As a patient, you will find background information on the following topics here.
It is up to the prescribing TCM specialist to answer this question. They are trained to do so.
You must refrain from taking ephedra (Ma Huang) because the ephedrine it contains is on the doping list.
Your TCM doctor or therapist will take this into account when prescribing and will only choose herbs that you can tolerate. Complemedis has only three products that contain gluten, namely:
Hordeum is barley, Triticum is wheat.
Fu Xiao Mai is the husk of the wheat grain, which is actually gluten-free. During threshing, the separation process between grain and husk may not always be completely clean, so traces of gluten may be present. Sensitive people may notice this.
Dried raw TCM herbsdo not contain lactose. However, excipients are required to granulate extracts. These are usually maize starch, sometimes maltodextrin.
A single herb from a single granule manufacturer is granulated with lactose for technical reasons: Che Qian Zi (Semen Plantaginis). As a granule formulation usually consists of at least four and sometimes up to 20 herbs, the proportion of Semen Plantaginis is very small and the lactose it contains is only likely to be felt by very sensitive patients.
Fructose is frequently found in many fruits, vegetables, roots and therefore also in our TCM range, either as the original fructose or in a mixture or as a component of another sugar (e.g. household sugar = sucrose = glucose + fructose; inulin, honey). Sensitivity varies from patient to patient. Your doctor or therapist will take a dose adjustment or the omission of one or other substance into account when considering your prescription.
In Switzerland, there are three groups of professionals who practise TCM:
1. doctors with a TCM speciality certificate
2. non-physician TCM therapists
3. TCM doctors from China
Medical TCM people have enjoyed appropriate training. You can find the conditions here: fa_akupunktur_d.pdf (siwf.ch), fa_akupunktur_LZK_d.pdf (siwf.ch).
After completing their training, doctors regularly attend further training courses. Over time, some specialise in the treatment of certain diseases.
Relatively often, TCM doctors only treat with acupuncture and do not use TCM medicines (herbs, etc.), even though they have learnt them. Billing takes place via the basic insurance, but the TCM remedies (herbs) themselves must be billed via the supplementary insurance.
If you are looking for a doctor who practices TCM, you can find one in the register of medical professions at https://www.medregom.admin.ch/. There, tick the box for the profession of doctor and then tick the box for 'Acupuncture - Chinese medicinal therapy - TCM (ASA)' in the 'Other qualifications' section.
Further sources: SACAM :: Medical Association for Acupuncture, Chinese Medicine and Auriculomedicine; ASA: ASA - Association of Swiss Medical Societies for Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine (akupunktur-tcm.ch)
This professional group now has a higher professional examination and federal professional recognition, organised by the OdA-AM Home : OdA AM (oda-am.ch). It is to be expected that in time most non-physician TCM specialists will have this title. This does not necessarily mean that TCM specialists who do not have this title work less well than those who do. There are many TCM specialists who gained many years of experience with TCM before the time of OdA-AM. Some people do without the new title because of the bureaucratic and financial effort involved. It may be that certain supplementary insurers insist that this title must be held in order for a service to be reimbursed. There may also be cantons in which the title is necessary. Billing takes place via the supplementary insurance.
The fact that non-medical TCM therapists are not doctors does not mean that they know less about TCM than doctors. There are very good people in all three groups.
Professional organisation: TCM Association | Traditional Chinese Medicine
People have come from China who have done a proper TCM medical degree there lasting around 6 years and some of whom have worked in clinics for many years. However, there are also Chinese who have not had such a long training programme and there are those who first trained in Europe. Some TCM people from China still need translators so that they can communicate with patients here. In the foreseeable future, however, they will be required to have knowledge of one of our national languages. Billing takes place via supplementary insurance.
There are also very good TCM specialists in this professional group.
Complemedis does not employ therapists and is therefore unable to provide patients with therapeutic advice. TCM requires detailed questioning and, if necessary, examination. Complemedis cannot perform this task. This is a matter for people who have studied TCM.
The question of whether herbs from China are of good quality is highly justified. Time and again, false herbs are found on the market, i.e. those that do not correspond to the botanical species they are labelled as. In addition, there are products that do not have the quality of ingredients (e.g. menthol, ginsenosides etc.) and, finally, there are often herbs that do not fulfil the purity criteria because they have too high levels of heavy metals, pesticides, aflatoxins/mycotoxins, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon compounds (PAHs), endocrine disruptors or too much microbiological contamination.
Answer: Complemedis has EVERY batch of herbs tested for all these parameters in Switzerland and in laboratories recognised by the Swiss authorities. Complemedis knows of no other company in the world that carries out similarly rigorous controls.
Complemedis has:
Complemedis subjects its suppliers to regular inspections in accordance with the PIC/S (Pharmaceutical Inspection Convention Scheme). Suppliers have an export licence for their country. Complemedis' main supplier has more than 75 years of experience in the production of concentrated extracts
Complemedis has every batch of its products analysed by the Swiss analytical laboratory Phytax. Phytax's specialised team of doctors, botanists, microbiologists, neuroscientists and sinologists have analysed millions of parameters on tens of thousands of samples over the past 20 years. Phytax employees also work for Swissmedic in an advisory capacity and have been appointed by this authority to the EDQM, European Pharmacopoeia Division in Strasbourg.
Complemedis can prove the quality of its products at any time. To our knowledge, no-one tests as extensively as Complemedis, despite statements to the contrary. Even in Switzerland, there are considerable differences between the various suppliers. This also applies to a far greater extent to foreign suppliers. It is no coincidence that certain TCM companies are based in Luxembourg, Andorra, England or an Eastern European country, or in a country where TCM remedies are merely foodstuffs or food supplements. You may receive a declaration of quality on request, but hardly ever a certificate of analysis, and if you do, it requires a high level of expertise to interpret it accurately.
Unfortunately, it is still not possible to offer the entire range of herbs from Asia in organic quality. Complemedis keeps its eyes open in search of such products. Unfortunately, suppliers of organic goods often do not fulfil the conditions.
The herbs from Complemedis come from cultivation or, if this is not possible, from wild collection. Organic cultivation is still rare in China and certification is often uncertain and not always recognised here. There are different quality levels for TCM herbs. For someone from China to be allowed to sell herbs abroad, a Chinese (or Taiwanese) export licence is required and the material must be of high quality. Several quality requirements must be met throughout the supply chain. Every end product that arrives at Complemedis is also checked again according to all the rules of the pharmaceutical industry.
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