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The differences in the theory and practice of Western vs. Chinese medicine are never as a stark as in their treatment of herbs.  One of the very most important things that even my veteran patients do not know is when to stop their usual line up of herbal prescriptions, and in the face of serious infectious diseases THIS information is soooooo important! 

Many people think of herbs as a nature-based alternative to pharmaceuticals and in western herbalism the substitution may be that simple. But in Chinese Medicine, the theory and diagnosis of your condition is never an easy 1:1. Here I am going to discuss primarily strengthening herbs and “immune boosters” because they are so pertinent to current conditions.

Herbs that would normally strengthen your constitution and bolster your system against an influenza when you are healthy may harm you or worsen your prognosis when your body is fighting an “external invasion”.

Huh? Imagine their are some rowdy invaders attempting to climb over the palace walls. Maybe they look a little something like this….

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This is a corona virus with a mustache… a very evil mustache. He and his unfortunate band of belligerent brethren are storming the castle. What would a discerning and valiant general command his troops do to expel the invaders?

Think of your Chinese herbal prescription as directions for your body to follow. Most “immune booster” herbs in Chinese medicine are warm, nourishing, and they command the body’s soldiers to “close the gates!” The command to “close the gates” can either be a brilliant move OR if the enemy is already inside the castle courtyard (and can exponentially clone themselves using your own cells’ machinery- icky- its like a mash-up of Alien and King Arthur) well, if you shout “close the gates!”… You have just trapped those nasty thugs inside the walls.

Darn. So you have these viral baddies and now thousands of their evil clones with their evil mustaches inside your courtyard running amok. What next? Are you still taking Jade Windscreen? Or supplementing with ginseng? Astragalus (huang qi)? Dang gui? Those qi boosting, blood building herbs that will strengthen the weaker patient BEFORE they are sick may just intensify your acute illness. These herbs are like dropping bundles of food and arms into the battle. The fighting between your castle’s good knights and the cloned alien mustache thugs is hot and heavy and there is NO way of controlling who gets to use the air dropped supplies represented here by doughnuts and machetes.

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So now every man, woman, and alien has a doughnut and a big knife. And the gate is closed so there is no retreat for the enemy. What’s worse is, as you continue taking the immune boosters, qi and blood builders, your general continues to shout “close the gates!” and those donuts and machetes continue to rain from the sky. Yikes! Its going to be a long battle.

Don’t worry. You are going to give your acupuncturist/Chinese herbalist a call now. Stay strong general! Help is on the way! Depending on the “temperature” of the illness we will arm your knights with fire or ice, and for sure we will shout “open the gates!” so we can push those bad buggers OUT en masse. We can also choose herbs who functions stop coughing, dissolve phlegm, and are “anti-viral”.

Sound good?! GREAT! You stopped the donuts and machetes right?

Cuz if you haven’t you should.

And here’s another warning- I will expand on this subject later… It’s really awkward and unwieldy to try and fit Chinese herbalism into the western medical paradigm.  But that doesn’t stop a huge number of people, including Chinese medicine practitioners and researchers all over the world from trying to do so, with potentially harmful effects.  There are plenty of herbs that are deemed “anti-viral” that would be the wrong ones to use. There are plenty of over the counter herbal supplements that have labels shouting about their immune enhancing effects with the very herbs I used as examples in this silly story, that do not warn you to stop when ill.

Confer with your herbalist, make sure the herbs you have are being taken at the optimal time and that they are the optimal herbs for YOU, because honestly they should change the “one size fits all” slogan to “one size fits some”. Am I right?