Miscellaneous Forum

Yes, and one I live by called Ginkgo Biloba. Not many customers is because many of the doses are in tablet form and the quantities can be for months usage. Really, the Ginkgo Bioloba is available at supermarkets, health stores and anywhere that vitamins and minerals are sold. Just not at the hospitals. I figure that my not going to a doctor in over 20 years, taking Ginkgo is why hospitals and many doctors don't want to agree about the benefits of Ginkgo. lol. Do see a doctor before even buying any Ginkgo Biloba as some medications may not agree with this ancient Chinese herbs powers. See: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ginkgo...

Yes,I take ChinaMed which is a high strength chinese herbal medicine with Clematis & Stephania (shu jing huo xue tang).It is a joint ease formula for the relief of osteoarthritic pain,and helps to reduce swelling and increase mobility associated with arthritis.This medicine has been traditionally used for this ailment. My mainstream Dr actually prescribed it for me as it is Practitioner dispensing only. It consists of 16 different roots and fruits and made in China and comes in 300mg capsules,I took 3 capsules 2 x daily for six months and then decreased to 2 capsules 2 x daily and after two years I now take 1 capsule 2 x daily. I know this works for me but it may not work for others.. I strongly suggest you talk to your health professional before taking or using any alternative medicines/therapies. The first thing I did before agreeing to take this chinese medicine was to make sure that no animal products were used.I was happy to find it consisted of roots and fruits only. Cheers Dorrise.

I have never used chinese medicines although I did have acupuncture for a back injury some years ago. Frankly, it didn't help much but it was a fairly serious problem which eventually resulted in surgery. One thing with Chinese traditional medicines is to be sure what is in them. A number of them use products from CITES listed animals (endangered species whose products, sale etc. are regulated) and may contain things like bear bile which is "harvested" in the most barbaric fashin.

My experience with Chinese medicine is similar to Fergy's. We live in an area where there is a reasonably sizable Chinese community; i.e. the city has a "Chinatown" area. After three of us were in a fairly serious car accident, and conventional therapies seemed to be going too slowly, a number of people recommended that we try traditional Chinese medicine. So off it was to a "top" accupucturist. Results after quite a number of weeks of treatment; nothing. I gave up on it first, followed by my daughter and my wife stuck it out longest before giving up. The end result was that I was over my injuries in about 6 months (and I was the one with the most serious injuries), my daughter took about 12 months and it took my wife over 1-1/2 to recover. Our recovery times seemed to be inversely proportional to the amount of traditional Chinese medicine. So, if anything, our experience is that it made things worse, not better. That being said, we pretty well concluded that it probably had no impact at all and the length of recover was more related to luck. I suspect that the placebo effect may be in play in cases where it works.

I must admit to been a little bit unsure about what these Chinese medical shops can offer - take " we can cure heart disease" for example. I really do not think so - perhaps migraines and the like. I guess this is why I never see anyone actually in the shops.Even in the city I work in (Hull, England) which has a sizeable Chinese population do not seem to use them.

Im a Chinese and I will not take any Chinese medicine prescribed by the Chinese Medical Shop. I simply hate the smell and the taste, once I have to take drink chinese medicines double-boiled for hours with pig's heart for 5days. It tasted horrible and the colour the soup looks like muddy water. Since my late mum took her time to cook for me, I forced myself to drink it. I dont know what I benefit from that medicine. Yughsss!!! Nowadays, I boiled fresh herbs from the garden with rock sugar for cough, bladder cleansing, high blood pressure, fever, gastric and many more, and its taste much better and no more animals killed for that purpose. ;-)))

Thats really interesting - most people in the western world over 55 seem to be on high blood pressure pills and so I wonder why we in the west have never taken to the traditional method you mention. Now perhaps there is a void that could be filled here with traditional safe medicine.

Im not a doctor here, I cant say those herbs can cure any high blood pressure but it helps to lower down the blood pressure. BP med still have to be taken daily to prevent from having a stroke. :-)) Perhaps, I could take pictures of the herbs from my garden and post it on my VT homepage. I will inform you..tq

Yes please do.

