Herbal
medicine is the main treatment method of TCM (Traditional Chinese
Medicine), and TCM is the world’s oldest, continually practiced
professional medicine. TCM written history stretches back over 25,000
years and its practice is undoubtedly much older than that. Although
acupuncture was the first Chinese modality to gain wide acceptance in
the West, Chinese herbal medicine is quickly establishing itself as one
of the most popular and effective alternative therapies.
North American and European folk herbalism treats disease by singular
symptoms or disease category such as headache, runny nose, menstrual
pain, etc. Chinese herbal medicine is based on an individualized pattern
diagnosis as well as a symptomatic diagnosis. This means that the TCM
patient receives a custom herbal formula for each condition. In this
way, two patients presenting with seemingly the same symptoms of a
common cold would receive two different herbal formulas based on their
individual constitution as well as their cold symptoms. The TCM pattern
diagnosis is made up of an individual’s signs, symptoms, body
constitution and emotional temperament.
Another distinction between Western herbalism and Chinese herbalism is
that Western herbology uses single herbs for single symptoms or a group
of related herbs all treating the same symptom. TCM herbalism utilizes
many herbs in each formula designed to address not only the superficial
symptom but also the underlying condition and the patient’s entire
pattern.
Although called herbal medicine, TCM practitioners use ingredients from
all three kingdoms, animal, vegetable and mineral. The Ben Cao or
Materia Medica lists over 3,000 entries of medicinal substances,
however, the majority of these are from vegetable sources. Leaves,
flowers, twigs, stems, roots, tubers, and barks are some of the
vegetable parts used.
More than 90% of the pharmaceuticals prescribed by M.D.s have plant,
animal and mineral origins. The closer we are to the source of our
medicine, the more harmonious it will be in our mind/body system. The
chief cause of the negative side effects of pharmaceuticals is that they
work too quickly and/or too powerfully. Your system does not have time
to metabolize and harmonize them and is thrown into a state of
unbalance. Chinese herbal medicine allows your body time to metabolize
nourishing or dispersing substances and there are no negative side
effects when professionally prescribed.
The key to professional prescription of Chinese herbs is the individual
pattern diagnosis. That is the method by which the practitioner
determines the pathological mechanism that is the cause of the symptoms
of disease. Pattern diagnosis is achieved by the study of the patient’s
pulse, tongue and eyes, through the patient’s health history and
analysis of specific signs and symptoms. Chinese herbal medicine treats
the full range of human disease. It treats acute diseases like
intestinal flu and the common cold as well as chronic diseases, such as
allergies, gynecological disorders, autoimmune diseases, chronic viral
diseases and degenerative diseases due to aging. In particular, Chinese
herbal medicine is especially good for promoting the body’s ability to
fight off disease through an improved immune function and in TCM, the
emphasis is on disease prevention. As the ancient saying goes “there is
no sense in waiting to dig the well until one is already thirsty. |
