Chinese Natural Healing

Herbal medicine, Acupressure, Acupuncture, Qi Gong and more.

Posts Tagged tonic tinctures

Things to be aware of when taking traditional Chinese medicine

Aug 31

Posted by conrad in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) in general | No Comments

Some people think Traditional Chinese herbal medicine is more “mild” than Western medicine in terms of the healing process. Although it’s somewhat true, there are still something we need to be aware of when taking Chinese herbs.

1. When taking Traditional Chinese Medicines, try to avoid foods like beans, meets, anything cold and hard to digest. These will increase the burden of the digestive system and slow down therapeutic effects of the herbs. Especially people with weak spleen and stomach should avoid these foods.

2. When treating illnesses that belongs to “hotness” type, the patient should avoid or stop alcohol, spicy foods, fish and meat. These foods produce more heat and hence help the growth of that “hotness”, making the illness worse.

3. For herbs that heal through “sweating”, like healing cold or flu, the patient should avoid cold and sour food. These food will slow down the therapeutic effects of these kind of medicine.

4. For herbs that heal through “warmness” and highly nourishing, like Ginseng and Lingzhi, the patient should avoid drinking tea and carrots – these would “cool down” the effects of these medicines. However, if somebody doesn’t feel very well after taking too much Ginseng, eating carrots can help relieve the nausea or lack of appetite.

5. Don’t use tea (made of tea leaves) to drink along with herbal medicine, like patent medicine in pills or tablets. The acid in tea may neutralize the biotic alkaline or protein and the chemistry may ruin the effects of the herbs.

6. For herbs that heal through “blood cooling” and “Yin nourishing”, avoid any food that is spicy. These medicine can heal diseases that relates to constipation, thirsty etc, which are considered as “hot” diseases. Spicy food definitely is going to make it even hotter and neutralize the cool down effects of those herbs.

7. Know more about the forbidden combinations, like China-root (Poria cocos) can’t take with vinegar,  honey can’t eat with fresh spring onions…etc.

8. Pregnant women have to be very aware of the forbidden Chinese herbs, like “blood motivating” herbs (such as Red flower), “detoxifying” herbs such as Job’s Tears Barley, “scented” herbs, “hotness” herbs and “poisonous” herbs.

9. The break in between taking Chinese herbal medicine and Western medicine should be at least two hours apart.

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Preparation of Chinese herbal medicines – medicinal wine

Aug 23

Posted by conrad in Herbal Healing, Medicinal Wine, Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) in general | No Comments

Last post I talked about preparation of decoction. Another form of medicine are called tonic tinctures, or medicinal wine (”Yao Jiu” in mandarin). Occasionally you’ll see them on display in Chinese herb shops held in bottles or big jars full of herbs immersed in a dark liquid. The ancient practice of aging herbs in alcohol is the simplest and probably the oldest method known for making medicines. In the preparation, herbs are immersed in an alcohol solution allowing the herbal properties to be drawn out by the alcohol. The wine itself is believed to possess nourishing, blood-invigoration properties that enhance the therapeutic effects of the herbs inside.

Alcohol is the second most popular solvent to use in herbal preparation other than water. There are other solvents such as milk, vinegar and even infant’s urine are commonly used (I know, don’t “yuck” me), and vinegar is more common than the others, probably rank after alcohol.

When medicinal wine is prepared for internal consumption, sweet rice wine, fine brandy or vodka are the best choices. For external use to prepare liniments, ethanol or rectified turpentine is used.

Making medicinal wine isn’t rocket science. Other than the quality of the ingredients, the most important thing is the environment condition. The best would be like most conditions found in commercial wine cellars, which is dark, cool, dry and neutral.

A medicinal wine is made by adding 1.5 to 2.5 ounces of fresh herbs to about a liter of alcohol. Honey can be added to improve taste, especially when vodka is used. For internal consumption, the alcohol used should be no more than 40% in the liquor.

Instruction of preparing a medicinal wine:

1. Uncap a bottle of alcohol and pour some off so there is enough room for the herbs; or use a jar if you like to have more produced;

2. Immerse the herbs into the alcohol and recap the bottle;

3. Store it in a dry, cool and dark place for at least 60 to 90 days.

4. Gently shake the bottle once a week.

When the aging process is done, leave the herbs in the bottle until the wine is all consumed. The longer the wine is aged, the more potent it will become. It’s pretty usual a medicinal wine is aged for more than a year. Some herb shops sell these wines that are over 10 years old and these are very valuable wines because of the value of time.

Once the wine has aged well enough, a standard dose should be one ounce of wine at room temperature 3 times daily. (Morning, afternoon and evening) You may dilute the wine in 4oz of tepid water or just drink it straight up.

Tonics, on the other hand, are mostly for seniors. These tonic formulas were developed centuries ago and benefits proven by modern Chinese medicines. Tonics or tonic tinctures are usually not for healing, they’re for consumption everyday to maintain good health, nourish the blood and promote longevity.

1. Tonics require uninterrupted use over a period of time to show the benefits, just like bodybuilding;

2. Herbal tonics should be taken after meals;

3. Herbal tonics should never be taken when you’re starting a cold or a flu, it’s going to make the cold and flu worse. (driving these sickness deeper into your body)

There are also herbal wine sold in retail store. You can find them in most Asian/Chinese supermarket, and Chinese herb/drug store. These are made by factory with a formula that work for years and get mass produced. Be cautious on the directions though, many medicinal wines are not suitable for particular people like ones that are pregnant or with certain diseases.

