Great Medicines

I see the dominant medicine of civilization going through three great epochs (shamanic, systematic and scientific). The first was shamanic and that was most of history. When I studied shamanic medicine, I was struck by the recurring theme of clearing evil and supporting the good. The medicines of systematic correspondence (as professional chinese medicine is called by anthropologist Paul Unschuld), seemed to independently develop in all the so-called high cultures of antiquity were also based partly upon this idea(ayurveda, CM, unani, greek, mayan). But they were naturalistic rather than demonological. Naturopathic medicine revived this concept of clearing evil in the west and the advent of TCM in China revived it in the east (remember CM had been on the decline or outlawed for half a century or more at this point). Up until recently, western medicine (WM) did not embrace this ancient idea of supporting what is good and clearing what is bad as its fundamental premise.

In China, the same herbs are used in the demonology texts, TCM texts and allopathically to treat spasm. But the theories referred to are demons, wind or neurological dysfunction, respectively. Now WM is pretty much brand new. The biosciences are really less than 200 years old and WM really about 100 or so. In that time, WM has made remarkable advances in lifesaving from acute illness and trauma, formerly the cause of 90% of all deaths in humans. Again, if CM or some other medicine had as much to offer in this arena, they had all of history to prove it. But in regard to maintaining and restoring cellular health, WM remained an inferior medicine, albeit an extremely powerful one. This is great when life is imperiled, but often causes side effects and death when used to treat chronic illness. This is because there was a basic failure to understand the need to support normal cell function and clear the debris, not just attack diseases and suppress symptoms. Their very power in one arena worked against them in another. But it was only a philosophical block, one which is now beginning to dissolve.

All along, basic biology supported the idea of clearing cellular waste and preventing mutations as the foundation of health and life. Naturopaths jumped on the mounting research when it clearly confirmed a lot of their ideas about "cleansing". My first degree was in biology and this research led me to study naturopathy rather than western medicine in the late eighties. This led me to TCM, a sophisticated and fully developed method of clearing waste and restoring nutrition. I found the two medicines to complement each other well. Naturopaths on the cutting edge have really perfected the use of supplements towards this end. But all so-called natural medicine may turn out to be a bridge to something far more profound and holistic than the ancient world could have ever imagined.

So all the great medicines of the prior two epochs addressed the whole
range of therapies, clearing, supporting and relieving symptoms. Yet
they were weak when dealing with life threatening infections and acute
trauma (we adopted gunpowder from the chinese as well as numerous
other inventions that are documented by Needham, so the fact that we
did not adopt their supposed cures for things that resemble the plague
at a time when Europe desperately need such information is perhaps
because these ideas must not have been widely known or were greatly
exxaggerated). Thus WM has been preoccupied with the most devastating
issues left unaddressed by prior cultures and ignored quality of life
issues till recently. Like all great medicines in their developmental
stages, all its power was exerted on symptom relief and disease
control. When one reaches their limit of attacking and suppressing,
it is time to develop a more sophisticated set of ideas.

These ideas will develop in their own context of genes and telomeres, not yin and yang or demons. The paradigm shift we have been waiting may have already happened. Maybe not the one someof us envisioned. But a classic shift where the basis of how to treat illness has been turned around. New ideas in the old paradigm are failing; very few new safe drugs have been recently developed or are well along. Pharmacy company stocks are dropping and there is a general sense that a wall has been reached in drug development. That is always when a paradigm shifts. Now all the talk in WM is literally about the terrain, not the microbe anymore. Claude Bernard would be proud. And southern California will be its hotbed. The endless money, the obsession with youth and beauty, the established infrastructure of high tech and bio tech (which will converge into nanobiology at some point) plus our recently passed stem cell initiative. Clear the excess and support the right. Its always where great medicine take off.

All the great holistic medicines share a similar view of the body.
That there is a state of optimal health that depends on all the right
stuff being in all the right places. And that medicine succeeds by
making sure there is plenty of good stuff to provide the building
blocks and energy for life as well as strong effective mechanism for
clearing excess and waste from the system. This basic idea is common
to ayurveda, CM, greek medicine and naturopathy. It has not, however
been the central premise of WM. WM has focused more on addressing
the gross pathology rather than the microscopic aberrations, largely
because microcosm was not well understood up until very recently.
There was no way to map genes, thus no way to treat this level. The
older medicines sidestepped this thorny issue by treating based upon
concept without having to prove mechanisms first. But WM made great
strides by killing bacteria, cutting out tissues and inhibiting or
stimulating the endstage of a process that started in some mysterious
previously unknowable gene expression. There was little or no
thought given to how one might alter disease merely by altering
nutrition and waste (supplementing and draining, as it were).

