A Journey from Disease to Health

Most folks who go into medicine do it for personal reasons. They had or have a personal history that motivates them to pursue medical training. Because of the time and financial commitment medical training requires, this decision is not one to be taken lightly. Personally, over 60% of the people who began acupuncture school with me dropped out. This is fairly consistent with national averages in postgraduate degree training.

My own personal medical history is riddled with health challenges. Both parents smoked in the home the entire time I was growing up. Both were practicing alcoholics. Both were emotionally abusive. As a result, I developed severe asthma, wheezing and allergies. This was during the 1960's and all parents knew to do was to use western pharmaceuticals to treat their children. Back then there were no health food stores or herb shops that one could frequent in order to find healthy natural remedy sources. All that was available was the doctor's office or emergency room. For many years I was prescribed a variety of medications: steroids, allergy injections, anti-histamines and decongestants. You name it and I probably took it at some point in my childhood. My condition was so severe I constantly had to get a doctors note to be excused from PE (physical education) or other strenuous school physical activities. By the time I moved out of my parent's house, the damage to my body had pretty much set in. Looking back now, it's a wonder I survived. I ended up developing adrenal and thyroid fatigue. My lung capacity was close to nothing. My liver and kidneys were toxic from all the medications and a horribly poor Texan diet. My heart was weak from the inability to exercise. Not a pretty picture.

In my teenage years I began reading as much as I could find on alternative styles of medicine: western herbal medicine, Ayurvedic medicine, Chinese herbal medicine, acupuncture, and anything I could find that could help me recover from a sick childhood.

It was during these years I became very interested in learning about natural medicine. I began gathering every little piece of natural health information I could get my hands on. This was my new strategy for regaining the natural health I had lost when I was a child.

By the time I was married and had two small children, I realized that if I did not do something different, there was a very strong possibility that I would never see my own children grow up. This was a frightening time for me. The year was 1983. I was twenty-six and I knew, in my heart, there had to be something that would work for me, especially since western medicine had created nearly irreversible damages to my body. It was now time to begin putting some of the information I had been gathering to good use.

So, I began searching out places where I could purchase any kind of herbal medicine. In essence, I began experimenting on myself with herbs. By the way, I don't recommend this. I know, in today's society, it is very easy to find all kinds of remedies to treat every condition known to mankind. The problem with this strategy is that most people are not trained in herbal or homeopathic medicine and can, actually, do more harm than good. Trust me on this. I've been there.

I also joined a health club, and began jogging.

This became a very painful period of my life as I was embarking on a journey of trying to undo years of incorrect diet, excessive drug therapies, chemical toxicity and emotional abuse. I began to examine everything I put in my mouth. I taught myself the basics of western nutrition and the side affects of specific, so-called, “healthy” food choices.

This was a far cry from my school days when I would come home and eat half a package of Oreo cookies before dinner...,

drink Dr Pepper's like water, eat double meat and cheese Whataburger's weekly, and have some kind of meat, potatoes and bread at every meal.

A personal trainer did not design my exercise program. I just decided to begin. I don't recommend this, either. Sometimes, when people start exercising they, often, try to do too much, too soon and end up injuring themselves. I, actually, did this exact thing.

I did not purchase the right shoes when I began jogging, resulting in developing shin splints. However, I corrected this and kept at it. In the beginning, it was difficult for me to jog 200 yards down to the end of my street. I would have to stop and walk back to the house coughing up both lungs as I went.

I did weight training at the health club two or three days each week and jogged everyday. Really, it was probably too aggressive, but I wanted to lose the 30 extra pounds I'd been carrying for most of my adult life. The following twelve months were amazing. In that amount of time I went from hardly being able to jog 10 minutes to running 4 miles a day. At the 12-month mark, almost to the day, I lost the 30 extra pounds. I don't know why it took so long for the weight to go off. It probably had something to do with my underlying weak constitution. What I realized during this period and the following years is that I had been incorporating many of the philosophies of Chinese medicine into my daily routines regarding, exercise, diet, lifestyle, sleep, etc. So, it was only natural for me to migrate into this field of medicine.


