Clinical Expression of Counterbalanced Pairs

Daniel: January 4, 2020, 7:37pm
Prior to Sa’Am, most of us think of pairs in terms of standards like Phase Yin Yang (e.g. Lung – Large Intestine,
Liver-Gall Bladder, etc) or maybe Six Qi (e.g. Yang Ming – Stomach/Large Intestine, etc) – so much so, its hard to
think otherwise (I recall a Chinese trained practitioner at a recent Sa’Am workshop having a really hard time
letting go and surrendering to the Sa’Am counterbalanced pair framework as it seemed to contravene the standard
TCM pairings to which she was so accustomed). Since learning the Sa’Am Counterbalanced Pairs, I am amazed at
how often, every day, their potency shows up in clinic. Just yesterday, had a patient come in with a severe barky
dry cough she’d had for a month – unrelenting, exhausting, and very very dry. Her thenar eminences were also very
sunken and empty. I was already planning to do an internally moistening treatment of Lung Supplementation when,
as she was getting on the table, she noted that she also had this crazy leg pain that would not resolve and that
perhaps I could treat it ‘next time’ (as her cough was her priority and of course she saw them as unrelated) . . . I
asked where the pain was and she pointed precisely to the Left Leg Stomach channel from Stomach 37 to Stomach
39!! Perfect.

michaelmax: January 5, 2020, 6:21am
Very fun when this kind of thing happens. Without the Saam perspective we might see this kind of clinical pattern
and have no idea how it all fit together. But when you know how to look, man oh man… things can really come
together to help confirm our diagnosis.

Daniel: January 9, 2020, 6:07pm
she just came in a week later . . . her cough disappeared completely right after that treatment and has not returned
at all.30/01/2024, 11:59Clinical Expression of Counterbalanced Pairs – Sa’am Clinical Insights – Qiological Community
https://forum.qiological.com/t/clinical-expression-of-counterbalanced-pairs/818/print2/2

KristinWisgirda: January 9, 2020, 7:03pm
How about her leg pain- gone too?
This is why, at what seems like the end of the patient interview, Toby always asks “anything else?”. I now do the
same and often ask that question several times if I am not 100% confident of how to treat. I still ask even if I am
100% confident of how to treat because occasionally the patient will tell you what is really going on, what really
really needs to be treated as an aside or afterthought.

Daniel: January 9, 2020, 7:27pm
yes, leg pain totally gone as well. sorry, forgot to mention that! And I totally agree with you (and Toby), that what
is ‘really really going on’ can often reveal itself in an ‘afterthought’ kind of context!!