Urinary Incontinence

WHAT IS IT AND WHAT CAUSES IT?

It is the inability of the bladder to hold urine. The urine is released with any movement that adds pressure to the belly. Along with aging, urinary incontinence can be caused by some medications, urinary tract infections, nerve damage, prostate problems for men, and weakened muscles of the pelvic floor for women after childbirth.

WHEN SHOULD YOU SEE A DOCTOR?

If you experience an abrupt loss of bladder control or your incontinence interferes with your daily life, see a doctor.

WHAT SHOULD YOU DO IN DAILY LIFE?

• Set a regular schedule to go to the bathroom, whether or not you have to go. Spend more time in the bathroom and try to totally empty your bladder. Then gradually increase the interval between bathroom visits.
• Drink normally, but control fluid intake at night. Be sure to urinate before bedtime.
• If you know the kind of situation that will cause loss of bladder control, such as laughing, coughing or sneezing, cross your legs before to avoid any accident.

WHAT SHOULDN'T YOU DO?

• Limit drinking alcohol, coffee, soda, or tea, all of which can stimulate urination.
• Don't use artificial sweeteners, as they can irritate the bladder.

Folk Remedies

• If you feel you are on the verge of losing bladder control, stay calm and keep still. Use your thumb to gently press and knead the point four finger-widths up from the inside anklebone, right behind the leg bone (Sp6). When the urge subsides, slowly go to the restroom.
• Put some black pepper powders in a little bag made from thin cotton fabric and apply to your belly button. Use a bandage to fix, and sleep with it. Repeat once a day for one week. If you have an allergic reaction on the skin, stop.
• Eat egg with white peppercorn: Open a small hole in an uncooked egg. Insert five white peppercorn and seal with paper. Steam until well done. Cook two daily and eat them before bedtime without water for one week.
• Rub with liquor soaked with ginger:

  Ingredients: 1 oz. ginger, 100 ml 80-proof vodka.

  Procedure: Smash the ginger and soak it in vodka. Before bedtime, dab a piece of gauze in the vodka and rub your midline right below the bellybutton for one minute. Repeat nightly for five days. If you have an allergic reaction, stop.

Food Therapy

• Eat walnuts, red dates, and sesame seeds:

  Ingredients: 1/2 oz. walnuts, 1/4 oz. black sesame seeds, 5 red dates without the kernel.

  Procedure: Stir-fry walnuts and sesame seeds on low heat until light brown. Crush and eat twice a day.

• Eat dry litchi (Asian fruit): Eat 10 dry litchis daily for one week.
• Drink corn silk tea: Place 1 oz. of corn silk in 2 cups of water in a pot. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Add 1 Tbs. of sugar and drink once a day for one week.

Chinese Massage

• Use your thumb to gently press and knead the point four finger-widths up from the inside anklebone, right behind the leg bone for two minutes (Sp6).
• Use your thumb to gently press and knead the point on the midline of the lower abdomen, about one hand's-width below the belly button for one minute (Cv3).
• Use your thumb to gently press and knead the point on the midline of the abdomen four finger-widths below the belly button for one minute (Cv4).
• Use your thumb and other fingers to grasp the muscles right below your belly button 10 times. Use your palm to gently rub your belly button counterclockwise until it feels warm.
• Use the pad of the heel of your palm to gently press and knead the points a little higher than the waist, two finger-widths on both sides of the spine for one minute (Bl23).

Heat Therapy

Light a smokeless moxa stick, which is like a cigar and available in Chinese herb stores. Circle it 1 to 2 inches above the midpoint between the bellybutton and pubic bone for 10 minutes. Repeat one or two times a day. Be careful not to let the stick or its ashes burn you.

Chinese Herbs

• Take the patent herb Bu Zhong Yi Qi Wan. Follow the instructions.

Urinary Tract Calculus (Kidney Stone)

WHAT IS IT AND WHAT CAUSES IT?

