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Chinese Herbal Medicine has been researched and applied as medicine for over 3,000 years. The first artifacts listing botanical and animal medicinal substances are dated from 1066-221 BC. The first text, Shen Nong Ben Cao Jing (Divine Husbandman's Classic of the Materia Medica) came along in the 2nd century, AD. Many more texts followed, each expanding on and refining the uses of these medicinals for all kinds of illnesses. In China, research has been ongoing for decades, in laboratory settings and clinical trials. Use is much more liberal and understood there. They inject solutions, made from the liquid of cooking herbs, called decoctions, into the bloodstream, much like western personnel have IV bags with solutions of chemical components. There are research projects involving animals and clinical trials involving real people documented all the time. The West is slow in catching on and want to perform their own trials, which the FDA has just come out in support for. See the article in SFGate.com in July. Each herb is catagorized into several sections: Taste, Temperature, Meridians entered, toxicity, therapeutic function and dosage. This is how acupuncturists can determine what herbs to use for your condtion. If we treat certain meridians with acupuncture, then we pick herbs that go to the same meridians to enhance the treatment. Here's an example, an herb that we are all familiar with. Cinnamon is called Gui Zhi (the twig) or Rou Gui (the bark). They have different functions as medicinals. Gui Zhi Properties: Spicy, Sweet and warm Meridians: Heart, Lung and Urinary Bladder Functions: Releases exterior cold by producing sweating Warms and Opens the Meridians and Collaterals for painful obstruction Warms Yang to eliminate water or phlegm stagnation; edema Warms Yang in the chest to remove phlegm Warms Yang in the Chong meridian to restore normal menstruation Contraindications: Not for use during pregnancy, as a rule, or in patients with high risk of bleeding, or who have a fever Rou Gui Properties: Spicy, Sweet, Hot Meridians: Heart, Kidney, Liver, Spleen Functions: Tonifies Kidney Yang to relieve chronic cold conditons, frequent urination, soreness of low back and knees, impotence, asthma Dispels cold, warms the Spleen and Relieves Pain of the abdomen or for vomiting and diarrhea Warms the channels to treat deep rooted sores on the skin Contraindications: Not for use during pregnancy, or in someone who feels warm all the time. As you can see, one herb can do many things. It is up to the licensed, experienced practitioner to determine which herbs will work for you. Because there are contraindiciations for many herbs, one must know how to use them appropriately. Herbs come in various forms: Raw, Powders, Pills, Tablets and extracts. My clinic uses Powders, Pills and Tablets for ease of use. There are hundreds of individual herbs and formulas that have been tested over time to alleviate many symptoms. Herbal medicinals are researched thoroughly and, as such, can be administered in conjuction with most western drugs. There are exceptions. For example, there are some herbs that move blood. We would not be prescribing this kind of herb to someone who is taking a blood thinner, i.e. Coumadin. If you have a specific questions about herbs and what you're taking, please go to the contact page. I'd be happy to answer any questions you may have.
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