The Empirical Formula Creation Process, Ⅰ
There are an infinite number of possible Chinese Herbal combinations and as your Chinese Medicine Patterns change, the formulation may also change…or not. It is not always necessary to change the formula. When catering to an individuals needs through out the healing process, adding or removing even one single herb or possibly changing the weight dosage by a small degree can make all the difference in the world.
As with any endeavor, there must be an organizational approach to whatever it is you may be perusing. Who would ever first rinse their hair and then finish by applying some shampoo? The creating of a Chinese Herbal Formula must follow a logical pathway to properly reach its intended goal. A proper Chinese Medicine diagnosis must first be made. You must look at the long term health issues [including genetic, congenital and family history factors] which we will call the root. Then there are the outer branch problems, such as with someone with itchy, dry, flaky skin, chronic gas or maybe a chronic, watery cough every morning.
A complete analysis of your health history is essential including a family, health history. With this information it can be determined if your Chinese Medicine Pattern falls under is an excess or deficiency problem—or a mixture of both. For instance, can a person always feel cold, with an excess of trapped heat, chronic anxiety and inflammation problems? Answer-yes. How about someone with an excess of water weight, high blood pressure, lower back pain, with chronic, clear sinus and yeast infections? Answer-yes. Do these two scenarios deserve completely different formula strategies? Again, the answer is yes. If you were to create a single Chinese Herbal Formula for each of these cases, you would have to take into consider many decisions, based on multiple factors, as I have stated above.