Message from our President - "Change"

Change

I was fortunate recently to enjoy a few days in a warm weather seaside setting where there was nothing to do but to enjoy the sun, surf and long walks on seemingly endless pristine beaches.   Contemplating the uniqueness of each wave, the ever-varying presentation of hues of blue, and the endless shifting of billions of grains of sand, I was struck  by the ever-evolving nature of the ocean.   The ocean is a live body that is constantly changing.   At the same time it remains stable and consistent with its identity as an ocean.   Recently, Yo San University has experienced a number of personnel promotions, the introduction of several new personnel, and some minor organizational changes. It occurred to me that these shifts are like my experience of the ocean.   As a university Yo San is a dynamic living entity that is constantly evolving and changing.   At Yo San our evolution is consistently oriented around self assessment and continuous improvement.   Simultaneous with the inevitable presence of change, Yo San University consistently maintains its mission and identity.   In briefest terms, we are about quality Traditional Chinese Medicine education and the promotion of an integrative clinical service model and clinical services.  With the knowledge that change brings new opportunities for strengthening our mission and identity, and with sincere appreciation to all those individuals whose service to our organization has changed or ended, the University is delighted to announce the following personnel changes:

·         Andrea Murchison, DAOM, L.Ac.  (formerly Assistant Dean in the MATCM Program) has been promoted to Doctoral Program Director.

·         Tora Flint, M.A., former Office manager has been promoted to the position of Registrar/Office Manager.

·         Alison Doherty, MATCM, L.Ac. has been appointed to the position of half time Assistant Dean (MATCM Program).

·         Megan O’Connor, MATCM  has been appointed to the position of half-time Assistant Dean (MATCM Program).

·         Luriko Ozeki, MATCM, L.Ac., has been appointed to the position of lead Bookstore Co-Manager/Alumni and Career Services Coordinator.

·         Wendy Gerrish, MATCM, has been appointed to the position of Bookstore Co-Manager/Alumni and Career Services Coordinator.

·         Marguerite Dunne has been appointed to the position of Receptionist/Administrative Assistant.

Larry Ryan

Lights—Sound—Action!!

On Tuesday January 15, 2013 an enthusiastic group of over 30 students, faculty, staff and other community members gathered in the Qi Studio to witness the demonstration of Fabian Maman, a sound and light therapy practitioner.  Fabien Maman is considered the founding father of Vibrational Sound Therapy.     Maman began his career as a professional musician.   It was an incident after a flight half way around the world when he landed in Japan with just two hours to rest up prior to performance time.    One of the event promoters generously provided a quick acupuncture treatment, which Maman describes as “a life changing  event.”  Not only was Maman able to perform at his peak, but he followed up enthusiastically regarding Traditional Chinese Medicine by training in his home country of France to become  an acupuncturist.   As a musician Fabian was acutely aware of the impact of sound and light on the human body.  For the past thirty years he has developed theories and techniques consistent with classical acupuncture practice that incorporates tuning fork induced vibrations applied at crucial acupuncture points to facilitate healing.  Maman currently operates the Tama-Do (“Way of the Soul” Academy in Malibu, California.  Tama-Do provides wellness services and training in the use of sound and light in the healing process.  Maman’s Yo San presentation included extensive analysis of cell activity in the presence of specific vibrations and light patterns.   In his nearly two hour presentation, Maman was assisted by Terres Unsoeld who is a senior instructor at his academy.    All of the presentation participants were given the opportunity to experience the impact of Maman’s treatment process, several experienced practitioners roamed the room and applied vibrations and light beams to acupuncture points of the event participants.  For more information check out:  www.tama-do.com.

Jennessee Acupuncture Project

Since she graduated from Yo San University in 2009, Nini Mai, L. Ac. has consistently taken the opportunity to donate hours of community service for the betterment of humanity.  Immediately after graduation, Nini, along with fellow Yo San alums, Henry Lee and Kimberly Reid, founded the Jennessee Acupuncture Project to provide free healthcare for survivors of domestic violence.  As a part of the Global Alternative Healthcare Project, Nini has traveled domestically and internationally to provide much needed health services to indigent people.  Her work has taken her from the Native American reservations in the Southwest to the Himalayas in Nepal.   While the needs in developing countries and marginalized communities are enormous, Nini has also recognized significant needs closer to home—in fact, in our own Venice/Mar Vista/Santa Monica community.  Her clinic, Three Mountain Eastern Medical Group, works with local not-for-profit organizations to host Community Health Days, during which they provide low-cost sliding scale acupuncture, tuina, nutritional counseling and qi gong aftercare instruction.   Most recently, on Sunday November 13, 2012, Three Mountain partnered with the YWCA of Santa Monica to host a Community Health Day.  One hundred percent of the revenue from the services rendered that day went to benefit the YWCA and its many programs.  Nini’s perspective is that her pro-social works have greatly enhanced her own practice on all levels.  Besides expanding her skills with a more diverse patient population, Nini has observed that energy, time and donated services invariably have a positive impact on her own practice in terms of community building and making the public more aware of potential that Chinese medicine has to offer.  Nini’s altruistic motivation, energy and actions are to be admired. Shortly after the YWCA service event, Nini was off to Vietnam for another stint of donated health care service, and as always a rich cultural and resource exchange experience.  Yo San University commends Nini Mai for her generous work for the global community!