It is a mineral substance formation in the kidney, ureter, urethra, or bladder due to concentrated urine that cannot contribute enough fluid to flush those substances away. When a large stone travels down, it can cause excruciating pain in your back or side. As the stone continues to move down, the pain also moves down. Other symptoms are bloody urine, urge to urinate, failure to empty the bladder, vomiting, fever, or chills.

The following remedies are not for you if you have urinary tract obstruction. If the size of stone is less than a 1/4 inch with a round and smooth surface with no severe blockage of the urinary tract, you can choose a conservative therapy.

WHEN SHOULD YOU SEE A DOCTOR?

When urinating, if you experience pain and perhaps a burning sensation, nausea, vomiting, or have a fever, see a doctor.

WHAT SHOULD YOU DO IN DAILY LIFE?

• Drink at least 3 quarts of water daily to flush the small stones into the bladder. In order to maintain adequate hydration and urination, drink water before bedtime, and even at midnight.
• Save your urine in a clear plastic bottle, so you can see whether the stone has come out. Use a piece of gauze or a strainer with a fine mesh to filter out the stone. Give them to your doctor to analyze. Depending on what kind of stone you have, you should avoid specific types of foods.
• Take warm baths more frequently to help pass the stones. You can also apply a heating pad on the kidney area for 10 minutes. If you have heart problems, do not use this method.
• Eat more kiwi, Chinese black fungus, corn, walnuts, and bottle gourd (a kind of Asian vegetable).
• According to your constitution, jog, dance, or skip rope to accelerate passing the stone.

WHAT SHOULDN'T YOU DO?

• Depending on what kind of stone you have, avoid or eat less of the following foods:
  • If you have an oxalic acid stone, limit your intake of oxalate-rich foods such as spinach, rhubarb, cheese, peanut butter, nuts, beer, tea, and chocolate.
  • If you have a phosphatic acid stone, limit your intake of calcium and phosphor-rich foods such as dairy products, beans, sardines, or eel.
  • If you have a uric acid stone, limit your intake of purine-rich foods such as animal organs, beef, pork, lamb, onion, garlic, spinach, coffee, coca, strong tea, and alcohol.
• Avoid fast food and canned soup, as their sodium content is high. Avoid anything spicy such as garlic, hot peppers, onions, curry, and pepper. Avoid potatoes, soybeans, yam, cabbage, or milk, which produce more gas to add pressure to your abdominal cavity.
• Reduce your intake of sugar.

Folk Remedies

• Corn ears tea:

  Ingredients: 2 corn ears with the kernels removed.

  Procedure: Wash corn ears well. Cut them into small pieces. Steep with boiling water. Cover with a lid. Drink when it becomes cool twice a day for a week. If you have corn silk, that is even better.

• Yellow croaker:

  Ingredients: 1 yellow croaker (a kind of fish, available in Chinese seafood grocery stores), salt.

  Procedure: Take two white, stone-like bones from the craoker's head (called Fish Head Stone). Bake it until dry and grind into a fine powder. Take with warm water. Add water to make fish soup with the rest of the fish. Add salt. Eat the fish and drink the soup.

Food Therapy

• Walnuts with sugar:

  Ingredients: 3 oz. walnuts, 3 oz. sugar, 120 ml. sesame oil.

  Procedure: Stir-fry walnuts in sesame oil until crunchy. Grind walnuts with sugar into a fine powder. Mix with some sesame oil, and take twice a day.

• Chinese black fungus:

  Ingredients: Chinese black fungus, Chinese cabbage, carrots, salt, vegetable oil.

  Procedure: Soak black fungus in water for two hours. Stir-fry all ingredients. Take two times a day for two weeks.

• Eat pumpkin seeds. Eat pumpkin frequently.
• Eat chicken's gizzard skin with pearl barley:

  Ingredients: 1/4 oz. chicken's gizzard skin (available in Chinese herb stores), 2 oz. Chinese pearl barley, 2 Tbs. brown sugar.