Fourteen years after I began my journey towards a healthier life, at the age of forty, I began my formal study of Chinese medicine. After being immersed in an education and career rooted in the scientific method and unwavering logic, I was faced with the challenge of making sense of one of the oldest systems of medicine our world has ever seen. I began my practice of Chinese medicine in 2001. It was exciting to be able to share the knowledge and wisdom of 8000 years of medicine and philosophy with my patients. While still a student, I had the opportunity to study with one of my most profound mentors, Dr. Richard Tan, from Taiwan. He revolutionized my awareness of Chinese medicine and gave me a new kindled confidence in patient care. From the first day I opened my clinic I began to consider a more global view of Chinese medicine by combining the information from several great teachers with the knowledge I had learned from traditional engineering and science. Most of the information and education I provide to my patients is new and represents a collaboration of modern science with the ancient art of Chinese medicine.

Traditional schools of allopathic medicine do an excellent job of preparing doctors. Medical students are extensively taught the hard science of their medicine: organic chemistry, biochemistry, endocrinology, anatomy and physiology. Acupuncture schools do a fairly good job of preparing students to become competent practitioners. Unfortunately, schools of Oriental medicine do a poor job of teaching the hard science of our medicine. This is evident whenever a practitioner of Oriental medicine is asked a technical question and is unable to satisfactorily answer the question. Most likely, this is due to the fact that most Oriental medical school faculties are not trained or have backgrounds rooted in these sciences. When I was in school my classmates and I were taught that Chinese medicine was much different from allopathic medicine and operated under different rules or laws. This is not entirely true. There are universal laws that govern everything in the universe. All matter in the universe must comply with these laws. There are no exceptions. Western medicine and Chinese medicine have unique paradigms, though, the laws that govern both must comply with universal laws. The way for western and eastern medicine to be integrated is through these universal laws.

The theories of Chinese medicine do not compare to rocket science. However, to be highly beneficial, ideas do not have to be complex. As you will find, this is the beauty of Chinese medicine.

I find most of my patients are very inquisitive and curious about Chinese medicine. It has a rich and deep history rooted in creative methods of medical diagnosis and the treatment of diseases that appear to be far fetched.

Unfortunately, most people fail to realize the methods of Chinese medicine are rooted in natural laws that they are unfamiliar with. I discovered most patients want to learn more about these natural laws and how to use them in conjunction with their treatments to maximize their health and wellness.

I find it challenging to adequately answer patient's questions regarding an 8000-year-old medicine in a brief few minutes during their appointment. Health is journey, not a destination. All of us have our own particular path that we're on. For some of us our path is easy but for others the path is a struggle. As much as some forms of medicine want to make us believe we're all the same, we're simply not. Not everyone will respond to particular treatment options, whether it is western pharmaceuticals and surgery or more alternative natural forms, such as acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine. The other important thing for patients to understand is that some treatment options can, actually, exacerbate the condition being treated or have adverse reactions affecting other major organs and tissues in the body. This is, especially, true for those patients who choose to self-medicate instead of seeking a professional with specialized knowledge. The key to maximum health is to become knowledgeable of the natural laws that govern the body and all matter so that one can stay fit, healthy and well. This has always been my goal: to provide the best health care at affordable fees and education to empower my patients.

Pain can be a Stress Response

When I am working with patients with either acute or chronic pain, they are, often, surprised to discover that the stress that they are harboring, is exacerbating their pain. Chinese medicine recognizes that stress is the catalyst for sluggish or stagnant movement of the body's vital energy, Qi and the circulation of blood throughout the body. By definition, pain, within the concept of Chinese medicine, is a disharmonious flow of Qi and Blood. As a result, it should come as no surprise that stress will affect pain or actually cause pain to arise. Stress aggravates pain by creating more stagnation of Qi and Blood. In the case of Fibromyalgia, stress can overwhelm a patients painful regions.


Fibromyalgia (FMS) is a chronic pain condition that affects at least 2% of the population. Chronic widespread pain is the defining feature of FMS. Patients also describe a number of nonspecific symptoms such as anxiety, depression, fatigue, weary sleep, headaches and gastrointestinal complaints such as irritable bowel syndrome. These concomitant symptoms are often exacerbated by exertion, stress, lack of sleep and weather changes. Although there has been a lot of research done on FMS, the mechanisms underlying the causes of pain have not been elucidated, however evidence suggests that various components of the central nervous system (CNS) are involved, including the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and pain-processing pathways. Sympathetic nervous system (SNS) overactivity within the autonomic nervous system (ANS) is also implicated. From a Chinese medical perspective, (FMS) results from a systemic shutdown of Qi and Blood flow to specific body regions and a hyper-toxicity state of the Liver, Spleen, Intestines and Kidneys.

What does the research show?

Research demonstrates the following in patients with FMS:

* Evidence of abnormal stress reactivity, including blunting of the HPA and increased ANS responsiveness.

