Astragalus, Echinacea, etc.

[Guest guest]

I haven't written to this newsgroup in a long time, but I have to comment

here. I personally feel that TCM is the best system of herbal Rx. It is a

very old, complicated system and far more developed than ours in the West,

either in Europe or in the USA.

 

Yesterday I was having lunch with a young friend, the daughter of the first

TCM doctor (now deceased) that I had gone to. We were eating Chinese food,

Shanghai food to be exact. And I asked her if she wanted to use the dipping

sauce, which contained shards of fresh ginger. She said, " No, my system

tends to be too hot. " I said " Funny, mine is too cold. "

 

Now in TCM this referred to the digestive system, too hot in her case

(tending toward inflammations, ulcers, etc.) and too cold in my case (a

rather sluggish metabolism). Mot of the time I am required to eat ginger,

garlic, cayenne to " warm " up my system. In general, Indian spicy food is

great for me. But there have been times that I do have inflammatory

conditions that force me to eschew ginger, etc.

 

I am not possessed of professional-level knowledge about TCM, just a little,

enough to sort of prescribe for myself, after checking it out with my

current TCM herbal doctor. I have asked him about the effects of herbs many

times. His response about astragalus: It is great for me, not necessarily as

an immune booster but more for stamina. As for echinacea. he says it is too

" cold " and should be avoided. Before I had asked him, I had always noticed

that echinacea has no immune-boosting effect. That is to say, not on me.

 

So I think it is wise to avoid generalizations. The effect of herbs has to

do with the general tendencies of an individual's body, and of course the

specific condition that he currently has.

 

Francine