Cathy Gui uses her 20 year experience in Chinese medicine to treat a variety of patients at a clinic in Finaghy, Belfast. She trained in both general and complementary therapy in China.
She said: "At the clinic we practise Chinese medicine. You can call me the acupuncturist or you can call me the herbalist or you can call me an ACM doctor - a lady practitioner of Chinese medicine".
Traditional Chinese Medicine is considered complementary in most of the world but it is the medicine practised in China. It includes a range of traditional medical practices that have developed over several thousand years such as herbal medicine, acupuncture and massage. "At the moment Chinese medicine is the mainstream form of medicine in China", said Cathy. "It is mainly to help the energy flow that helps the body functioning better. It helps the body become more holistic and helps the body work together. It keeps the body balanced, helping to prevent and cure illness".
Cathy feels the fact that Chinese medicinal practises have been around for so long gives it credibility in the Western world. She said: "It has been around for thousands of years and Chinese people say they use it to prevent problems and to treat problems. Acupuncture and herbal medication have really no side effects and only help the body to heal itself. It's not like using drugs to cure the pain or cure the problem." She continues, "in a way the herbal medication, and also the acupuncture, redeem the side effects of drugs. It will ease the pain and let the body work properly".
Cathy worked on the Get Well UK project for a year and found herself treating various types of ailments. "I helped people with mental health problems like stress and anxiety, depression and I also treated people for pain relief", she explained. "It was also exceptional helping people with pain relief. A lot of people would come in who are on a lot of pain killers and anti-inflammatories who couldn't walk. Acupuncture helped them reduce the drugs they were taking and in the meantime enjoy life more and have a better quality of life".
The Chinese medicine doctor believes it is "very important" for the NHS to incorporate therapies like acupuncture into the treatment of patients. She added: "To be honest, I would say it is very important for general medicine and complementary therapy to work together. "Some people are taking so many drugs and they have such bad side effects. In the meantime the doctors are so busy, if they could offer people more options for pain relief they would also be giving people a better quality of life. It's very important".