It all makes for a very challenging language for an American to study, but a fun and subtle language with numerous levels that the Chinese enjoy.

Cat Guts Used To Treat Obesity

As China’s unparalleled and sustained economic growth enters its 4^th decade a burgeoning middle class is gaining modern apartments, flat screen televisions, SUVs, and potbellies. That’s right, China is get fat, though they still have a long way to go to reach the size of their American Idols. With the widening waist lines comes a staggering spike in fatty livers, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and diabetes. While China is a communist country, it does have self-proclaimed “special characteristics”, meaning capitalism. Where there is a disease, there is a dollar to be made on a treatment. And when it comes to obesity there are numerous treatments being promoted, most interesting, and shocking, of which is the “Cat Guts Treatment”.

In a nut shell, people are having “cat guts” inserted at acupuncture points so that they can lose weight. What?!?

The Chinese name for this treatment, Yang Chang Xian, literally translates as “Lamb Intestine Sutures”. So which one is it? Lamb intestines or cat guts? Neither. In actuality, it is a very thin suture that has been soaked in Chinese herbs (no one knows which ones because the company closely guards its trade secrets) and polarized with powerful magnets. The suture is placed in to a hollow point, 18 gauge needle (the size and type that is used to draw blood) and then the needle is jammed (literally) into an acupuncture point and/or “fat area” of the body that the patient wants reduced. The practitioner wiggles the needle around, trying to stimulate the acupuncture point, and then press a button at the top of the needle that release the suture into the skin. A band-aid is placed over the insertion point to prevent any bleeding. While this sounds terribly uncomfortable, the patients swear that 90% of the time it does not hurt, and their calm demeanor on the table suggests the same.

The “Cat Guts” are placed in about 10-15 points in the body, concentrating mostly in the abdomen, love handles, hips and upper thigh. The patient is then sent home for 2 weeks, at which point they come back for another treatment. Patients report losing 4-6 lbs of weight over a two week period. The weight loss results from continuous stimulation at acupuncture points that promote GI function, from a decrease in appetite and from extra metabolic energy being used by the body to absorb the suture.

Women are seeking this treatment in droves and by any standard BMI (Body Mass Index) are far from obese. The most common reasons voiced for getting this treatment are:

• Young women who are trying to find jobs and feel that if they are thin it will be easier
• People who are not interested in working out but still want to lose weight
• People who are not interested in changing their diets but still want to lose weight

This treatment can cost anywhere from 200-1000 yuan (28-140 USD) per treatment, depending on whether the procedure is done in a subsidized, government run hospital or in a private clinic. This is 5-25 times more expensive than a standard acupuncture treatment, which runs about 40 yuan, but unlike the acupuncture, which is administered daily for a course of 10 treatments, this procedure is only done twice a month.

Cat guts anyone?

H1N1 in China

The moment you get on a plane to China the search for H1N1, the swine flu, is on. You are peppered with questions before landing, you walk through a metal detector that has been jerry rigged to measure your temperature, and health officials coral you into a room marked “quarantine” if you look tired. This happened to one of our students who was tired because she had been traveling for over 24 hours.

The hysteria amped up when I brought a student to the hospital with nausea and a fever a day later After testing her blood and taking her temperature they told us that she had to stay in the hospital that night until a throat swab could be done and an H1N1 test came back negative. I protested because I had 12 other students back at the hotel waiting for me and I could not leave this one in the hospital without a translator. However, we had set a chain of events into motion that was now being monitored by provincial officials.

Over the next 24 hours the student was quarantined, or “jailed” as she put it, in one of the most sparsely furnished rooms. She slept on a bed with many-day old sheets in a room that was painted white but had the stains of years of dirt and disease on the walls. The windows were barred, keeping her in but not keeping the mosquitoes out. The walls of every room were covered with charts screaming “H1N1”, reminding you to wash your hands, showings images of Caucasian women coughing clouds of disease, and telling doctors and patients alike the chain of care and command as the disease progresses.

24 hours later, 3 IV drips later, 15 phone calls later and 4 doctor changes later, the H1N1 diagnosis came back negative and we were allowed to go home.

Erik goes to China - 2009

Erik is returning to China for 5 week, taking alumni and recent graduates from the Oregon College of Oriental Medicine to Nanjing, China where the students willl spend 4 weeks training in a local hospitals. This is his third year leading the trip. While it is a burden to Inner Gate to have him gone, each year he brings back new and exciting treatment protocols which enhances the care our patients receive. This year Erik will study with a famous fertility doctor and two pain specialists. He will also spend 5 days in Wenzhou, China celebrating the marriages of both his brother-in-law and his cousin

While Erik is away his patients will continue to receive care from Oliver and Casey. Inner Gate Acupuncture is also excited to introduce Lindsay Matthews, L.Ac, who will be spending 3 days a week treating patient. Lindsay is an OCOM alumni and a past student of Erik’s in China. She enjoys working with athletes and sports related injuries, as well as educating patients in preventative care techniques. She is also developing a practice in the field of Integrative Oncology, offering acupuncture and herbal medicine to those going through Western cancer therapies.

Lindsay Matthews, L.Ac

Birth of Ollie's new daughter - Opal Mae

Oliver and his wife Anne are excited to announce the birth of their second baby, Opal Mae Leonetti, on August 15th, 2009.

Vital Stats:

6lbs, 11 oz

20.5 inches long

Oliver has just returned from a 2 week paternity leave and reports that "Opal is growing, pooping, and generally happy." While Opal is spending most of her time with mom, Oliver is enjoying extended time with his oldest daughter, Sophia, who is very excited to be a big sister.