When I was interning at UCLA’s Center for East-West Medicine, someone brought this question to the Center’s director Dr. Hui. The person had read a news article that some herbs can damage people’s liver and kidney. Dr. Hui’s response was remarkable. He said, “there will be no news article reporting liver and kidney damage due to pharmaceuticals… why? because almost all pharmaceuticals cause some liver and kidney damage.”
Liver and kidney is the body’s organ of eliminating waste. Everything ingested must go through them. Therefore, any substance has the potential to damage them. In Morgan Spurlock’s “Super-size Me”, he successfully induced liver damage by simply eating at McDonald’s everyday. So to say herbal medicine may cause liver or kidney damage is very disingenuous. Overall, herbal medicine is milder and safer than modern pharmaceuticals. Some herbs have the potential to cause liver and kidney damage if used improperly. Modern pharmacological researches in China have extensive record of those herbs and the dosage limit. A well-trained physician of Traditional Chinese Medicine should be familiar with those research and practice safely.
If herbal medicine is practiced by a well-trained TCM physician, not only is it safe, it can be used to treat kidney and liver diseases and restore some of their functions. Here is a case of Stage 3 Chronic Kidney Disease I treated. With the use of herbal medicine, the patient reversed the progression of her Chronic Kidney Disease and avoided dialysis in the future.
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