TCM1 (Blood-letting)

In February this year, I had a fall which saw me use crutches for 6 weeks. While my knee injury healed nicely, a complication left me with recurring pain in my left butt, glute, piriformis, whatever.  And it radiates down my left leg some times.

Despite visits to the physiotherapist, acupuncturist and osteopaths, it seemed to keep coming back. The long flight from Auckland to Hong Kong had aggravated it badly.

I was going to go to see our childhood acupuncturists when Mum suggested that I see another one whom she has known for a shorter period. I had met the man before and he wasn’t the type that makes much of an impression. He operates out of a Chinese drug store (which looks and feels like a grocer) and he could pass for someone at the vegetable market.

After I explained my problem and my treatment history, he proceeded to diagnose me:

He started by pinching my left (problem) cheek then my right. He asked if I could feel the difference in the pain levels. I certainly could! On the good side I only felt light superficial (skin) pain but on the bad side, it was far worse. He claimed that he was applying the same pressure to the pinch.

Next he brought out his cupping set. Yes, I have one too which I bought at the supermarket in Sana’a. I recall that Arabs don’t just cup, they cup and bleed (by pricking the skin). He put it on my left cheek and sucked out the air to for a vacuum then pulled it around my left cheek, lower back and moved it to the right cheek. Again, there was a clear difference in the pain level.

He concluded that I had blockage in blood circulation in the areas with high pain levels. The recommended treatment was to let the bad blood out … just like in Yemen! I know that cupping was common in Traditional Chinese Medicine but I didn’t realise Al-Hijamah (the Arab style cup and blood-letting) was part of the TCM repertoire until now.

I hesitantly agreed to the treatment:

• He took an insulated needle with a short exposed tip (of maybe 5mm) and stabbed a small portion of the problem area in my left check repeatedly.
• He then applied the suction cup to the well-pricked area. In addition to the usual tennis-ball size lump that gets sucked out, blood oozed from the pinholes. By the time the cup is removed, about half a tablespoon of blood had accumulated.
• This is repeated several times over the course of an hour over different parts of the problem area.
• Finally he gave me some herbal capsules to help promote blood circulation.

The physician showed me some of the blood as he wiped it off. He said the fresh looking blood was the good one and the darker curdled bits were the bad one. I was sceptical of course; blood goes darker and tofu-like when it oxidises and clots, right?

I know from my dealings with TCM practitioners is to ignore their explanations: eg. Bronchitis is due to a weak heart. Then you say, but bronchitis is of the lungs, not the heart … then they say you get it in the lungs because of the weak heart! By western medicine logic, it is like saying that one has a headache due to a weak arse!

So, did it work?

• Same day:  I felt instant relief after the treatment.
• Next day:  I woke up without the usual pain in the left butt.
• Day after:  Likewise … I’d call it a 95% improvement. There was only the occasional very slight discomfort after prolonged sitting.
• A week later:  The effects seemed to have lasted well, but with some slight recurrence in the preceding days (but seems to have largely gone).

For now, I’ve been won over! Something that had been troubling me for some six months was largely cured in one simple treatment.  I’d still be very satisfied even if I needed a follow-up treatment or two.  Time will tell how long the positive effects will last for.  The true test will be my long bus ride to Pontianak (8 days after the treatment).