Medical-related question

[ichinglover]

Hi!

I need the gurus' advice!

To the question:
Will drug X help me stop my medical problem?

I got 38.1.2.4.5 ->20

Any ideas?
yes, no, irrelevant answer???
Can I use I ching for medical questions?

 

[tigerintheboat]

Opposition

To the question:
Will drug X help me stop my medical problem?

I got 38.1.2.4.5 ->20

Any ideas?

Can I use I ching for medical questions?

I do it all the time but I don't always get satisfactory answers. And you asked a yes/no question, which in my opinion, makes it hard to interpret the answer. It is better to ask "what if I take this drug for Condition X."

Overall the tone of the reading is about you contemplating the larger situation and seeing opposition and contradiction. Line 1, an estrangement of things which belong together. Lines 2 and 4 are about positive encounters with people who can help and Line 5 is about you missing someone who can help, because of the general atmosphere surrounding your journey.

I don't see this as a "yes." I see you have many things to go through and learn before you meet the method and people who can help you. Remember, many drugs don't cure diseases, they just mask the symptoms. I get a little bit of that flavor in this reading.

Tiger

 

[willowfox]

Will drug X help me stop my medical problem? 38.1.2.4.5 ->20

In summary it says yes but perhaps you need to find out more about drug X before proceeding, like side effects etc.

 

[ichinglover]

Thank you, Tiger and Willowfox. I can see that you both agree on the need to learn more about the drug, and it's actually quite true, which is amazing!

Unfortunately, the underlying reason for my problem can't be found, or at least no one succeeded in it so far.


Some time ago I kept asking what is the underlying problem, and I remember getting Hex 61 with some changing line, don't remember them specifically now, I also got Hex.56 with some lines in it ...

How can I effectively diagnose myself? Doctors can't...

May be you do have some ideas about 61 and 56 as ilnesses/disorders?

 

[willowfox]

Perhaps if you give us a strong clue where your problem lies, then it would perhaps help find an answer. Like, is your illness, a physical one, internal or external? Legs, arms, trunk etc?

 

[ichinglover]

Well, it's hair loss...
I'm a young female, so seemingly I have no good reasons to experience this problem

 

[willowfox]

Well, hex 56 is the traveler, as mountain and fire cannot stay together, they need to part company, so very much like your problem.

I know that some of the reasons for hair loss, are hormones acting up, stress and the immune system being strange, do any of these apply to you?

 

[meng]

This is a bit of a long throw, but do you think slowing down might allow things to take root? Like Wf says, fire moves on quickly from the mountain, it uses up what fuel is available and then moves on. 61, on the other hand, is rooted in itself.

There's different beliefs, but I've become a skeptic of doing medical self analysis through the Yijing. However, I do have greater confidence when someone else does that same reading for someone else. It's most likely only an interpretation issue, which gets muddled inside the inner complex. So, I just asked on your behalf, ichinglover:

What is going on with her hair loss? 30, lines 4 and 6, to 36.

Fire again, which flares up, burns too hot, burns itself out. 36 also shows fire, but it is reserved fire, protected, grounded and contained fire.

I'd read all this as saying, slow down.

 

[meng]

Another thought in a different direction. 38 can be an allergy.

If there are chemical substances you are taking, that's the first place I'd look. If not, perhaps consider things like smoking, things which you know aren't good for you. You did ask "Will drug X help me stop my medical problem?" Sounds as though you already know what the problem is?

 

[ichinglover]

Willowfox, Meng, first of all thank you for the trouble to help me out and even cast a reading for me!

Meng, thanks a lot for asling Yi on my behalf. You've no idea how much I appreciate it.

Well, the known reasons for my problem can be"

- hormones (thyroid, low estrogen, testosterone and its derivatives)
based on the tests those are still with normal lab ranges

- chronic low iron
again, mine is within the normal limits, though chronically on the lower side

- stress
not sure what this means, I just live my life...


