1. Nowadays, many proprietary Chinese medicines are classified as non-prescription drugs because of their low side effects and low risk.
Many ordinary Chinese medicines can be bought casually in pharmacies. Many people even use Chinese medicine as a health care product and blindly use it when they hear that others have used it, and they superstitiously believe that some Chinese medicine supplements can nourish their bodies without being diagnosed by a doctor and insist on taking it for a long time, not knowing that this is very dangerous. In recent decades, there have been clinical reports of liver and kidney damage caused by the long-term application of certain Chinese medicines. In fact, the application of Chinese medicine and Western medicine are very different. As long as the diagnosis of the disease is clear, there is basically no major mistake in choosing this type of medicine. If the doctor diagnoses angina pectoris as coronary heart disease after ECG examination, there is no problem to use cardiac pain. But this is not the case with Chinese medicine. Chinese medicine has different properties of cold, hot, warm and cool, so it is not only necessary to determine the disease, but more importantly, to identify the symptoms of the patient’s disease. It is difficult to guarantee the efficacy of herbal medicine when you go to the pharmacy blindly when you have a cough.
2. What are the symptoms in Chinese medicine?
The so-called evidence is the essence of the disease at a certain stage, as determined by the TCM practitioner based on the patient’s symptoms and signs, as well as the tongue and pulse, to determine the nature of the disease, the site of onset, and the strength of the body’s resistance. It reflects the location, cause, nature of the disease, and the contrast between the forces of good and evil.
For example, the same cold disease, Western medicine treatment is basically the same effect of antipyretic and analgesic class of drug therapy, while Chinese medicine according to the patient’s clinical manifestations will be further divided into two categories of very different nature of the symptoms, the nature of the symptoms of different medication will be different. If the patient feels fever and sweating, although the body temperature rises, but there is still a mild fear of cold symptoms, sweating, dry mouth, yellow nasal discharge, spitting yellow phlegm and sticky, dry throat and sore throat, yellow urine, yellow tongue and moss and floating pulse is heat, Chinese medicine is considered wind-heat evil in the table, the diagnosis of wind-heat cold, with Yin Qiao San to remove wind and heat to relieve the table, the treatment effect is very good. Sometimes the clinical manifestation is that although the body is feverish and the body temperature is high, the patient feels cold and heavy, does not feel warm even with a thick blanket, although the fever is high, the patient does not feel hot, and is accompanied by headache, pain all over the body, no sweating, clear watery nose, coughing up thin white phlegm, no dry mouth and thirst, urine is not yellow, moss is thin and white, and pulse is floating and tight. Chinese medicine considers it a cold with wind and cold, and uses Jing Fang Fang Shen Poison San, which is very effective in dispersing wind and cold and relieving symptoms. However, if these two symptoms are reversed, the treatment with Chinese medicine will not only not cure the cold disease, but also lead to the aggravation of the disease. This is different from Western medicine, which can be used for any cold as long as it is a cold, and there will be no big difference in efficacy, nor will it aggravate the cold.
Therefore, Chinese medicine is about dialectical treatment. Dialectical evidence is the most difficult thing to do in Chinese medicine, is the core of the essence of Chinese medicine. Some inexperienced TCM doctors have difficulty in correct dialectic, and many TCM doctors now do not prescribe Chinese herbal tonics because it is difficult to dialectic in TCM and they have no idea of the efficacy of their own formulas. Therefore, patients who do not have knowledge of Chinese medicine are advised not to think that Chinese medicine has few side effects and just choose Chinese medicine for themselves. For example, the treatment for the same patient with cardiovascular disease is different for some patients with heavy blood stasis, some with heavy phlegm and dampness, and some with Yang Qi deficiency. It is not possible to use any kind of herbal medicine for cardiovascular disease or cerebrovascular disease.
