An Herbal Story
By Stella (Hae Young) Kim, Special Contributor

It was raining and my mom asked me to pick up some medicine for my sick dad. Well, she just called and told me to drive out to Queens to pick up the medicine. She had said my dad was coughing and lying in bed all week. I put on my coat, grabbed my almost Burberry umbrella and my genuine Kenneth Cole wallet. I took the car from my parents' garage conveniently located in the city and drove into Flushing.

The huge municipal parking lot in the middle of Flushing was actually empty. It was probably because it was a Wednesday night. Stupid ticket. The quarter meters are almost extinct in Flushing. Now, it's the paper slip that gets placed on the car's dashboard that informs the expiration time. What if you're by yourself, the machine is broken, and you have to walk to the machine much further away? What if an officer comes by to give you a ticket and you're actually in the process of getting a ticket? I don't know; it never happened to me yet but these thoughts were running through my head as I walked to the nearest functioning machine.

Ah, Asian city. Everywhere you look, there's the familiar race. Flushing is somewhere we all find familiarity and comfort. My mom found her beloved herbal medicine in Flushing about twenty years ago when she first immigrated to New York. As soon as she could afford it, she started her infatuation of feeding the whole family herbal medicine seasonally. My dad and I usually take it during the winter while my mom and my brother take it during the summer.

It is our family's usual place to obtain our herbal medicine: Jail Natural Food on Union Street. It's been there for a quite some time. I remember the initial owner, Mr. Choi. Now his son Michael runs the place and continues the legacy. He's very young and I was shocked when I met him a year ago. My mom introduced him as an oppa (a title used to address the young guys, but those who are older than you) - Michael oppa. I preferred and still prefer Dr. Choi. He went to Stonybrook and studied pre-med for two years before transferring himself over to a professional herbal medicine school.

I walked in and he greeted me with an uncertain smile. I reminded him that my mom had called. His smile widened.

"Ah yes! I almost didn't recognize you because of your haircut," was his response. He handed me my father's herbal remedy. "It should be taken twice a day: morning and evening."

We then sat on the couch in the atmosphere of herb-filled aroma. My knowledge of herbal medicine was to be upgraded.

The most important characteristic of herbal remedy I learned that evening was the main difference between herbal medicine and Western medicine. While Western medicine treats the disease, herbal medicine treats the body so that the body can heal the disease. Western medicine performs its function with ingredients that can cause several unhealthy long-term side effects on the body. However, herbs are natural plants; therefore, they do not allow many side effects if they are prescribed correctly. The purpose of herbal medicine is to strengthen the body and balance the body so that it can function correctly. The balance is very important in herbal medicine. It is the balance of the body that tells the doctor the specific conditions the body is going through. This is where the famous yin and yang comes in, but that's a whole other, more complicated topic to explain.

The first step any doctor takes is a check-up. In herbal medication, it is called an evaluation. A typical doctor will take his/her stethoscope and check the patient's heart rate and breathing. Doctors will also check the patient's blood pressure. In addition, there are two procedures, the pulse and tongue diagnosis, that are carried out without the use of instruments.

The purpose of the pulse diagnosis is similar to a regular stethoscope examination. It checks the heart rate for regularity or irregularity. There are approximately 36 different types of pulses that will inform the doctor of specific characteristics of the body. Doctors like Dr. Choi only know of about eight different pulses. Even with the knowledge of eight, Dr. Choi and other doctors can still detect an imbalance of the patient's body.

In the tongue diagnosis, the doctor checks for color and quality. He checks whether it's particularly redder than usual in certain areas of the tongue and then the physical condition of the tongue, particularly swelling, teeth marks, cracks, and other symptoms.

These two diagnoses will evaluate the patient's balance. If there is an imbalance, the doctor will offer some options to correct the imbalance. Dr. Choi always scolds me to sit up straight with my feet in front of me, shoulder length apart ("It'll even tighten your stomach muscles," he motivates).

Dr. Choi takes a few minutes to himself to jot down some notes in the patient's record folder in a hodgepodge of English, Korean, and Chinese characters. Then he looks up and gives his usual brilliant smile and starts off with a lot of advice. He offers simple exercises, eating habits, posture positions, and even advice on attitude. He always advises that some balances of the body can easily be fixed with a change in minor ways of the patient's lifestyle; and only if the patient was to feel more confident or if the patient's body was in dire need of herbal remedy, Dr. Choi would prescribe something unique for that particular patient.

In a regular physician's visit, a patient comes out with a single or several small white note papers that prescribe medication for the patient's illness. Those medications are already prepared and ready to be dispersed at the pharmacy. The patient only needs to wait for the pharmacist to count the pills or fill up an empty bottle of the syrup needed to treat the disease. However, herbs are different. Nothing is ready made. Only the diverse (more than 300 types) herbs are stored for use. After the evaluation, the doctor must mix and match several ingredients correctly so it will comply with the patient's bodily needs and conditions. He must make sure the patient is not allergic to any of the herbs to be used, if the body will be strong or weak for certain herbs, or if it will put unnecessary weight onto the patient. There are these factors and many others to consider before the doctor cooks up a special concoction for the patient.

Preparing the remedy takes a few days. After I got my driver's license, it has always been part of my household chores to go and retrieve the medicine - whether it was my mom's seasonal ritual of herbal taking or on spontaneous notices like these where my dad would be sick with the flu or when my mom would get her usual case of indigestion. Herbs are natural and safer than Western medicine, permitting my mom, along with many other Asians, to trust this genre of medicine.

There are different ways of taking the herbal remedy. The most common way is to drink the remedy in liquid form (either hot or cold - but hot is preferred). They can also be extracted into pill form and taken several at a time with water. Then there is also ointment that can be rubbed against the skin (i.e. tiger balm).

I'm used to drinking herbal medicine but I'm opposed to taking the pills. I tried the pills, but after getting used to the bitter taste of the drinking, they did not seem as if they were working. My mom would heat the pouches for a few seconds in the microwave and pour it into a cup for me to drink. I would look at the dark brown, soothing scented drink. Looks can be so deceiving. I used to hold my nose and drink it straight down. My mom would have a candy unwrapped ready for me as soon as my mouth detached from the cup.

So, how does herbal medicine work, why does it work, and if it's so efficient, then why is it not more prevalent? A distinct characteristic of herbal medicine is that it combines two major opposing subjects: science and philosophy. The medical procedures, findings, and conclusions can be validated and proven - it's science. However, there's a whole theory that goes hand in hand with herbal medicine: the balance of the body, the yin and yang, the energy of the body, and much more. Herbal medicine is the study of the body's symptoms that can or need to control balance and the energy of the body. One method of aiding to control that balance is the actual herbal remedy.

Because there lies that uncertainty, many people are still cautious about using herbal medicine. However, scientists continue to research more about this Eastern Asian medicine therapy that has been practiced for over 3,000 years to prove its safety and effectiveness. Scientists are investigating the active substances, the doses, and the effects of the herbs with each other, other medicine and food.

Overall, herbal medicine and its study are spreading amongst more people. It is now practiced more diversely not just among Asians, but among non-Asians as well. With new technology developing at such a fast rate in the twenty-first century, there is hope of more knowledge and beneficial discoveries that can cause a more widespread practice of herbal medicine.

To live your own herbal story, visit Dr. Choi's practice at 41-09 Union Street, Flushing, or call (718) 445-2452.