Do you take traditional Chinese medicine/supplements?

[Patrick_ChineseForum]

Hi guys,

Recently, my mom gave me a small portion of traditional Chinese medicine. Its main ingredient was deer antler velvet. It came in the form of capsules. She told me that it was a good natural Chinese supplement. I did some googling and found some truth about its benefits. However she warned me about the side effect of taking this supplement. She told me to drink plenty of water because this DAV (deer antler velvet) caused the body to heat up (she used the word ka4 you1 in southern Chinese dialect). I'm pretty sure I wrote the pinyin wrong. I would like to know the right Mandarin word for this "body heat up" effect. You can also get this effect from eating too much Langun, Lychee, or Durian (they are tropical fruites). It's not fever but you can feel the body heat inside circulating in the unusual way. It's not a pleasant feeling.

If you ever tried Chinese DAV, please share your experience. I just took my first batch last night and today I can feel the side effect (the body heat thing) already.

Thanks,

Patrick

[skylee]

Consider shanghuo (上火) or reqi (熱氣).

[kari]

I've never had the chance to try Chinese supplements and I would.... but not that one, lol!

[hbuchtel]

The main ingredient you're talking about is called lùróng 鹿茸, and I agree with Skylee that what your mother was saying was probably shànghuǒ 上火, so named because most of the sensations or evidence of heat are seen in the upper body: for example, mouth ulcers, inflamed gums, (red) pimples, a sensation of heat in the face or chest, dry mouth or throat, etc.

If you are experiencing these phenomena I suggest reducing the dosage, and checking your diet for other 'hot' food items (see here). Beside the fruit you mentioned, people often have shànghuǒ symptoms after eating Sichuan (spicy) hotpot, too much chocolate, too much mutton, etc. Recently on a TCM forum I saw a few practitioners mention that they observed patients getting these reactions after taking vitamin B supplements, which is interesting.

There is some good advice on the Baidu page about 鹿茸：“服用本品宜从小量开始，缓缓增加，不宜骤用大量，以免阳升风动，或伤阴动血。” (basically start with a small dosage and work up from there to find the right amount for your particular condition).

[Patrick_ChineseForum]

Guys, thanks for replying to my post.

hbuchtel, thanks a lot for the detailed info. Yep that was the symptom that I was experiencing. shànghuǒ must be the right name for it. Do we have the name in English language? ... Also thanks for providing the links. Since my Chinese level is so elementary, I probably have to check them out again in the next two or three years (cannot understand them now). I'll check the TCM forum to see if I can find more info.