Lessons Learned from China:
A Discussion on the Broad Range of Effectiveness of Chinese Herbs and Their Use in China
Editor's Note: In 2011, friends of Natural Triad, Michele Collins, RH (AHG), MPH and Andres Vergara,
L.Ac.,
M.Ac. spent 6 months living in China to study Chinese herbal medicine. They recently gave a talk about their expereince at the Wake Forest School of Medicine/Natural Triad Magazine seminar series. Because it was so informative and interesting, I asked them to convert that talk into an article for our readers. Here's what they sent:
is that Sichuan province is also well regarded for the quality and variety of herbs that are grown there. Over 4300 herb varieties are grown in Sichuan, cultivated on over 1.4 million acres of land. The purchase of Chinese herbal medicine in Sichuan is ranked fi rst in China. Sichuan province borders Tibet and is home to Chengdu, the fourth largest city in China (14 million people), falling only behind Beijing, Shanghai and Chongqing in total population. All of these combined factors make Chengdu and Sichuan province a remarkable place to study Chinese herbal medicine. In 2011, we had an amazing opportunity to live in Chengdu
C
for six months and study Chinese herbal medicine at the Cheng- du University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, a university and teaching hospital (CUTCM). The hospital practitioners there saw an average of 3,500 people and distributed 10,000 bags of herbs daily, many of which were bags of raw herbs that the patient would then take home and cook themselves. The hospital safely and effectively creates and distributes tens of thousands of cus- tomized herbal formulas each week, hundreds of thousand each month, and several million each year. We witnessed herbs, minerals, and animal and insect prod-
ucts (all included in the Chinese materia medica) used in high dosages, both independently and in combination with pharma- ceutical medications, for a broad range of chronic and acute health issues. Although, we had both practiced Chinese medicine successfully for several years, Andres, as an acupuncturist and herbalist, and Michele, as an herbalist, the time in China was, for us both, an incredible reminder of how effective (and safe) Chinese herbs are for treating many common western diseases. We spent time with doctors in both the inpatient (when possible) and outpatient departments of gastroenterology, gynecology, neurology, endocrinology, osteology, opthamology, pediatrics, nephrology, ENT, acupuncture, tuina, oncology, rheumatology, andrology, cardiology, and the respiratory department. These
Natural Triad Magazine
hina’s Sichuan province is an area widely known for its spicy foods. What many may not know (unless you practice Chinese herbal medicine)
departments exclusively used herbs, whereas the acupuncture department was a more general clinic. This helps illustrate the fact that herbs are considered to be a therapeutic tool better suited to addressing complex and diffi cult disorders. We would like to share some of the lessons we learned from this experience in this article.
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