The most widely used Chinese herbal formula comes with the boastful name, “Curing Pills.” In North America and Europe any herbal preparation with such a name would be viewed with the same humorous disdain as “”snake oil” was during the 19th century in North America. (Though if the real “snake oil” might have been an echinacea root preparation, also popularly called “snakeroot,” used by the Sioux Indians and early settlers to treat cold, flu, infection, inflammation, and even venomous bites and stings, one would be justified in considering it a virtual “cure-all.”) “Curing Pills”! Such a name is bound to tickle any Western rationalist’s mind as incredulous.
Still, the name “Curing Pills” could only arise in a population that culturally had or has a deep respect for the healing power for herbs, something people in the West have lost or are in the process of regaining.
“Cures what?” you might ask. Or, when are you most likely to be desperate enough to reach for a box or bottle of something called “Curing Pills”?
How about when you’re on vacation in an area where change of diet, water, hygiene and other factors leads to a sudden and most inconvenient bad case of the “runs,” or other gastrointestinal upset?
How about if you’re trapped on a boat with seasickness, nausea and vomiting?
Or how about during those agonizing hangover hours after a night of over-indulging?
In any of these scenarios you might be inclined to reach for anything for relief, and in such contexts the name “Curing Pills” takes on useful significance.
Curing Pills, also known in Chinese as Kang Ning Wan, meaning “Healthy Peaceful Pills,” has a time-earned respect for treating most acute gastrointestinal diseases. Chinese people who over centuries have traveled through the widely diverse climates and cultures throughout China have learned to bring their “Kang Ning Wan” pills with them; thus they came to be known as “Curing Pills.”
The herbs in this energetically balanced formula have many properties, including antibiotic, antiviral, digestive, antispasmodic, and carminative. You can use them for treating food- and water-borne pathogens, food poisoning, dietary sensitivities, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, constipation, dizziness, motion sickness, alcohol and drug hangovers, fevers and even common cold and flu complaints.
Digestion and the stomach is considered the center, the place where health and disease emanates and is regulated. Curing Pills work to reestablish a “healthy and peaceful” GI tract.
Considering their wide range of efficacious action Curing Pills are inexpensive. They are also light and easy to carry. I always keep a box of them in my luggage, making one less thing to think about when packing.
Consider them anytime you find yourself uncomfortable from overeating. To prevent or lessen the severity from a potential hangover, try taking them before imbibing and then the morning after.
If you are traveling to Central or South America or some parts of Asia or Africa where standards of hygiene are not always to be counted on, be sure have Curing Pills on hand to prevent what has come to be known as the dreaded “Montezuma’s Revenge.”
Many people are concerned about expiration dates and indeed for food items and other things such as pharmaceuticals expiration dates are important to consider. The consideration regarding packaged and sealed herbal products is not so strict however. I have found Curing Pills and other herbal products viable and effective long past the expiration date on the label.
A group of us are planning a month-long excursion to study herbal medicine and tour in China. While I expect Curing Pills will be widely available there, fortunately they are also available in the US. I will be gone for a month. I already have two boxes of Curing pills stashed in my luggage. Often when we come down with acute gastrointestinal distress we don’t have time and are certainly not in the mood to be looking for a place to buy Curing Pills.
So to paraphrase the old American Express Card ad in relation to herbal Curing Pills, “Don’t Leave Home Without Them!”
For those who may have questions regarding the quality of imported Chinese herbal products, Planetary Formulas manufactures Kang Ning Wan or Curing Pills in a product known as “Digestive Comfort.” It consists of Poria sclerotium, magnolia bark, Chinese giant hyssop leaf, Job’s tears seed, bai-zhu Atractylodes rhizome, fragrant angelica root, kudzu root, leavened wheat, germinated rice, Trichosanthes root, chrysanthemum flower, Gastrodia tuber, and Chinese mint leaf and stem. Soon it will also be available in a convenient small tincture bottle.