Dr. Instagram
Recently on Instagram, I saw a popular natural medicine guru making blanket herbal recommendations for optimal health, so here I am, in my tiny corner of the internet, panicking, trying to set the record straight.
I take a liberal approach to life and believe in Newton’s Law that EVERYTHING has an equal and opposite reaction. Drugs. Herbs. Supplements. Food. Acupuncture.
While we want those reactions to be positive, when we make blanket statements, we are often wrong and are defeating the purpose of using non-allopathic medicine, which is to create a more individualized treatment plan.
The thing that concerns me about this "miracle herb" approach is that it has the potential to create a negative perception of herbal medicine, when in reality, herbs can be extremely powerful and positive when used appropriately by qualified practitioners who are trained to make a diagnosis before prescribing.
There is no one herb/supplement/treatment that’s right for everyone. In the recent broad sweeping recommendation I saw on IG, this practitioner recommended Rehmannia. Rehmannia’s Chinese name is SHU DI HUANG and is what we call a yin tonic.
Yin is your ability to rest and settle. Yang is your ability to get shit done. To compare to something we're all familiar with, yin is your parasympathetic nervous system—the rest and digest. Yang is your sympathetic nervous system—the flight or fight. (There’s more to it than that, but if this is a new idea, it’s a decent place to start).
We need a balance of yin and yang in our daily lives, and when our yin gets worn down, it’s possible to have problems that range from migraines to dizziness to insomnia to infertility, just to name a few.
Yin deficiency is an extremely common problem in American culture, because typically, we believe the more we can do, the better. The less we sleep, the better. The more we workout, the better. The more projects or events we have going, the better. And we tell ourselves that we feel fulfilled when we're engaged, but we don't know when to stop. I’ve been guilty of this, too, but it has to stop. Plus, the American diet...(More on that in another post).
Back to Rehmannia: yin tonics are heavy and sticky in nature—think molasses—and can be difficult to digest. As is often the case, folks with yin deficiency also won’t have the ability to process the herb by itself and will likely end up with stomach pain and constipation. That’s a pretty big thing to leave out when you’re making a recommendation that “everyone” should be taking this miracle herb.
I’m nationally board certified in Chinese Herbs and can only speak from the Chinese Medicine perspective, and there is absolutely more than one way to skin a cat. But, if you can’t process the herb, you won’t get the benefit—and you might get negative side effects not because there’s something wrong with the herb itself but because it wasn’t prescribed correctly--for you.
When I want to prescribe a yin tonic but have concerns that a patient won't be able to digest it, two solutions come to mind. 1) Start with an herbal formula that will improve digestion, and/or 2) customize the prescription with herbs added specifically to help with digesting the yin tonic(s).
I think it’s wonderful that people are taking a more active role in their own health; however, in today’s click bait-y style of journalism, our attention spans are the size of an ant, and we want ant-sized pieces of information, plus magic bullet solutions.
If you read this far and only take away one thing, let it be this: It is important to realize that one size definitely does not fit all and that the best shot at the best outcome is to find a live practitioner who can talk with you, examine you, and make a recommendation based on the system in which they are trained.
Dr. Instagram is not a licensed practitioner.
