Herbal Medicine
The United States health system is obsessed with pharmaceutical drugs.
According to the CDC, nearly 50% of Americans are on at least one prescription pill and 20% take three or more. It is impossible for physicians to stay up to date with drug interactions in the rapidly changing world of medicine, yet their use continues to grow - as much as 40% from 1988.
Anyone could predict the result; unchecked pharmaceutical use becoming a health hazard. According to Drugabuse.gov, “Drug overdose deaths involving prescription opioids rose from 3,442 in 1999 to 17,029 in 2017.” Since then the number has dropped, but is still more than four times what it was in the nineties. Of course opiods are only a piece of the bigger picture. Across the board Americans take more medications now than they ever have.
Modern medicine has achieved incredible things. Often they are a necessary addition to treatment in order to save lives. However, our western system of healing now sees drug intervention as a necessary step for almost all conditions. It’s a staple of American culture.
Part of the job of a traditional medicine practitioner is to help the body achieve homeostasis with as little intervention as possible. Acupuncture, cupping and massage are mild and unobtrusive by design. This is also the case with Chinese herbal medicine. Like western drugs, herbal medicine can produce incredible results. But unlike western medicine, very serious consideration is given to each ingredient and how they interact based on the individual.
Understanding Herbal Medicine
Have high blood pressure? Take Lisinopril. Hypothyroidism? Levothyroxine. Inflammation? Prednisone. I’m criminally oversimplifying, but these are some of the most commonly used drugs which are used for huge swaths of people based on a singular diagnosis. This is one of the fundamental differences between western medicine and eastern medicine; differential diagnosis, root and branch.
Differential diagnosis is the act of differentiating between two or several possible diagnoses based on symptomatology. To take the example of high blood pressure, there are a slew of conditions that can cause it but the typical drug of choice is Lisinopril. This is a symptom-based treatment rather than addressing the problem at its core.
Traditional medicine also determines an illness based on a constellation of symptoms, but a staple of this system is the idea of root and branch - that is symptoms as a branch and the causative illness as the root. While it is often necessary to treat both, a practitioner who never addresses the underlying problem is considered a bad doctor. It’s a careful dance between making the patient feel better as soon as possible without merely masking symptoms.
Chinese Herbal Medicine operates on the premise of helping the body instead of forcing it, and addressing the specific pathology of each individual patient. They are gentle enough that general formulas can be effective in many cases, but it really shines when these formulae are tailored to the individual. A quote from Heraclitus sums up the theory beautifully; “No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it's not the same river and he's not the same man.” Likewise a patient is to be treated as a new case every time they enter the clinic.
Formula creation is a great advantage of herbal medicine. When I was being taught, my instructor said that every ingredient is like a word. Pairs of ingredients are a phrase. All of them together form a sentence. What this means is that every single item is as important individually as they are together. How the many parts of a formula fit together is the backbone of their efficacy. When a patient is seen by an herbalist they don’t walk out with a pill for each symptom, they are given a single comprehensive formula that addresses the pathology as a whole.
What’s in this stuff?
Many ingredients in herbal formulas are things you interact with often. Ginger, honeysuckle, and dates to name a few. Most of the Chinese pharmacopoeia is plant-based with strict non-GMO and anti-pesticide growing methods to maintain their natural properties. Some ingredients are animal-based, but in recent years these have been replaced with cruelty-free alternatives. At Miami Acupuncture and Herbal Solutions we carefully select our herbal suppliers based on cleanliness and skill in preparation of ingredients.
During consultation, a practitioner will systematically determine your physical state in order to select the exact herbs your body needs. Interactions with other drugs are rare and anything you may be taking is recorded and considered.
How long should I take herbs?
Exactly how long a single patient will need to take herbs is impossible to say straight out. A holistic practitioner sees their patient as a new case every time they walk in the door, and as such herbal formulas may need to be adjusted frequently. The nature of the condition will also determine how long herbs are needed. That being said, it is always the goal of our practice to reduce the need for intervention rather than promote life-long supplementation if it can be avoided. Ultimately the duration of treatment is determined by the state of disease.
How can I get an herbal formula that works for me?
If you’re interested in herbal medicine, book your free consultation with us and we will get you on your way. After consultation and intake we will discuss what options are available to help you feel your best. During the course of treatment you will be routinely re-assessed to make sure that the herbs you’re taking are always the right one for your condition. The ingredients, function and theory involved in selection of your formula are always available upon request.
Sources;
“FastStats - Therapeutic Drug Use.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 13 Apr. 2020, www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/drug-use-therapeutic.htm.
Langdorf, Mark I., et al. “Physician versus Computer Knowledge of Potential Drug Interactions in the Emergency Department.” Wiley Online Library, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, 28 June 2008, onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1553-2712.2000.tb00483.x.
“More Americans Take Prescription Medication.” Medscape, 25 Apr. 2005, www.medscape.com/viewarticle/500164.
National Institute on Drug Abuse. “Overdose Death Rates.” National Institute on Drug Abuse, 25 Aug. 2020, www.drugabuse.gov/drug-topics/trends-statistics/overdose-death-rates.
Sarah Lewis, PharmD. “The Top 50 Drugs Prescribed in the United States.” Healthgrades, Healthgrades, 13 Feb. 2020, www.healthgrades.com/right-care/patient-advocate/the-top-50-drugs-prescribed-in-the-united-states.