Clinical mulch
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clinicalmulch.bsky.social
Clinical mulch
@clinicalmulch.bsky.social
52 followers 75 following 120 posts
I write a Substack on acupuncture and Chinese medicine for advanced students and practitioners.
https://clinicalmulch.substack.com/
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clinicalmulch.bsky.social
November 3, 2025 at 6:07 PM
clinicalmulch.bsky.social
Hey, can anyone help me identify this mushroom? I found it in my yard while weed-whacking. Growing on a fallen palm trunk in a shady area. Southeast Florida, just north of Miami. Thanks in advance.
#mushrooms #mycology
Photo of a white flat-capped mushroom on a fallen log underside of a mushroom, showing the stem and gills
September 2, 2025 at 2:02 PM
clinicalmulch.bsky.social
New on Clinical mulch: Fear is increasing globally. How can we as acupuncturists help our patients and ourselves through the dark times? Some thoughts from prominent late imperial era physicians, and a few of our own.
clinicalmulch.substack.com/p/about-to-b...
Graphic of the Chinese character "kong", meaning "fear", on a gray circular gradient background. The title of the piece at the top is "About to be Seized: Acupuncture treatment of fear" and at the bottom is the blog address clinicalmulch.substack.com. A faint watermark says "Graphic by Clinical mulch 2025".
July 25, 2025 at 2:46 PM
clinicalmulch.bsky.social
Quick and dirty job I did on a materia medica entry about fennel fruit (Foeniculum vulgare), from Ye Tianshi:
substack.com/@clinicalmul...
Botanical illustration depicting the fennel plant and its parts, from Koehler's Medicinal Plants, 1890.
July 19, 2025 at 10:40 PM
clinicalmulch.bsky.social
I think I've got a topic
Let's do some lit review
Wow, what a mess
I think it's coming together
Need to clarify a couple of things
Let's do a quick lit search
Wow, what a mess
I think it's coming together
Need to edit and re-translate some things
Wow what a mess
I think it's coming together...
picture altered to look like an oil painting, depicting a laptop computer with several documents open on the screen.
July 10, 2025 at 4:01 PM
clinicalmulch.bsky.social
I ran across this historical paper while researching Chinese medicine laws in Puerto Rico. There is a rich history of Chinese immigrants in the Caribbean and I’m curious to read more stories of Chinese physicians in Cuba, P.R., Jamaica, etc.
prhsj.rcm.upr.edu/index.php/pr...
Abstract of a paper by José G. Rigau-Pérez, MD, MPH, entitled "Unlicensed to Prescribe Herbs: A Chinese Healer – Médico Chino – in Puerto Rico, 1851-1853." The abstract reads: "In Puerto Rico and Cuba, the phrase “can’t be saved even by the Chinese physician” (“no lo salva ni el médico chino”) indicates a person with an incurable disease. The documents at the Archivo General de Puerto Rico include three requests for a medical license from a Chinese immigrant, Juan de Dios Sian (Lin Hua Cheng). Despite lacking legal credentials, he used herbal therapies to treat chronically ill persons in Ponce, San Juan and Mayaguez from 1851 to 1853. Before arriving in Ponce he had spent four years in Cuba, where he is again found by 1865. Sian’s petitions show that Puerto Rico, like Cuba, experienced a widely known “médico chino.” The anecdote reminds us of important issues in our medical and social history: Asiatic immigration (earlier, larger and more diverse than usually considered), access to care (and its limitations), and the long history of herbal medicine in Oriental and Western cultures. Elements of this story, such as the eagerness for new treatments among patients who have derived no benefit from standard therapy, the ethics of medical licensing, the impotence of licensing agencies and the toleration of authorities regarding an unorthodox but popular healer, exemplify dilemmas that accompany medical practice at all times. [P R Health Sci J 2016;35:100-107]"
June 29, 2025 at 7:37 PM
clinicalmulch.bsky.social
"And that visibility which makes us most vulnerable is that which also is the source of our greatest strength. Because the machine will try to grind you into dust anyway, whether or not we speak." - Audre Lorde
electricliterature.com/wp-content/u...
Portrait of poet and activist Audre Lorde before a floral background with an icon-style halo of red and black behind her head.
June 26, 2025 at 4:57 PM
clinicalmulch.bsky.social
It's Bandcamp Friday, when 100% of purchase revenue goes to the artists, so I picked up a couple of digital downloads:
*"Shepherds" by whistle titan Brian Finnegan
*"Human Element" by keyboard mage Scott Kinsey

Support the musicians who make the music you love!
daily.bandcamp.com/features/ban...
Blue and yellow background on which is written "Bandcamp Friday May 2".
