The Harm

I agree with the doctors. People must seek out professional help and take herbs with guidance. I am an acupuncture student in the US and looked up this formula. Jin Bu Huan is banned in the US by the FDA. It is said to be more of a narcotic than a herb. Jin Bu Huan is the only herb in the formula and is said to be very risky. For the most part, chinese herbal medicine side-effects are mild and the formulas are safe. But like any medicine different people react different ways. It is very hard to treat someone with Hepatitis, depending on what strand they have, with either form of medicine.

Just be careful out there everyone and if you take herbs make sure you are going to a certified place. Go to a chinese medicine school, an accredited acupuncturist. Make sure you cover all the bases and protect yourself. This medicine can give great benefits to many people and would work well with western medicine, but for now, while the transition of tradtional and alternative med continues, please, saty informed and don’t take any meds blindly.

The problem isn’t just that, its that herbal medicines like most “alternative” medicines have not been clinical tested so no one can know if they work or if there are dangerous side effects. The closest to clinical trials most “alternative” medicines come is the claims that “people have been using these for this for centuries” but even when its true that does not mean it works nor does it mean its safe. It takes double blind scientific studies to know that. Through such studies they can see if its effective how effective it is and what side effects it has.
And alternative medical practitioners ignore one thing about real medicine, most of the chemicals used in real medicine come from nature, plants and even animals except scientists purify the active ingredients, figure out a way to synthesise them and then test them in double blind scientific studies.

I agree with Frank, we ought to cover all the bases when we pursue the use of alternative remedies so we would not end up contending with related health risks. Nonetheless, it would be unfair to convey a message that CAM use is very risky to the point of being prohibitive. Alternative remedies do promote healing too, particularly when integrated with mainstream methods of healthcare. But then just like prescriptions, risks (such as adverse drug interaction) are involved in its administration and this is the reason why CAM practitioners prescribe consultation with professionals prior to use of natural remedies or recommend the purchase of FDA registered products concocted by accredited practitioners.