Welcome Back to Doc Misha’s Blog!
Lots of clients and practitioners are worried that Chinese medicinal herbs should not be taken in liver disease, especially if one is taking the new protease inhibitors as well as interferon and ribavirin.
Well, it is am important question to ask and I am glad you are asking it.
So, what is the answer?
Well, the simple answer is:
This depends on the circumstances!
Today, I am going to focus on prepared formulas, ones that are made into pills and/or powders as these are the most often used and most difficult to identify and test accurately.
- First, you should get your Chinese medicinal herbs from your licensed practitioner or from a reputable source your practitioner recommends. Don’t get your herbs off the Internet or in a health food store where the herbal recommendations are made by an unlicensed person (some stores do have licensed qualified practitioners so ask!).
Misha with Tian Hua Fen in Anguo, China
- Second, it is great if you do your own homework and understand the source of the herbs yourself that your practitioner recommends. It is excellent if you can learn more about the herb companies from where your practitioner obtains his or her prepared formulas. The herb company should be able to supply a paper trail and documentation of all the steps in the herb supply chain. The company should be able to provide bonafide certificates of analysis (COA) for all products that they carry and sell.
- Third, the herbs should be fresh and/or processed in the traditional manner that is called for in the Chinese herbal materia medica, the official body of remedial substances used in the practice of Chinese medicine. All the individual herbs should be correctly identified by species, tested for heavy metals, pesticides and bacteria by an independent laboratory before being made into prepared formulas.
- Elisa Angelone, L.Ac. at Chicken Soup Chinese Medicine
- Fourth, the prepared formulas should bottled, stamped with a batch number and a manufactured date. A sample of the prepared formulas from each batch should also be tested for accuracy, purity and potency by an independent laboratory. Again, the herb company should be able to provide a certificate of analysis (COA) for each formula in their catalog.
I do hope this is helpful as you journey along your healing path!
I will cover more about this topic in future blogs. Watch for the series.
Yours in health,
Doc Misha
aka Misha Ruth Cohen, Doctor of Oriental Medicine, Licensed Acupuncturist
{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
My liver specialist wants to take me off off all chinese herbs.My iron level is extremely high.Does Dong Gui ,licorice, milk thistle raise iron levels? I want some herbal support while I go on the Interferron/Ribavarin treatment. I cook up astragalus, red dates,discorea,reishi, lycii, with chicken broth. Is that harmful to me?He is recommending that I be treated for 4 months ,just to say that I tried it. My genotype is 1a, therefore, he isn’t too cofident it will work.I have cirrhosis.I’ve been taking herbs for 6months and my numbers have improved.