Need Help With Chinese Herbal Medicine PLEASE

General Discussion
#1

Hey guys,

Long time lurker here, and I promise I will fill the new member template later but I’m currently in need of help identifying whether or not certain herbs I’m taking are safe. I began seeing an acupuncturist whom gave me both acupuncture and herbal medicine as a treatment plan. Currently my biggest side effects are low libido, some shrinkage, ED, and seborhemic dermatitis on the scalp and eyebrows. I visited the acupuncturist to hopefully cure my dermatitis which was causing a very annoying and persistent scalp itch. Anyway I took a full day’s dose of the herbal medicine and the next morning my member went completely numb (numbness had already recovered 80% at this point) for a couple of hours and gradually returned to normal throughout the day. I decided to ask the doctor for a list of ingredients in the mixture and he gave me the following list:

Gardenia Fruit
Dong Quai
Baical Skullcap Root
Sichuan Lovage Rhiozme
Tree Peony Root Bark
Chinese Salvia Root and Rhizome
Bupleurum Root
Phragmites Rhizoma
Ophiopogon tuber
Mulberry Root Bark
Seed of Job’s Tears
Scrophularia root
Schisandra fruit
Biota seed
Sour jujube seed
Poria
Lycium Bark
Loquat Leaf
Red Peony Root

If anyone has any information on whether or not to avoid some of these herbs please let me know. I tired researching whether or not they are 5ari or antiandrogenic but couldn’t find much. Much appreciated!

#2

People have had problems with various naturally occurring substances. We know that some foods can trigger serious crashes in some for example.

I would personally say that whatever you’ve been given is obviously having a negative effect - otherwise your symptoms wouldn’t have got worse. It’s possible that the ingredient list features some alternative names for things which may or may not show up in searches. I don’t know which parts of that list might be causing problems but I would advise you to not take any more.

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#3

I think this is another name for Salvia miltiorrhiza/danshen/Red Sage. I took a root bark extract and am pretty certain it had a negative effect on my sexual function and libido that never improved.

Y. Zhang et al. , “Tanshinones from Chinese Medicinal Herb Danshen (Salvia miltiorrhiza Bunge) Suppress Prostate Cancer Growth and Androgen Receptor Signaling,” Pharm Res , vol. 29, no. 6, pp. 1595–1608, Jan. 2012.

Results

For androgen-dependent LNCaP cells, a colony growth assay showed strong inhibitory potency following the order of TIIA≈cryptotanshinone>tanshinone I, being 10–30 folds higher than Casodex (racemic). TIIA inhibited growth of LNCaP cells more than several androgen-independent PCa cell lines. All 3 tested tanshinones were devoid of AR agonist activity under castrate condition. Mechanistically, tanshinones inhibited AR nuclear translocation within 2 h, decreased protein and mRNA abundance of AR and its target prostate-specific antigen within 12 h, and stimulated proteosomal degradation of AR. Oral administration of TIIA (25 mg/kg, once daily) retarded LNCaP xenograft growth and down-regulated tumor AR abundance in athymic nude mice.

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#4

Good catch, @Dubya_B. I should have waited before posting!

#5

Nah, you caught that he was likely having issues with the herbs.

#6

Thank you guys for you replies! I have stopped taking the herbal supplement and already feel better than a few days ago so it’s definitely something in there that didn’t sit right with me. Anyway, I have made another post in regards to a holistic healing program that I’m starting and will be updating everyone on my progress. Hope to see you guys there.

#7

Throwing some random herbs at the problem, without understanding the mechanisms involved, is just pure dangerous. My personal experience with herbs is not good, and I would never take any again, unless I knew exactly what I am trying to achieve and how.

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#8

Hi awor, I agree. These herbs were given to me by a acupuncturist that was mostly treating stomach and seb derm problems so I decided to give it a go. I agree with you in that even natural herbs can have a negative impact and I will definitely not be taking anymore.

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#9

Astragalus, seem interesting herb, but I agree with awor.

#10

shit，I also took tanshinone capsules for a month before taking finasteride for two weeks.I’m dead

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