Pain Management Article in Time Magazine

So.... This morning, I was perusing a March issue of Time Magazine and the article on Pain Management in it.  I was absolutely horrified by the article on herbal therapies.  The article mentioned that the only herbal remedy found to be effective for pain management was Thunder God Vine.  I absolutely feel the need to get on my soapbox about this article and this reference to Thunder God Vine.

First of all, Thunder God Vine (AKA Lei Gong Teng, or Tripterygii wilfordii radix) is listed in the Chinese Herbal Medicine Materia Medica as being "very toxic with many side effects."  I surely hope a lot of people who read this article are not actively searching out Thunder God Vine and I hope if they find it, responsible sales people won't sell it to them.  Our Materia Medica does not recommend its use because of the toxicity and low benefit-to-harm ratio. If one does choose to use it, the two bark layers must be removed and it must be cooked for at least three hours to reduce its toxicity.

Herbalists in the US would be wise to pay attention to the chinese way of prescribing herbs: Chinese herbs are most often prescribed in combinations, or formulas, that combine herbs in ways that minimize toxicity and synergistically maximize treatment effects.  The classical  Chinese herbal formulas in our  Formulary have been used for hundreds, sometimes thousands of years, with minimal or no side effects.

So there is a huge disparity between western research on chinese herbs and the way they are actually used by chinese medical practitioners.  What good does it even do to perform research on gingko as a single herb, and claim that  research shows it is ineffective, when it isn't meant to be used as a single herb in the first place?

I have a dream that one day somebody will have the money and the desire to research the effects of Chinese herbal formulas, instead of single herbs.  But I doubt that dream will be realized in my lifetime, since, in comparison to pharmaceuticals,  there is no real money to be made on herbal formulas.   Can't be patented, don't you know?  What a pity that so much of our health care system is based on what can make somebody rich, instead of what can make somebody well.

Okay, need to go clean my house so I am down off my soapbox for now.  I don't imagine I will stay there long.   I think I have a lot of social activism in me.