Chinese Medicine

Best Chinese Medicines

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Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has been a part of my American upbringing because my parents grew up under TCM principles and philosophies. Our family healthcare approach has evolved to be a mix of both Western and Chinese medicine along with some skepticism for each of them (see “5 Reasons Not to Rely on Doctors“). However, through generations of family trial and error, we’ve come to find a few Chinese herbal remedies that are popular, commonplace, and often more effective than Western options. Here are the top Chinese herbal remedies that sit in our medicine cabinet:

Best Chinese Medicine for Strains, Sprains, Bruising, and Soft Tissue Trauma: Yunnan Baiyao

Best Chinese Medicine for Strains, Sprains, Bruising, and Soft Tissue Trauma: Yunnan Baiyao
Yunnan Baiyao in powder form, photo credit: tiensproduct.com

Yunnan Baiyao is an ancient Chinese remedy for severe bleeding, trauma, bruises, sprains, strains, and pain and a whole lot more. A lot of Chinese herbal medicine is slow-acting, so it’s not easy to tell if and when they start to help. This is definitely not that kind of medicine – Yunnan Baiyao effects are almost immediate. It’s available in powder, capsule, and patch form. As I understand it, it keeps blood circulating (and not stagnating) through the applied area and also provides some pain relief. We’ve used this regularly for severe bruises, sprains, and fractures, but have not tried it for post-surgery recovery. With it, we’ve had significant swelling and sprains disappear in 1-2 days. We’ve also used the patch version for chronic, recurring pain – with about 80% success rate. There’s an interesting story behind this medicine that you can read about here. We would reach for this before any ice pack and are now using an integrative approach to speed up healing.

Best Chinese Medicine for Allergies and Sinus Infections: Bi Yan Pian

Chinese medicine Plum Flower brand, Bi Yan Pian works as well as Zyrtec
Plum Flower brand, Bi Yan Pian

I came across this Chinese formula for allergies called Bi Yan Pian, when I was browsing this book, Between Heaven and Earth: A Guide to Chinese Medicine. It’s similar to this pediatric liquid extract herbal formula called Windbreaker which I had originally been giving my child. However, this has worked way, way better and faster. It seems to work even better than Zyrtec for both me and my child. The dosing instructions for the Plum Flower brand are 4 pills, 3x a day. However, I only need 4 pills once a day and my 8 year old takes 2 pills once a day whenever we experience symptoms. During our last allergy season, we would take them only after we started having hay fever symptoms, and the pills seemed to halt the symptoms within the hour. Zyrtec often doesn’t work for us after our symptoms have already started.

Best Chinese Medicine for UTIs: Ba Zheng Tang

Ba Zheng San or Tang seems to be the most effective remedy (in both Western and Eastern spheres) for UTIs
Ba Zheng Tang, liquid formula

Ba Zheng (Eight Rectification) San or Tang seems to be the most effective remedy (in both Western and Eastern spheres) for UTIs in our experience. I wish I had known about Ba Zheng (Eight Rectification) from the beginning when my mom first started having UTIs. The UTIs became chronic after regular antibiotic use. After years of trying tons of Western remedies (D-Mannose, premarin, antibiotics, garlic pills, oregano, cranberry, you name it), I saw this formula mentioned quite a lot in my research on Chinese medicine for UTIs. It seems to be a formula that specifically targets urinary symptoms and is used for acute UTIs. After 10 years of recurring UTIs every 4-6 months, my mother stopped her last two UTIs with this formula and hasn’t needed antibiotics in 2 years! It almost seems too good to be true. I’m guessing that overcoming the last two infections without antibiotics helped to stop the cycle of antibiotics to recurrent UTI. Berkeley Community Acupuncture has helpful information on how long and how often it could be taken. It’s not meant to be taken long term. If you can’t stand pills, I also found Ba Zheng in liquid formula.

Best Chinese Medicine for All Things Female: Dang Gui

Best Chinese Medicine for All Things Female: Dang Gui
Sliced dang gui root, photo credit: tcmwiki.com

Also known as Chinese Angelica Root, dong quai, or Angelicae Sinensis Radix. This is popular as the go-to herb for any female issues. It’s apparently beneficial for men’s health as well. We’ve used it for improving regularity of menses and reducing the side effects of hormonal imbalance that women naturally go through. Don’t take during menses (only in-between periods). 

