Herbal Medicine
K-Pop Demon Hunters Laryngitis Cure
If you have a daughter between the age of 4-7 there’s a good chance you’ve seen the 2026 Academy Award winning movie, K-Pop Demon Hunters. I’ve seen (part of) it many times.
For those who haven’t, it’s about a group of adorable, young, female K-Pop stars—by all appearances as big and famous as Taylor Swift—whose side gig is to periodically battle and destroy a species of underworld demons. I like to joke to my wife to imagine if Taylor or Beyonce moonlighted as fierce, violent warriors. Childhood is fantastic.
The hook is that the group’s lead, Rumi, is secretly half-demon. As a result, parts of her body are covered in constitutional skin patterns that she shamefully conceals from her best friends and the world. Early in the movie, near the peak of her success (which somehow promises to help finally eradicate the demon realm) she begins to intermittently experience bouts of laryngitis that are supposedly due to her heritage—not her career. As outlined by Mayo Clinic, this is an extremely common symptom and challenge for singers, most of whom have no demon blood. Desperate for a resolution, her friend and bandmate, Zoe, refers her to a local “healer” in town.
I have been an acupuncturist and Chinese medicine clinician in New York for thirteen years. Herbal medicine is a huge part of my practice. I teach it at Pacific College of Health and Sciences and Virginia University of Integrative Medicine, and study Chinese medical texts every night. However, I frequently feel like the polarizing charge around the Covid vaccine during the pandemic has, in the minds of the “science is real” crowd, given us a bad, or at least an inadequate rap.
The local “healer” Rumi goes to ends up personifying many modern stereotypes about alternative medicine. His personality is kooky. On one hand, he can accurately “see through” each of Rumi’s friends, Mira and Zoe, into their souls, and tell them things about themselves they were barely aware of. On the other hand, he turns out to be a charlatan when they later peel away the label from the herbal potion he gives Rumi, revealing it to be grape juice.
I was fine with the idea of Taylor Swift and Beyonce working days as demon slayers, even with the proposed etiology of Rumi’s laryngitis being her demon heritage, as opposed to the more scientifically logical one of being a singer. But I must take exception to us (Eastern) herbalists being consistently portrayed as quacks—not to mention a contradictory one in this case, where said charlatan concurrently possesses a very impressive psychic intuition.
Chinese medicine is not inherently opposed to western medicine. Many generations ago, Chinese medicine doctors once crushed up smallpox scabs to then blow up the noses of people with the intention of inoculation. Most Chinese hospitals of our present generation contain and administer both western pharmaceuticals and Chinese herbs equally, sans contentious ego, depending on what they deem the best option for a patient. I’m confident if any layperson or doctor were to read the medical texts I do or listen to the scholars I do, they would see that those of us who study diligently think every bit as critically as MD’s—that the majority of us are neither frauds nor “insta-famous,” and we can diagnose as well as any internal paradigm.
For what it’s worth, if Rumi’s voice problems were due more to her professional career, Chinese medicine has a lot to offer.
Our throats and voices derive functional fluids from our stomachs, which means singers are logically prone to dehydrating the digestive enzymes and healthy mucosal fluids of their microbiome. There are many ways to approach, depending on each patient’s unique body type.
If they are prone to general weakness and/or being thirsty for warm drinks Chinese or American ginseng can help. If they tend to low blood pressure and these same symptoms one might consider high doses of licorice, prepared with honey if they tend to feel more sensitive to cold, unprepared if more sensitive to heat. If they tend to nausea, sinus congestion, and/or a lack of thirst for water, pinellia root may help. If there is pain in the chest and phlegm in the throat, platycodi root can. There is also a classical formula from the Han Dynasty, “Jie Geng Tang,” which contains platycodi and licorice, a presentation no doubt combining phlegm trapped in the chest preventing functional fluids from reaching the throat.
Rumi would also be well advised to minimize the kimchi, as from a Chinese medical perspective both raw and spicy foods may cause vasoconstriction in the throat, the latter of which additionally dries out stomach fluids. Conversely, she should double down on the ramen and white rice, as “geng mi,” or rice can help generate stomach fluids.
I have no knowledge of herbal medicine or acupuncture reversing demon blood, but we can absolutely treat laryngitis, pharyngitis, and a whole host of chronic internal conditions. I am yet to meet a colleague with true psychic powers who can see through to patients’ souls, nor to know one who attempts to pass of grape juice as medicine.
