The Importance of Understanding & Treating Phlegm

Part of the brilliance and deep reaching clinical efficacy of Chinese medicine is its ability to make seemingly difficult and confusing conditions clear and accessible. One example is the understanding of the different origins of tan/phlegm.

In our modern discussion, we often understand phlegm as coming from pathology of the Spleen as it is associated with the Earth phase and the climatic influence of dampness. And while the Earth can be a cause of dampness all Five Phases can also be involved and there are seven different types of phlegm. Interestingly,. in the long history of Chinese medicine there is no major tradition that emphasizes phlegm as the root cause of disease. In other words, it’s understood that phlegm is a branch issue that is responding to other deeper pathology.

We'll also discuss tan/phlegm as part of many seemingly difficult to address conditions where treatments are not responding, there's improvement but not complete healing, there's constant depression and lethargy and where there's pulse discrepancies and imbalances in the left and right pulses and differences in pulses in the three jiaos.

Brendan will also present an indpeth case study of treating a patient with long-term, late-stage Lyme with a Five Phase understanding of phlegm using acupuncture, herbs and eastern nutrition.