"Year of the Snake" New Year Celebration

How does Chinese medicine deal with frequent urination due to prostate enlargement?

Ask Julie!


Question:

How does Chinese medicine deal with frequent urination due to prostate enlargement?


Answer:
A 62-year old male patient came to see me with a chief complaint of low back pain on a 7/10 level. He worked in building maintenance and did a lot of heavy lifting in his work. He also complained of cold feet at night and leg cramps, yet he said he was always hot. His pulses were wiry and slow, and his tongue was dusky. My diagnosis was primarily liver qi stagnation, but also kidney yang deficiency and yin deficiency. A combination of yang and yin deficiency is much more common than I ever thought it would be.

The second time I saw him, he reported that he needed help with his libido. But the case was complicated, because he was taking terazosin (Hytrin) for an enlarged prostate, and this medication was interfering with his libido. If he avoided the medication, his libido came back, but he would have to get up four times a night to urinate. If he took the medication, his night time urination was only once, but his sexual performance suffered. Impotence is a known side effect for terazosin. The good news was that his back pain was improved by 50% from the last treatment.



I decided to use as a base formula Liu Wei Di Huang Wan to nourish kidney yin, but modified to also boost the yang, and to astringe the kidney to reduce the frequent urination. The formula consisted of:



Sheng Di Huang

Shan Yao

Shan Zhu Yu

Mu Dan Pi

Ze Xie

NO Fu Ling (because I didn’t want to promote urination)

Yin Yang Huo & Wu Jia Pi for the back pain

Hu Lu Ba and Tu Si Zi for the kidney yang

Niu Xi to move blood and guide the formula to the kidneys

Fu Pen Zi to astringe the kidney



He took 6 bags of this formula, and one month later, he returned with more good news. The back pain was down to a 1/10 level, he had taken no terazosin since the last treatment, and his nighttime urination was down to zero to once per night. His libido was improved.



Over the next three months, he came in occasionally for a refill of the same formula, because he said it “had more of a positive effect to my quality of life than I had thought.” In cases of frequent urination due to an enlarged prostate, you want to astringe somewhat, but not so much that you inhibit urination, and you want to promote urination in the sense of making it more efficient and less hesitant, but not increase it too much. I believe this herbal strategy was a good balance of those two treatment principles. It is also possible that the astringent herbs in this formula actually worked to shrink the tissue of the prostate, but I can’t know for sure.



I have another patient, aged 85, who occasionally experiences actual blockage of urination due to a severely enlarged prostate, and I would not use such a formula for him. I would be afraid the astringents would be too constricting.

A man’s constant companion, but not always his best friend...

Ed Shaheen

The prostate, which is slightly larger than a walnut, is a gland that sits just below the male bladder wrapped around the tube that exits the bladder (the urethra), like someone holding the end of an inflated balloon. The inflated balloon is the urinary bladder and the urine from the bladder passes through the prostatic urethra on its way out of the body. The main purpose of the prostate is to provide lubricating fluids and secretions to the sperm and semen which exit during ejaculation. When the prostate is young, the urine usually flows through without difficulty. As the prostate ages, it usually becomes larger. This gradual enlargement tightens its grasp around the urethra like a fist. This results in most of the complaints that you hear from commercials on the TV, such as hesitation or delay in urination, a slow stream, frequency of urination, dribbling at the end or a sense of incomplete emptying. This condition is called benign prostatic hyperplasia, abbreviated as BPH. The prostate gland can sometimes increase 10 fold over time usually beginning at the age of 50. By the age of 80, 75% of men have BPH. It is not always symptomatic, however. As it turns out, it is not just the size that causes the symptoms of obstruction but the local growth of the prostate around the urethra together with changes at the bladder neck (or base of the bladder where the prostatic urethra begins).

Medications for BPH work in one of two ways. One type of pill relaxes the bladder neck (the exit from the bladder to the urethra). The other type of pill shrinks the prostate tissue by reducing the amount of DHT, one of the testosterone by-products that causes the enlargement. Usually the relaxation of the bladder neck is easier to do and can be effective in a shorter amount of time. Shrinking the prostate tissue can take months or more to accomplish. Most patients with symptomatic BPH usually respond to the oral medications, at least for a little while. The main problem with prostate enlargement is that eventually it can completely obstruct the urethra and cause urinary retention. This requires the temporary insertion of a catheter to relieve the obstruction. When this type of symptom occurs, the next step is often surgery. The most common surgery is called transurethral resection of the prostate (TURP). This is done under anesthesia of one type or another. The urologist inserts into the urethra a surgical scope that enables him to look at and to carve out the excess prostate tissue, much like reaming out a clogged pipe. This relieves the obstruction and the patient usually has no further problems with urination.