May 2, 2025 at 5:50 PM
clinicalmulch.bsky.social
A hot topic in recent years is the “brain-gut axis [脑肠轴 nǎocháng zhóu]” and its treatment in Chinese medicine, sometimes called the “brain-gut co-regulation treatment method [脑肠同调治法 nǎocháng tóngtiáo zhìfǎ]”. Here is a review of some current research.
clinicalmulch.substack.com/p/the-essenc...
Schematic drawing of the brain-gut axis, showing the brain, stomach, spleen, and intestines with Chinese characters identifying each. The title reads "The Essence of Water and Grain: Acupuncture Approaches to the Brain-Gut Axis"
April 27, 2025 at 2:01 PM
clinicalmulch.bsky.social
In the latest Clinical mulch, I look at some research on plastic accumulation in the human body and speculate on ways in which Chinese medicine might understand the disease mechanism as well as aid the body in its elimination.
clinicalmulch.substack.com/p/a-spoons-w...
Image of a plastic spoon, with post title "A Spoon's Worth: Plastic as a Pathogenic Factor" and platform name "clinical mulch dot substack dot com".
March 20, 2025 at 9:22 PM
clinicalmulch.bsky.social
Wow, I'm not an HHS employee, but this is pretty much spot on.
Screenshot of 5 bullet points regarding tasks performed last week as an acupuncturist, generated by a website designed as a response to government email inquiries.
March 3, 2025 at 5:39 PM
clinicalmulch.bsky.social
Can confirm. Results with and without VPN:
Screenshot of Pubmed page with search results. Screenshot of Pubmed search page showing inability to connect.
March 2, 2025 at 2:10 PM
clinicalmulch.bsky.social
For reference:
Infographic showing the timeline for the development of measles symptoms, with photos to illustrate the accompanying skin rashes.
February 23, 2025 at 3:09 PM
clinicalmulch.bsky.social
Another quick one: Japanese honeysuckle flower, jin1 yin2 hua1, Lonicerae Flos, sweet and cold, disperses wind-heat, clears toxic heat. "Large unopened yellowish-white buds are the best." (Wiseman & Brand, Comprehensive Chinese Materia Medica, 2020.)
Image of a bunch of tiny slender yellow-gold flower buds, with a ruler showing each to be about two to three centimeters long.
February 12, 2025 at 4:49 PM
clinicalmulch.bsky.social
China tea rose, yue4 ji4 hua1, Rosae Chinensis Flos, quickens blood, regulates menses. "Half-open buds with a fresh flavor are the best." (Wiseman & Brand, Comprehensive Chinese Materia Medica, 2020.)
Image of a dozen small Chinese rose buds, next to a ruler which shows the buds to each be about one inch long.
February 12, 2025 at 4:35 PM
clinicalmulch.bsky.social
The newest Clinical mulch drop is the third and final part of the Mysterious House series, on using acumoxa to open the xuánfǔ. clinicalmulch.substack.com/p/the-myster...
Rough sketch of a plum blossom needle, a small bullet-shaped hammer with tiny needles projecting from the bottom, suspended over a porous surface. Trails of vapor rise from each of the pores, gathering in a cloud above. The caption reads "The Mysterious House 3: Acumoxa treatments to open xuanfu" and "clinicalmulch.substack.com".
January 25, 2025 at 7:33 PM
clinicalmulch.bsky.social
Just in time, so happy to receive a copy of Professor Wáng Míngjié’s 2018 book, Mysterious House Theory [玄府学说, Xuánfǔ xuéshuō]. Now I am rewriting my upcoming piece to include some material from it.
Cover of a book in Chinese, by Professor Wang Mingjie, titled Mysterious House Theory. The book is on Chinese medical theory.
January 24, 2025 at 7:55 PM
clinicalmulch.bsky.social
To close out this difficult year I am going to look back to 25 years ago, reprinting a couple of articles I wrote on learning pediatric acupuncture for the North American Journal of Oriental Medicine back in 1999 and 2000.
clinicalmulch.substack.com/p/shonishin
December 31, 2024 at 6:41 PM
clinicalmulch.bsky.social
TCM properties of ashwagandha [Withania somnifera (L.) Dunal], from an article that just dropped yesterday in the journal Global Traditional Chinese Medicine [环球中医药].
November 23, 2024 at 7:14 PM
clinicalmulch.bsky.social
Haven't seen this one around, have you?
November 22, 2024 at 6:03 PM
clinicalmulch.bsky.social
Warming is one of the eight methods of herbal medicine, and presents a natural link between treatment strategy in Chinese herbology and acumoxa therapy. Here is a review of a 2012 Chinese journal article on warming principles in moxibustion.
clinicalmulch.substack.com/p/fire-is-eq...
November 18, 2024 at 11:33 PM