Successful Treatment of CFS - Oriental Medicine

[shannah]

Welcome LBS and thanks for relaying your experiences.

Do you know what the Chinese tonic you're taking contains?

 

[LBS]

Hi Shannah. I'm on a break from work so don't have time right now to list the ingredients, but the formula is called Gui Pi Wan, and I'm sure you could look it up. I will list it out here for you and others as soon as I have some time, and also provide more details about how I felt before and after starting it.

 

[LBS]

Here is the formula, from the website of the company that makes the brand I used:


Bai Zhu (Bai-zhu Atractylodes Rhizome)
Atractylodes macrocephala; Rhizoma 14.00%

Dang Gui (Chinese Angelica Root)
Angelica sinensis; Radix 14.00%

Fu Ling (Kuai) (Poria; Hoelen; Tuckahoe)
Poria cocos; Sclerotium 14.00%

Long Yan Rou (Longan Aril)
Dimocarpus longan; Arillus 14.00%

Yuan Zhi (Zhi) (Polygala Root)
Polygala spp.; Radix Praeparata 14.00%

Dang Shen (Codonopsis Root)
Codonopsis spp.; Radix 7.00%

Huang Qi (Astragalus Root)
Astragalus spp.; Radix 7.00%

Suan Zao Ren (Jujube)
Ziziphus jujuba spinosa; Semen 7.00%

Da Zao (Jujube (Black))
Ziziphus jujuba; Fructus 3.00%

Gan Cao (Licorice Root)
Glycyrrhiza spp.; Radix 3.00%

Mu Xiang (Costus Root)
Saussurea lappa; Radix 3.00%


Again, it's not for long term use (note the presence of licorice, which can be toxic if taken over a long term.)

 

[ruben]

hi there LBS. Good post. I too am now in my 50s and have been unwell since the 1970s. have been in full time work for 95% of that time but god knows how i've done it. I have been at my best when seeing people who practice chinese medicine. I started seeing a chinese doctor up here in suffolk where I live in July. He gave me acupuncture and some powdered herbs. I perked up quite a bit but just couldn't really afford to carry on with it. Your post made me wonder if perhaps I should give the herbs you had a try. Perhaps you'd be kind enough to tell me what the name of the website was where you obtained it. many thanks .

 

[LBS]

Hi, Ruben. I bought this locally; the information I posted was from the website of the company that makes the brand I have. You can probably find them for sale online from a vendor in the UK. Here's the link to the product: http://nuherbs.com/items/detail/113

I don't have brand preference, per se, but I know that Chinese herbs can vary widely in quality and this company supposedly does some quality assurance. They weren't terribly expensive, either.

If you do decide to try these, please bear in mind that my doctor recommended I do half the label dose, twice a day. That turned out to be four teapills twice a day, and that was plenty for me.

 

[ramakentesh]

Dang Gui (Chinese Angelica Root) increases blood volume
dang Shen increases red cell count eventually
licorice root increases salt retention and blood volume while also reducing endothelial nitric oxide.
there are also chinese herbal beta blockers

 

[zoe.a.m.]

but the formula is called Gui Pi Wan, and I'm sure you could look it up. I will list it out here for you and others as soon as I have some time, and also provide more details about how I felt before and after starting it.

Tricky tricky stuff trying to self-diagnose with herbs... You can easily find 10-15 formulas that treat the same symptoms, but differ in their constituional purposes. I've taken Gui pi in the Gather Vitality tincture form, it helped a lot with night sweats and weak digestion. When I tried it again later for the same symptoms, it wasn't the right formula.

One thing to keep in mind is that generally, a practitioner will clear pathogens before tonifying at all (gui pi is tonifying), and they usually can tell this via your pulses and tongue. I've had good formulas prescribed by TCM people who didn't clear first, and it was not good, or rather, of no help. Just something to keep in mind. There is a "classic" formula for CFS called Compound GL (referring to the mushrooms used) made by ITM out of Portland (this is the Pine Mountain and Seven Forest's creator). There are also a few other patents that combine clearing with tonifying and are used long-term for CFS. Can't recall them at the moment, but maybe Isatis and Cold Quell...?

 

[zzz]

The link Jenny mentioned in this post, and upon which the rest of her post is based, is no longer valid. Instead, you can find the original article here. The textual content is the same as in Jenny's post, but the original article has a lot of useful pictures and diagrams that help to make everything clearer.

If you Google "chronic fatigue syndrome" and "Giovanni Maciocia" together, you will find a number of other interesting links, including other articles, as well as Chinese herbal medicine for sale that appears to have been developed by Giovanni Maciocia specifically for the treatment of what he describes as chronic fatigue syndrome.