Most foreigners’ first introduction to Chinese medicine is for the common cold. After living a few years in Chengdu and dealing with the colds that linger due to pollution and humidity, we’ve found that nothing knocks a lingering Chengdu cold out as effectively as drinking bitter black Chinese medicine, even after unsuccessful rounds of expensive antibiotics. ??
Many neighbourhood pharmacies carry Chinese medicine (look for the telltale rows of wooden drawers) and will have traditional medicine doctors on hand at least a couple mornings per week. If your condition is more serious, you might want to visit Chengdu’s Traditional Medicine hospital (成都中医药大学附属医院) on the West 1st Ring TCM Hospital subway stop. We’ve run into very few staff at this hospital that can speak English, so for the language challenged, we highly recommend bringing someone who can help communicate.
Chengdu’s Traditional Medicine Hospital ? :
1. Choose a Doctor
Many neighbourhood pharmacies will have one or more doctors on hand during the day. There will usually be some kind of placard introducing each doctor and that doctor’s specialty. At the Chinese Traditional Medicine hospital, after giving your name and phone number at the front desk, choose your clinic and doctor from the large notice boards with names of doctors and who is on duty that day. If you don’t have a preference for a certain doctor, just choose a clinic. If you are suffering from a cold, choose 呼吸科 – Respiratory system.
2. Pay for the Exam and Get a Number
The basic exam costs ten to thirty yuan and up. Doctors with good reputations are always busy and can be more expensive, so you might have a wait, even at your local pharmacy. At the TCM hospital, most doctors start seeing patients at eight in the morning and again at two in the afternoon and will handle roughly ten patients per hour. For example, if you get morning number 15, you should try to make it to the waiting room around nine.
3. Examination
Once your number is called, you will sit at a desk opposite the doctor who is examining you. Your pulse will be taken at several points, tongue looked at, and the doctor will ask various questions about your symptoms and how you have been sleeping and eating and eliminating. You might be asked about stress at work. There are usually several other patients in the room at the same time and possibly students. The doctor may also ask you to get X rays or other scans, which you can get done at the hospital (pay as you go) and then come back with the results when you are done.
4. Prescription
The doctor will write out the prescription, which you pay for downstairs at the main level before taking it to the pharmacy. Chinese medicine (中药) and Western medicine (西药）are picked up from different windows. Chinese medicine also has to be prepared to drink, so we usually pay a bit extra to get the pharmacy to prepare the medicine (熬药) and pack it into small single dose bags. The prescription can be picked up, pre-packed in doses, after several hours or the following day.
5. Prepare and Take Medicine
If you are coming home with dry herbs, medicine is prepared by emptying one bag (each bag is one day’s worth of medicine) into a non-metal pot, barely covering the medicine with water, bringing just to a boil, and simmering for an hour. You can buy pots that are just for medicine; they are not expensive. Pour off the liquid and repeat the simmer process twice, then mix the all three batches of the bitter but comforting concotion together and drink up three times a day with meals. This process is labour intensive and makes your home smell like a hospital, so we find it well worth our while to get the pharmacy to do it (as described in Step 4).
Note: You can’t drink alcohol while taking Chinese medicine.
Hospital Website: www.sctcm120.com (EN/CN)
Writer: Susan Johnson