In-Person Herbology Class, NYC
I am humbled and excited to have been invited to teach my first live, in-person class next week for NYC Acupuncture School on the correspondence between particular pulse “qualities” at any of the six—that’s right 6—pulse positions along the radial artery of each wrist. That’s a grand total of twelve pulse positions if ever you’re wondering why I’m sitting there for so long with three fingers along your radius.
Directionality is everything in Chinese medicine, and specific herbal medicines and the formulas they command, induce physiological responses, which, put simply, have either excitatory or inhibitory, restorative or draining effects on the body.
When a certain herb (or supplement) is considered to stimulate immune function what it means is that it directs (immunological) molecules upwards, both vertically towards our sinuses and upwards to our dermatological surface. For about half the population, whose physiological pattern requires more upward movement, these medicinals should support their immune function. For the other half, including myself, who need more downward movement, this will do more harm than good. In holistic medicine we have the gift of pulse diagnosis to determine who is who and what is right.
The pulse for astragalus for example would be weak and/or “hollow” at the first and second positions on the right wrist. Why?
These positions correspond to the lungs and stomach—the respiratory and gastrointestinal microbiomes, respectively—and their inter-connection revolving around immune function. If the arteries here feel constricted and tight this indicates cold-natured inflammation in the region, which astragalus will do nothing for. If the arteries feel strong and congested this might indicate “hot-natured” inflammation, which astragalus will equally do nothing for—in fact in this case, would probably hamper immune optimization. Only a small, weakened artery in this position informs us that it is appropriate to use a medicine that will generate fluids in the gut and ship them outward to the exterior. This same mechanism applies to many people who experience spontaneous sweating, yellow or sticky sweat, or joint pains.
There are countless other examples like this in Chinese medicine’s pharmacopeia and diagnostic process that aid us towards being increasingly more specific and effective holistic clinicians. While it helps to still do our due diligence, asking the appropriate questions, inspecting each patient’s tongue and abdomen, my present understanding is no diagnostic tool is more reliable than the feeling of the radial artery.
When someone misses a shot in basketball trash talkers on the opposing team often say: “Ball don’t lie.” In Chinese medicine we say—well, I say: “Pulse don’t lie.”
Obviously, this event will be of greatest interest to students and practitioners, but anyone wishing to become a more educated patient around the workings of their body is welcome!
Is it Safe to Go Running Outside Now?
And suddenly it’s 70 degrees… The days are longer and next week everyone comes into the clinic with either sudden onset colds or aches and pains. Why?
Yesterday while driving around my South Orange/Maplewood community I saw so many runners out in the streets, I would have thought a local race was going on if I hadn’t known better. It’s nice to be hyped for the warmth and sunlight, but smart to also not be the guy/girl who can’t wait to shed layers of clothing and allow the cozy but still crisp air of March to penetrate their surface through open beads of perspiration, thereby getting trapped at the body’s immunological layer, finding its way most proximally either to the lungs or the muscles. About half the runners I saw had sweaty arms and/or shoulders exposed, and if they’re not sick or especially sore in the next few days, well… good for them.
Throughout winter our “Yang Qi,” or immunological substances and anti-inflammatory chemicals nest mostly at the surface of the body, warding off cold temperatures and strong winds, and making shoveling many pounds of snow that much more exhausting, as we generally feel more energized when it is our metabolic layer, not surface, that is replete with “Yang.”
While east coast temperatures are poetically as bipolar as the default psyche of its inhabitants, suddenly jumping from 20 to 60 degrees in the span of a few days, our Yang Qi doesn’t move so quickly, especially as we get up there in years. Instead, in response to consistently warm temperatures it moves gradually from the surface, luring us into the illusory feeling that summer, if not at least spring has arrived, and we can store all the scarves, hoodies, and jackets away for the foreseeable forecast. This is false.
When open sweat pores come into contact with a breeze, the breeze bypasses the dermis. In winter or on the heels of winter cool winds are met by the immunological substances that have been subleasing space there for quite some time. They recognize one another as the enemy and battle ensues. This battle may manifest as something as simple as suddenly unusual neck or shoulder pain, or worse, they choose the immune system’s favorite organ as a battle ground, and there is cough or congestion.
Chinese medicine’s most referential text, The Yellow Emperor’s Inner Classic, clearly outlines a physiological pattern of (cold) air penetrating open sweat pores, thereby trapping fluid retention at the surface layer, which spends years trying to escape, manifesting in yellow or oily sweat that consistently stains (white) clothing, then followed years later with arthritis or other joint pains. Often considered an “astragalus pattern,” it can be treated by various herbal formulas with astragalus, or “Huang Qi” as their chief ingredient, working by transporting functional gases from the microbiome to the surface with the intention of ridding the latter of said inflammation.
