Insights into Chinese Medicine
Insights into Chinese Medicine with Klaudia Katharina Führer
N: Can you tell me a little bit about the kind of medicine that you grew up with?
K: I’m Klaudia Kathartina Führur, I grew up basically with Western medicine. I grew up in the countryside south of Hessen, by the countryside I mean we used a lot of herbs, especially before we started with Western medicine – my grandmother and mother used them.
N: What was one of the main herbs?
K: The main herb was sage because it’s good for the throat, and Pinimenthol which is really German and helps with inhalation. You put it on your chest for coughing and around your nose for blockages. I remember me and my grandmother did foot baths for cold feet. It was really painful when the blood came back into the feet, and in the summer we always had mint and a warm bottle. We used all of these before we had antibiotics.
N: When did you first learn about TCM?
K: I was quite old, near the end of my 20s. I didn’t study western medicine, I’m not the type of person to always be learning, learning, learning. I’m more practical and for the studies you need to really learn a lot. I was never directly into Western medicine. We have the Heilpraktikur – it’s a special thing in Germany and in Austria – it might also be in Switzerland but it’s a really typical German thing. It comes from the Nazi time, out of Hitler – he created it. He was the first to make it so everyone could use natural herbs.
N: He was into the natural approach?
K: It’s a strange thing. That means when I was younger a lot of hippies were using this alternative approach and I was never a hippie, and I never wanted to be a hippie, so it took me a while. I knew if I wanted to do Chinese medicine then I’d have to take the Heilpraktikur course, so when I was in the beginning of my 30s I did the course and I had to learn all about Western medicine. You have to do an exam and basically have to know all the diseases that your not allowed to treat.
N: You have to know all the basics?
K: Yeah, you have to know all of the anatomic subjects. After you pass the exam, you’re allowed to put a needle in the body
N: Do you remember the first acupuncture session you gave?
K: Yes, but we had it in the school. I went to a private school for Chinese medicine and it took me two years to get the herbal diploma and then three years for the acupuncture diploma. We started with an apple or an orange to get the feeling and then we did it to each other.
N: Can you tell me a little bit about the fundamentals of Chinese medicine, like the pulse or the meridians?
K: The Chinese people and philosophy have a totally different view of the body than Western medicine. I think you can’t mix it up because I have colleagues who studied Western medicine, they were doctors first and they did TCM, but they became a bit schizophrenic or crazy after doing both. It’s like if you’re looking vertically and horizontally – it’s two totally different things. The basics are that you look at the body as a whole system, never like you just have a nose blocked, or just the eyes or the kidneys. You sometimes have specialists who do eye acupuncture for kids, they go behind the eye, it’s really specialised. I wouldn’t do this for example, but even they always look to the whole body.
N: Do TCM doctors use the charts for the human body with the meridian channels as a standard?
K: Yes, this is standard. Of course, we are working with these channels and patients are asking me often – is this the lymph system or the nervous system? No, it’s really a channel and an imagination of the channel, but they did some tests with liquid where you can see it in the muscles. They used a white liquid that’s visible with a scan, you can see the point of the acupuncture needles and where the color goes around these points is exactly where the needles were.
I think you can always use the points in a different way. Every therapist is different. I always use my chi in these channels, depends on the other points or my idea or my intention, it’s always somehow related to me… so every therapist is a little bit different. That makes it incredibly flexible.
N: That’s very different from Western medicine. Would you say the main healing methods you use are acupuncture and the herbs?
K: The herbs are the main tool for me.
N: Why?
C: The idea of Chinese medicine comes from the herbs, acupuncture came later. The one thing that I always tell my patients is that the Chinese were really intelligent, their herbs and food is their medicine – you can heal with it and you can get sick from it. That’s the main point it started with – cinnamon, ginger, some herbs from your garden. I have a lot of patients with chronic diseases and for those you need the herbs. Patients need something everyday to help them.
N: The herbs are something you can take everyday, twice a day.
K: People with deficiencies and are so physically exhausted – this is the main issue in our times, you have to give them something that’s nurturing the system. Acupuncture is also important, but doing both is the best, they’re different energies.
N: What’s your view of western medicine now?
