🌳 Herbal medicine 🌱
Patent Herbal Supplements
Patent Herbs are herbs that are formed into tablets. I used to use a concentrated form that was made from herbal powder. They are formulated to Augment the 'syndromes' recognised in Traditional Chinese Medicine. See TCM page. An example would be Xiao Yao Wan which is used to tonify Yin and Blood and to move Liver Qi. There are thousands of different Patent Herbal formulas, I used only those from reputable suppliers who I knew didn't use things such as endangered species in the tablets. If you go to a Chinese shop there is the chance the Patents will have endangered species or chemicals such as steroids in them so be aware. One example of this is the use of Seahorses in some remedies, they can be substituted for in the tablets but the Chinese shops may use real Seahorses! They work at a deep level in our bodies and are often repairing the cause of our problems rather than masking the symptoms like a lot of 'western' medicines do. I used Patents sometimes to work away in the background whilst I addressed other problems with Acupuncture
Unfortunately Patent Herbal remedies were outlawed for the use of Acupuncturists by the EU, although we have used them for thousands of years, and have done courses on the subject. There were many lobbyists who are sponsored by the Pharmaceutical Industry who pushed for this. They wanted Patent Herbs to be Patented (seems like a play on words!) This will meant only companies like those in Pharmaceuticals would be able to afford the licensing process and the cost of the herbs would skyrocket in price. Luckily we have left the EU so more sense has been brought in to UK legislation on this matter and we now able to use HERBAL SUPPLEMENTS. I use these myself, They are food supplements and are quite gentle, so hopefully I can use more of these in the future to help my patients.
