Posts Tagged ‘Traditional Chinese Medicine’

medicinal tea

Traditional Chinese Medicine, or TCM as it is known in the West, is a rising star in the realm of alternative and complementary health care in the West. In the United States, for instance, over half of all the states have legalized the professional practice of acupuncture and Chinese medicine and there are currently over 50 schools teaching acupuncture and Chinese medicine in the US. Likewise in Europe, Chinese medicine is increasingly being practiced by both non-m.d.’s and m.d.’s alike with schools of acupuncture and Chinese medicine springing up in every country in Western Europe.

chinese pharmacy

When most Westerners think of Chinese medicine, they typically think of acupuncture since it was the first modality of Chinese medicine to receive popular exposure in the media. However, in China, acupuncture is actually not the main modality of TCM. In China, Chinese medicine first and mostly means the prescription of  Chinese “herbal” remedies. We say herbal in quotes because, in actuality, Chinese medicine makes use of ingredients from all three kingdoms animal, vegetable, and mineral. Thus Chinese herbal medicine is a bit of a misnomer since not all the ingredients a Chinese doctor prescribes are, in fact, herbs in the strict sense of this word.

Chinese Herbal Tea

In any case, when a Chinese doctor prescribes an “herbal” remedy, it is usually in the form of a polypharmacy formula administered as a decoction. Polypharmacy means administering multiple ingredients at the same time. In the overwhelming majority of cases, Chinese doctors administer formulas consisting of from six to 20 ingredients. Most of these ingredients are roots and rhizomes, root barks, and woody twigs, with a lesser number being leaves, flowers, seeds, fruits, and other ingredients. When such polypharmacy formulas are used, they are typically boiled in water for at least 30 minutes and often for more than an hour. The resulting medicinal liquid is then poured off and is called a tang or, literally, a soup. However, when referring to medicinal soups, we usually call these in English a decoction.

Such multiple ingredient soups or decoctions are very strong medicine, and Chinese doctors go to school for from four to six years to learn how to prescribe these without negative or side effects. After all, if something isstrong enough to cure disease in the right person, they must also be strong enough to make someone ill when
they are prescribed erroneously. There is no such thing as a universal panacea among medicinal substances. Thus the prescription of polypharmacy Chinese medicinal decoctions is a professional system of health care requiring lengthy professional training and clinical experience.

SOURCE: Chinese Medicinal Teas : Simple, Proven, Folk Formulas for Common Diseases & Promoting Health author: Zong, Xiao-fan.; Liscum, Gary.