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Want to make the most of preventive medicine? Supplement your annual physical with the ancient Chinese technique of pulse diagnosis.

"Your digestive system isn’t very strong," he begins. "Overall, that’s the most obvious thing." This fits with the gastroenterology referral. I describe the ER visit. Could be the problem, says Hammer.

"There’s a muffled quality in the area of the pulse corresponding to the large intestine that indicates neo-plastic activity," he adds. My heart sinks: cancer. "It doesn’t necessarily mean you have cancer," he says quickly. It could be an early warning sign, like a polyp. But he suggests I have it checked out with a colonoscopy.

"Also, there’s widespread toxicity in your body," he continues, "though that doesn’t differentiate you from anyone else at this point." In the first edition of Chinese Pulse Diagnosis, he says, toxicity is listed as rare. Four years later, the revised edition identifies it as common. "Allopathic science has found between 50 and 170 substances in the blood that weren’t there 50 to 100 years ago," he adds. "Most are from plastic. But there are ways of detoxifying with herbs and needles."

Then he pauses. "Now," he says quietly, "at the risk of scaring you"—oh no!—"your heart isn’t as strong as I’d like to have it. In fact, I’m a little worried about it. You’re someone I have to insist see a cardiologist for an evaluation."

He says more, but it doesn’t register. I’m scared. I’ve seen cardiologists for heart pain since my 20s, never finding anything. Nevertheless, I hear Hammer say "treatable." He wants me to rule out heart disease, then address the problem with herbs and acupuncture. A cure could take a year or more. "We can get rid of symptoms quickly, but to deal with the underlying pattern," he says, "that’s another matter."

He felt a quality known as "rough vibration," he says, that corresponds to the heart at the base of the left thumb, and it came through in bursts, suggesting unstable heart qi. The pulse on my left side was much stronger than on my right; that sent up the red flag about my digestive system. And the toxicity showed up when he pressed the radial artery down hard, as what he calls a "retained damp heat condition." He laughs. "It sounds pretty bad, doesn’t it? What it means is the body has a way of taking certain pathogens that could kill you and hiding them in joints, muscles or other places where they do more gradual damage." Hammer points to arthritis or chronic headaches as examples.

It’s overwhelming. Still, as I leave Hammer’s wildflower-fringed driveway, I feel hopeful. I’ll get the cardiogram and the colonoscopy, as well as a hair test for toxicity, see a Chinese medicine doctor who understands Hammer’s findings and follow a course of treatment. In a year, maybe I, like Adams, will be delighted by the changes in my health. Already I see the benefit of supplementing the standard physical with this kind of in-depth diagnosis. As Hammer said over lunch: "The reality here is that everything is affecting everything else. The trick is to figure out how."

Note: Do not turn up your speakers, there is no audio to this video.

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