You'll never see this sign in a TCM clinic...

Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) is all about finding patterns and drawing relationships between all of your symptoms so that the root can be treated.  This is very different from Western medicine which tends to treat each symptom individually and give a different medication for each one, which can lead to the development of new symptoms in the form of side effects.  By determining the root of your condition, TCM can focus your treatment to improve many symptoms at one time.   With regular treatment, there may come a day when you no longer need any TCM treatment.

Your TCM doctor will ask you many questions in order to diagnose you.  (See our article "TCM can connect the dots between your symptoms.") Symptoms you wouldn't bother mentioning to your MD (whom you should still see regularly) are important to your TCM doctor.  For example, chronic thirst, night sweats, or menstrual cramps are treatable with TCM, and knowing these symptoms, though they might not be your primary problem on the day you have treatment, helps your TCM doctor find the root of your condition.

Your TCM practitioner wants to know all of your symptoms and information about your lifestyle so that they can find the root of your condition and help you heal for the long term.