My Herbal Medicine Story

(By Misook Lee, LOM) My first memory of traditional East Asian herbal medicine is from the observations of my grandparents when I was around age five. My grandmother cooked dried raw herbs in a black round cray pot which was covered with a white paper lid. I remembered the strong bitter scents while she carefully ran the cooked herbs through a linen pouch, squeezing with a wood stick, sifting the decoction into a porcelain bowl. I guessed she did not want to miss a drop of herbal liquid, and it looked like a very time-consuming process. My grandparents strongly believed that taking the black bitter herbal liquid would help them prevent illness and maintain health. I observed her cooking herbs like this a couple of times per year.

At that young age, I expected that I would grow to live in a “better” world as science and medical knowledge progressed to a superior way. I did not want to take those kinds of herbs at all, thinking of that traditional stuff as an outdated custom.

When I was pregnant with my second baby, I started bleeding from the early pregnancy stage. I had received an injection to prevent miscarriage and almost every month when I visited the OBGYN clinic and did the ultrasound scan, I could see the blood lining between the amniotic sac and the placenta. I was always warned not to overexert myself because of the risk of bleeding and miscarriage. I tried my best to be careful but if I walked for more than ten minutes, the bleeding started again. I felt my stamina gradually grow weaker.

After twenty-four weeks of pregnancy, there was less danger of miscarriage, but my bleeding condition was not improving at all. I gradually realized the limitations of modern Western Medicine and the need for alternatives. 

So, I visited the traditional herbal medicine clinic. After a brief examination, the traditional medicine doctor said that he could help me if I took herbs. He also explained the cause of my bleeding was my weak Spleen. I could not understand his explanation at all at that time, but I was desperate to resolve my bleeding condition. I took the herbs for two weeks and unexpectedly, all symptoms resolved. 

The experience was amazing and at the same time it was also embarrassing to me. I realized that I had been misunderstanding something about traditional Asian medicine until then. After that experience, I was able to have a more open attitude. When my kids caught colds or had digestive problems, I used traditional medicine, and it worked well. I was able to overcome menopause symptoms, hormonal issues thanks to herbal medicine. 

After using herbal medicine for many years for myself and my family, and later becoming a licensed acupuncturist, two years ago I finally completed an advanced Traditional Chinese Herbal Medicine certification course at the Won Institute for Graduate Studies, passed the board exam, and began practicing as an herbalist.

Studying the ancient system of Chinese Herbal Medicine is not easy and there are many things I do not know yet. I have to observe patients closely, discern their constitution by analyzing their voice, behavior, pulse, tongue and impression. It is necessary to determine which symptom is the main pathology and carefully select the herbal formula and dosage. I am still studying now. 

With the advanced technology, Modern Western Medicine can clearly show what is happening in the body, but it sometimes has not been able to provide information about the cause of the problem or the solution. Traditional Asian Medicine has its own unique accumulated knowledge base and highly developed clinical theory. It is difficult to always understand and explain in modern scientific language, especially when it provides rather simple solutions.

We do have some modern conveniences– instead of cooking raw herbs at home like my grandmother did, we can use standardized, granular type herbs where we simply dissolve the pre-cooked herbal extracts directly into water. Otherwise we are relying on the extensive experiences and wisdom accumulated over thousands of years in traditional Asian herbal medicine. I hope you will learn to take advantage of it the way that I did.