Anecdotally, a friend of ours tested extremely anemic to the point that she was recommended to go through iron IV infusion. Before doing the IV, she decided to take iron pills (known to have poor absorption by the body) and dang gui for a few months first to see if she could get the numbers up without IV infusion (which can have some side effects). When she retested, she was no longer anemic and the hematologist said she could hardly believe the results as iron numbers don’t typically go up that fast through oral intake of iron pills. This is a strong- acting herb. It comes in pill form, but we have only ever used the dried root form brewed in soup. Here’s the basic recipe we use: Simple Dang Gui Soup or Tea Recipe.

Best Chinese Medicine for Immune System and Energy: Ginseng

Best Chinese Medicine for Immune System and Energy: Ginseng
Ginseng roots, photo credit: superfoodevolution.com

There’s American or Asian ginseng. We’ve only tried the Asian ginseng. I see it suggested for use in a variety of ailments, but in our family we take it for primarily overall vitality, energy, and immune system strength. In our family sample size, we’ve linked it to improved asthma and allergy reactions and general sense of well-being in both the kids and adults. Depending on your body’s constitution, some may find it too strong, akin to taking a dose of caffeine. As with dang gui, it is one of the stronger herbs and and it’s important to check the contraindications for it, as it really depends on your body type and needs. Definitely read the literature on it before taking, to see if it’s a good fit for your body’s needs. This also comes in natural dried root form, and in pill and extract forms. 

Best Chinese Medicine for Eye Health and Clearing Inflammation: Chrysanthemum

Best Chinese Medicine for Eye Health and Clearing Inflammation: Chrysanthemum
Dried white chrysanthemum flowers, photo credit: amazon.com

We take chrysanthemum flower in tea form, steeping the dried flower in hot water. To feel any benefits, you have to take it regularly for long periods of time. It’s indicated for clearing heat and inflammation in the body. There’s white or yellow chrysanthemum and they have different indications. White is mostly taken for eye health (dry eye, etc.) and visual acuity. Yellow for common cold-related symptoms. The most obvious benefit we’ve ever had from it was relief from dry eye and allergy-caused eye irritation. Here’s the basic recipe we use: Chrysanthemum and Goji Berries Tea Recipe for the Eyes

Best Chinese Medicine for Mouth Sores: Watermelon Frost

Best Chinese Medicine for Mouth Sores: Watermelon Frost
Watermelon frost, photos credit: suanie.net

Watermelon frost is available in spray or powder form and is indicated for canker sores and sore throats. We’ve only used it topically for sores in the mouth and it seems to reliably heal the sore quickly. I see many TCM/naturopathic practitioners recommending it for sore throats, so I may try that someday. 

Resources

Yunnan Paiyao

Other TCM for injuries (sprains, strains, bruising)

Bi Yan Pian

Ba Zheng

Dang Gui

Ginseng

Chrysanthemum

Watermelon Frost

Heal Fast and Prevent Recurring Pain

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With two kids in contact sports and my own, easily injured, aging self, I’ve looked into ways to heal the body faster and avoid recurring pain and injury. This means doing more than just ice and rest to reduce recovery time. Below I’ve combined emerging practices from Western sports medicine and Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) to heal soft tissue injuries. 

heal injuries fast
Heal an ankle sprain fast!
(photo credit: Vittori Foot and Ankle Specialist)

Don’t Use Ice on an Injury

Immediately after the injury, do not apply ice. In fact, do not apply ice at any point. Instead, apply some compression and massage to help ease the pain. Most Western sports medicine recommendations are to RICE (Rest, Ice, Compress, Elevate) and even many practitioners of TCM, acupuncturists, etc. will still recommend ice in the very first moments of an injury. 

However, in reviewing the literature, the use case for any healing benefits with ice is murky. In TCM, cold is an enemy to the body’s natural healing reaction and invasive to the body. Even in Western studies, there is recent research that suggests ice actually damages muscle fibers as highlighted in this New York Times article, “Ice for Sore Muscles? Think again.” Furthermore, even the original coiner of the term RICE (Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation), has recently come out against using ice at all in the healing process – except to numb the area and relieve initial pain. If there is so little benefit to using ice, and some possible damage – why bother at all with the ice?  