* Anxiety, stress and depression are present in 30 to 45% of patients.

* Decreased cortisol secretion, suggesting increased sensitivity to glucocorticoid feedback.

* Exaggerated noradrenaline (NA) responses as well as delayed Adrenocorticotropic Hormone (ACTH) release, are observed among female FMS patients compared with agematched female controls. Delayed ACTH release in FMS is consistent with a defect in HPA function. Exaggerated NA release may reflect abnormal regulation of the sympathetic nervous system, perhaps secondary to chronically deficient hypothalamic Corticotropic Releasing Factor (CRF).

* FMS patients had significantly higher sub-scale scores for somatisation, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), medication used for sleep, and fatigue. 87% of FMS patients reported a stressful event and 42.3% had symptoms indicating post-traumatic stress disorder.

* Women with FMS who reported a history of physical or sexual abuse had lower cerebrospinal fluid CSF levels than women who did not report such a history.

* The cytokines IL-1, IL-6 and IL-8 are unregulated in FMS. Therapies directed against these cytokines may be of potential importance in the management of FMS.

HPA and SNS activity

Different stressors elicit different patterns of activation in the HPA and SNS. As Clinicians, we know activation of these systems eventually involves the entire mind/body of the patient. With stressful stimuli the two stress centers of the brain are activated  the hypothalamus and the locus coeruleus (LC). These two components of the nervous system promote a cascade of hormonal, neurotransmitter and cytokine activity that supports our fight or flight response. The LC is the master switch for the SNS and stimulates adrenaline and NA production, increasing cardiovascular performance. The hypothalamus signals the pituitary gland, which in turn signals the adrenals to produce cortisol. Normally the cortisol feeds back to the hypothalamus to switch off the stress response and inflammation. However, with chronic unmanaged stress, the body doesn't return to normal and the patient develops progressive heightened neural and neuro-endocrine reactivities. Research suggests that chronic stress will eventually result in a hypo-functioning of the HPA, manifesting as low cortisol and impaired ability to shut down the stress response.

Chronic stress causes pain

In addition to these neuro-endocrinological changes, the stress reaction up-regulates the production of inflammatory cytokines such as IL-1, IL-6 and TNF-alpha, as well as increasing cellular oxidation. The presence of these inflammatory and oxidative substances increases pain and fatigue and sleep disturbances. Additionally, with the ongoing stress, substances such as serotonin, that help us deal with pain, are reduced and contribute to further sleep disorders, depression and anxiety. Through other mechanisms, the stress reaction and its downstream effects also impair energy production.

What can we do? In summary, up-regulation of the HPA and SNS, due to stress, results in inflammation, pain, fatigue, depression, anxiety, sleep disturbances and all the concomitant symptoms often described by our FMS patients. It would make a lot of sense then, that prescribing traditional Chinese herbal formulas that have a calming effect on the SNS and a regulating effect on the HPA will have long-term benefits for our FMS patients recovery.

In addition to various acupuncture strategies for the pain, most FMS patients require herbal, dietary, lifestyle and nutritional strategies to focus on addressing imbalances in specific endocrine organs: pancreas and adrenals, as well as regulating Qi and Blood circulation. Patients can also benefit from participating in stress reduction exercises, such as Qi Gong and Tai Chi, as well as, meditation and yoga. This is the most robust approach for moving patients from a diseased and painful state to a healthy and vibrant life.

Meridian Harmonics

Patient Appreciation Days Jul 6-10, 2010

Here at Meridian Harmonics, we realize the recent changes in the economy have affected most everyone, including us. In spite of this we'll continue providing the highest standard of health care! The week of July 6 - 10 the weekly special is Stress Relief acupuncture for $40! Plain and simple, if you have stress get a Stress Relief treatment for 43% off!! Now that's what I call rolling back fees!

Tuesday July 6: 10% off all customized herbal formulas

Thursday July 8: Pulse Diagnosis, & Report of Findings Consultation - $45

July 6 - July 8: $40 Stress Relief all week long! That’s $30 OFF!

Your Doc!

Mark Tryling, LAC, Dipl AC, CH is nationally board certified in both acupuncture and oriental medicine by the national certification commission of acupuncture and oriental medicine. He is licensed by the Texas State Board of Medical Examiners. Born and raised in Texas, he has a unique perspective on Texas occupational and environmental factors and their affect on health issues. His knowledge across a variety of disciplines allows for a combination of many talents, giving him expertise with health care assessment, compliance and maintenance.