 Chinese Medicine; How to Take it and How Much to Take.
The way Chinese medicine is used, is relevant to the way all herbal medicine is used. No culture has more depth of experience in using natural medicines than Chinese culture. Whether you use Native American herbs, European
herbs, African herbs, or others, much of this
pertains to you.
Keep in mind that Chinese medicine is not practiced the same everywhere. The core theories are the same all over, yet the practices of Chinese medicine vary in Asia, and around the world, changing with each culture that adopt it. Koreans, for example, invented hand acupuncture. In Japan, Kanpo (Chinese Medicine) is practiced with fomulas popular in China in the 1940s, when Japan occupied China. Tai massage is different than Japanese shiatsu or Chinese tui na, but all are practices of Chinese medicine. In the Western world you'll find a stew of differing practices, some arriving with immigrants, some strctly home grown.
Herbal Medicine Dosages
How to Take Cinese Herbal Medicine
How Herbs are Cultivated
How Herbs are Cleaned and Dried
How Herbal Medicine is Processed
People used to taking pharmaceticals are often surprised at the quantity of herbal medicine they may need to take when using whole herbs. Herbal extracts reduce the size of the dose somewhat, but you'll still need to take much more herbal medicine than drugs to get a theraputic dose.
When dried herbs are combined into a formula and boiled (decocted), you can expect to use from 1-3 ounces per day to make your medicine.
When dried whole herbs are ground into pills, the dose is reduced to about 1/5 the amount needed for a decoction. So if you are boiling 30 grams per day (a little more than an ounce), you'll need to take 6 grams of herbal pills per day. If the pills are 500 mgs (a half a gram) each, you'll be taking 12 pills a day. This represents an averge dose of Chinese medicine.
Concentrates can reduce the size of the dose, but often not by much. Granulated concentrates which, for example, use 5 lbs. of herbs to make 1 pound of extract are usually not five times as strong as using whole herbs, because they require fillers such as starches or sugars to turn these extracts into usable powders. Sometimes these extracts are 50% filler plus binding agents if they are tablets. An exception to this is a pill such as Shen Clinic's Man's Treasure Pills, which use 5:1 extracts, but instead of using starch or sugars, use whole milled herbs as fillers. This allows for truly smaller doses. For example, most Dr. Shen products require doses of 9-12 tablets daily, however Man's Treasure requires only 4 tablets daily for a maintenence dose, though more can be taken to increase the theraputic effect.
Doses of liquid extracts can vary greatly according to the amount of herbs used to make the extract. Generally these extracts use alcohol as a solvent. Though you'll find alcohol extracts of Chinese medicine in use, because they are so convenient, these extracts are rarely used in the traditional preparation of Chinese medicine. This is due to the fact that the alcohol (usually about 15%) influences the nature of the formula. Alcohol is considered a blood vitalizing substance, and is appropriate only in formulas designrd to vitalize the blood. Therefore tinctures are especially useful in formulas used for pain, injury, or stagnation, but not for most other formulas.
Unlike pharmaceuticals, the dosages listed on the labels of Chinese medicine are not maximum doses. For the most part these doses represent an average dose. More or less can often be used depending on the size and sensitivity of the person and the severity of the condition.
Cultivation of Herbs
Some medicinal herbs are grown on farms, others may be collected from the wild (wildcrafted).
Cultivation allows control over quality and purity and may produce higher yields of medicinal constituents.
Cutlivated herbs are usually grown from cuttings of plants. Some medicinal plants are selectively bred hybrids, while others are unchanged from their ancestors.
Some medicinal herbs are cultivated by the pharmaceutical industry. Yams, to produce steroids; foxglove, for digitalis; belladona for atropine; and opium to make morphine.
Collection from the Wild.
Tropical forests are a rich source of medicinal herbs, so are common weeds. One advantage to using wild plants is that they are unlikely to contain any pesticide residues. Unfortunately, wildcrafting, has caused some species to become endangered.
Cleaning Herbs.
After harvesting, herbs must be cleaned. Screening, washing, and peeling are often done by hand. Making medicinal herbs begins with a lot of hard work.
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Drying Herbs.
Whether used whole or for extraction, most herbs are dried first. This reduces the water content so plants can be stored. Plants must be dried or processed as soon as possible after collection. This maximizes potency and minimizes the risk of mold or spoilage. Plants can be dried naturally or artificially.
Natural Drying. Since ancient times, many herbs have been sun dried in the field. This requires no drying equipment but does require large amounts of space and risks damage by weather. Many herbs are shade dried on drying frames in barns or sheds. This method is labor-intensive and can much longer.
Artificial Dryers can reduce weeks of drying time to hours or minutes. Fans can reduce drying time to several days. Warm-air drying blows warm air across racks on which plants have been placed. This method is useful for fragile flowers and leaves. Another method is to place fresh herbs on a conveyor belt passing through a current of warm air. These dryers can operate continuously, and require little labor. They are, however expensive. Hot air dryers, which use very high temperatures for very short periods (2 to 5 minutes) are not commonly used for drying medicinal plants as they can alter the plant's medicinal chemistry.
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Processing Herbal Medicine
Herbal medicine can be taken as whole herbs ground into powder and formed into pills using a binder like vegetable gum, or herbs can be taken as extracts whereby the constituents are removed using a solvent such as water, alcohol, glycerine, or other chemical solvents.
Controlling the Quality of Extracts
Producers can use a number of tests to evaluate the quality and purity of an herb or extract. This may include evaluating its appearance, pH, solubility, total solids content, ash content, and in the case of dried extracts, particle size. They may analyze the components of the extract using chromatography. Finally, they may test it for impurities such as residual solvents, herbicides, and pesticides and for microbial contamination .
Some extracts are labeled and sold as standardized extracts.
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