Chinese medicine differential diagnosis and integrative preventative approaches of type II diabetes

Chinese Medicine has differentiated type II diabetes into many patterns of disharmony. Individually tailored treatment strategies could be provided to address the patterns and improve the general health conditions for patients. Many biomedical diagnostic tools have been used in contemporary medical practise to evaluate the severity of the disease and the effectiveness of treatments. Chinese Medicine pattern differentiations of diabetes have demonstrated certain degrees of regularity when linked with biomedical test results, e.g. Patients with Kidney Deficiency and Blood Stagnation have a higher cholesterol level compared with patients with Yin Deficiency; high blood viscosity is commonly found in patients with Blood Stagnation; Yin Deficiency patients could have a higher insulin level than Yin and Yang Deficiency patients; Yin and Yang Deficiency is related to thyroid function decreasing; Yin Deficiency patients could have a higher plasma cortisol level than Qi and Yin Deficiency or Yin and Yang Deficiency patients; Kidney Deficiency and Blood Stagnation is related to lower levels of Zn, Cr, Mg and Mn. A single pattern could develop to a complex pattern. Understanding and study of these relationships could result in the development of an integrated traditional and contemporary diagnostic approach to type II diabetes and provide more appropriate instruments to evaluate the effectiveness of Chinese Medicine in this area. These approaches can be easily applied as early preventative and diagnostic strategies that integrate both Chinese Medicine and contemporary therapies