Determining an appropriate Kampo formula requires a sho. Sho is a Kampo diagnosis based on a given patient’s symptoms and patterns of disease.
Sho is far different from Western diagnoses. Patients with the same disease can reflect a different sho and be prescribed different Kampo prescriptions. Conversely, the same Kampo formulas may be used on patients with different diseases, if they reflect the same sho.
Each patient’s sho is determined within the context of an Eastern view of human anatomy and physiology as well as illness. Just like TCM, Kampo uses a unique cognitive paradigm, making extensive use of tools such as:
Yin and Yang,
Exterior and Interior
Cold and Heat
Vacuity (deficiency) and Repletion (excess)
Five organs (heart, lungs, spleen, kidneys, and liver)
In Western nutrition, the individual approach will primarily focus on analyzing the nutritional values of each portion or meal. Kampo and TCM, by contrast, emphasize the characteristics of whole foods, reflecting how they consider that every food has specific thermal characteristics, known as nature and flavour. Foods can be hot, warm, neutral, cool, or cold. Acupuncturists consider these characteristics as elements that will affect an individual’s constitution. The main diagnostic criteria for patients include signs of repletion/vacuity, heat/cold, and dampness/dryness.
For example, a Western nutritionist may recommend a salad containing ingredients like lettuce, tomatoes, and oranges simply as a source of vitamins to a broad range of patients. According to the thermal nature of foods in Kampo and TCM, however, foods such as lettuce, tomatoes, and oranges are considered cold or cool. Thus, the over-consumption of such vegetables and fruits is not recommended for certain group of individuals (e.g., cold/spleen vacuity types). Conversely, if clients are expressing heat constitutional patterns, they may be encouraged to eat those foods that are cold or cool in nature. Ginger provides another interesting contrast. From a Western nutrition analysis point of view, ginger can be seen as simply a source of potassium. In Kampo and TCM, however, ginger is extremely valuable as both an herb and a medicinal food. The warming effect of ginger is highly valuable for patients with a cold constitution, and when combined with other herbs, it is able to enhance the effects of other warming herbs and decrease the undesirable side effects of herbs with cooling natures.
Examples of Thermal Natures of Foods and Beverages
In general, it is considered extremely important that the digestive tract always be kept warm, especially in vacuity- and cold-type individuals. Many people, especially young females, overeat raw vegetable salads and fruits. Eating a large bowl of vegetable salad may be good for replete body types that tend to accumulate heat(typically, individuals with such constitutions tend to develop heart disease, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, diabetes, and stroke). On the other hand, for individuals with other constitutional types, such as vacuity with cold, consuming large amounts of raw vegetables and fruits may not be beneficial. A patient’s constitution can be determined by reviewing his/her health history in conjunction with assessing other physical signs (the pulse, tongue, abdomen, and so on).
The main tenet of the Kampo and TCM diet is concept of balancing the Yin (cold) and the Yang (warm). Traditional East Asian medicine practitioners provide general dietary guidelines based on each patient’s constitutional pattern. For patients with a Yin constitution, it is recommended that they consume more Yang foods and minimize their intake of foods with a Yin nature. For Yang patient the opposite is recommended: their practitioner will recommend that they eat more Yin foods and decrease their intake of foods with a Yang nature. This balance is integral to understanding the Kampo diet.
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Indications: This herbal formula has been used for patients with following health conditions and symptoms:
Cold
Cough
Poor appetite
Fatigue
Nausea
Abdominal bloating
Loose stools
There are many other health conditions that may respond well to this herbal formula, in particular patients exhibiting indicative traditional diagnostic signs and symptoms.
Herbs in This Formula
Note: Suggested dosages of each herb in Kampo formulas are often smaller than those of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). Individual dosages of herbs may be adjusted depending on each patient’s condition, constitutional patterns, quality of the herbs, and other factors involved.
Japanese Points Japanese Acupuncture Fertility Points
As indicated on Fertility Enhancing Points used in Traditional Chinese Medicine page, traditionally trained acupuncturists use different acupuncture points depending on each patient’s exhibiting symptoms and constitutional patterns. In addition, many Japanese acupuncturists further modify their treatment based on acupoint reaction at the time of needling, instead of simply inserting the needles at the pre-prescribed sets of acupoints. Since the treatment is highly individualized, selections of acupoints are very wide and vary greatly between practitioner to practitioner, patient to patient, and treatment to treatment.
In terms of treatment frequency and duration, a Japanese clinical acupuncture protocol typically involves series of regularly scheduled treatments. In particular to acupuncture for IVF patients, an acupuncture protocol used at advanced IVF medical center in Nagoya, Japan involves 2 treatments per week, minimum of 21 treatments before IVF procedure [1], which is quite a bit more treatments than the one used in most IVF research studies that involve only 2 treatments at the time of embryo transfer.
Commonly used acupuncture points for infertility indicated by Dr. Haruto Kinoshita, a pioneer of modern Japanese acupuncture [2]
Fundamental acupuncture points used for fertility problems