I have taken Cinnamon, about 1 teaspoon, with my oatmeal in the morning. It has helped to reduce my blood pressure and I had no side effects, per my doctor. See the article I found on this, if you are interested. See: livestrong.com/article/27611...

Hi, nope I haven't tried anything connected with Chinese meds. I trust the Swedish health care system.

Chinese herbal medicine and acupuncture def works. But I don't think it's for every ailment. If you need surgery, you have to go for surgery. I used it to help me get pregnant and we have a very good result to show for it. With any kind of medication, you have to go a trustworthy and experienced practioner and understand avoidance of adverse drug interactions.

chinese herbal meds are down to earth, but they only work if you continue treatment or take the herbs for a while. my mother makes nasty tasting soups or teas with these herbs. they work, but it depends on your ailments....When western medicines do not seem to be working, I ask my mom if she has any chinese medicines that would take care of the symptoms. Through her old Chinese friends, they get together all the old hand me down reciepts and make the medicine. Sometimes they work, but not all the time. example I had a flu...all western medicine and antibiotics could not cure, fever was high. My mom had these 1mm beads of medicine. with ten of them crushed and pulverise and on to a teaspoon, I took the stuff with some water..(taste really bitter) within three hours, the flu, fever, cough etc..all disappeared. I was amazed. If you go to a herb shop in Chinatown, most likely they will have a herbal doctor on hand to make and fill your potion. My mom just go in and buys the stuff from old memory. cheers tommy x

Tommy, your momma served you chicken soup! ;-)

Our mum are the best..:-))) Please try steamed chicken with dong quai, wolfberries and red dates. Good for ladies... 1 free range chicken - cut into half 6 pieces of Dong Gui 1 tbsp of wolfberries 4 pcs of red dates 1 tsp of salt 2 tbsp of chinese wine or brandy Preparation: Rub salt all over the chicken and place in a steamer plate . Place the Dong Quai , wolfberries, red dates on top of the chicken. Steam in hot boiling water for 1hour. Take out and cut into bite size pieces . Add cooking wine or brandy before serving. Serve hot with white steamed rice..

Ah Mimi, Look for the biggest chicken and cut the legs off to make for better flavor. Chicken Soup for all. ;-)

Larry Thats the best part of the Chicken..Yum :-))

Does it really have to be a free range chicken? Live chickens that you slaughter yourself is hard to find now a days. cheers tommy x

Tommy, any chicken will do, but I like to use the whole chicken legs. We have plenty of free range chicken (kampung chicken)to buy here, already slaughtered and cleaned. :-))

Mimi, forgot that you are from Maylay....we use to have fresh live chickens that you can buy in the city, like New York City, but the commericalization and USA regulations are slowly eroding away that you can not buy live chicken no longer. They come pre-package in the store, but I always remember my mom going out to the store before special Chinese holidays and getting the fresh Chicken . She made the famous steam chicken or the Soy chicken. She was such a good cook, but now I have my sister doing the cooking and learning about the chinese meds. cheers tommy x

We always used to have live chickens on the farm when I was a girl..my job to kill,clean,pluck them etc....nothing was wasted,and nothing that helps you feel better like fresh cooked chicken soup. ;o)

I used to remember during Chinese New Year when Im still small, my family reared a few chickens and ducks for that special occasion. I always feed the fat chickens and ducks. So on that eve, my father caught all the chickens & ducks and started slaughtering them..I saw the chickens and ducks died and there I went to the beside chicken coup and crying, and I didnt eat them for Chinese New Year..So sentimental...Haha..

LOL, you fatten up the chickens and ducks for the big feast and didn't enjoy the pleasure lol. Reminds me of the chinese prayer to the cementary where we bring chicken and wine, incense and burn paper money. After it was over we take the chicken home to eat and my little nephew did not know that we put the chicken in the trunk of the car to take home and told my mom, gee grand pa was really hungry, he ate the whole chicken!

Tommy, After that story, no more rearing any chickens and ducks. :-)) Then come to my grand aunty, who was another comical, I was eating chicken soup with green mustard. You know what she said - "Those bones in the soup, are of the grandmother's" and another time, I start crying again. What a cry baby, I am. :-) You still go for Cheng Ming?