It is important for practitioners to become more familiar with the nature of the herbs they prescribe and the expected responses to them, so as to be able to respond to concerns about and allegations of adverse reactions.
Photo by Shutterstock 290658917. Image of a variety of herbs including rosemary, parsley, and bay leaves sourced from Shutterstock. Available at: https://www.shutterstock.com/es/image-photo/herbs-variety-rosemary-parsley-bay-leaves-290658917
In May of 1870, Thomas Child was hired by the Imperial Maritime Customs Service to be a gas engineer in Peking (Beijing). The 29-year-old Englishman left behind his wife and three children to become one of roughly 100 foreigners living in the late Qing dynasty's capital, taking his camera along with him.
The wedding portrait of Zeng Jifen and Nie Ji Gui, who were only recently identified. The bride is the daughter of Marquis Zeng Guofan, a high-ranking Chinese official during the Qing dynasty. Photo by Thomas Child / Stephan Loewentheil Historical Photography of China Collection / Courtesy of the Sidney Mishkin Gallery. Image sourced from The Atlantic. Available at: https://cdn.theatlantic.com/thumbor/3B_DEetQ62S4lEAbbYhEzRbWmpM=/900x692/media/img/photo/2016/09/thomas-child-images/01_t/original.jpg
Misbehaving children are sent to a purple-pillowed space called The Mindful Meditation Room, which allows them to calm down and recenter through breathing exercises and mediation before reentering the classroom.
By Holistic Life Foundation, Inc. Image sourced from My Modern Met. Available at: https://mymodernmet.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/archive/dANUhhg9l0cVaMcmNqa5_MeditationinSchool1.jpg
Women who are breastfeeding are cautioned about taking certain drugs that might affect their infants. Questions then arise as to whether some herbs are also of concern in relation to breastfeeding.
R.C. Gorman (Diné, 1932-2005). Two Works: Two Maidens, edition 34/100, Two Women and a Baby, edition 1, 1929. Image sourced from Lacted. Available at: https://lacted.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Breastfeeding-7.jpg
Acupuncture is offered everywhere from luxury spas and physical-therapy offices to minimalist community clinics and 1970s Airstreams.
One day in 1971, the doorbell rang at Paul U. Unschuld’s apartment in Munich. He opened the door to find a young man, who laconically said in English: “Hi, I am James Quinn, C.I.A. Tell me about the military usage of acupuncture.”
“Medicine and politics are similar: You don’t blame others, you blame yourself.” Paul U. Unschuld. Credit: Andrea Gjestvang for The New York Times. Image sourced from The New York Times. Available at: https://static01.nyt.com/images/2016/09/24/world/24UNSCHULD/24UNSCHULD-articleLarge.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp
In Chinese medicine, one of the “secrets” of healing broken bones is to drink Bone Broth during the healing process. Most Chinese people know this and do not need a doctor to prescribe bone broth. Bone Broth as medicine was once part of Western medical knowledge
Photo by Internal Arts International. Image sourced from Internal Arts International. Available at: https://www.internalartsinternational.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/broth.jpg
One researcher thinks the drugs of the future might come from the past: botanical treatments long overlooked by Western medicine.
Brazilian peppertree, which is being studied for antibiotic potential. Credit: Damon Casarez for The New York Times. Image sourced from The New York Times. Available at: https://static01.nyt.com/images/2016/09/18/magazine/18ethnobotany2/18ethnobotany2-jumbo.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp
The immune system affects -- and even controls -- social behavior, a new study has found.
Photo by Shutterstock 344282432. Image of an MRI showing the brain sourced from Shutterstock. Available at: https://www.shutterstock.com/es/image-photo/mri-image-head-showing-brain-344282432
In a new study, Olivier Civelli, professor and chair of pharmacology at the University of California, Irvine, and colleagues show how YanHuSuo effectively treats different forms of pain.
Photo by Kamwo. Image sourced from Kamwo.
A new compound, SBEL1, has the ability to inhibit hepatitis C virus activity in cells at several points in the virus' lifecycle. SBEL1 is a compound isolated from Chinese herbal medicines that was found to inhibit HCV activity by approximately 90%.
