Chinese Herbs for Health |Tio Bustillo |Central Texas Gardener

Alright the community first story is so wonderful. It’s one of the most powerful and interesting things
happening in our city. Congratulations to all the wonderful folks out therewho are raising gardens
and hoping to grow some people as well. Right now we’re gonna be turning our attention to
Chinese medicine and Chinese herbs. I’m joined by Tio Bustillo who is a doctor
of integrative medicine with Baylor’s Scott and White. Alright, well welcome to the program. -Thanks Tom. I appreciate it. -This is gonna be really interesting for me,because I actually am a patient of
acupuncturist and herbalist,so I’ve been kind of learning a lot here about the
treatments I’ve been receiving. In the United States right now there are a lot
of different kinds of people who areseeking out care from kind of the wisdom
of the east, what do you see that’s in common there?-You know I see a variety of
people who come in not only with justaches and pains but a variety of
conditions that stem from general wellnessall the way through Durham
conditions like dermatology conditionsbut often times you find people who are
no longer finding treatment in theWestern medicine strategy and they’ve
turned to Eastern medicine strategies tofind at least some solutions to their pressures. -Okay and I understand that’s just the opposite
of what’s happening in China right now. -Yeah so what has happened is that in China where their
preventive care treatment strategy isalways going to talk to a Chinese
medicine practitionerand then if the Chinese medicine practitioner can’t
solve the situation thenthey usually move over to an MD or a doctor for them. -Okay so very different dynamic here in the states. -Yeah. -So here it’s often people are just frustratedand they’re looking for solutions
to something that hasn’t worked. -Sometimes yes sometimes they can,and this is where we come in and try to do our bestand try to help find that solution. -Okay well gonna be talking about some specific herbs,and some of these of can be grown in Austin. We’re not going
to talk too much about the cultivation,but one thing we want I want people to
understand is that self medication,even if it’s an herb and the
natural thing, is probably not the best idea. -No so we have to be very careful
about the things that you’re takingbecause you’re changing basically the
biochemistry of your body,and so consuming an herb
or taking any kind of supplementyou’re changing your chemistry. And so we have to talk to
either your physician or someone whospecializes in herbal pharmacology
before taking any type of herbal medicineand especially at Baylor Scott
and White we actually work very wellwith your primary care providers and
start to build a plan around all ofthose treatment strategies which is awesome. -Well and making sure that the herbs you’re taking
aren’t counter indicated with medication team. -Exactly which is huge and oftentimes people don’t
recognize that those herbs that they’retaking are counter interactive within
medications that they’re taking. -Okay and prevention of illness is a big thing in
Chinese traditional medicine. -Correct. -And you’ve bought some herbs and we’re gonna
talk about each of these because theseare all kind of preventive, right?-Yeah you can take them
at different stages of your health. -Okay. -So one of them is called
Huang Qi or it’s Astragalus in English,and we know that that actually
helps to stimulate the immune system,and the way it works is that the
polysaccharides inside of that little herb therestarts to build up more white
blood cells in the system. Which if you take it for long periods of time
before the cold and flu seasons,you’ll be ready for the cold and flu seasons
before you get to that there. -Okay and this is just a root
of a cotton plant from East Asia. -Yeah. -So not necessarily one we would grow here
but commonly available. -Right, I think another common one
is going to be Andrographis or Chuan Xin Lian-It’s easy for you to say it. -This one has been around
and used in many different cultures. It also has a antiviral and antibiotic therapy to it. It’s been known to
actually help with strep. Which is awesome, so if you’re starting to feel
that sore throats or that little coughyou can always start to take that and
then see how that works as well. -Right and maybe prevent having to take an antibiotic. -Definitely, definitely. -That’s a good strategy for that. The next herb is one
that grows everywhere in our area. -Yeah, yeah honeysuckle. Honeysuckle flowers
is one that we use quite a bit in Chinese medicine. It has a wide
spectrum of antiviral, antibacterial andis what I call the original antibiotic.
