All day, every day, my patients ask me the same question: “What do you think about…ashwaganda, fish oil, tuemeric, probiotics, etc.” Chinese medicine does not utilize the ever-growing products of the natural foods industry and the functional medicine profession. Nor does it utilize the myriad of herbs that are found throughout the world and utilized in various medical traditions.
There is a saying in Chinese medicine that when you first begin practicing, you use a small number of herbs and formulas. Over time, the number expands. And then when your practice develops and matures, you once again use fewer herbs and formulas. I have found this to be exactly true. In the beginning, I used fewer herbs and formulas, simply because I had less knowledge and experience. As these increased, so did the size of my pharmacy. I used more herbs, more formulas, more products, more everything. With time and experience, I found I needed fewer herbs and formulas to achieve even better clinical results. It is not about quantity or variety; it is about precision.
We do not use herbs, or more specifically herbal formulas, in Chinese medicine with the perspective that they are “good for something.” Herbal formulas are prescribed on the basis of their physiological action, determined by their flavor (wei 味) and nature (xing 性). It is not some compound or ingredient or magic property of the herb that defines its function. For example, if someone has a flu with symptoms of fever and chills, in Chinese medicine this might indicate an external cold pathogen and require treatment with Gui Zhi Tang, Cinnamon Twig Decoction. This formula acts as a surface reliever, essentially opening the pores of the body to produce sweat and expel the illness. The surface relieving action is the result of the warm, acrid flavor of the cinnamon twig (along with flavor and nature of the other herbs in the formula). In contrast, typical Western natural systems would say the immune system needs to be strengthened, and prescribe substances such as zinc, echinacea and vitamin C. All of these are energetically cold and bitter. Cold and bitter produce a different body response than warm and acrid. The result is incorrect treatment that not only does not help, but can worsen the illness and drive it deeper into the body. Similarly, conventional Western medicine might prescribe a medication that is contraindicated from the perspective of Chinese medicine, thus causing harm.
Driven by marketing and social media, people come across things like ashwaganda, fish oil, and a rotating host of popular, trendy products. At any given point in time, people routinely show up in my office having already started a regimen of whatever is most popular at the time. Without the perspective of clinical practice, it is difficult to realize this is happening and instead trust the most cited and agreed upon “research” that shows up with simple online searches. This is not professional medicine, and it is no longer even good self-care.
The Chinese pharmacopeia contains enough herbs that can be used in enough combinations to treat the vast majority of illnesses. The herbs themselves are carriers or transmitters of the energetic action. If I happen to be out of one herb, I can use another or a combination of others that will achieve the same effect.
Finally, it is the dynamic action of the herbs, transmitted via their flavor and nature, that produces the healing. In this way, herbs are complex, alive, and powerful. Even the most expensive nutritional supplements typically lack this quality. They are highly processed substances that are manufactured in laboratories from chemicals. They lack the flavor, nature, and vital energy that allows for anything more than minor symptom alleviation.