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    • KuroXppi [they/them]@hexbear.net
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      2 days ago

      TCM is clinically integrated into hospitals as part of (mostly) preventative medicine and treatment, though. I was prescribed a number of herbal medicines when I went in for 1) a twisted ankle 2) GI problems and 3) heatstroke. I’m a foreigner and this was in T1 cities.

      • bort [none/use name]@hexbear.net
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        2 days ago

        Yeah I’ve had the same experience. Alongside real medicine, for minor issues, I don’t really have a problem with it. If nothing else it’s an innocent placebo.

        It’s just in rare cases where people over rely on it that I think it’s dangerous. You hear stories like people attempting to cure their cancer with exclusively TCM, but these cases thankfully don’t seem too common.

        • KuroXppi [they/them]@hexbear.net
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          2 days ago

          Yep, fair enough. I imagine if either of us had been really ill the treatment would be similar to what we’d receive in a western hospital, i.e. heavy analgesics. Fortunately haven’t had to see that side of a Chinese hospital.

          Anecdotally, I have also seen a TCM doctor since returning from China since I was curious, and it was absolute quackery afaic. Outside of the hospital system it’s an unregulated untested crapshoot.

          I liked the accupuncture like, I think that did help (at the very basic level lying down in a dark room listening to soothing music would do on its own) but the 配方 pellets were useless at best.

        • jack [he/him, comrade/them]@hexbear.net
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          2 days ago

          TCM is way more than a weaponized placebo. Obviously some of it is scientifically bunk, but a great deal of it represents the practical indigenous knowledge of Chinese people developed over millennia of living in their environment and learning how to use it to better themselves.