Health Concerns Tremella & American Ginseng Capsules

This formula was designed by Misha Cohen, OMD, L.Ac., based on her clinical experience and the experience of the Quan Yin Healing Arts Center in treating thousands of HIV patients. Tremella and American Ginseng is a formula specifically for individuals with chronic viral syndromes, such as HIV, chronic fatigue immune dysfunction syndrome (CFIDS), herpes, among others. This formula is used for signs of yin deficiency heat, the symptoms of which may include fatigue, digestive disorders, inability to concentrate, swollen lymph nodes, chronic dry cough, spontaneous sweating, and the like. The chief herb in the formula is tremella (bai mu er), which enriches the yin, moistens the lung, nourishes the stomach, and produces fluids. The deputy herb is American ginseng (xi yang shen), which benefits the lung yin, clears deficiency fire, and produces fluids. Individuals who have chronic viral infections generally present a pattern of yin deficiency and exuberant heat because such protracted conditions consume yin and fluids. Thus, these two herbs are aimed at relieving the deficiency heat pattern and at treating dry cough due to lung deficiency and lung heat, a primary symptom in these individuals. Astragalus (huang qi) tonifies the spleen and augments the protective qi, and stabilizes the exterior; it is used for deficiency with spontaneous sweating. Schizandra (wu wei zi) addresses coughing/wheezing due to patterns of lung and kidney deficiency, and inhibits spontaneous sweating and generates fluids. Another major herb in this formula is raw rehmannia (sheng di huang), which clears heat and cools the blood, nourishes the yin and generates fluids, and cools the upward-blazing of heart fire. Lycium fruit (gou qi zi) is another important herb in that it nourishes and tonifies the liver and kidney yin, since many individuals with chronic viral conditions have yin deficiency of these two organs. Herbs in this formula that clear heat are lycium cortex (di gu pi), isatis extract (ban lan gen and da qing ye), lonicera (jin yin hua), and viola (zi hua di ding); the latter three have been found through research to have antiviral effects as well. Red Ganoderma (ling zhi) is a general tonifying herb. Herbs that tonify the yin include ophiopogon (mai men dong), Solomon's seal (yu zhu), ligustrum (nu zhen zi), and glehnia (sha shen). Herbs that tonify the yang are cuscuta (tu si zi) and epimedium (yin yang huo), those that invigorate the blood are spatholobus (ji xue teng), tang kuei (dang gui), and curcuma (yu jin). Because of the number of tonifying herbs in the formula, citrus (chen pi) and cardamon (sha ren) are added to facilitate their digestion and absorption, and licorice (gan cao) to harmonize the ingredients.