As people pay more attention to the concept of health care, herbal health care products have emerged as a new army, and there is a wide range of health care products based on herbal ingredients, which is overwhelming. So are herbal supplements really that amazing? Are all people suitable for certain health products? Here are some of my personal opinions on several misconceptions about taking herbal supplements. Myth 1: Listening to advertisements and exaggerating their effects Exaggerating advertisements is a major characteristic of certain herbal health products, which is summarized in eight words: significant efficacy and wide application. For example, “enhance immunity, endocrine regulation, anti-tumor, prolong life, etc.”. There are many problems here, one of which is exaggeration; Chinese medicine has its unique and miraculous features, but it has not been found that a single or several Chinese medicines can achieve the above-mentioned effects. Secondly, switching concepts. This efficacy is based on years of clinical practice in Chinese medicine, and is based on the theories and ideas of Chinese medicine, while these effects are not the efficacy of Chinese medicine, but the conclusions of Western medicine through pharmacological experiments on the efficacy of a certain medicine. So how do these effects arise? No one can give a definite answer. So before using it, we should do more consultation to identify the authenticity of herbal health products and not to listen to the exaggerated words of the advertisement. Myth 2: Expensive must be good Some herbal health products are expensive, comparable to a thousand gold. Dendrobium, American ginseng, etc. are among them. Here we take the more commonly used American ginseng as an example and talk about the precautions of using this kind of Chinese medicine: American ginseng, a kind of ginseng, also known as American ginseng, is native to the northern United States to the southern part of Canada, and is also grown in China. It is also grown in China. It is sweet, slightly bitter and cold. Induces the heart, lung and kidney meridians. Functions and Indications】Nourishing Qi and Yin, clearing heat and generating body fluid. Used for deficiency of qi and yin, internal heat, cough, asthma, phlegm and blood, false heat and tiredness, thirst, dry mouth and dry throat. From the above, we can see that American ginseng is a cold product. In fact, it is not suitable for many people to take, especially the middle-aged and elderly. People at this level are old and weakened, so taking cold ginseng regularly at this time will not only fail to achieve the therapeutic effect of health care, but also damage the vital fire more. For tumors, according to our clinical observation, many patients are most commonly suffering from cold-damp stagnation and accumulation, and these patients should be mainly treated with warmth. The late Mr. Li Ke, a famous old Chinese medicine doctor, was always against the use of American ginseng, and he even said, “Can we use American ginseng instead of Western ginseng in summer? Not at all. You should not take American ginseng at any time, it’s harmful and not beneficial.” The old gentleman said this to warn us that American ginseng is not as omnipotent as rumored, and even it has many disadvantages; secondly, to remind us to pay attention to Yang Qi. “The great treasure of heaven is only this pill of red sun; the great treasure of man is only this breath of true yang.” So here is a reminder that not expensive is good. Before taking herbal health care products, you should first identify your physique and whether it is suitable with that health care product. Myth #3: Everything is about tonic Since ancient times, everyone likes tonic, not diarrhea. Once you hear that your doctor has prescribed a tonic, a kidney tonic, a liver tonic, a blood tonic, etc., you will feel a bit more at ease; but if you hear that your doctor has prescribed a laxative, like rhubarb or mannitol, you will be worried and will always ask more questions about whether there will be any problems after eating it. In fact, this is also a common sense. But from the point of view of Chinese medicine, it’s not right to supplement and wrong to diarrhea. It can be seen that Chinese medicine does not only talk about tonic, tonic is also not the most important treatment. Let’s take Liu Wei Di Huang Wan as an example. Many middle-aged and elderly people, a pain in the waist suspected that they are not kidney deficiency, more or less will try to eat a little Liu Wei Di Huang Wan and so on. As a result, after eating for a period of time, not only the symptoms are not relieved, but become less wanting to eat, less meals, body often weak and sleepy. We often see these patients in the clinic, let him stick out his tongue to take a look, a thick layer of tongue moss, this is too much Yin, dampness diffuse, have to use some Xiang Sha six Jun Zi Tang type to turn the dampness, he can slowly recover. This is a typical case of not getting the right evidence. In fact, there are many types of back pain in Chinese medicine, each corresponding to a different treatment. The Six Flavored Dihuang Pill only treats individual types of symptoms. For example, Yang deficiency back pain and cold dampness back pain will not get better if you take Liu Wei Di Huang Wan, and may even get worse. So even if it is a supplement, we should be careful. In conclusion, herbal health supplements are not suitable for everyone. We would like to advise all patients that taking herbal health supplements also needs to be done under the discriminating guidance of a physician and not to blindly listen to advertisements to avoid causing unnecessary damage to their bodies.