Check out this link:
www.gokunming.com/en/classifieds/item/29786/tcm_study

This Chinese woman named Jennifer can translate for you at the hospital mentioned. Her medical vocabulary is good. But I really don't know how good the doctors are. If you find a doctor at another hospital, I'm sure you can pay her to go with you and translate there.

I didn't say I don't think it's credible. But basically, as in every other profession, there are practitioners who are good and some who are less competent. And there is potential for corruption because you don't know what you're taking and because herbs usually take much longer than conventional medicine to work. So an unscrupulous doctor can easily keep you on useless herbs for months. They may not know how to treat the condition, but that may not necessarily stop them from prescribing something.

Sorry, I don't mean to paint a grim picture of TCM. I think it can be useful and there are some excellent doctors. But I also think maybe there's a bit of lack of regulation and some unscrupulous doctors taking advantage of this.

But back home, a woman told me she knew of a TCM doctor that was doing amazing things with cancer.

This is not directly related to TCM, but it suggests that doctors are money-hungry and that regulations are lacking, which is not encouraging.

www.chinadaily.com.cn/bizchina/2007-04/27/content_861617.htm

Fighting the medical wolves in sheep's clothing

Angels in white robes! That may be a tautology, but that's the image of doctors (and others in the medical profession) in China. In reality, however, they are far removed from their traditional portrait. The thirst for money has turned some of them into predators preying on patients. They still have the white robes on, though, making them look more like wolves in sheep's clothing (or the devil in angel's robes, if you will).

But are they alone to blame? Perhaps not! The hospitals and clinics they work for are equally, if not more, responsible for the mess.

Starved of funds, some hospitals and doctors today rely on hongbao red packets with kickbacks from patients and drug companies to fill their pockets.

Had a 3 paragraph response all nicely typed when...the internet decides to skip out. Perfect.

Thanks for the opinion — I dont mind negative information as long as its constructive.

As above still would welcome further input. Particularly anywhere I might be able to go where a bit of English is spoken. If such a place exists.

There IS a TCM doctor (female) who speaks very good English. But I can't find her number. She advertised on this site many moons ago. Try doing a search.

And I really don't know how good she is. But she does speak great English and she likes to communicate. So she'll probably explain the diagnosis very thoroughly and maybe even explain the herbs she's prescribing very thoroughly. And you can probably ask her lots of questions.

But this post is useless without contact info, I guess, right? Sorry.

No need to apologize, on the contrary you've been helpful. I emailed the woman from the link you posted above and she got back to me very quickly. I'm not sure where it'll go but its a start.

The only other thing I had to go on was the name of a public hospital that was supposedly good and that it would probably be impossible to achieve without strong Chinese speaking ability or a translator.

This is my last effort at this topic — anyone know anything or have an opinion on Kunming Municipal Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine 昆明市中医医院?

I don't know if you're still around cnotes, but you might want to read this. And this is a complaint I had about a TCM doctor I went to see in another city. He didn't want to disclose the herbs that were in the mixture. I was going to recommend this earlier, but I thought it was a bit crazy. But now that I've read this article below, here's a suggestion - particularly if you have a serious issue. Maybe it would be safer to find a TCM doctor OUTSIDE of China. I know it sounds crazy, but:
1 - The herbs may be more regulated/controlled and the doctors may be more cautious for fear of being sued
2 - Maybe most of the TCM doctors abroad have good quality education.

www.gokunming.com/[...]

Just curious and wondering about the lead you reported on March 11th. Sounded promising. How did that work out?

@abc thanks for following along with the thread and continuing to provide information. That article isn't very reassuring.

I think you make a fair point about seeking treatment outside of China. But finances are another consideration, and I don't have medical insurance. Even if I did, I highly doubt that most plans would cover this form of treatment. So on one hand I'm not trying to avoid the cost, but on the other paying out of pocket for ongoing treatment in the states is not appealing either. I guess I am trying to balance the cost/quality in an advantageous way...maybe its not possible I don't know.

@GBTEXDOC to recap for you. I contacted the woman mentioned in this thread. Met her last week. She generally was very helpful. She spent a long time asking me to detail my health problems so she could relay to the doctor. Had a long discussion on pros/cons of western med vs Chinese. She then got me in to see "the best" doctor at her hospital. As I was warned, there is no privacy. About 5 random people sat in on my appointment, so much for HIPAA.

I was prescribed some herbs, picked them up cost 68 rmb. Unfortunately at this point woman he to run. I wanted to ask what the herbs were, called her next day said that their name doesnt translate into english and I should "just take it" wasn't thrilled about this. There were many indicators that this woman was trustworthy..but having been prescribed some really bad medications in the past I am extra leery, especially taking something blind.

Have not taken them yet still debating what to do. I am however going to begin acupuncture next week with the help of this contact — and have some hope about that.

i don't know. maybe it's part of chinese culture where you're just expected to trust the doctor and not ask what the actual herbs are, but it sounds like a bit of a risk to me.

cnotes, find a translator (maybe a student who will do it for 10 yuan/hr). and go around to many different doctors. get the chinese person to get you a list of all the TCM hospitals and try as many as you can. the actual consultation with a doctor is dirt cheap. it's like 12 kuai to visit a doctor in a public hospital, maybe a bit more in a private clinic. but i think it might be well worth it to try different doctors. maybe you'll find one that will be more willing to discuss what they're prescribing.