Echinacea – a non-Chinese herbal medicine

What is the benefit of taking supplements? How about using non-Chinese herbs?

The story of Echinacea.
Echinacea is an herb that many people have used to boost their immune system. Some people think that you just take it regularly to keep from getting colds. Some people think that you need to take it on an irregular schedule and then it works better.

The truth of the matter is that Echinacea can do a terrific job of helping your immune system.

Recently, a patient of mine was reading some literature in my office that talked about how Echinacea from one company is not the same as other Echinacea. Interesting.

It was important to him that he not get sick this past winter, so he decided to try the Echinacea that I carry. He took a bottle home and started taking a very small dose – only 1 pill every day.

He reported that within 2 days, his need for his asthma medication was much reduced. This stayed much better until he ran out. His asthma started getting worse. Since he doesn’t live close to my office, he went to his local pharmacy and bought a bottle of ‘Super Echinacea’ and started taking it. He did not feel better – his asthma returned.

There are a couple of reasons why this supplement did not work for him.
1) There are different varieties of Echinacea, and they are not all equally effective.
2) Non-Chinese herbal supplements are not required to contain the herbs that are stated on the bottle. Apparently, the FDA does not concern itself with these non-medicinal herbs, and companies do not need to meet their labeling statements.

Let me know if you would like to know a little more about the wonderful herbal supplements that we carry here at Acupuncture Works.

Stay healthy!