The balance of alkaloids in the natural plant is such that none of the undesirable effects of the
isolated alkaloids has been observed from administration of Ephedra itself.
For this reason, many doctors use a small dose of Ma Huang in any acute asthma attack. Ma
Huang may be combined with many different herbs for different situations. Some of the herbs
with which it is combined are listed below:
- Cold: Gui Zhi Ramulus Cinnamomi cassiae
- Heat: Shi Gao Gypsum fibrosum
- Lung-Heat: Sang Bai Pi Cortex Mori albae radicis
- Rebellious Qi: Xing Ren Semen Pruni armeniacae
- Phlegm: She Gan Rhizoma Belamcandae chinensis
- Stagnation of Qi in the chest: Hou Po Cortex Magnoliae officinalis
- Qi deficiency: Dang Shen Radix Codonopsis pilosulae
- Kidney deficiency: Shu Di Huang Radix Rehmanniae glutinosae praeparata
- Lung-Yin deficiency: Bei Sha Shen Radix Glehniae littoralis or Wu Wei Zi
Fructus Schisandrae chinensis- Kidney-Yang deficinecy: Fu Zi Radix Aconiti carmichaeli praeparata.
In Between Attacks
This refers to periods of time when asthma attacks are very infrequent, or when the asthma is
controlled by the occasional use of inhalers. At this stage, some asthma attacks are typically
elicited by exposure to cats, dogs, pollen or dust causing wheezing, breathlessness and tightness
of the chest.
If the patient is using inhalers there is no conflict with Chinese herbs or acupuncture and these
can be used concurrently. Indeed, the frequency with which the patient needs to use the inhalers