The Ying and the Yang: Western v. Eastern Medicine

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Today, I finished my month-long supply of Flagyl.  This is an antibiotic used mostly to treat intestinal or vaginal infections.  Since I don't have a vagina, the drug was used to treat my colon.  But not for a bacterial infection, however.

My surgeon prescribed it for me when I was having issues with external inflammation and pain.  Here's the thing about Western doctors:  they don't like not-knowing why things happen the way they do.  I asked him why I was getting an antibiotic to treat inflammation.

"We have found that Flagyl helps with anal Crohn's inflammation," he said.  I think he was expecting it to end there.  Obviously, he doesn't know me very well.  I like to know why.

"Why is that?"  I asked.

He paused a moment, thinking of what to say.  "We don't know," he finally replied.  Western doctors don't like not knowing and I think they feel a little bit inadequate when forced to make that admission.  They feel like they should know.  After all, they spent a great deal of money becoming doctors and we expect them to have all the answers.  In the West, we spend a great deal of time trying to determine the causes of ailments.  And since there is no determined cause for Crohn's, a lot of it is trial and error.  And that doesn't sit well with most doctors.

Now, contrast this with my Traditional Chinese Medicine doctor.    A couple of months ago, Dr. X began prescribing for me various herbs to treat my Crohn's.  One of the herbs is honeysuckle.   Honeysuckle has been used in traditional medicine for thousands of years.  It is a natural anti-inflammatory.  I asked Dr. X what it was about honeysuckle and Crohn's.

His response:  "I don't know."   Okay.  Not too different from my Western doctor.  But he didn't stop there.

"And, to be honest with you Bruce, I don't care.  All I know is that it works."

I was a little surprised by his candor.  "These herbs have been used for thousands of years.  I don't know why they work. And it really doesn't matter, does it?"

"I guess not," I replied timidly.

Dr. Zhengang Guo

Dr. X studied herbs under Zhengang Guo, who grew up in China and learned herbal medicine from his father.  After studying Western medicine and oncology, he came to the United States in 1981.  A few years later, he began teaching a class in Traditional Chinese Medicine at the University of Illinois, the first class of its kind in the city.  One of his students:  my very own Dr. X.  

"I'm not an herbologist," he continued. "I am not even sure of all of the herbs in the various formulas I prescribe.  I'd have to look at the labels." 

Okay, this was a little bit too much candor for my taste.  It was one thing not to know why things happen the way they do, but to revel in it went against every academic fiber in my being.

"Look, you didn't come to me to find out why Crohn's happens. I have no idea," he said.  "You came to me to feel better.  And that's what Traditional Chinese Medicine focuses on:  not the cause, but but the symptoms.  I know what works.  Why it works?"  He then shrugged his shoulders.  "It really doesn't matter."

So there it is:  the ying and the yang.   The Western doctors forever searching for a cause; the Eastern doctors using the time-honored technique of "whatever works."

Still, I have one less pill in my system now.  Soon, I'll be done with the prednisone as well.  By next week the only medicine coursing through my veins will be Dr. X's herbs (plus the probiotics and vitamins I am taking). 

And then we will truly see if "whatever works" really has some truth to it.