  Procedure: Place ingredients in a pot and add 2 cups of water to make a soup. Drink once a day. Chicken's gizzard skin is a special cure for urinary tract stones.

Chinese Massage

Massage the following to get some relief:

• Sit on a chair. Rub your palms against each other until they become warm. Use your palms to rub your lower back to the sacral bone until it becomes warm.

  

• Make fists. Use the knuckles of both your hands to press and knead the points a little higher than the waist, two finger-widths on both sides of the spine for one minute (Bl23).
• Place the center of your left palm on the point three finger-widths down below the belly button. Gently press and knead clockwise 30 times. Use the tip of your thumb to gently press the point on the midline of the abdomen four finger-widths below the belly button (Cv4).
• Use four fingers of your left hand and push from inner side of the left knee to the top of the thigh 30 times. Repeat on the right side.
• Use the tips of both thumbs to gently press and knead the point four finger-widths up from the inside anklebone, right behind the leg bone for one minute (Sp6).

Chinese Herbs

• Take the patent herb Jin Qian Chao Chong Ji. Follow the instructions.

Urinary Tract Infection (UTI)

WHAT IS IT AND WHAT CAUSES IT?

A UTI is caused by a bacterial infection in the urethra. This condition is much more common in women due to the shorter length of their urinary tracts. Common symptoms include intense pain, smelly urine, and a frequent urge to urinate.

WHEN SHOULD YOU SEE A DOCTOR?

If you are experiencing the above symptoms, see a doctor.

WHAT SHOULD YOU DO IN DAILY LIFE?

• Drink a lot of water and cranberry juice. Eat more vegetables and fruits.
• Wash the genital area in the shower, not by taking a bath.
• Whatever method you use, if you are feeling better, you should still continue the treatment for three more days. Don't stop too early.
• In chronic cases you should also limit sexual contact, and have your partner tested for bacteria. Both participants should wash the genital area before sex.

WHAT SHOULDN'T YOU DO?

• Don't use basic soap. It neutralizes the acidic environment of the urinary tract, which is needed to fight off bacteria.
• If you have an acute UTI, you should not have sex.
• Don't eat overstimulating foods such as spicy or fried food. Don't drink alcohol or coffee.
• Don't wear tight underwear and pants.

Folk Remedies

• Boil 2 oz. of corn silk in water and drink as tea, three times a day.
• Boil watermelon peels as tea, and drink 8 cups a day.
• Crush one handful of white stalks of green onion. Place them in a thin cotton bag. Apply to your belly button, and tape. If you have an allergic reaction, stop.

Food Therapy

• Make fresh celery juice with a juicer. Drink 50 ml at a time, three times a day.
• Peel 8 oz. of loofah (silk melon, available in Chinese grocery stores). Boil with 2 cups of water. Drink a cup every morning and night.
• Cook 2 oz. of millet with water to make soup. Drink three times a day for 10 days. After that, reduce to 1 oz. of millet and continue for an additional 10 days.

Chinese Massage

Choose the following and massage each for one or two minutes:

• Place your right palm below your belly button. Overlap with your left palm. Gently press and knead clockwise.
• Place your palm on the midline of the chest. Gently push down to the pubic area. Gradually increase the pressure as long as it feels comfortable.

  

• Lay down on a bed. Bend your knees and raise both thighs. Use your thumb and four fingers to gently grasp the muscles on the lower abdomen several times.
• If you have painful spots on your inner thigh, use your thumb to gently press these spots several times.
• Place the pad of your thumbs on both sides of the spine. Rub the waist down to the sacrum area.
• Gently press and knead the point four finger-widths from the inside anklebone, right behind the leg bone (Sp6).
• Gently press and knead the point on the midline of the lower abdomen, about one hand's-width below the belly button (Cv3).

Chinese Herbs

• Take the patent herb Ba Zheng San. Follow the instructions.