TCM Praxis Bern - Traditionelle Chinesische Medizin - Monica Matheka

Since ancient times, traditional Chinese medicine has regarded the use of drugs as the most important, versatile, and precise form of therapy. Approximately 500-600 plants, minerals, and animal materials form the core of Chinese materia medica and are combined in recipes to create medicines. For internal use, these herbal remedies are boiled in water or porridge and infused as tea, or administered as herbal pills or powders, as well as tinctures. For external use, pastes, ointments, compresses, and plasters are used, or baths, steam treatments, and fumigations are administered. Professional prescribers of Chinese herbs mainly compile multi-component recipes that correspond to the pathological pattern and cause of the disease as well as the symptomatic characteristics of the diagnosed illness.

The effect of each individual remedy is clearly defined according to its properties and quality. The property of fresh ginger, for example, is neutral to slightly warm, its quality is pungent, and it primarily affects the lungs, but also the stomach and spleen. With medical understanding, ginger gains more precise details. Fresh ginger clears the surface of the body and dispels cold. It warms the center, i.e., the stomach and spleen, and stops vomiting. It also clears mucus from the lungs and stops coughing.

Each prescription is individually tailored to the patient's needs and usually consists of around 12 herbs and drugs. The medicinal products are either dispensed in dried form, boiled and drunk warm as a decoction, mixed in granule form as a powder that can be taken with water, or dispensed as a tincture mixture. The duration of therapy depends on the type of illness. Acute conditions can be treated in one to three weeks, while chronic conditions and constitutional weaknesses take longer and often require repeated treatment.
Many of the traditional Chinese herbal formulas have been documented and used in Asia for more than 2000 years, and over 5000 different herbs are available to herbalists practicing traditional Chinese medicine.