Integrative Treatment for Soft Tissue Injuries

In all stages of recovery, the guiding principle involves keeping the blood circulating properly and quickly through the area of injury as blood flow is the key to healing the area.  Certain tissues in the body have different levels of blood flow and that is why some tissues, like muscle, heal much faster than ligaments or cartilage. (Here again, ice would only serve to slow this process.)

TCM offers external application of herbal medicines as well as herbal medicines to be taken internally – all with the aim of circulating more blood through the injury. Emerging Western sports therapy recommends that patients work on continuing to move the area of injury almost immediately – they call this method, METH (Movement, Elevation, Traction, Heat). 

For the first few days to weeks, depending on the severity of the injury:

  • Apply an external TCM. We apply the Yunnan Baiyao patch or spray continuously for the first few days. If there is an open wound in the area that makes the patch or dit da jow sting or uncomfortable, you can cover that small area with a nonstick pad or Tegaderm which will allow you to apply the spray, patch or medicinal wine to the non-open areas of the injury. If the area is not painful to massage, then in between applications of the Yunnan Baiyao, we also massage with a Chinese herbal liniment, dit da jow (though there are many types and brands to choose from), which purportedly also improves the circulation to that area. We taper off external application after the first 1-2 weeks. Towards the middle to end of recovery, we typically just do daily massage with dit da jow to the area. I did this diligently with a recent, moderate grade ankle sprain, and surprisingly did not go through the bruising stages.  
  • Take a Chinese herbal medicine that helps with improving blood flow throughout the body. In this category, I am only familiar with Yunnan Baiyao capsules or The Great Mender Tea Pills, although I have seen other products mentioned online. The product dosing typically recommends taking these medicines for just a few days to a week at a time, so in the initial stages of the injury. When ingesting Chinese herbal medicines, you should be cautious or check with a practitioner if you know one. Some can have contraindications and depending on dosage, may be too strong for your constitution. 
  • Keep the injured area moving and stretching as much as you are able without inducing pain. Elevate the area as appropriate to keep too much blood from stagnating / pooling at the injury. If you rest the injury too long, stiffness can settle in and make it more difficult to retain or regain mobility as the tissues heal. Google the METH method or MOVE method for guidance in this area. 
  • Apply a warm compress to the area, which can help with pain relief, and again, encourage blood flow to the injury. 

Integrative Treatment for Chronic Pain Avoidance 

Post-injury, not having a thorough recovery can lead to chronic problems in the area of the original injury. Towards the final days/weeks of recovery, I’ll feel that my injury is more or less recovered and I don’t want to mind it so much anymore. Just because you don’t feel pain anymore doesn’t mean your injury is fully healed. In fact, that final phase could be going on for quite some time.

I’ve learned that this phase is critical and long in terms of making sure the injury is thoroughly healed to avoid developing some chronic weaknesses, aches, pains, or arthritis in that injured area as we grow older or continue to be active. I suspect this phase could be as long as months or even years for many people, but that complete healing is possible.

Even though you may feel healed from your injury, it would be ideal to do the following:

  • Try to avoid allowing recent injured areas to be cold – even if it feels fine to you.
  • Massage with dit da jow on days where you might feel achy or if you used the formerly injured area a lot that day. 
  • Apply warm compress, keep the area warm as much as possible. People who tend to have cold hands / feet (which means poorer blood circulation to formerly injured extremities), keeping those areas warm in the last recovery stages can be particularly important.
  • Keep the area moving and stretching as much as possible as long as there is no pain. Protect or enhance your strength and range of mobility in that area. For example, some therapists recommend wearing a protective brace during exercise and doing preventative exercise for up to a year post ankle sprain. This probably feels like overkill when your injury feels healed, but it would likely prevent chronic pain long term.

Resources

Time it takes for different tissues to heal:

Stop the ice (study shows that ice can cause damage to the muscle fibers and could delay healing):

Western sports medicine starting to recommend METH or MOVE, over RICE as an approach for speedy and thorough recovery:

Posts on how to heal injuries quickly with TCM:

Posts on getting through the chronic stage with TCM or Western sports medicine:

TCM products for soft tissue injuries: