Treatments for diseases with Tibetan medicine
Diagnosis methods of traditional Tibetan medicine mainly consist of interrogating, observing and touching. According to its theory, diseases are divided into two groups--heat symptoms and cold symptoms. And the treatments include inducing vomiting, clearing away heat, purgation and diuresis. Besides the medicines, it adopts various kinds of methods, such as acupuncture, bloodletting, moxibustion, medicated bath and cold and hot compress as well.
Among them, the most popular therapeutics of traditional Tibetan medicine at present is medicated bath, which is also the most typical and characteristic way of Tibetan medical care. Medicated bath helps to dispel Phlegm, resolve dampness, promote blood circulation by removing blood stasis, strengthen kidney and clear away the heat evil and expel superficial evils. Clinic shows that it can be used to treat diseases such as rheumatism, rheumatoid arthritis, all kinds of skin diseases (psoriasis, ichthyosys, circumscribed scleroderma etc.), diskal hernia, hyperosteogeny, sciatica, gout, gout after delivery, varix of lower limb, hemiplegia and so on.
Tibetan medicated bath is mainly based on savine leaves, cypress branches, Chinese ephedra, yellow cuckoo and wormwood, supplemented with more than 30 kinds of rare medical materials such as muskiness and snowdrop.
The three primary methods of Tibetan medicated bath are liquid medicine, steam medicine and packing with medicine, among which, liquid medicine bath is most common. During the process, people will lay the whole body or part of it soaked in the liquid medicine, then the effective constituents of the medicine will arrive in the dermis through the corneum and epidermis, which will be absorbed inside by capillary tubes, so as to purify blood, soften connective tissues, dispel periosteum edema, recover the function of joints and improve immunity. Each course usually lasts 7 to 10 days, during which people should take medicated bath 1 or 2 times per day (one in the morning and another in the afternoon), make a strict limit on the water temperature which should range from 38℃ to 43℃ and the time from 22 to 25 minutes. After the bath, people ought to lie on hot kang to sweat, which should last 3-5 minutes. Then, the target of the treatment will be achieved as a result of the double effects of the medicine and heat, which can have the pores open, promote blood circulation by removing blood stasis, dispel rheumatism and resolve dampness.