Richard A. Freiberg, D.O.M., D.Ac., A.P., Board Certified Diplomate  is a Senior Editor for the HIV Nutrition Update. View his biography in the March/April 2002 issue. 

This issue begins a series discussing individual Chinese medicinals, which will be followed in later articles by formulas best utilized for imbalances found in HIV/AIDS.

Editor's Note: This series is meant to educate clinicians on the various aspects of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) so that they may effectively counsel those HIV-positive people who visit TCM practitioners or use herbs.
 

Stay AWARE that it is always best to have a Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) diagnosis as a first step before using any of these herbs or formulas. Self-diagnosis is not recommended unless one has the appropriate TCM training. Consult ONLY with a practitioner who is licensed and educated in TCM and who has a substantial Chinese Material Medica training. Evaluate what you see in the practitioner's facility regarding Material Medica inventory. A general guideline, in part, is to evaluate the inventory as to raw form or concentrated extract and understand the ideal situation is that the formula you receive is specifically weighed, mixed and encapsulated to meet your individual needs.

In this article we will begin to address categories of individual Chinese herbs based upon their major promoting activities. Although this Material Medica information is valuable and relative for application in the treatment of HIV/AIDS, it is not limited to HIV as seen by the therapeutic actions. Since the vocabulary of trained practitioners is written in PinYin (a system using English letters to spell and pronounce the Chinese characters) the herbs are listed by their PinYin name followed by a common identification.