Western Herbs According to Traditional Chinese Medicine

ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE / HERBS "Each continent has unique herbs that have no equivalent elsewhere. I know of no Western herb equal to the Chinese herb tian ma (Gastrodia) for treating dizziness and epileptic seizures. Likewise, I find few herbs in the Chinese materia medica to rival saw palmetto, milk thistle, or fresh oat. Adding to one's "toolbox" of active medicines enhances any practitioner's abilities to more effectively treat patients. Thomas Avery Garran has written the first truly authoritative work on understanding and using Western herbs based on the TCM model. This book is a major achievement, allowing anyone trained in Chinese medicine to effectively and safely add Western herbs to their daily practice." --David Winston, RH(AHG), author of Adaptogens: Herbs for Strength, Stamina, and Stress Relief and Winston and Kuhn's Herbal Therapy and Supplements "Thomas Avery Garran has definitively integrated a cornucopia of herbs from North America and other Western countries into the system of traditional Chinese medicine." --Michael Tierra, author of Planetary Herbology and founder of the American Herbalists Guild The ever-growing number of traditional Chinese medicine practitioners in the West has brought about an amalgamation of many styles of Chinese medicine and various other medical practices from around the world. This book addresses the increasing demand for knowledge of how to integrate plants from outside the standard Chinese materia medica into the fold of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). It is the first in-depth guide to Western herbs that is based exclusively on the theories, diagnoses, and treatments of traditional Chinese medicine and that successfully harmonizes the unique terminology and theories of TCM with other botanical medicines. The book contains 58 monographs, illustrated with full-color photographs, of herbs commonly used by Western herbalists. Each herb is grouped by the basic categorization for medicinals in Chinese medicine, such as Herbs that Resolve the Exterior and Herbs that Regulate Blood. The monographs detail the energetics, functions and indications, channels entered, dosage and preparation, and contraindications of each plant. Using his own clinical experience, the author also explains how to combine herbs to increase their effectiveness and how to use Western herbs to modify standard formulas used in everyday Chinese herbal medicine. An appendix of Western analogues for Chinese herbs further highlights 40 Chinese medicinals that have related species growing in the West. THOMAS AVERY GARRAN, MTOM, L.Ac., is a licensed acupuncturist with a master's degree in Oriental medicine. He has practiced and taught herbal medicine since 1992. He has been chair of the Department of Herbal Medicine at the Institute of Clinical Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine in Honolulu, Hawai'i, and has served on the faculty of the John A. Burns School of Medicine in the Department of Alternative and Complimentary Medicine at the University of Hawai'i at Manoa. He is currently on leave of absence from teaching while pursuing a degree in Chinese language and ethnobotany at the University of Hawai'i at Manoa in Honolulu, where he maintains a private practice in Oriental medicine.