This doesn’t mean be ridiculous. Enjoy the week! No need for winter coats, hats, and gloves. But scarves are a good idea, as are sweatshirts if you can handle it, and other sweater weather type attire, even if the literal number on the map suggests otherwise.
Herbal Profile: British Yellowhead
Meet “Xuan Fu Hua,” or the British Yellowhead flower, an herb commonly used to treat acid reflux, cough, or allergies, outlined in the Divine Farmer’s Materia Medica as “salty, warm, and slightly toxic,” originally indicated for fullness below the rib sides and fright palpitations.
Why? How does the Yellowhead flower achieve this?
Salty flavors and their chemistry have a descending action in the body—one that revolves around the manipulation and distribution of fluids—that is so pathogenic fluids can be purged, allowing for healthy fluids to be re-directed, steamed upwards where they belong.
When the heart lacks blood it is more susceptible to fright and palpitations (it isn’t only your anxiety). When the neuromuscular vessels that traverse the ribs lack fluids, we feel pain or tightness. And in many cases of acid reflux the root of the problem is not an abundance of acid, but a lack of fluids and/or electrolytes around our metabolic organs.
Yellowhead flower is not always the magic bullet for all these conditions; but when their root cause is one of gases and fluids in the body failing to descend, perpetuating a vicious cycle that is due to a void of fluids below in the first place, its formulas are a primary route we’ll hope and suspect to be effective. The opposite physiological patterns of GERD will instead be aggravated, because holistic medicine.
The chemical composition of Yellowhead flower includes quercetin, which comes from the white part of grapefruits and oranges and is often sold as a supplement to treat seasonal allergies; caffeic acid, a polyphenol found in coffee beans; and chlorogenic acid, an antioxidant that is also found in coffee beans. This makes sense as the diuretic effect of coffee is obviously a downward one in the body that subsequently lifts functional chemicals upward in turn.
Acid Reflux
There is a concept in Chinese medicine called “Counterflow qi,” which is in reference to when bodily gases or fluids move in the opposite direction from how they are intended. In the digestive process everything is supposed to move down. Don’t get me wrong—not too quickly—but down nonetheless. Any symptom of movement to the contrary is evidence of metabolic dysfunction.
Belching and burping are generally not perturbing to most of their sufferers, possibly apart from the occasional social embarrassment for loved ones. Nevertheless, they are indicative of some degree of weakness and/or inadequacy of vital substances failing to fully process something in the gut.
Vomiting is the extreme version of this, but the principle is the same. Somewhere in between is acid reflux, or “GERD” (gastro-espophageal reflux disease), which usually manifests as symptoms ranging from a burning sensation in the gut, chest, or throat, to a trapped feeling “below the heart,” as Classical Chinese texts would say. Patients experience this anywhere from once or a few times a week if they “eat something wrong,” to incessantly in every waking moment, understandably prompting them to somehow medicate, one way or another.
What causes this? Frankly, metabolic weakness and/or a lack of functional organ fluids, both of which can be caused by all the usual suspects: poor diet, stress, genetic predispositions, and long-term use of pharmaceutical medications.
Ironically, the drugs most commonly prescribed by conventional medicine for GERD, proton pump inhibitors, work by blocking stomach acid, thereby causing more physiological dryness, aggravating the root cause of the condition while muting its branch. This might be okay for a little while for those suffering from “excess patterns,” where the GERD truly is caused by excessive acid—but for those whose symptoms are due more to weakness, such medications will most likely yield a short leash.
Chinese medicine first attempts to distinguish the pattern—which kind of reflux are you? Then we treat accordingly, using acupuncture points and herbal formulas to calm the metabolic organs by imbuing them with more strength, mucosal fluids, and blood, and over time proper directionality of gases and fluids should follow suit.
In the meantime, it is advisable to eat foods that are easy to digest, such as sweet potatoes, steamed vegetables, eggs, fish, tofu, white rice, and/or pasta. Obviously, avoid as much as possible spicy foods and alcohol, refined sugar, dairy, and raw, uncooked foods. (Deep) breathing can be helpful for its inherent function to descend, as can massaging the stomach with both palms of your hands in 36 clockwise circles around the belly button. Empirical symptom management en route to unearthing the root cause of your unique pattern include DGL licorice pills if your pattern is one of weakness, or mint tea if you produce too much acid.