3. The treatment of diseases with Chinese herbal medicine is dependent on the type of constitution
If a person is afraid of heat, he or she has a strong Yang energy and likes to drink cool water, while some people are afraid of cold and have diarrhea and abdominal pain when they eat cold, which is a lack of Yang energy. People who are afraid of heat with chili, ginger, will be on fire appear dry mouth, mouth ulcers. And people who are afraid of cold mistakenly use the heat-clearing gardenia, Huang Lian will lead to diarrhea, abdominal pain. If the ginger and Huang Lian are used in reverse to the above two types of physical people can achieve good results. So the same disease is what needs to be treated, Chinese medicine doctor not only according to the patient’s symptoms and tongue and pulse to determine the different symptoms such as cold, heat and deficiency, but also according to the usual type of physique targeted selection of drugs to have effect. Therefore, Chinese medicine treatment of diseases as long as the symptoms are the same, different diseases can use the same drug, or the same disease, different physique, different symptoms of people with different drugs can achieve good results. This is different from Western medicine, as long as the hypertension is selected to lower the blood pressure and other drugs are more or less effective, and has the characteristics of Chinese medicine dialectical treatment. Therefore, the use of Chinese medicine without dialectical evidence can not be effective, and sometimes lead to aggravation of the disease. For example, ginseng is a herbal medicine that has a very good effect of replenishing qi. However, people with internal Yang heat (commonly known as people who are prone to fire) may suffer from nasal bleeding or increased blood pressure after misuse. Some patients blindly believe that herbal tonic is good medicine. Therefore, many doctors lament that rhubarb (Chinese herbal medicine with laxative effect) has no merit in curing diseases and ginseng has no fault in killing people. Nowadays, many people are taking Long-term Six Flavored Dihuang Pills, which is a medicine to nourish kidney yin. As the contemporary rich men’s life is more wine plus beauty, more diet spicy alcoholic wine, then the body more damp heat. The pursuit of sexual pleasure can lead to the depletion of kidney yin, so the body is more kidney yin deficiency, damp heat within the physique. The actual fact is that you can find a lot of people who are not able to get a lot of money for their own personal use. Current research has found that plant genes such as rice, when absorbed by the body, can change the body’s genetic structure, leading to changes in certain body functions. This is the scientific basis for why Chinese medicine can regulate and change the physical condition of the human body at the genetic level.
4. Chinese medicine treatment also takes into account the geographical and climatic characteristics of the patient’s location and the seasonal climate at the time
In the northwest and northeast of China, the cold climate is colder and the amount of pungent and warm medicines used to disperse wind and cold is larger. Only by following these principles of Chinese medicine and considering the selection of medicine can we achieve good results with Chinese medicine. For the same wind-cold cold, the amount of wind-cold dispersing medicine used in summer is less than that used in winter, and the selection of medicine is also different. In summer, we use heat-clearing medicine to avoid hurting the body’s yang energy, while in winter, we use warm medicine, taking care not to excessively consume the body’s yin essence.
5. About the toxic effects of Chinese medicine
Since most of the Chinese medicines are taken from natural plants and have been verified by the Chinese people for thousands of years, coupled with the clinical comparison in the past two hundred years, most of the Chinese medicines have lower toxicity, are relatively safe and reliable in treating diseases compared to western medicines, so many patients have experienced through the comparison of Chinese and western medicines that it is safe to treat diseases with Chinese medicines, and many patients in China are willing to choose Chinese medicines for treatment. And some people blindly believe that Chinese medicine is non-toxic and do not apply a certain Chinese medicine for a long time under the guidance of a doctor, which leads to liver and kidney function damage. Therefore, some people in the society now take this opportunity to attack Chinese medicine specifically, picking out the shortcomings of Chinese medicine and believing that Chinese medicine is toxic, thus devaluing the efficacy of Chinese medicine.
Regarding the toxicity of Chinese medicine, as early as 2,000 years ago in the Shennong Ben Cao Jing. It is a good idea to classify drugs into upper, middle and lower grades according to whether they are toxic or not. The upper grade is a life prolonging drug, which is non-toxic; the middle grade is a disease prevention and deficiency remedy, which is toxic or non-toxic according to the amount of medicine; the lower grade is a drug for treating diseases and pre-disease, which is mostly toxic and cannot be taken for a long time, and some drugs can cause poisoning or even death if used improperly.
(1) non-toxic Chinese medicine: this kind of Chinese medicine can be used for health care can be long-term consumption. Such as ginger, white onion, jujube, honey, cinnamon, wolfberry, barley, black sesame, yam, mulberry, etc., itself is food, is actually non-toxic medicine, does not contain toxic chemical ingredients. In general, even if taken regularly, they do not produce toxic side effects on the human body. Although the proportion of these drugs in Chinese medicine is small, they are commonly used in clinical practice. There is a difference between hot and cold, and warm and cool, even for these types of drugs. Long-term application should let the doctor choose according to your physique. Although there will be no toxic damage with bad use, it will also produce deviations in the body’s function, such as people with high fire energy using cinnamon will fire mouth ulcers, the body’s Yin deficiency or or fire people improper application of ginger will fire dry stools. It should be said that such food has a cold, hot, warm and cool bias, rather than containing toxic ingredients. The one-sided view that “medicine is three parts poison” “poison” is the drug contains toxic chemicals, after taking it will cause damage to the body, is obviously absurd.
(2) Under normal dosage, Chinese medicine will not produce toxic side effects: these drugs are used to treat diseases, and most of the drugs in Chinese medicine belong to this category, such as ginseng, licorice, poria, honeysuckle, panax quinquefolium, etc. If these drugs are used in accordance with the evidence, the medicine is compatible with the evidence, and are applied properly, they will not produce obvious adverse reactions to the human body. The “Shen Nong Ben Cao Jing” clearly states that the Chinese medicine, toxic or non-toxic according to the amount of medicine, the dose should refer to the daily dose of each choice, and the length of time the patient ingested the total dose of two aspects.
