How to Avoid the Emergency Room: How Chinese Medicine Views Hypertension



I’ll say it again: You’ve got to find the real cause of a problem whether it be health or something else before you explore a solution so that you do the RIGHT thing AND get the outcome you want! I’ll also say upfront what I said to my dad’s doctor when he pushed back hard on decreasing the dosage of hypertension drug, amiLODIpine for my father. I told him that he studied disease; I studied healing. Then I went silent and let it sink in.

The ancient Chinese didn’t know about high blood pressure, since they didn’t have a mechanical way to measure it. However, since blood pressure is about circulation and the heart, they definitely knew what they’re about. They also knew what the pathological conditions are that would harm them.

In my practice some of my clients came to me because they know they’re not feeling well but their doctors only have three strategies (that they don’t want): drugs or surgery or a combination of the two. And they want you on the most harmful drugs for the rest of your life.

What if you don’t want drugs? People used to make fun of men because so many didn’t like visiting their doctors. They said they didn’t like taking pills. Maybe they had the right idea after all! Many of my clients wanted to get off their drugs.

“One Disease, Many Causes; One Cause, Many Diseases”

This is is a famous idiom in Chinese medicine. It covers the mental/emotional and physical causes of disease. Among other things, it makes you aware that there are real causes! How often have you heard them admit that they don’t know what causes a disease? BUT they’ll still treat you. That’s NEITHER scientific nor responsible. In reality it’s a guessing game which can really really hurt you if they’re wrong! I have too many stories of bad, real bad mistakes.

Chinese medicine teaches us to observe and we look at your face, your eyes, the way you walk, stand, speak, etc, etc. We ask a lot of questions. That’s how we diagnose you with our particular set of terminology, not Western terminology where a diagnosis is a mere description/label of whatever ails you.

From these, I create an emotional profile for each client because we are emotional beings. Our outward appearance often mirrors the inner state. We spend unhurried time with you and charge by the hour for the service you receive. But the diagnosis is the IMPORTANT part because it tells us WHY you’re not feeling well, whereby the treatment falls right out, and we can then solve the problem. YOU get the desired outcome. Recovery. Health. You’re Not on Drugs for the Rest of Your Life.

You know, when you tell people that you’re not on any pharmaceutical drugs, they are shocked! Imagine that. I’m like that. So is my husband. Some of my friends, too. I came to realize that a diagnosis from Chinese medicine tells you which parts of your mental/emotional state is causing you to be sick. And it doesn’t matter what the western diagnosis is – be it a simple cold or flu or cancer.

It’s time to understand that whatever you’re experiencing, it’s time to spend the time to reflect on your life. It’s time to take care of yourself. It’s time to do the inner work to understand WHY this is happening to you. And then ACCEPT the guidance and strategies to promote and achieve the cure.

When you begin this process with something not life-threatening, and practice it over and over, then you will be able to deal with the really bad illnesses. HOWEVER, practicing the process can also be PREVENTIVE. Nothing is inevitable.

When they tell you that 1 out of 3 people are going to get cancer, are you unconsciously or consciously accepting that? What are they trying to do to you? I used to think that Western medicine practitioners were bad psychologists, but I’ve come to the conclusion that they’re in fact screwing with your psyche when they announce these things!

One of my clients was a very angry man, who’d been sent to anger management, to no avail. He felt undermined by his employers. One manager even told him he was unimaginative and went on and on with assaults and insults to his talents. He felt insulted by a conventional psychologist when he sought help. He was angry and frustrated. When we first met, he told me it didn’t take much to set him off, for him to lash out.

He had a bright red face, a dark red tongue, a hard and wiry pulse. He was taking drugs for high blood pressure and acid reflux. He had quite the menu of complaints: insomnia, waking up at night to go to the bathroom, coffee addiction, junk food addiction, sore feet with some possible nerve damage, and acid reflux accompanied by a lot of discomfort and pain. After a bad experience with that psychologist he decided to see me after his brother-in-law referred him to me. He was fed up with blowing up over small things. He was suffering and tired of feeling angry all the time.

Over several sessions we got to work on the root of his anger. His face began to lighten up. He was able to stop and think before losing his temper. He became much calmer and more patient. His sense of humour came out. We weren’t working on his high blood pressure per se, but because he was dealing with the things that upset him and learned how to approach his feelings appropriately, he reported one day how his blood pressure had dropped to 128/80. It was the best he’d felt in a long time! We dove into the true causes.

When we dive in and the client is willing to be honest about how life is going, and details the things that are hurting them, that are causing distress, these are key to solving their problems.
Because everything is solvable, if the willingness and the will are there. They learn new life-skills.

The reasons behind high blood pressure are individual and unique. What I described here may be completely different from you own life situation and is only meant for illustration of a successful result. In my client’s own words, he tells us what happened after a full load of 21 sessions:

“Let’s see now:
Then: Lack of sleep, getting two or three hours solid at best often not sleeping more than four or five total. Now: sleeping five or six hours solid and then able to continue sleeping for whatever I have time for. Whew hew!
Then: That old man stuff, getting up to use the washroom every few hours. Now: Might get up after that five or six hour solid sleep, might not.
Then: A serious “stand in the coffee store line up half the day” type addiction to avoid time at work! No, I mean coffee! The other work thing was just a perk… no pun intended! Now: I have a cappuccino on the weekend with my wife for a little of that one on one quality time. PS. Joanny stuck needles in my ear for addiction on this one.
Then: Sore feet, possibly plantar fasciitis in the left foot, and a long related nerve issue in the right. Now: Gone!
Then: Fast food junky. Now: Healthier eating sprinkled with some occasional mistakes.
Then: Acid reflux accompanied by a lot of discomfort and pain unless on drugs for the symptom. Now: Much lessened symptoms although not gone. Mostly because of the sprinkling in #5. I would say success on this is still in transition as I struggle for total control. But I am now off the drugs!”

We would like to thank Canada Health Alliance member Dr. Joanny Liu for this article. It is just one in her ten part series on How to ‘Avoid the Emergency Room.’ You can read the original on her substack at: https://joannythoughts.substack.com/p/how-to-avoid-the-emergency-room-how We would also highly recommend subscribing to her excellent substack at: https://joannythoughts.substack.com/

A man recently went to an emergency room in Edmonton, Alberta where he waited for EIGHT hours before he succumbed and DIED without anyone tending to him. Dr. Liu was so upset about this unnecessary death by neglect that she started writing her ‘How to Avoid the Emergency Room’ series, all of which we recommend that you read at https://joannythoughts.substack.com/ You can also visit Dr. Liu’s website at: https://drjoanny.com/