And yeah, there ARE snake wines prepared with live Cobra in Asian culture, especially Vietnamese. It is said that it can heal everything and can last for as long as 500 years. I found a scary picture (actually more than one from different sites) in a blog that talks about how Vietnamese herbalist prepare a snake wine. Visit here if you’re interested and here to see more. I even found lizard wine, scorpion wine and many unbelievable medicinal wines in different Asian cultures in my research as well. But just remember, most medicinal wines are made of plants.

(sources: Chinese Herbal Medicine made easy by Thomas Richard Joiner, Streetwise Guide: Chinese Herbal Medicine by Wong Kang Ying and Martha Dahle)

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Forms of Chinese herbal medicines

Aug 19

Posted by conrad in Herbal Decoction, Herbal Healing, Medicinal Wine, Patent Medicines, Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) in general | No Comments

I sort of talked about herbs, foods, over the counter, tonic tinctures few days ago. Today I’ll continue to talk more about these different forms as an introduction of the coming few detail posts about these forms of Chinese herbal medicines. Each form has its own advantages. Take the form that match our particular needs and use the form most appropriate to the urgency of the situation. Also consider the time of preparation required for cooking and curing the herbs.

1. Raw form – decoction – herbs made into tea

Usually because decocted raw herbal formulas are normally taken as it is. Most of the time it’s going to challenge your tolerance of unpleasant taste. Mostly are bitter in taste, while there are also some exceptions. However, this form is more potent and that usually gives quicker cure than patent formulas.

2. Raw form – tonic tinctures – herbs made into medicinal wine

Like decoction, making herbs into alcohol solution (medicinal wine) produces a potion that is more potent and provides quicker cure. Although the preparation is quite easy and you can make a big bottle at one time for longer consumption. Most these wines takes 60-90 days to make. On the other hand, medicinal wine tastes better than decoction because normally it’s sweetened by honey or crystallized rock sugar.

3. Patent form – over the counter –  in pill form, salves, syrup, herbal oils, tablets and ointments

Patent formulas are usually over the counter medicines or premixed packets, or in pill, syrup, tablets form. Taste doesn’t seem to matter in this case. And it’s the most convenient way to take herbal medicine. However, as I mentioned in that last article, the function of these medicines are quiet broad and not tailor-made for individuals.

One thing worth mentioning about the ingredients of herbal formulas is that we mentioned in the last article that there are some animal parts involved like tiger bone or deer antler in certain exotic prescriptions. However, since it raised both ethical and legal issues, now they’ve already found herb replacements for those animal ingredients. There are less animal getting killed or injured for that reason now – in fact there aren’t many animals left for herbal medicinal use after all the widespread killings these years. Now a lot of these animals are protected from further killings. Of course, the “under the counter” trade in Chinese herb shop still happens.

Another thing I want to clarify is that just because a patent formula or a name of a prescription has the word “tiger” doesn’t mean it contains tiger parts. Most of the time these names are not literal. For example, “tiger” just signifies power and strength to Chinese people, kind of like the meaning of dragon, which doesn’t even exist.

(sources: Chinese Herbal Medicine made easy by Thomas Richard Joiner.)

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Traditional Chinese Medicine – herbs, foods, over the counter, tonic tinctures

Aug 14

Posted by conrad in Herbal Healing, Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) in general | 1 Comment

Traditional Chinese medicine shops usually stock 100-200 natural medicinal substances. Although they include minerals and items of animal origins, they’re commonly referred to as “herbs”. It’s interesting that some people who’re introduced to Chinese herbology tend to feel weird or strange about certain  elements being used for medical purpose. Like the medical use of precious minerals – jade, pearls and gold or animal parts like deer antler and tiger bone in some of more exotic prescriptions. These actually function like herbs in the prescription to adjust the perverse energies like “wind, heat, coldness, dampness, dryness” and Yin Yang in a sense.  Too bad sometimes this unusual aspects of traditional Chinese medicine often overshadows the basic commonsense advice of the tradition, such as the importance of healthy diet.

Among the herbs, there are many items that are indeed foods. For example, nuts (walnuts, cashews, peanuts), mushrooms (black mushrooms, black ear fungus, white ear fungus), different dried beans, figs, barley and abalone. Many of these items are critical ingredients in the extensive soup cuisine of the Cantonese. Others are imply exotic and expensive foods. This tradition somehow shows that Chinese believe that food and medicine are part of a continuous spectrum, varying in potency but not mode of action.

Besides food, there are also patented, over the counter medicines. Usually these are based on prescriptions  that have been developed over decades, or even centuries, of use. The function of these medicines are usually quite broad and not tailor-made for everyone. Buying these will be more convenient for Americans or people from the other countries, but be very cautious on the instructions in the box or the bottle.

Another form of medicine are called tonic tinctures, or medicinal wine. These are special tonics, usually stored in large (1-2 liter) jars full of herbs immersed in a dark liquid. These are prepared by very complex combination of herbs in rice wine for months or even years. Three basic types: tonic for yin essence, tonic for yang essence, and tonics for the elderly. They’re quite expensive and usually have to drink regularly in small quantities. Some of them are very exotic, (like “snake wine” for example) so usually it’s hard to find in America or outside China.

For wounds, bruises, bleeding injuries or rash on the outside of the body, normally herbs will be used as paste on a sticker and stick on the bruises or wounds for a while or for a few days. Tonic tinctures that are for external use are pretty common too. The smell may be bad, but Chinese often use them for healing and pain relief when there’s an injury.

(sources: Streetwise Guide: Chinese Herbal Medicine by Wong Kang Ying and Martha Dahle, Chinese Herbal Medicine made easy by Thomas Richard Joiner.)

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