Chinese herbal medicine (CHM) has been gaining traction in the United States and Europe. It has been used alongside other drugs to enhance the performance of them. One reason for it's growing popularity is that CHM is advertised as being cheaper and safer; this true, however, unlike China who has been using these herbs for thousands of years, the US has not yet learned how to deal with these herbs properly to get the desired effect.
In the US, herbs are viewed as a nutritional or food supplement rather than a drug like in China. In this day and age, so many dietary supplements exist without the proper warnings or preparation and thus are causing adverse effects to those who take them. Another issue is the fact people that people self-diagnose themselves with these drugs not knowing how they will react in their body or with the other drugs they take. They lack communication with their physicians about what they are intaking has caused unnecessary problems. However, even professionals are somewhat clueless when it comes to CHM. They do not know how many patients should be taking or for how long. This has caused people to ingest slightly toxic chemicals like ginkgo Biloba over long periods. Chinese people, in general, know that CHM should be used in small doses for only short periods.
Even more horrific is the lack of preparation of the herbs before manufacturers. They just grind one herb into powder and then put it into a capsule. In China, there is a whole process of preparation where they mix multiple herbs that work well together into a concoction or soup that will then transform into the packaged medicine. The reason why they prepare it beforehand is to get rid of the toxins or undesirable side effects of the herbs. Therefore, preparation increases the safety of the drugs. Some methods used are dry frying, browning, baking, frying with honey or vinegar, boiling with water, and many more.
Overall, CHM is a lot milder and works at a slower pace than western drugs which get an immediate effect, but this causes more dangerous side effects. It would benefit the whole world if the eastern and western hemispheres were able to combine their fields to get the best of both worlds.
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