What has drawn me to the modern writers in the fields of stem cell
therapy and nanomedicine particularly, is their emphasis on this very
same idea, albeit in a high tech incarnation. While many are scared
of self-replicating nanobots taking over the world, most experts
agree this would not happen by accident, would be very hard to do on
purpose (it would be far easier to make a nanonuke, for example, so
why bother with replicants), and has nothing to do with nanomedicine
since this technology will only acting inside the body (not spewing
nanobots into the ecosystem). So set aside the fear for a moment and
be intrigued that this very modern high tech concept begins with a
very fundamental and ancient idea. If regeneration of cell lines
with either stem cells or nanobots streaming through the bloodstream
was able to repair defective DNA and clear cellular waste (like
amyloid and lipofuscin), isn't that just the most elegant form of
supplementation, regulation and drainage imaginable. That has
certainly always been my goal to accomplish with herbs, nutrition,
supplements.

Naturopathic medicine has been talking explicitly about
these concepts in the same exact terms for the past twenty years.
And now it is turning out that stem cells may root and grow best in a
properly balanced soil. And the chinese who are leading the way in
stem cell therapy are using chinese herbal therapies to enhance the
success of stem cell therapy in a way no toxic western drugs ever
could. This is a moment to seize. A philosophical convergence of
all the great world medicines is possible. In this new paradigm, the
core concepts of TCM will essentially be mainstream, not just a small
facet of CAM or IM. If we fight WM on this one, what are we fighting
for, the status quo of drug em and slice em? That doesn't make much
sense.

All these things can be done ethically and safely if done in the
light of day. they will be done either way, but the danger is that
unfounded hysteria will result in driving the research underground
and then catastrophe is far more likely. They not only do NOT
violate the principles of TCM, but actually enhance the application
of holistic principles to levels hitherto unimaginable. TCM will
apparently be part of this push for a nobel prize in regenerative
medicine in china whether some members of this list like it or not.
And I doubt there is anything anyone can do to stop this trend.

Those who seek opportunities in this area will at the cutting edge of
a new 21st century medicine and while there will always be a niche in
America for hardcore traditionalists (apparently), I think this is
where the future lies. One of the pioneering physicians and writers
in this field, Terry Grossman, MD advises against the use of
conventional modern medicine, is a strong proponent of herbs,
acupuncture, nutrition as well as stem cell and nanomedicine. Many
whom I consider to be leading thinkers around the world see the
natural convergence of these things and the radical dichotomy with
current medical practice. I think we would do well to consider this
too. Dr. Grossman's site is

http://www.fmiclinic.com/learn_more/terry_grossman.php

His book is Fantastic Voyage by Ray Kurzweil and Terry Grossman MD,
available on the site. His co-author is a genius computer programmer
who has a very interesting site as well at http://www.kurzweilai.net

It may be some time before the visions of folks like Kurzweil, Freitas and Drexler manifests, if ever. But just as there will be major advances in stem cell therapy on the near horizon that fall far short of major life extension, there will also be major advances in nanomedicine that fall far short of the regenerative properties of the Borg from Star Trek. Nanoparticles (rather than intelligent nanobots) will soon be able to deliver drugs directly to target tissues. This would spare the body of most side effects of these drugs. Tumors are the primary area of research here. But artificial respirocytes are not far off and then possibly artificial macrophages.

The more mundane concept of being able to deliver medicine directly to cells would seem to have possibilities for TCM. The Chinese are already experimenting with using herbs and other supplements to improve stem cell grafts. Researchers in scientific forms of holsitic medicine (as oppose to unadulaterated ethnic or folk)are already talking about the nanodelivery of things like coenzyme Q, various aminos, etc. Many chinese herbs have been shown to have profound effects at the cellular level. That is not in any dispute. While most chinese clinical studies are dismissed in the west as highly flawed. The basic research on constituents and measurement of in vivo and in vitro effects in animals and cell cultures is considered much more solid. Many chinese herbs have unique abilities to alter things like endocrine function when they are introduced directly into cells. Just as injection of herbs in china has led to uses and effects not possible before, the nanodelivery of ginsenosides, for example, is another development we should expect as the Chinese gear up to win their nobel prize in regenerative medicine.