Today we should keep in mind the principle that the toxicity of most Chinese medicines is closely related to the dosage. We should not simply understand that herbal medicines are toxic or non-toxic. In Chinese medicine, it is important to assist the body’s righteousness to overcome diseases, and for the treatment of diseases, the emphasis is on stopping the disease when it is hit, or stopping when it is mostly decayed. In other words, when the patient’s painful symptoms have disappeared, or most of the uncomfortable symptoms have disappeared, and the body has recovered or basically recovered, the patient will no longer continue to use medicine to treat the disease, and the future recovery will rely on life conditioning, and the use of some top quality drugs made of medicinal porridge, and the use of medicinal food to promote physical recovery. If these drugs are not applied properly, they can also produce diseases, such as improper use of ginseng leading to increased blood pressure, improper use of licorice leading to increased blood pressure, and some patients blindly believe that ginseng is a tonic, asking doctors for good medicine, and aggravate the disease, no wonder ancient doctors lamented that ginseng does not kill, rhubarb saves lives without merit. Therefore, in ancient times, Chinese medicines for treating diseases were seldom applied for a long time, and it was pointed out that after the symptoms of the disease disappeared, the top quality Chinese medicines with mild medicinal properties were chosen to strengthen the body and restore the righteousness, so that the disease could be cured. Instead of using drugs under the guidance of the rules of Chinese medicine, they choose Chinese medicine based on a certain index of Western medicine and use such drugs for a long time, resulting in many toxic side effects.
It is not impossible to use this kind of Chinese medicine for a long time, but it is necessary to select some drugs that do not have toxic effects and are suitable for the long-term pathology of the disease, so as to form a new Chinese medicine formula that can be used for a long time without side effects. It should be pointed out that the medicinal properties of herbal medicines recorded in the literature as non-toxic only indicate that under normal dosage and usage, there is no significant damage to human body in general. However, the potential effects of the ingredients it contains on the human body and the toxicity arising from long-term administration are not clear. It is still necessary to apply them clinically according to the actual situation, weighing the pros and cons.
In fact, many herbs labeled as non-toxic can have adverse effects on the human body when taken for a long period of time due to their strong and cold properties. For example, Huanglian, Scutellaria and Huangbai are labeled as non-toxic, but because they are too bitter and cold, they can damage the function of the spleen and stomach when taken for a long time. Even bamboo leaves, which have good health effects of clearing heart fire and relieving summer heat, can damage the spleen and affect the body’s digestive and absorption functions when taken in excess. Ginseng, as a great tonic, is too strong and harmful when taken too much.
(3) Chinese medicine containing toxic ingredients: Chinese medicine has been using poisonous drugs to treat diseases for a long time, such as arsenic, glycine, strychnine, etc., which contain toxic chemical ingredients or even highly toxic substances, and the dosage must be strictly controlled. Improper application of such drugs can lead to poisoning and even death of the patient. These drugs are mainly used to attack the evil, but the damage to the body’s righteousness is also very serious, so they are used in cases where the symptoms of the disease are more serious when the evil is strong and the righteousness is not weak. This kind of medicine is used to treat diseases, which means that it should be applied for a short period of time to attack the evil, and then stop using the medicine when the disease and its symptoms are relieved to a certain extent, not until the disease is cured, and not for a long period of time. Arsenic is very toxic, but now China’s Western medical research used to treat leukemia, achieved very good results, attracted international attention, the key is how you use. In recent decades, many cases of adverse reactions to Chinese medicine are mostly due to taking Chinese medicines that contain toxic ingredients. For example, Tianwang Tonic Heart Dan and Niuhuang Detoxification Tablets contain vermilion in mercury sulfide, which can easily lead to mercury poisoning if taken for too long. Another example is the incident of liver and kidney damage caused by long-term consumption of Huang Yao Zi. All of them are caused by not abiding by the application principles of Chinese medicine. The correct choice of Chinese medicine can play a therapeutic role while avoiding the damage to the body caused by its toxicity.
Therefore, the treatment of diseases in Chinese medicine is based on a variety of factors, and the use of medicines is considered from a variety of bases, so that the effect is comprehensive. In other words, there is no Chinese medicine that can cure all diseases and has miraculous effects. The application of Chinese medicine is to correct the imbalance of the human body’s functions, and improper application will aggravate the imbalance of the human body and cause damage to the human body. The actual fact is that you can find a lot of people who are not able to get a good deal on a lot of things. The actual fact is that you will be able to choose your own medicine only after a detailed examination of your pulse and careful consideration of the evidence. All drugs have certain strengths and weaknesses. The choice of Chinese medicine is not only about the indications it is used to treat, but more importantly, about the contraindications and the conditions that cannot be used. The best choice of Chinese medicine is to choose the right indications and avoid contraindications.