Consultation Tips

Procedures to be followed the night before pulse reading and urinalysis

When I see patients I always tell them to relax for at least ten minutes before I read their pulse. This is because people often arrive to see me for a consultation after having travelled for many miles and suffered from the stresses caused by the unpredictability of our modern forms of transport, and simply from life in general. It is also very important for the physician to be as relaxed as possible at the time of performing pulse reading.

The patient has to observe certain preliminary practices for proper pulse reading and urinalysis to be performed by the physician. The night before the urinalysis the patient should avoid strong tea and coffee, alcohol, buttermilk, vitamins and other forms of medication (if possible), spicy foods, and food which is heavy and difficult to digest, such as rare steak. The patient should avoid physical exertion such as running, strenuous work such as digging the garden, staying up late and getting little sleep, having too much mental activity, and especially, they should avoid sexual intercourse. All these factors will affect proper diagnosis through urinalysis. If the patient, for example, has eaten hot potency foods such as meat along with spicy foods and has had hot potency drinks such as alcohol, it is possible to mistake their urine with a mKhris-pa disorder when they may not have a mKhris-pa disorder at all. The patient should therefore drink a moderate quantity of liquid and eat plain vegetarian food such as rice and vegetables, and they should have a good night’s sleep with plenty of rest.

The urine sample from which diagnosis is made should be the first early morning urine, any time after midnight. The urine container should be sterilised and the quantity should be 30 ml.

How to take Tibetan medicine?

Tibetan medicine is in pill form so you need to put either 1 pill or 3 pills as prescribed by a Tibetan doctor in a clean cup, then pour half cup of hot water and soak for 30 minutes before you take the pills. In the West however, we all are so busy in the morning so the best way is to soak your morning medicine overnight. In the morning after brushing your teeth you can remove the pills from the cup with a teaspoon, put them in your mouth and crush with your teeth, add a little warm water in the cup, drink the warm water and rinse your mouth.

Tibetan medicine contains herbs and minerals with no artificial preservatives, flavours or chemicals to dissolve it. Therefore it is important to take it with warm water. The taste of Tibetan medicine is very natural so don’t think too much about the taste when taking it!

All Tibetan medicines should be preserved in airtight containers for the medicines to retain their potency.