Patient Questions

“Sorry to bother you but I keep asking myself ‘do I have enough herbs to protect my family’…survival mode..I am just wondering if there is anything herbal you suggest to take to enhance the immune system. We eat really healthy but I keep second guessing myself of what supplements to buy or not. I am just willing to take any suggestions.”

I have been receiving emails like the one above consistently for the past several weeks. Let me share with you some of my response to this patient.

These are good questions.There are really three things I hear you asking in these questions. First, I hear your level of concern for prevention and overall immune enhancement from an herbal therapeutic standpoint.

Second, I hear you are curious about your level of engagement with lifestyle strategies to achieve the same ends. And third, I hear the worry and anxiety that are arising for you now in the face of this pandemic and how those emotions effect decision making. I would like to address each of them individually in what follows. Let me start be explaining more about prevention and treatment with herbal therapy.

I have been studying the herbal protocols used in China preventively and for treatment of COVID-19 during the influenza and pneumonia stages. I have researched the herbal treatment used by three different hospitals in China, including in the area most tragically effected by this virus in Wuhan. The outbreak there has included the administration of herbal therapy for 85% of infected patients, along with preventative herbal care for health care workers. The good news is that before this outbreak research was done using similar herbal combinations during the SARS epidemic. An herbal concoction was used by several thousand health care workers caring for infected patients. Those who used the remedy had no infections, while many of those that did not use preventative herbal therapy became infected. This research was so promising that of the 31 hospitals in China that were treating patients with COVID-19, 24 of them had established comprehensive herbal pharmacies to treat the disease. The herbal combinations used include herbs that I have been recommending for years generally, and more recently in defense of COVID-19. 

Now the bad news, supplies for these remedies have been limited. Each time my provider has them, they vanish. In the meantime, I have ordered the herbs in the raw form. In other words, the actual plant materials that I portion out individually creating a tea that patients take home and cook. The supply issue puts me in the same position our health care system faces generally, and the potential need to prioritize distribution of care. My first priority is for patients I consider more vulnerable to this virus, including my elderly patients, or patients with pre-existing immune deficiencies, or health care workers on the front lines. The second priority would be for those who have been exposed or may expose someone more vulnerable. Lastly, would be my broader and generally more healthy patient base. While I wait for supplies I will create a list of patients requesting herbs in the categories above. I will distribute that stock based upon the hierarchy I have outlined. There may be additional fees associated with this process as I am finding myself frequently consulting patients in this area.

Some more good news however is that my clinic serves a small population. I sincerely hope to be able to supply all patients with everything they need going forward. I can also outline in coming posts, the herbal protocols available for second stage treatment involving those who have been infected and are dealing with the first round of influenza symptoms.