Lihua Wang - Chinese Home Remedies

Copyright 2005 by Lihua Wang

All rights reserved under the Pan-American and International Copyright Conventions. This book may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, in any form or by any means electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system now known or hereafter invented, without written permission from the publisher, The Career Press.

CHINESE HOME REMEDIES

Cover design by Cheryl Cohan Finbow

Printed in the U.S.A. by Book-mart Press

To order this title, please call toll-free 1-800-CAREER-1 (NJ and Canada: 201-848-0310) to order using VISA or MasterCard, or for further information on books from Career Press.

The Career Press, Inc., 3 Tice Road, PO Box 687,

Franklin Lakes, NJ 07417

www.careerpress.com

www.newpagebooks.com

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Wang, Lihua.

Chinese home remedies : harnessing ancient wisdom for self-healing (including an A to Z listing of ailments and their remedies) / by Lihua Wang.

p. cm.

Includes index.

ISBN 1-56414-808-4 (pbk.)

1. Medicine, Chinese. 2. Medicine, Popular. I. Title.

R601.W32197 2005

601'.951--dc22

2005041559

www.redwheelweiser.com

www.redwheelweiser.com/newsletter

DEDICATED TO THE MEMORY
OF HOLLY TSHINLI YAP BLIATOUT.

I would like to thank Martin Stadius, a great writer and friend, for his indispensable editorial help on the manuscript.

Many thanks to Jean Dugan, Sandra Profeta, Carin McCameron, and Odell Hoffmann for reading the manuscripts and offering great suggestions.

Thanks to the editors at New Page Books and my agent Joanne Wang for their support throughout the entire process of writing this book.

My mentors and colleagues in China had a profound impact on my development in medicine. While it is impossible to list them all, I would like to especially thank Prof. Wang Mian Zhi and Prof. Liu Du Zhou of Beijing College of Traditional Chinese Medicine for nurturing me in the art of healing.

My former colleagues and students at Oregon College of Oriental Medicine have helped me on countless occasions. I am deeply indebted to them.

Finally, this book would not have been possible without the generous spirit and inspiring examples of my patients over the years. In this book, I have tried to instill the knowledge and skills that I have gained while treating and listening to them. They are the true parents of this book. I wish to express my most profound gratitude to them for allowing me the opportunity to accompany them through their journey of healing.

This book is intended as a reference only, not as a medical manual. Most of the home remedies herein are based on prolonged experimental practices. But medical science is constantly developing and changing, and, therefore, the reader should always consult a medical doctor before trying any home remedies contained in the text. Also the constitution of each individual is different and complex. Some remedies may be good for one person while ineffective for another. Use one remedy for three to five days unless otherwise indicated. Many of the treatments described in the book are not intended for pregnant women unless otherwise indicated. The Chinese herbs in this book are for reference only. All the remedies that involve Chinese herbs should be taken with consultation with professional herbalists. Also, the patent herbs mentioned in this book are not necessarily the best choices; they are listed because they are most available in the United States.

This book mentions a variety of substances such as herbs, herbal cream, and vegetables to be applied on skin. They may cause an allergic reaction. Therefore, whenever you want to use such treatment, do a skin test first. Apply the substance on a penny-size patch of your skin. Wait for 24 hours, and if there is an allergic reaction, stop using it. Don't use herb wine remedies if your health situation is not suitable to take alcohol, such as fever, hemorrhagic disease, cancer, hepatitis, respiratory disease, and so on.

ALL THE HOME REMEDIES HEREIN ARE BASED ON PROLONGED EXPERIMENTAL PRACTICES. THE AUTHOR HAS MADE EVERY EFFORT TO MAKE ALL THE INFORMATION CORRECT. MEDICAL SCIENCE IS CONSTANTLY DEVELOPING AND CHANGING, THEREFORE THE AUTHOR AND PUBLISHER ARE NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY OMISSIONS AND MISTAKES THAT MAY BE FOUND IN THE TEXT, OR ANY ACTIONS THAT MAY BE TAKEN BY A READER AS A RESULT OF ANY RELIANCE ON THE INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THE TEXT.

PART ONE:
SELF-HEALING APPROACHES IN
TRADITIONAL CHINESE MEDICINE

PART TWO:
SELF-HEALING WITH TRADITIONAL CHINESE MEDICINE
HOME REMEDIES A TO Z

APPENDIX:
WHERE TO GET CHINESE HERBS,
PATENT HERBS, AND SPECIFIC ITEMS

When I was a young girl growing up in Beijing, my grandmother lived with us. She had simple home remedies for every ailment in the household. I was often amazed how effective they were. The kitchen was her pharmacy. Ingredients such as pepper, vinegar, sesame oil, ginger, and even pears became her medicine.

I still remember the horror of finding acne appearing on my cheeks as a teenager. My grandma told me to rub saliva on the breakout. I thought her idea was strange, but followed her advice. To my surprise, the developing sores faded away. I asked Grandma how it worked. She said, I don't know. It just works. Actually, she didn't have an answer for most of her remedies.

Later in my life, I attended the College of Traditional Chinese Medicine and studied both Western medicine and Chinese medicine. I discovered that some of Grandma's methods might have had a basis in science.

For example, acne is caused by excess oil clogging skin pores. The salivary glands secrete an enzyme called lipase, which digests fat and oil molecules. The acne was digested by saliva. I thought yeast might be more powerful because it has more digestive enzymes. I used yeast whenever I got acne during those stressful school years, and the acne disappeared.

My brother often had nosebleeds as a child. My grandma had him hook his index fingers together and pull as a nosebleed began. The nosebleed almost immediately ceased. I thought a possible mechanism for this treatment was the tension in the body caused by the hooked fingers might affect the blood dynamics.

I collected these home remedies in my third year of college because I realized that they would be helpful in my future medical career.

In 1979, I was a physician practicing both Western and Chinese medicine at the Academy of Traditional Chinese Medicine in Beijing, and was sent to a remote village near the Yellow River to act as a barefoot doctor.

This is one of the poorest areas in China, where the arid soil yields very little harvest. The peasants worked hard but still couldn't earn enough to put food on the table. Of course, they couldn't afford healthcare. When they had a disease, they depended on the folk remedies and village shaman.

I once saw a villager who had eczema-like symptoms on his forearm. His mother said it was caused by damp toxin, which needed fire-based treatment. She carefully stripped a piece of cotton to its thinnest possible layer, down to a translucent film. She put it over the affected area and touched it with a lighted match. The cotton film burst in flames and quickly burned itself out. The man only felt a flash of warmth. But I would advise against using this method as a home remedy because of the inherent danger of fire. The next day, the eczema-like problem was gone.