Chinese Medicine - Modern Practice (252 pages)

Risks of Traditional Chinese Herbal Medicine 5
Interference with conventional anti-hypertensive therapy is conceivable.
Ephedru is used to treat asthma, nasal congestion, fever, obesity and
anhidrosis. It is also abused as a recreational drug.
The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) database
contained 927 cases of adverse effects associated with Ma Huang between
1995 and 1997 (Samenuk et al., 2002). In 16 cases, this was related to
stroke, in ten cases to myocardial infarction and in 11 cases to death. Of
140 reports of adverse events related to Ephedru supplements submitted
to the FDA between June 1997 and March 1999, 31% were definitely or
probably caused by Ephedru (Haller, 2000). In 47% of the cases, there
were cardiovascular symptoms and in 18% central nervous system effects;
ten patients died.
1.6 Ginkgo biloba (Maidenhair Tree)
Ginkgo is one of the most popular herbal remedies in the West but its
origins are, of course, in traditional Chinese medicine. Generally speaking,
ginkgo has an excellent safety record which, however, is not to say that
it is completely free of adverse effects. A 78-year-old man and an 84-
year-old woman with previously well controlled epilepsy presented with
recurrent seizures (Granger, 2001). No obvious reason for these events
were found and the investigators suspected the self-medication of Ginkgo
biloba extracts to be the cause. Both patients had started taking ginkgo
within two weeks of the onset of the seizures. The herbal remedy was
discontinued and both patients remained seizure-free at follow-up several
months later. No other change of medication was made. The author
postulated that 4-O-rnethylpyridoxine7 a constituent of ginkgo and a known
neurotoxin, was the cause of the seizures.
A 56-year-old man without risk factors suffered a stroke due to a
right parietal haematoma (Benjamin et al., 2001). The patient had not
taken any medication except for a ginkgo extract (3 x 40 mg/day) which
he had started 18 months earlier. On transfer to neurorehabilitation, he
still had severe neurological deficits. The authors argue that the antiplatelet
effects of ginkgo might have contributed to this case of intracerebral
bleeding. A similar case concerns a 78-year-old man who developed a