dosages and how they change actions

[Guest guest]

Alon, Eric, et al,

 

A very interesting topic. The most obvious are the bitter herbs. In small doses

they are used in Western herbology to stimulate the secretions of the digestive

system, including the liver, to help deal with sluggish digestion. This warms

the system and has a very good effect as long as it is not used for to long. In

Chinese medicine, as in Western herbology, larger dosages are used to clear heat

and cool the system down. Quite the oposite effect. However, I am hard pressed

to think of other classes of plants that have the same or similar dose dependant

action.

I had a teacher of Chinese medicine tell me once that huang lian was once

regarded as a qi supplementing herb, it would have to have been used in small

doses to have this effect. Of course this brings us back to Alon's argument

concerning whether or not we are actually adding anything when we are

supplementing. But then again, what is qi and how would you recognized and

quantify an increase in the amount a person had?

 

Thomas