Why Did We Develop Blue Poppy Herbs?
To practice Chinese medicine in the West, you have to be a better practitioner than the typical doctor in China. This is because most Western patients seeking treatment from Chinese medical practitioners suffer from chronic, “difficult to treat, knotty diseases.” Such patients usually manifest at least three patterns simultaneously, and often five, six or seven. These patients typically manifest combinations of vacuity and repletion, hot and cold, and require supplementing and attacking at the same time.
Unfortunately, many of the classical formulas currently available in ready-made or pill form do not address such complicated patterns. Although these classical formulas are the basis of every Chinese herbalist’s education, in real-life practice, they are often less than a perfect match.
Based on his more than 25 years of clinical experience and his wide-ranging research in the Chinese medical literature, Bob Flaws has created our line of ready-made, Chinese herbal capsules to treat some of the most commonly seen, complex patterns in Western patients. These formulas are all based on traditional Chinese prescriptions found in the Chinese medical literature. Many were created by Li Dong-yuan, Zhu Dan-xi, or Gong Ding-xian. Some of these formulas have been modified by Bob Flaws based on his extensive clinical experience with Western patients.
Blue Poppy’s formulas are designed to fill the gaps in what is currently available in Chinese herbal formulas in pill or capsule form. They are meant to more perfectly match the patterns of the complex, “difficult to treat” cases. These formulas may either be used separately or in combination with other, currently available Chinese “ready-made” medicines. For those of you who are considering trying our formulas for the first time, we believe you will be well pleased with the results and they will become an important part of your treatment formulary.
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How and Where are Blue Poppy Herbs Manufactured?
Blue Poppy Herbs capsule formulas are designed for the real needs of your typical patients. They are made from the highest quality desiccated extracts manufactured at a GMP certified factory in the People’s Republic of China, and encapsulated and bottled at a GMP certified facility in the United States. These are 8:1 extracts or higher. The majority of these are 10:1 extracts or higher. Most other companies selling Chinese herbal extract formulas in the West are only using 5:1 or 7:1extracts. So Blue Poppy Capsules are often twice as potent as most other powdered extracts and tableted pills made from such extracts.
Only high quality Chinese herbs are used in the manufacture of our formulas. The botanical identity of each ingredient is checked by a trained Chinese medical pharmacognosist when it arrives at the factory. The herbs are then washed in distilled water before being sent to a clean room for processing. All the processing from start to finish takes place in stainless steel equipment. Depending on the formula, cooking in a 50:50% solution of distilled water and alcohol lasts 3-6 hours. Volatile oils, which come off more quickly, are captured and added back to the formula just prior to freeze-drying. The liquid is freeze-dried at -25E°C at the same time that vacuum extraction pulls off air, water, and the alcohol. When approximately 10% of the liquid remains, it is heated at 30E°C to sufficiently dry the extract, which is then ground into a fine powder. The Chinese factory which manufactures our formulas is a government-licensed and inspected facility which meets all standards of the Department of Health of the People’s Republic of China for a GMP facility.
Laboratory Testing
All Blue Poppy Formulas are laboratory tested first in China and then sampled and retested again in an independent FDA approved lab in the U.S. to insure freedom from heavy metal and microbial contamination, as well as pesticide residues.
Importation
All Blue Poppy Formulas have been legally imported into the United States under the strict supervision of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Encapsulation & Bottling
Encapsulation and bottling is done at a well-known American nutriceutical company which is GMP certified, and the plastic in our bottles is recyclable.
Listing of Ingredients
All ingredients are fully listed and disclosed on product packaging. All ingredients are listed in descending order of amounts as calculated by weight. As labels are being reprinted we are now providing the actual weight of each ingredient in the formula. Blue Poppy Capsules contain no chemicals, pharmaceuticals, sugars, or dyes.
Blue Poppy Liniments
Blue Poppy Liniments are made in the United States from the finest quality medicinals grown in and imported from China.
Product Liability Insurance
All Blue Poppy Herb products are covered by product liability insurance.
Shelf Life
Tests suggest that the shelf life of Blue Poppy Capsules is 2-3 years. Blue Poppy Formulas should be stored in a cool, dry place.
Tamper Resistant Packaging
Blue Poppy Capsules are bottled in tamper resistant packaging. Do not use if the tamper resistant seal has been broken
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Using Blue Poppy Herbs Successfully
We believe the single most important principle in the practice of high quality, professional Chinese medicine is that treatment is primarily based on the patient’s Chinese pattern discrimination, no matter what their disease diagnosis. This means that, when assessing the suitability of any Blue Poppy formula, the practitioner should first and foremost determine whether the ingredients in that formula correspond to that particular patient’s personal pattern discrimination. The single most common mistake in practicing Chinese medicine is selecting treatment based on the patient’s disease diagnosis rather than their pattern discrimination. It is treatment based on pattern discrimination which makes professionally practiced Chinese medicine the safe, effective and holistic medicine it is. Therefore, one of the most important and commonly repeated sayings in Chinese medicine is:
Different diseases, same treatment
Same disease, different treatments
Since most Western patients seeking treatment from a Chinese medical practitioner usually manifest at least three patterns simultaneously (and often five, six or seven) Blue Poppy formulas have been designed for this type of multi-pattern presentation. In all of our literature we describe the patterns that each formula successfully treats and the relative importance of these patterns is implied by the order in which these patterns are listed. Therefore, to say that a patient presents with the patterns of spleen qi vacuity, liver depression and depressive heat in that order means that, in terms of relative importance, the spleen qi vacuity is the first and foremost pattern, liver depression is the second most important and depressive heat is the third most important. These relative importances are then reflected in the corresponding formula’s ingredients, both the number and selection of the ingredients themselves and their proportions in terms of dosage.