- genetics
I do not seem to have this factor

-allergy?

well, not sure about that...probbably not as a hair loss factor

again, when i saw 61 - I thought it might be autoimmune, in a sense an allergy to myself )

I was never suspected to have anyting like that by the doctors, and no tests were done in this directions, and I don't seem to have other symptoms of autoimmune illnesses

I do not smoke, I don't take drugs of any kind, at least now....

Not sure what to do with this fire? What kind of fire is that? And how can i slow it down?

 

[meng]

Not sure what to do with this fire? What kind of fire is that? And how can i slow it down?

Thanks for filling in some missing pieces.

I don't know the answers to those questions, but I would consider the difference or contrast of the 36 image, which is reserved and well protected.

 

[tigerintheboat]

Fire and Your Tongue

I do not smoke, I don't take drugs of any kind, at least now....

Not sure what to do with this fire? What kind of fire is that? And how can i slow it down?

Just a thought, take a look at your tongue in the mirror. Stick it out and really look at it. What color is it? There is a whole science of Chinese medicine based on whether or not there is excess fire or excess damp, wind, etc.. If your tongue is a pleasant pink color and not more than mildly coated, that is a healthy tongue and a healthy body. (Forgive me for this oversimplification, all you Chinese medicine practitioners lurking!)

So one thought might be to investigate Chinese medicine...it is hard to do self-diagnosis, and harder still to pick the right herbs, so it is wise to try to find a practitioner, if you live in an area where such people dwell. Still, tongue diagnosis is relatively simple...just type "tongue diagnosis" into Google and you will find a world of info. (Maybe I can get someone who knows more about this to post).

The Chinese would treat excess fire with herbs, but I am oriented to food cures....

So, a second thought...excess heat and fire is (in my opinion) very similar to excess acidity in Western medicine. If your diet is mostly cooked foods, with a small amount of raw fruits and vegetables, then you are probably more acidic than is good for you. Consider trying to eat 70% raw and cultured foods for a few weeks, and only 30% cooked. Or 80%/20% raw cooked.

Check out these two links.

Hair Site

High Alkaline Diet

Enough fringe medical advice. (Oh, did I mention to drink more water!)

Best,

Tiger

 

[maremaria]

Not sure what to do with this fire? What kind of fire is that? And how can i slow it down?

When you mentioned iron, I recalled that Li has to do with iron, the metal.
Li : It means coats of mail and helmets; it means lances and weapons.

Have you check thoroughly the iron levels? I’m saying that because I have to repeat some examinations regarding iron because I have I bad habit and don’t drink a lot of water and the doctor said to me that maybe the results are not correct because of that.
I’m not a doctor and I can’t give medical advises, but if Li here is iron 30 and 36 perhaps has to do with how your body absorbs iron. In 30 flys away in 36 stays in that cave.

When I can’t understand a question a look a bit at the trigrams. Here there is a lot of Li. Li can be fire, bird, sun, dryness….. etc.

Maria

 

[luz]

It doesn't hurt to take vitamins with iron, specially since you are a woman. Men might be more prone to being overloaded with iron, but not women.

I had anemia and my iron was pretty low and after I started taking vitamins with iron I noticed, to my chagrin, that I had to wax my legs more often. Not sure about my head hair, though.. but it's worth a try.
And make sure you use the kind shampoo that is good for cleaning your scalp, although I'm sure you must have already made sure of that, since that would be like the main reason ever for hair loss...

Good luck.

 

[ginnie]

As you said, nobody knows why one person starts to lose hair early and another person doesn't. Hair loss needs to be dealt with, since in the popular culture of our day, our hair is just about our most important bodily feature.

I know someone who used Monoxidil (or however it's spelled) for a period of time. Some people say that the hair that grows in will fall out if you stop taking this product, but in her case the hair never fell out.

She also uses products from the Toppik company and there is another brand that is the same called Nanogen, available from www.nanothick.com. I am not working for the Nanothick company, by the way. If you go to the website, there's a video that shows you how this works. It is not a cure for hair loss but it certainly is an amazing and very popular coverup.

