What ailments or conditions are best treated by a TCM practitioner, and what is best treated by a Western doctor?
MRS TAN YA HWEI, 34

Prof Hong: Chinese medicine places emphasis on prevention of illnesses and treatment of imbalances in the body before they develop into diseases with clinical symptoms.

Do consult a TCM practitioner even if you are not clearly ill, but do not feel in the best of health and wish to improve your levels of fitness and well-being.

Western medicine has powerful tools for dealing with acute conditions that require synthetic medications like antibiotics and special procedures like surgery, and for handling life-threatening conditions like advanced
coronary heart disease, severe hypertension and cancers.

For such severe conditions, I would advise seeing a Western doctor in the first instance and using Chinese medicine only under proper medical advice.

As for common everyday conditions like coughs and colds, digestive, skin, sleep and menstrual problems, both systems of medicine have useful methods of treatment and it is up to you to find out which kinds of treatment are more suitable for you.