{"id":88337,"date":"2026-09-27T19:10:08","date_gmt":"2026-09-27T11:10:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=88337"},"modified":"2026-09-27T19:10:08","modified_gmt":"2026-09-27T11:10:08","slug":"the-hidden-risks-of-using-traditional-chinese-medicine-with-western-prescriptions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=88337","title":{"rendered":"The hidden risks of using traditional Chinese medicine with Western prescriptions"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.i-scmp.com\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/1280x720\/public\/d8\/images\/canvas\/2026\/09\/24\/80ef87e6-e038-4a42-b077-980df90d2729_8f720737.jpg?itok=rLubQ3ez&amp;v=1790242176\" \/><\/p>\n<div id=\"\">\n<div datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1xdhyk6 ec74h0k0\"><em data-qa=\"ContentSchemaRender-defaultRenderMapFunctions-Component\" class=\"css-1mniedq ex3nmsa15\">In the second instalment of a four-part<\/em> <span data-qa=\"Component-Text\" class=\"css-0 ef9u0v00\"><em data-qa=\"ContentSchemaRender-defaultRenderMapFunctions-Component\" class=\"css-1mniedq ex3nmsa15\">Health Matters<\/em><\/span> <em data-qa=\"ContentSchemaRender-defaultRenderMapFunctions-Component\" class=\"css-1mniedq ex3nmsa15\">series on traditional Chinese medicine, Aidyn Fitzpatrick investigates the drug-interaction risks of combining Chinese remedies with Western medicine, and how Hongkongers can protect themselves from avoidable complications.<\/em><\/div>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">An elderly woman with a mechanical heart valve was taking warfarin, a blood thinner to prevent and treat blood clots, when she began using the Chinese herb <em data-qa=\"ContentSchemaRender-defaultRenderMapFunctions-Component\" class=\"css-1mniedq ex3nmsa15\">danshen<\/em>, often marketed for \u201cblood circulation\u201d. Her blood lost its ability to clot normally, resulting in severe bleeding complications.<\/p>\n<div datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1xdhyk6 ec74h0k0\">The case, which Dr Raymond Wong Siu-ming encountered as a consultant at the Prince of Wales Hospital\u2019s Poison Treatment Centre and a lead expert with the Integrated Chinese-Western Medicine Treatment Safety Centre, illustrates an increasingly common blind spot: <span data-qa=\"Component-Text\" class=\"css-0 ef9u0v00\">Chinese medicine<\/span> and Western prescription drugs are often used together, but patients may not always know the impact of the combination.<\/div>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">For many Hongkongers, Chinese medicine is not an alternative so much as part of everyday life: a chrysanthemum tea, a bowl of tonic soup, a session of cupping, a proprietary pill bought from a pharmacy. The crucial distinction is not whether something is \u201cnatural\u201d, but whether it is used as food, symptom relief or as a concentrated treatment alongside medicines that have their own powerful effects.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<center><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.scmp.com\/lifestyle\/health-wellness\/article\/3368656\/hidden-risks-using-traditional-chinese-medicine-western-prescriptions?utm_source=rss_feed\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article At Source <\/a><br \/>\n<center\/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In the second instalment of a four-part Health Matters series on traditional Chinese medicine, Aidyn Fitzpatrick investigates the drug-interaction risks of combining Chinese remedies with&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":88338,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[107,3020,2753,30709,1124,2752,98],"class_list":["post-88337","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bored-interesting","tag-chinese","tag-hidden","tag-medicine","tag-prescriptions","tag-risks","tag-traditional","tag-western","wpcat-33-id"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88337","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=88337"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88337\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/88338"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=88337"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=88337"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=88337"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}