Western pharmaceutical drugs capitalize on a single biologically active ingredients to produce a specific physiological effect. This accounts for their potency and also for their secondary or side effects. Although drugs may control symptoms, they often do not treat pathological process. For example, antibiotics may eliminate bacteria from you and also your immune cells but do not improve a person’s resistance to being infected; diuretics rid body of excess fluid yet do not improve kidney function; aspirin controls arthritic pain without altering degenerative course of disease. Sometimes further aggravations or adverse side effects result. For instance, yeast infections may follow a course of antibiotics; kidney damage may result from long-term use of diuretics; lengthy use of aspirin may cause lining of stomach to erode, triggering internal bleeding.
With Chinese medicinal herbs, active ingredients are enfolded within whole plants; this tends to buffer their side effects. Furthermore, herbs are often blended together to counteract undesired effects and enhance intended effects, called as formula. Your Chinese herbal medicine practitioner addresses the underlying condition as defined by traditional Chinese medicine diagnosis and, when used properly, rarely cause disagreeable consequences.
Minimization of side effects while maintaining clinical uses is the chief benefit of Chinese herbal medicine formulas. Although side effects to Chinese herbal medicine occur, they tend to be minor. This can be compared with hospital admission rate in U.S.A. An article of systematic review (Ayalew, M. B., Tegegn, H. G., & Abdela, O. A. (2019). Drug Related Hospital Admissions; A Systematic Review of the Recent Literatures. Bulletin of emergency and trauma, 7(4), 339–346. https://doi.org/10.29252/beat-070401) reports the result ” The prevalence of drug related hospital admission varies from 1.3% to 41.3% with the average rate of 15.4% which is 5.57 million peoples. Among hospitalized patients 2.7% were died which was 0.97 million peoples due to drug-related problems (DRPs). Drugs that were frequently reported as causing drug related admission were antithrombotic drugs, antihypertensive drugs, analgesics, anti-diabetics, antipsychotics, and anti-neoplastic drugs. Poly pharmacy, old age and female sex were mentioned as determinants for drug related hospitalization by a number of studies. About one third of drug related hospital admissions were definitely preventable and more than 40% were also potentially preventable.”
And in 2019, there were over 36.2 million hospital admissions in the United State. (Source from https://www.statista.com/statistics/459718/total-hospital-admission-number-in-the-us/)
—more people die from adverse drug reactions than are killed in the traffic accidents which was reported “More than 38,000 people die every year in crashes on U.S. roadways. The U.S. traffic fatality rate is 12.4 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants.”(Source from https://www.asirt.org/safe-travel/road-safety-facts/)
Problems do not arise only with strong drugs used in life-threatening situations. A large percentage of serious injury and death comes from gastrointestinal bleeding or kidney damage from simple pain medications.
Medical herbalism differs from folk herbalism in that medical herbalism is practiced in the context of a medical diagnosis, is used for the full range of conditions that afflict humanity, and its practitioner depends for his/her livelihood on obtaining therapeutic results. Major living systems of medical herbalism in Australia are naturopathic tradition, British tradition, and Chinese medicine. Of the three, Chinese herbal medicine is by far the most developed. It has been continuously refined over thousands of years, to the point that it is now more sophisticated in its clinical applications that the pharmacy of Western biomedicine. By this, indications, contraindications, and those formulations are devised to minimize side effects that would be considered a tolerable nuisance in the Western system.
Furthermore, Chinese herbal medicine may help conditions for which Western medicine has nothing to offer-most notably the deficiency syndromes treated with Chinese tonic herbs. Those herbs are beneficial to especially elderly people, who are mainly presenting deficiency syndrome. There is nothing like them in allopathic or homeopathic medicine. Tonic herbs will strengthen resistance to disease, and help patients improve their overall health and feelings of well-being. These tonic herbs can be taken safely for long periods of time by those who are under a lot of stress, or by those who are not in good health.
Chinese Herbal Medicine is not fully researched with modern research methods. Therefore, there are no claims for helping your concerning conditions.
Therefore, your Chinese Medicine Practitioners may ask you, as a consumer of health service, research yourself and ask various health practitioners including your Medical Practitioners.
And everyday lots of literatures are publishing online and by journals.
Especially, PUBMEDhttps://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/ (USA Data base for searching medical research papers and others) is useful to search recent research articles you may concern.
The purpose of this brochure is informing a consumer of health service and making proper decision to have a treatment you may need.
You’ll have lots of questions to ask your Chinese Herbal Medicine Practitioner for your conditions. Your Chinese Herbal Medicine Practitioner would answer your questions.
Problems are arising from too much expectations of Chinese Herbal Medicine. It is sometimes very difficult to meet your expectations. Your Chinese Herbal Medicine Practitioner is trying to help you step by step approach.
Therefore, your Chinese Herbal Medicine practitioner would provide treatment plan for your particular concerns, and then he or she would explain your conditions and discuss with you.
If you have any questions, please ask your Chinese Herbal Medicine Practitioner.
Administration of Chinese herbal medicine
1. Decoction (water extraction)
This form of administration is traditional way to take Chinese herbal medicine. Your Chinese herbal medicine practitioner will dispense your Chinese herbs with direction to decoct and how to take decoction. If you cook yourself, you can see what you take. This is safe way to take Chinese herbs. If you have any difficulty to make decoction, you can ask your Chinese herbal medicine practitioner who will help you with extra cost for cooking and packing of your herbs.
2. Granule
This form of administration is new way to dispense Chinese herbs. In factory, they are decocting individual herbs and concentrating decoction and drying up. Finally, they are making granule form of herbs. Your Chinese herbal medicine practitioner will dispense this form of herbs according to traditional Chinese medicine diagnosis. This form of herbs is convenient to take without needing cooking. However, as like Decoction, you can taste herbs.
3. Powder
This form of administration is making powder of raw dried herbs without cooking. Therefore, it is slowly effective to your body. This form may be suitable for patients who are taking herbs for long term.
4. Pill
This form of administration is making powder of raw dried herbs and mixing with honey and forming round form of pill. Nowadays, patent pills are manufactured in factory and available from your Chinese herbal medicine practitioner. Too many kinds of pills are available in sale. Your practitioner can’t be prepared every pill for individual needs.
5. Capsule
This form of administration is making granule or powder to put into capsule to take easy. As like pill, those capsules are only available for limited selection area. Therefore, they are not suitable for individual needs. Your Chinese herbal medicine practitioner can’t adjust for your particular needs.
6. Tablet
This form of administration is making granule or powder to tablet to take easy with other ingredients. As like pill and capsule, they are made in factory with prescribed formula. Compared with decoction, dosage is much less than decoction. Therefore, your Chinese herbal medicine practitioner can’t change formula for your individual needs.
From above presentation, you can see their advantage and disadvantage. If you have any question, please ask your Chinese herbal medicine practitioner for further detail information.
Your health is not building up for just one day. You may be needed few months to year for backing to normal status, and afterwards you may need to maintain. Therefore, you can discuss treatment plan with your Chinese herbal medicine practitioner.