Chinese doctors and pharmacies are easy to find, and some speak English. Some cures may work for you, but it's generally best to keep your experiments limited to minor health problems. Chinese herbalists claim to have all sorts of treatments for stomach aches, headaches, colds, flu and sore throats as well as long-term problems like asthma. While some of these remedies may be affective, it seems to vary from person to person. What they can do for more serious illnesses like cancer and heart disease is far less certain.
Most herbal medicines are fairly safe, and produce few side effects.
However there have been a few cases in recent years where people have died from taking too much of a certain herb, or using h underthe wrong conditions. Notable among these is chan su, a brown rock-like substance that includes Acted toad secretions and steroids found in teas made from the oleander shrub and the foxglove. Used n some aphrodisiacs, the herb sparked irregular heartbeats and eventually fatal heart attacks in four ,men in the USA in 1995. These are the exception rather than the rule, and chances of this type of problem are low. A small numberof Chinese medicines make use of parts of endangered animals, such as rhinoceros horn.