Blog & Columns
Useful information about health and Korean medicine.
Total 9 posts
Gongjindan for students facing exams: what to expect, and what to check
If you're considering Gongjindan for a student preparing for exams, we've used two studies to sort out what you can expect and what you shouldn't. There are no studies yet on grades or concentration. Before prescribing, we check the cause of fatigue, digestion and constitution, current medications and the possibility of pregnancy, and liver values.
"Herbal medicine damages your liver": we checked the numbers
The saying that herbal medicine damages your liver has some basis. So we looked at the numbers. In a study that followed prescribed herbal medicine from the start, liver injury occurred in 6 out of 1,001 people, or 0.6%. It isn't zero, so our conclusion is: take it while being checked.
If you've spent months searching online, unsure whether to try herbal medicine
Hesitating over whether to get herbal medicine is reasonable. It means you don't want to decide what goes into your body without evidence. We don't prescribe without testing, we don't recommend it on the first day, and we set an end date before we start. Here are those principles.
"Your Tests Are Normal" Shouldn't Be Where Care Ends
"Your tests are normal" doesn't mean "nothing is wrong." It means "a serious illness has become less likely." Care shouldn't end there; it should start there. Dr. Nahyun Park of our clinic is co-first author of a paper that measured how common fatigue is by pooling data from 620,000 people worldwide. Out of 100 people who come in for fatigue, a serious illness is found in only 4 or 5.
If Your Health Checkup Is Normal but You're Still Tired
Out of 100 people who see a doctor for tiredness, only 4 or 5 turn out to have a serious illness. Being tired with normal test results is actually common, and it means the cause lies outside what the tests check. We look at four things: when you're tired, what kind of sleep you get, how you've been feeling lately, and what your daily rhythm is like. But if you're losing weight for no reason or have a fever, seeing a doctor comes first.
Fatigue that rest doesn't fix: is it an illness?
Fatigue is very common. In a meta-analysis pooling data from the general population worldwide, the prevalence of fatigue was 16.4%, and chronic fatigue lasting six months or more was 7.7%. Yet among primary care patients complaining of fatigue, anemia accounted for only 2.8%, cancer 0.6%, and serious physical illness 4.3%, while depression accounted for 18.5%. This means most fatigue does not show up as a disease on tests.
When your feet are cold even in summer, and you need the bathroom often
Patients tell us their feet are so cold even in summer that they sleep in socks, and they go to the bathroom many times a day. Even right after going, they soon need to go again, and the feeling that something is left doesn't go away, so it's hard to focus on work. They also mention bloating and a heavy feeling in the lower back.
Is there anything I should check before taking restorative herbal medicine (boyak)?
Yes. The medications you take now, any illnesses you have, and any problems you had with herbal medicine before — you must tell us these three things. Many people think herbal medicine is gentle on the body, so anyone can take it. That's not true. A medicine that works can also be a medicine that doesn't suit you. Because some things affect each other when taken together. In particular
Can restorative herbal medicine (boyak) help when I'm low on energy?
Some people do find it helpful. But there's something to do first — check whether there's another reason you're low on energy. Few complaints have as wide a range of causes as "I'm tired." If you skip that check before getting boyak prepared, time passes while you miss what really needs to be treated. Anemia, thyroid, diabetes, liver and kidney function, and the medications you