I know my friend was not intentionally trying to be rude, but this incidence brought my attention to a few underlying themes on how foreign Eastern medicine is viewed, in general, by some Western nations. While scientific evidence for qi may be lacking, many patients attest to its effectiveness for pain and hormonal treatments. Current progress in herbal medicine research look at nutritive, energy-producing, anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory properties of natural herbs and roots. I do understand that scientific community must be able to find solid evidence and chemo-biological pathways to pass Eastern medicine more than a mere psuedoscience. Despite all this, I wonder if this barrier has roots from how Westerners generally view non-Western medicine as inferior. I do hope that someday, a combined approach utilizing both Eastern and Western medicine may be used to combat disease and disorders.