K: It’s changed so much. One thing I think is that you need both. It’s not true that Western medicine is not good. It’s just that there are so many people who just want to go to the doctor and say, give me some pills and that’s it.
N: They don’t want to really deal with it?
K: Yes, they don’t want to think about it, but the disease comes from somewhere, I don’t know where, but it’s now the people who should take responsibility. It’s now part of your life – this disharmony and disease. It’s a kind of disharmony in the body, and it’s really personal and people should take more responsibility of themselves and think about the fact that when the body goes into disharmony it has something to do with your lifestyle, your diet, or whatever.
You have to think about it and in Chinese medicine you’re working with this responsibility. I will send people away that say – just give me herbs, I don’t want to think about it. It’s a treatment of drugs, and then they go back doing strange things – partying, drugs, alcohol, no sleep. Then it doesn’t matter, it wont really work, its important that the patients do their part. It’s a collaboration. That makes it really different.
On another note – I’ve also gone to a doctor for a check-up, sometimes a blood test and things like that. I think in a way they don’t have to think so much about their patients, for example bladder infections. I have so many possibilities and I have to look and think about the whole thing – where does it comes from and how can I treat it perfectly.
N: And the question you always ask is, where is this really coming from and how do I treat the source?
K: Yes. And you see when they’re using antibiotics it’s really a dangerous thing. They’re using it so often and all the people are getting diseases again and again and we have even more now. Chinese medicine takes more time. It’s a really personal thing. I couldn’t treat 40 people a day. I have this amount in one week. But it’s normal in the Western practice. You don’t know who you had in the morning because you had 10 – 20 people already. I couldn’t do this, it’s a different world. Its more time and more profound thinking about the reasons why the disease comes. We don’t work on the symptoms; we work on the basics. Of course, I look at the symptoms but I always think about the whole system, the symptoms are secondary. If someone comes in acute – the kidney isn’t working, they really have lower back pain – I do both. I always have this in mind – where does it come from where is the weak point?
N: What’s your favorite part about being a Chinese medicine doctor?
K: It’s a never-ending story and I’m learning with every patient.
N: What are the most popular issues that you see in your patients and what treatments do you need to use the most? With women in particular.
K: With women it’s a lot of gynaecological issues and a lot of burn out and exhaustion. A lot. Men as well. But me and my colleagues mostly have women coming in for help, and younger people. I don’t have many patients with cancer at the moment but then when you have one, like calling from the cosmos you get more. So, when people ask me what can I treat, without being arrogant; everything.
N: Treating also means that you send them to a ‘normal’ doctor?
K: Yes, you can always guide someone somewhere else. What is healing? It’s a cooperation. I do my best always, but the biggest problem is that people don’t take time – sometimes you have to treat them for years. It’s a question of cost sometimes, but sometimes people come in with diseases they’ve had for years and they want to treat it in half a year which is impossible.
N: What kind of healing have you seen in some of your patients?
K: I’m really glad when I see that people change their behavior. It’s the main step – their lifestyle and diet. They feel better and they have more energy. I had patients with problems in the stomach and blood in their stool – it’s just one step to stop this. But patients still have a long way to heal perfectly. It depends on where you want to go.
N: What would you say to people who are skeptical about Chinese medicine? That really don’t believe in it.
K: You don’t have to believe. It depends on who is saying this. I think if you need help then you wouldn’t say this, if you’re really in an emergency situation people will try everything. When you’re at the end of the line you will do anything to get better, and they are open because they tried everything. Once or twice a year you find an article in Stern or Spiegel about the dangers of Chinese medicine. They’re really stupid articles, I think years ago I would start to argue, but now I say “Okay, you don’t have to go.” I would always say you can just try it. That’s it.
N: What are the misconceptions people have about TCM?
K: The greatest misconception is the money. I invest a lot of money and I think I do good work. But if somebody wants to come, they can always come. I will always make it possible to come. In the beginning people ask how many times they should come. It depends where you want to go. The greatest misconception is like Western medicine, thinking you can come and take some pills, it’s more than just a pill. You must always be working on yourself.
N: Healing your body?
K: There’s always something to do. Some think you can come for just a short time, but it doesn’t work like that. Everyday is new.
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*This interview has been edited for length and clarity
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