Health Blog
Written by Dr. Heo Ji-young. Each piece takes a single symptom and follows what is actually happening in the body.
Why the Herbs Are Decocted Together in One Pot
Herbal medicine puts several herbs in one pot and decocts them together. A patient once asked me: could you not decoct them separately and mix them afterwards? Today I want to look at this old method through the eyes of chemistry.
The Road Medicine Takes to the Brain Without Going Through the Blood — There Is a Telephone Line in the Gut
Medicine is absorbed and spreads through the blood. That is the picture we know. But the gut has a separate line running straight up to the brain. It does not go through the blood. When your stomach eases the moment you take something, there is a road like this behind it.
Medicine Switches Bacteria On, and It Also Fixes the Neighbourhood They Live In
You will have heard plenty about gut bacteria activating medicine. But there is a direction running the other way too. When medicine changes the environment of the gut, the make-up of the bacteria living there changes, and as a result the mucosal cells recover. This is not a story about switching medicine on; it is a story about fixing a neighbourhood.
Some Medicines Are Felt the Moment You Take Them — Each Compound Travels a Different Road
Some people tell me they feel something the moment they swallow the medicine. It is not their imagination. A single herb holds tens, hundreds of compounds, and some of them never need to reach the gut at all — they simply pass through the membrane. The same herb carries both a fast road and a slow one. Though having the fast road does not mean it only does fast work.
The Medicine Your Gut Has to Switch On — Following a Single Herb, Gardenia, All the Way Through
Gardenia's main compound arrives locked. Only when the bacteria living in the gut strip off its sugar does it become active. What switches the medicine on is not the medicine — it is that person's gut.
The medicine that does not press the brake for you — following magnolia bark down to its ingredients
People come after being told their breathing feels tight but the tests are normal. The lung is an organ; breathing is regulation. Tests look at the organ. The ingredients of magnolia bark do not manufacture a brake that isn't there — they help the brake the body already has work better.
The Term "Healing Crisis" — Is It a Process of Getting Better, or a Side Effect?
When I hear the word "healing crisis," I check once more. Whether the reaction is a recovery process or a side effect is not something to settle with a word but something to verify and distinguish.
May I Take Herbal Medicine While Pregnant or Breastfeeding?
In the body during this period there are two people. Both "no herbal medicine during pregnancy" and "herbal medicine is natural, so it is fine" are wrong. There are materials that cannot be used, materials used with caution, and cases where they are used when needed.
The Claim That Herbal Medicine Has Not Been Scientifically Proven
The claim that 'herbal medicine has not been proven' contains both a correct part and a mistaken part. Having no research and having been researched and shown to have no effect are completely different things.
Unused Tissue Withers — But Filling It Back In Does Not Bring It Back to Life
Tissue long unused withers. But pushing good things in does not bring it back to life. Atrophied tissue has also lost the strength to handle it. Before deciding what more to add, I first look at what this body can bear.
The Claim That Herbal Medicine Damages the Kidneys
Behind the claim that herbal medicine ruins the kidneys, there was a real incident. The material at fault was withdrawn in 2005, and what is dangerous now is medicine where you do not know who put in what.
Where Did That Herb Come From — The Things I Check
The worries about pesticides and heavy metals in herbs were not baseless. That is why the system changed. But passing inspection and this medicine being right for you are different things, and the system does not do the second one for you.