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Therapy Definitions
Chinese Herbal Medicine
Herbology is traditionally one of the more important modalities utilized in
traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). Each herbal medicine prescription is a
cocktail of many herbs tailored to the individual patient. One batch of herbs is
typically decocted twice over the course of one hour. The practitioner usually
designs a remedy using one or two main ingredients that target the illness. Then
the practitioner adds many other ingredients to adjust the formula to the
patient's yin/yang conditions. Sometimes, ingredients are needed to cancel out
toxicity or side-effects of the main ingredients. Some herbs require the use of
other ingredients as catalyst or else the brew is ineffective. The latter steps
require great experience and knowledge, and make the difference between a good
Chinese herbal doctor and an amateur. Unlike western medications, the balance
and interaction of all the ingredients are considered more important than the
effect of individual ingredients. A key to success in TCM 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 from animals and minerals. The
use of parts of endangered species (such as seahorses, rhinoceros horns, and
tiger bones) has created controversy and resulted in a black market of poachers
who hunt restricted animals. Many herbal manufacturers have discontinued the use
of any parts from endangered animals.
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