This can be especially important in the treatment of gynecological disorders, so many of which involve functional, emotional, and from a Western medical point of view, often subclinical signs and symptoms. Chinese medicine has a long history of successful treatment for gynecological disorders. While many Western medical treatments are quite wonderful, many of the newest Western medical treatments for a given ailment have yet to be tried over even one generation allowing measurement of any long term side effects, Chinese medicine extends back over 200 generations of doctors and patients and has over 30,000 volumes of medical literature. At times the swift and heroic treatments of Western medicine are useful and necessary in serious, acute, or life-threatening situations. For chronic, or functional disorders, however, Chinese medicine offers a viable alternative, indeed an effective and humane alternative in areas which Western medicine offers few options.
Chinese medicine offers self-empowerment.
Because Chinese medical theories are based upon direct observation of nature, as opposed to the abstract, mathematical complexities of histology and biochemistry in Western medicine, it is easier for a patient to grasp an understanding of their disease process as seen and described by Chinese medical theory. Its explanations and metaphors describing the disease process come from the natural world, to which most people can easily relate. It is not conceptually distant and opaque. Understanding of how ones disease process has come about allows the possibility for direct intervention and lifestyle changes on the part of the patient herself. For example, if a woman's discomforts are exacerbated by dietary factors or stress, she may be counseled by a Chinese medical practitioner to limit certain foods in the diet or to use certain exercises, meditation, or other means to control her stress.