"After three treatments I feel great. Before seeing you I went to our family doc and an orthopedists for my lower back spasms and elbow pain. Your exam was more thorough than the two of them put together. Thanks again." ~S. Willis, Emmett
Try as we will to escape nature, it invariably pulls us back. We flee the countryside for the city, we reject her wholesome food, and from nature’s raw material we distill exquisite poisons. Our modern pharmacopoeia is a jet aircraft answer to illness, while nature herself lumbers long in a horse and cart. However, herbs continue to fascinate mankind today as they have since the dawn of history—and there are as many complex aspects of herbs as there are of medicine itself.
The Time-Honored Art of Combining Medicinal Herbs
The medical soup kitchen of Herbalism has been bubbling away for at least 60,000 years. In the West, the art and science of Traditional Oriental Medicine, which includes Herbalism, has experienced tremendous acceptance and is one of the fastest growing health care segments in the United States. Recent studies estimate that 45% of Americans have tried unconventional therapies, spending about $27 billion annually. Americans are losing patience with the limits of conventional medicine. They've had it with whiling away hours in waiting rooms, curt doctors, and an impersonal health care system that tends to disease rather than prevention. They're fed up with high-tech wizardry that doesn't ease their pain and in many cases causes further iatrogenic complications and weaken their immune systems.
Traditional Oriental Medicine encompasses six main areas of education and treatment modalities. Today Acupuncture therapy is the most publicized of these modalities, but to the Doctor of Oriental Medicine, Herbology is traditionally one of the more important protocols utilized in Oriental Medicine. Each herbal medicine prescription is a cocktail of many herbs tailored to the individual patient. The practitioner first designs a remedy using one or two main ingredients that target the illness. He then adds many other ingredients to adjust the formula to the individual patient's constitutional presentation or condition. Some herbs require other ingredients to act as a catalyst to make the prescription more effective.
This requires great experience and knowledge, and marks the difference between a good Chinese herbal doctor and an amateur. Unlike western medications, the balance and interaction of all herbal ingredients are considered more important than the effect of individual ingredients. Indeed, the key to success in Traditional Oriental Medicine is the treatment of each patient as an individual.
Each herbal medicine prescription is a cocktail of many herbs tailored to the individual patient. Indeed, the key to success in Traditional Oriental Medicine is the treatment of each patient as an individual.
Chinese Herbology often incorporates ingredients from all parts of plants: the leaf, stem, flower, root, and also ingredients derived from animals and minerals. These herbal cocktails or decoctions are literally soups that are easily digested. However, many Americans find herbal soups time-consuming to prepare, and soups can make the entire house smell strange and can be expensive compared to other forms of administration. The most popular administration of herbal medicinals is produced by combining fine powders of pulverized substances with a viscous medium to form pills. Powders, Elixirs, Plasters, and Medicinal Wines are additional complementary administration methods.
Dr. Alderman has spent almost 30 years in the study and prescription of medicinal herbal formulas. The following are some thoughtful guidelines and considerations he offers his patients:
The incorporation of herbal medicinals with Acupuncture therapy improves clinical results. Many Americans who experience chronic and degenerative conditions often find themselves more responsive to long-term herbal protocols.
Finding a licensed Doctor of Oriental Medicine is your guarantee of greater education and experience in the art and science of Traditional Chinese Medicine. Self-treatment or following recommendations from non-licensed providers increases the probability of administration of the wrong herbs, incorrect dosages and cause harm.
Education and experience enhances a practitioner’s adherence to clearly published and generally accepted standards, thus increasing the overall safety, effectiveness, dosage, and mechanism of action.
Dr. Alderman is always available to answer your question and assist you to evaluate the potential risks, benefits, costs, scientific and evidence-based support, and alternatives for proposed and complementary and alternative techniques.