Li Dong-yuan, arguably the greatest of the Four Great Masters of Jin-Yuan dynasty medicine, believed that, when patients exhibit complex patterns of vacuity and repletion, cold and heat involving significant spleen qi vacuity, one must treat all presenting patterns as a single gestalt. Because these patterns are xiang sheng or mutually engendering, trying to deal with them singly does not work in real-life clinical practice. Blue Poppy formulas, many of them created by Li Dong-yuan himself, are designed specifically to treat all of the interrelated and inter-promoting patterns presenting at the same time. It is only when one addresses the totality of the patient’s pattern presentation that one can be said to be treating the whole person
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Dosing Guidelines
FDA dietary supplement guidelines require all herbal supplements to list a serving size and directions for use on their label. However, as a practitioner of traditional Chinese medicine, you know that one size does not fit all when it comes to medical practice. The hallmark of Chinese medicine is individualized treatment for each individual patient.
Label Directions & Equivalencies
Our labels recommend three capsules two times per day. What does that really mean? Three capsules two times per day equals a total daily dose of 3g. In terms of one of our formulas which is a 10:1 extract, that means that 3g is the equivalent of not less than 30g of raw herbs. However, if you were to take 30g of raw herbs and decoct them on your stove-top, you could not equal the efficiency of extraction of the factory which manufactures these extracts. Therefore, realistically, 3g of a 10:1 extracts is probably more like 45-60g of raw herbs decocted in water at home by one of your patients.
Dosing Your Patients with Our Formulas
When trying to decide the best daily dose of one of our formulas for one of your patients, we suggest asking yourself the following two questions:
- Does your patient have an acute or chronic condition? Acute conditions are usually treated with higher dosages, while chronic conditions are typically treated with smaller doses given over a much longer period of time.
- If you were going to prescribe one of our formulas to your patient as a decoction, what would your dosages look like? Would they be the standard 9g per ingredient per day? Might they be more? Might they be less? Once you’ve answered this question, then you can figure out how many capsules of a Blue Poppy formula your patient should take.
We also recommend starting off patients with a low dosage and increasing the dosage from there if a) there are no side effects and b) the lower dosage is not achieving the kinds of effects you and your patient would like to see. However, remember the first rule of medicine is, “First, do no harm.” As a corollary of that, most health care practitioners agree that one should apply the least treatment, which will achieve the desired effect.
Side Effects
Chinese herbal medicine is safe because we prescribe our remedies based on each individual patient’s pattern discrimination. It is this prescriptive methodology, which insures that each patient gets just the right combination of medicinals for his/her personal pattern. Therefore, Chinese medicine should be free from side effects. If there are side effects, this means that the formula is not completely matched to your patient’s pattern. In that case, we recommend that your patient immediately stop the formula and that you re-evaluate your pattern discrimination and the ingredients in the formula. In particular, please pay attention to any negative changes in any of the following parameters of good health:
- Energy
- Appetite
- Elimination
- Mood
- Digestion
- Sleep
If a treatment, be it herbal or otherwise, results in improvement of all six of these vital parameters of good health, then it is doing something good for the person. If a treatment causes deterioration in one or more of these parameters, then the treatment is not a perfect match and should be reassessed by the prescribing practitioner.
Age-to-Dose Guidelines Weight-to-Dose Guidelines
0-1 month 1/18-1/14 of adult dose 30-40 lbs. 20-27% of adult dose
1-6 months 1/14-1/7 of adult dose 40-50 lbs. 27-33% of adult dose
6-12 months 1/7-1/5 of adult dose 50-60 lbs. 33-40% of adult dose
1-2 years 1/5-1/4 of adult dose 60-70 lbs. 40-47% of adult dose
2-4 years 1/4-1/3 of adult dose 70-80 lbs. 47-53% of adult dose
4-6 years 1/3-2/5 of adult dose 80-100 lbs. 53-67% of adult dose
6-9 years 2/5-1/2 of adult dose 100-120 lbs. 67-80% of adult dose
9-14 years 1/2-2/3 of adult dose 120-150 lbs. 80-100% of adult dose
14-18 years 2/3 to full adult dose 150-200 lbs. 100-133% of adult dose
18-60 years full adult dose 200-250 lbs. 133-167% of adult dose
60 years + 3/4 adult dose or less 250-300 lbs. 167-200% of adult dose
Patients who are more than usually sensitive to foods, herbs, or drugs should begin with smaller than usual doses.
Making Teas with Blue Poppy Capsules
For those who have difficulties swallowing capsules, for those who choose not to eat gelatin, or for infants who cannot swallow capsules, one may open our capsules and dissolve the powdered extract in hot, but not necessarily boiling, water
Time of Administration
Chinese medicinals should usually be taken at least 20 minutes before or one hour after meals. However, if patients have an adverse reaction to Chinese herbs taken on any empty stomach (such as nausea, vomiting, or abdominal discomfort), they should try taking the herbs with meals. In addition, Chinese herbs are traditionally taken before meals for conditions below the diaphragm and after meals for disorders above the diaphragm.
Biomedical Indications
The Biomedical indications listed for Blue Poppy Formulas do not represent claims that these formulas cure these conditions. These are traditional Chinese indications based on translations of standard Chinese medical texts and published research reports from the People’s Republic of China. Blue Poppy Herbs makes no claims that Blue Poppy Formulas cure any medical condition or disease. That being said, our formulas are designed to support your care of patients with a number of conditions. Click Here to search our formulas by condition.