Photo by Shutterstock 135358625. Image of ingredients for Chinese herbal soup sourced from Shutterstock. Available at: https://www.shutterstock.com/es/image-photo/ingredients-chinese-herbal-soup-135358625
Acupuncture to the abdomen, boosted by an electric current, helped relieve severe constipation, a new study found.
Photo by Stuart Bradford. Image sourced from The New York Times. Available at: https://static01.nyt.com/images/2013/09/23/health/cn-well_alternative-copy/cn-well_alternative-copy-articleLarge-v3.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health, has released research validating the effectiveness of acupuncture and other non-drug health therapies for pain.
One manuscript in this collection celebrates a plant native to the Mao mountains, the herb atractylodes, cangzhu 蒼朮. It describes not only the medical properties of the plant but an entire array of health-related and salvific practices. It is revealed by the Goddess, the Lady of Purple Tenuity, Ziwei Wang furen 紫微王夫人, whose title refers to the canopy of heaven surrounding the pole star.
Excerpt from reconstructed Mawangdui Daoyin tu, excavated from tomb dated to 168 BCE. Photo by Wellcome Images. Image sourced from Hypotheses. Available at: https://f.hypotheses.org/wp-content/blogs.dir/866/files/2014/11/Yansheng.Crop_-300x133.jpg
A meta-analysis of eight clinical trials conducted between 2000 and 2014 demonstrates the efficacy of acupuncture for the treatment of stable angina.
Image sourced from HealthCMi. Available at: https://www.healthcmi.com/images/4ceu/AnginaSTtx.jpg
Now, when asked about acupuncture or herbal therapy, I no longer say, "It's not going to hurt. You have nothing to lose." I now recommend without hesitation that anyone going through infertility treatments consider using acupuncture or herbal therapy during their journey.
Photo by Stocksy. Image sourced from MindBodyGreen. Available at: https://mindbodygreen-res.cloudinary.com/image/upload/c_fill,g_auto,w_480,h_322,q_auto,f_auto,fl_lossy/crp/acupuncturefertilityobgyn-531x369.jpg
Motherwort’s Latin botanical name is Leonurus cardiaca: lion hearted. This is a bold name, bestowed in part due to the plant’s resemblance to a lion’s tail.
Image sourced from The Herbal Academy. Available at: https://theherbalacademy.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Motherwort_Leaf2-byJane-667x1000.jpg
In the Yinhai Jingwei (Essential Subtleties on the Silver Sea), a text on ophthalmology from the time of the Ming Dynasty (1), there is a discussion of floaters, described as "black blurred specks in the eyes resembling fly wings." The pathology is said to be related to the "water of the kidney" refers to the kidney yin, as distinguished from the "fire of the kidney," which corresponds to the kidney yang or mingmen fire.
Image sourced from ITM Online. Available at: http://www.itmonline.org/image/floater.jpg
A recent study by researchers at the Atlanta Veterans Affairs Medical Center took them to a not-so-likely destination: local farmers markets. They went in search of fresh ginger root.
Caption: Dr. Didier Merlin (front row, center) and colleagues with the Atlanta VA Medical Center and the Institute for Biomedical Sciences at Georgia State University are exploring the use of edible ginger-derived nanoparticles to treat inflammatory bowel disease. Credit: Lisa Pessin. Image sourced from EARI Media. Available at: https://earimediaprodweb.azurewebsites.net/Api/v1/Multimedia/027a5e55-acd2-4f7a-a7ff-622c2291a70f/Rendition/low-res/Content/Public
As with any number of the fMRI studies done with acupuncture, needling the point activated a number of areas in the brain. The researchers, however, did notice a difference in responses between genders – “relative to males, females exhibited greater brain activation in the right-sided postcentral gyrus, precentral gyrus, precuneus, postcentral gyrus, inferior parietal lobule, declive, middle occipital gyrus and parahippocampal gyrus”.
Image sourced from YYH Media. Available at: https://yyhmedia.s3.amazonaws.com/media/member-uploads/2/fmri-225x300.jpg