There is a kind of comb now being sold that stimulates the hair follicles in a very healthy way, and scientific studies have shown it results in regrowth of hair -- but only if there is some hair left in the thinning spot. If the spot is already completely bald, there is no remedy that will work. I believe this new type of comb is sold at www.nanothick.com. If not, I'll have to get that info to you separately.

As for your hexagrams about the medication, to me they say that you need to talk with other people to gather information and talk about what has worked and what hasn't worked for the problem of hair loss.

With any drug you'll need to check out the book Worst Pills, Best Pills to see if the drug is toxic and so forth; the things your doctor never tells you about your prescription.

The hexagram 38 may just mean that you are asking from a point of view of not trusting the doctor's prescription. That is, it could be a matter of opposing viewpoints. Something is opposed to something else: there cannot be any question about that. It could just mean you cannot make up your mind on this issue. But the final result will be good fortune. That's how I read line 5. Lines 4 and 5 both moving are quite favorable. You will meet the people who will give you the info you need to overcome this problem.

 

[Leracy]

Well, the known reasons for my problem can be"

- hormones (thyroid, low estrogen, testosterone and its derivatives)
based on the tests those are still with normal lab ranges

- chronic low iron
again, mine is within the normal limits, though chronically on the lower side


Not sure what to do with this fire? What kind of fire is that? And how can i slow it down?

I'll just jump in with some observations - I'm not expert enough on the I Ching, but I DO know quite a lot about thyroid and low iron, having suffered from this for years with 'normal' test readings. I don't know what country you are in but you need to be aware that different countries and different labs use different 'normal' ranges and therefore one person may exhibit lots of symptoms and be told there's nothing wrong with them (or that they need antidepressants), and another person with no symptoms who has 'abnormal' test results (usually found while investigating something else) may suddenly be put on medication for life. There's a lot more to it as well. It took years for me to find out what was wrong and I've only really felt normal in the last four weeks after being ill for about 8 years, and showing symptoms for many years before that.

Also, be aware that blood tests are not a particularly good indicator of thyroid health or lack of it because the hormone levels fluctuate during the day and therefore your levels at the time of your test are only a snapshot.

Whichever country you are in, you will find excellent information at www.thyroiduk.org and the book 'Your Thyroid and how to keep it healthy' by Dr Barry Durrant Peatfield (from Amazon UK, don't know about other countries) is absolutely fantastic. My problem turned out to be failure to convert T4 to T3 and now I take some natural supplements and a tiny dose of T3 and I feel fine. My hair is thickening too!

Lack of thyroid-related hormones will also inhibit your body's ability to absorb iron. If you are told to take iron, DO NOT take straight ferrous sulphate, which is almost impossible to absorb. In the UK, the natural supplements Floradix and Spatone are much more effective, especially Floradix (unless you are allergic to yeast or have systemic candida)

The quickest way to work out if you have a thyroid hormone problem is to do the Barnes basal temperature test, which is fully described on the website. You can do this yourself, but be aware that most UK physicians poo pooh it, preferring to rely on blood tests.

Of course your problem may not be thyroid, but this information may help you to eliminate it as a possibility.

Hope this helps you.

 

[ginnie]

Heat

The Chinese would treat excess fire with herbs, but I am oriented to food cures....

So, a second thought...excess heat and fire is (in my opinion) very similar to excess acidity in Western medicine. If your diet is mostly cooked foods, with a small amount of raw fruits and vegetables, then you are probably more acidic than is good for you.

Tiger

Changing the diet will boost the overall health but usually the hair loss problem will still not go away from doing all that . . .

Hair loss probably doesn't have much to do with heat. Heat and inflammation are the same thing. Is the scalp inflamed? Probably not.

My advice to ichinglover is simply to wait and let all the facts come to light. At first there was a crisis atmosphere around this question, as if something had to be done about it instantly, if not sooner. That is why the issue flamed up like 30.4, and surely the problem can be rectified (30.6).