We can utilize this one for symptomsthat are a cue like if you do have some
sort of virus infection it’s given very commonly. The way you want to take
these type of herbs is very interesting. Oftentimes people go ahead and take them
over the counter in little capsules butthis is where having that consultation
with your providers becomes importantbecause it’s not necessarily
the herb that does it itself but it’sthe dosage of that one single herb
that becomes really important. -Oh I see. Okay and I understand with the honeysuckle all parts of the plant could be used andthey’re increasingly strong as you get
back to the stem. -Right. So the flower is a strong part of the plant,but if you start to go down towards
the branch and the leavesthe power of it
becomes even stronger and it’s alsoutilized for different type of illnesses.
So whether you have lung issues orif you’re having some upper respiratory
infections versus like a bladder infection. -Right. -So different parts of that plant will be utilized. -Well we’re gonna
talk about more herbs but you use theherbs often in combination with other
kinds of therapies like acupuncture. -Now, describe how acupuncture actually works
to be to some people it seems kind of like magic. -Right so it’s not necessarily magic.
Most people think of the meridians of the body,and the meridians of the
body is just a way that they used tocall neurological lines of the body,
so now that we realize that your body ismade up of neurological pathways we
start to stimulate the neurologicalpathways that go up to the brain
stimulate the brain to do A or B andthen there’s when the therapeutic
treatment starts to occur. -Because the brain will release for example dopamine
or something-Dopamine, yup. The feel good hormones of the body
to prevent pain or to stop pain for a while. -Right and it’s actually used sometimes in surgical
situations. -Right it does. We now know, and in China they’ve been doing this for a while that you can use it in replacement of anesthesia. So if you’ll notice that your insurance may say that can be used in place of anesthesia. Which is interesting. but that just shows you the power
that acupuncture actually has. -Right and again if a patient comes to you,
typically it’s gonna be a blend ofresponses that you work with them on. -Right so you can use it as preventative treatment,you can use it as
a cue treatment and I think I think inthese type of relationships with your
practitioner it’s long-term it’s aboutactually understanding the person not
necessarily the condition. It’s always about establishing that
connection, so that we know whatyou look like when you’re sick and we
know what you look like when you’re not sickand that way we compare and say “Tom
you don’t look like yourself today, what’s going on?”-Okay hopefully I do look like myself. Now some other herbs that people can grow here for example. Wide variety of gingers can be grown here
I’m sure there are different uses for different kinds. -Definitely so ginger is
very interesting we can not only use itfor gastro issues for stomach problems
but we can also use it for congestion ofthe nose as well as the chest. Oftentimes
people will use the peel for onespecific condition like upper
respiratory infections or again thewhole root itself for digestive issues.
Most people don’t realize though theycan also utilize it as a topical agent.
So if you’ve ever taken a warm bath. Tried to warm yourself up when you
have those chills or there’s little fevers,you can actually put the ginger
inside of your bath and have a ginger bathwhich warms the body even more. -Sounds like fun. -It’s great. It’s really great. So but you know sometimes we can add also
vegetables in it and the vegetable wouldbe like scallions if you put scallions
and ginger together it warms the body up even more. -Okay we only have a short amount of time
but I want you to address echinaceabecause a lot of people use it while they shouldn’t be. -Right so people who have allergies to ragweed
should not be using echinaceasince echinacea and ragweed are part of the
same family you might actually be doingyourself a disservice
and causing more allergy symptoms thanactually boosting your immunity.
Very careful. -Alright as an allergy sufferer I will remember
that for a very a long time. It also sometimes counterindicated for ultimate
immune disorders right?-Right so if you have an autoimmune condition
we need to be very mindful of the medications thatyou’re taking. You may not want to boost
your immunity while you are on that typeof medication, so that’s where herb-drug
interactions are important. -Okay well Tio this has been fascinating thank you so
much for being a guest on Central Places Gardener. -Thank you so much for having me, Tom. -Alright coming up next it’s Daphne.