Ancient Chinese Herbology Mixed with Modern Medicine

For the past three thousand years, people have used Chinese Herbology to heal different physical ailments as well as to keep up the mental, emotional, and spiritual well being of the human being. The main focus of herbology is to support the body's ability to self-heal. The body has its own defense mechanisms and healing abilities, but with the assistance of herbs these mechanisms are enhanced. The herbs used in Chinese Herbology are rich in nutrients and boost the body's defense mechanisms.

Traditional Herbal Qualities

Chinese Herbology attributes certain qualities to herbs including the four energies, the five tastes, and the meridians. Hot, cold, warm, and cool are the four energies. Additionally, within this range, there is a neutral energy. Typically, herbology will use the opposite energy to treat an ailment. So, if the ailment has a warm nature, the herb treatment will have a cool energy. Sour, bitter, pungent, sweet, and salty are the five tastes that all correspond to different herbs and have different healing natures. The tastes and meridians are often combined as categories since the latter explains what organ groups the different tastes correspond to. Sour herbs are thought to nourish the liver and gall bladder while bitter herbs are thought to strengthen the heart and small intestine. Herbologists use sweet herbs are used for the spleen and stomach and pungent herbs to strengthen the large intestine and lungs. Finally, salty herbs are used to purge the bowels and soften hard masses.

Chinese Herbology and Modern Medicine

Because Chinese Herbology has been used so consistently and effectively over time to harmonize and rebalance the human body as well as treating symptoms, modern physicians have begun to incorporate herbology into modern medicines and treatments. Many of today's physicians study individual herbs and learn which combinations are useful for which ailments. While Chinese Herbology is not the first source of treatment for serious traumas, cancer, or bacterial infections, it is used in addition to modern medicine. Currently, scientists are scouring the rain forests for new plants exactly for this purpose.

Additionally, Chinese Herbology has influenced the way in which modern drugs are made. Botanists, physicians, and pharmacologists now all work together to find certain plants that have certain qualities that could be used for treating various diseases, including cancer and HIV. The number of plant-derived modern medications has grown significantly according to the World Health Organization (WHO), which incites that about 74% of the 119 modern plant-derived medications are used in exactly the manner that their traditional counterparts would have been used in traditional herbology methods.

Herbal Remedies Combined with Modern Treatments

While Chinese Herbology has influenced modern medicine and is being incorporated more and more into modern treatments, it is not a stand-alone method. Most traditional herbal remedies, at least in the United States, are offered in the form of dietary supplements. If a patient is on a modern medical regimen, it is crucial to discuss incorporating any herbal remedies with the physician. It is important to understand that some herbs may interact with certain drugs adversely causing serious side effects. If a particular physician is not familiar with traditional herbal treatments, he or she should be able to recommend a specialist or research the issue for the patient.

Sources:

Chinese Herbology, Wikipedia
Chinese Herbology in the West, Institute of Chinese Herbology
Scott Suvow, Chinese Herbology, The Art of Acupuncture and Chinese Herbology