But hair loss is never an emergency situation. Take the time to investigate all the options out there and you will achieve an excellent result.

 

[ichinglover]

Thank you!

Hi!

I'd like to thank you everyone for showing interest in my problem ( relatively insignificant on the global scale yet still really horrifying for me)!

I truly appreciate both your intereprations of the hexs, making a reading for me, as well as practical advices - like taking iron supplements, which I already do

Thanks again for taking time, and showing your thoughtfullness!

Ii's great to feel your care, even just on the Inet!

I (rather my doc) investigated my thyroid, it seems OK, my iron is on the lower side, so I'm taking supplements and eating meat...

It's hard to for me to take a wait and see attitude, since the problem has been there for several years, on and off, and I'm scared to death that it will never stop and I'll end up loosing my hair completely...

I'm really scared...

 

[willowfox]

I have been wondering if your lack of a romantic relationship is a contributing factor in this hair loss, as perhaps you are worrying and thinking about your situation to much and thus to often which is causing you deep emotional distress. One can grow accustomed to constant worry and therefore not notice it, but still its there, plus you now have a new issue to worry about, your hair(men don't date bald women).
You therefore need to start getting out and about more, enjoying yourself, follow your dreams as the release of the burden that you are carrying will help your body repair itself. Years of worry screw up your body real good, and can cause premature aging and hair loss. You need to look after yourself and stop worrying about your love life or lack of it as you may well be just a late starter.

Follow the advice and your hair will be back, so stop being the loner of Hex 56, and take the advice of line 27.5 and find that person who can help you find your rightful position in life, then things will start to fall in place for you.

 

[ginnie]

Well, yes, the primary hexagram was #38, alienation and estrangement. The moving lines suggested that ichinglover would work it out just fine.

 

[ichinglover]

What is the cure for my hairloss?

Willofox, thank you for connecting two separate threads, I'm not sure that lack of satisfying romantic relationship is a direct cause of my hairloss, but I can see how worry/stress/depression can certainly contribute, initiate or worsen some inate predisposition. I do worrry abolut things, constantly.

So I asked
What is the cure for my hairloss?

And got

23.1.5. ->42

I can't decipher it...Rather than meditation, relaxation - nothing comes to mind, really..
Any ideas?

 

[willowfox]

What is the cure for my hair loss? 23.1.5. ->42

Line 23.5 is about trust and cooperation, so if this is also an issue, time to sort that out as well because once you start feeling more positive within yourself it will reflect upon your health and hair.

Hex 42 says that whatever negative attitudes that you currently have, it is time to remove them because you need to stop worrying for a start, so it advises you that you need to undergo a dose of self improvement. Start from the inside and it will reflect on the outside.

When people get ill, see how their hair gets all limp and nasty looking, also see how many people loss their hair due to illness or stress.

By now you should be getting the message of what your body is trying to tell you.

 

[ichinglover]

Thanks a lot

for your clarification...
And how about 23.1?


So what is my body is trying to tell me, that I'm a total mess psycologically?


i can see that

 

[willowfox]

Line 23.1 is just saying the enemy lies within.

 

[tigerintheboat]

Increase in Stripping Away

I can see how worry/stress/depression can certainly contribute, initiate or worsen some inate predisposition. I do worrry abolut things, constantly.

So I asked
What is the cure for my hairloss?

And got

23.1.5. ->42

Well, to start, let's have a laugh that you asked about hair loss and Yi replied with a hexgram entitled "Splitting Apart" or "Stripping". Basically, this hexagram is about things falling away or being taken away! Here is the text from the Wikiwing:

"Stripping Away. The character definitely includes a knife, and has to do with cutting away surfaces: ‘peel, shell, skin, flay’. If you’re lucky or very wise it feels like taking off a garment that no longer fits; more normally it feels like being flayed. Be transformed; go under the knife...

Experiences: the loss of a protective covering..."

