Has anyone treated themselves successfully for alcoholism with Chinese herbs Kudzu, Radix and flos pueriae?

Just wondering what the effect was......just a reduction in desire for alcohol, or other effects.

Has anyone treated themselves successfully for alcoholism with Chinese herbs Kudzu, Radix and flos pueriae?
Sorry but this really is not going to do anything useful to you.





In the few weeks I have been answering 'Health Answers' I have had my eyes really opened. I had no idea that such a high percentage of the population are so naive as to believe in the myths, potty patent medicines,illegal drugs,illegally purchased prescription only drugs, charlatans and just plain crooks, purporting or pretending that they can fix them.





Go to your GP and get him to refer you to the local Community Addiction Team.
Reply:Hi,





The first thing is do you have diabetes? And if you do what type? I've been doing alot of research about traditional medicines in China and India for my job (I'm a botanist) and while I've not heared of these herbs specifically I can tell you what I've read so far about traditional medicines.





Despite what Dr F says above, many herbal remedies seem to be very effective, at least as much as western medicine (Dr F - I was sceptical too before I started this work) - they may not all have documented clinical trials, but they have been tried and tested for at least 3000 years, which is a lot better than what we've got! Also, many of our medicines are based on traditional medicines.





However, there are major problems with them and you need to be very carefull.





1) You can't be sure of the quality - they may not have been prepaired correctly. I've read about people dying of things like lead and murcury poisoning from traditional medicines because too much of the metal has been used without prepairing it properly.





2) As a botanist, this is one of the things that I'm interested in - most of the plants are collected from the wild as they are slow growing and difficult to cultivate - plant collection is big business; it's common for plant collectors to substitute plants and label them the same - if a plant is unavailable they often sell common herbs and lie! You can't be totally sure that the herb is what you think it is.





3) People often say that herbal medicines are without side effects - this is nonesence! Herbal drugs are still drugs plain and simple and there is as much chance of getting side effects from them as there is from western medicines - just because they are natural doesn't make them safe!





4) This is becoming a big problem in India as western medicine is becoming more common - drug interactions can occur! Always consult an expert before taking herbal drugs because they can interact with each other, but an even bigger problem is that interactions can occur between them and western medicines - they may even have the same active ingredient - potentially leading to overdose! This is becoming pretty common because people often don't tell their dr that they are using herbal medicines. Most haven't been tested for interactions either so it can be difficult to find out what the risk is. This is why I asked about diabetes? Esp. if you have type 2 and are taking tablets for it - herbs may interact with the action of the tablets, but they can also affect things like your metabolism, which can affect your blood sugars. I read about someone in India who took an amalaki preparation and had a severe hypo and died from it! Unless you know a lot about adjusting your dose of insulin and don't mind doing a lot of blood tests (eg. if you're type 1 and carb count, have done dafne or use a pump) I'd stay well away.





I'm not saying don't use herbal medicines, because as I said they do often work really well, but you need to be aware of the risks and think them through - they are not v different from western medicines except that side effects etc. have not been assessed for them. Alcoholism is a serious condition (esp. if you have diabetes too) so you are prob better going to your dr about it instead of holding out to see if the herbs work well or not.





I hope some of that helps and you can understand the pros and cons of using the medicines. Good luck - hope you get well soon xx
Reply:if your really trying even chinese remedies then ask yourself i'am an alcoholic i will try anything to recover then make an appointment with your doctor for advise paying for obscure remedies suggests you will try any remedy except facing up to your problem get help get better thats the remedy and its free
Reply:I hear Kudzu is very successful for this type of treatment. Don't make the mistake of trying to grow it. It may be illegal to try to grow this plant as it's so invasive. It kills trees, takes over yards and is impossible to get rid of.





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