Aside from the obvious reference to hair as something that can be stripped away and is a protective covering, what can we learn here. In Line 1, it is suggested that something is undermining your position from beneath. One way to take that is that the problem is not at the level of the hair, but rather somewhere else in the body, which is beneath the hair. Do not persevere with treatments until you know more.

Another way to think about his line is that the bed is the platform on which you rest. You trust that you can lie down on it and be safe. Something is undermining the platform and the trust. Yet you are urged not to take action, or at least not to act without caution. Wait till events become clearer.

Line 5 is about trust being re-established, in a society where it had been lost. Now instead of stripping, there is stringing together. Instead of undermining, there is now cooperation. A series of ladies, once competing, now cooperate and allow one to dominate.

What does this all mean, and how is it a cure? My best thought is that if you got Line 5, and that Trust will be re-established, then there is nothing wrong more than stress.

To understand, I offer a family story. My daughter, going off to college for the first time, was losing her hair. a thyroid test showed a moderately high level of some thyroid antibody. These levels of antibody are sometimes associated with a lot of scary things: autoimmune disorders, diabetes, etc. Much panic ensued.

But in fact, my daughter started school, settled in and became less stressed. The event was much easier to deal with than the anticipation! And the hair problem went away.

Look around for areas of stress that you might be ignoring. See if you can become aware of them, consciously. In addition, Increase the areas that give you satisfaction and cause you to feel fulfillment. Find the areas where you have conflict, and make them subordinate, like the ladies, to your goals for your higher good.

Tiger

 

[ichinglover]

Tiger,

thanks a lot for your insight.

Interestingly, first my hair starting to fall out when I,
like your daughter went to college.

May be it is stress after all, though it does not make
it easier to cure it...

Thanks for your interpretation and support!!

 

[ichinglover]

Hi All!

This problem just keeps me freaking out.

The doctors told me it's stress, so don't freak out. But how can I keep my calm when my hair is becomming thinner and thinner

In my despair I asked

What can i do to stop my hairloss

And got 61.4

In fact I keep gettign 61 a lot when I inquire about this problem.

Please help!

 

[tigerintheboat]

Stress

The doctors told me it's stress, so don't freak out. But how can I keep my calm when my hair is becomming thinner and thinner

In my despair I asked

What can i do to stop my hairloss

And got 61.4

Ichinglover, I am glad that the hair loss is "only" caused by stress. It is possible that you can not get rid of the stress, but you can change your reactions to the stress. To some extent, this is the story of our lives. We may not be able to change the hand we are dealt, but we can change our reaction to it.

All living creatures have stress and have mechanisms to deal with stress. Meditation, for example, is a very popular way of dealing with stress in the modern world, as is exercise, long walks, bubble baths, b vitamins and other nutritional approaches.

But first a technical question:

Did you get H61.4 --> H 10

or did you mean

H61.1.5 -- H4
?
It would help me to approach the reading to know for sure which you meant.

Thanks
Tiger

 

[meng]

61 could resemble a follicle, line 4 being a wild hair. 10 being treading, could mean that you are either physically or mentally treading on your hair - I'd consider if you're using things on it, either treatments or too much conditioner etc? Line 4 could also represent setting it free, clean, no chemicals or goo.

 

[ichinglover]

For Tiger

It's 61.4

I just don't believe it's just stress, it must be something else. My intuition tells me that.

Gotta trust it!
Stress may provoke it, but does 61 suggest stress as a cause?



Meng, thanks a lot!

I have to think about your interpretation...
The first time I got 61 the answer that popped up in my head right away was that it's autoimmune,
killing my own cells...But medically no one ever suspected that and I was never tested
for any autoimminune diseases. No one ever bothered.
It's not shampoo or conditioner, it a long-term
chronic problem. Mental strain?

Can 61 mean genetic, autoimmune, hormonal?

There is a type of hair loss when the follicle becomes sensitive to testosterone,
which in turn kills it or something like that.

Can 61.4 represent this process?

But the question was how to stop it....Though I do get 61 with different line combination
a lot when asking different questions about my hair...

So something in 61, something internal?

I now sound quite hypochondriac