PROFESSIONAL DISCUSSION        CONSUMER TESTIMONIAL

Interviews with Practitioners Who Use Honso Products: What They Think

 An Interview with Akio Oiso, M.D., L.Ac., FAAP.

This is the second in a series of interviews with alternative medicine practitioners in the US who frequently use Honso^® Kampo products in their practices. Honso is a pharmaceutical company based in Japan and branched in Phoenix Arizona, which produces and distributes pharmaceutical-grade Chinese herbal formulas or Kampo in Japan and in the US. Honso^® granular herbal products are distributed through national distributors such as Crane Herb, Emerson Ecologics, Moss Nutrition, TID Health, and Natural Partners, and through a network of regional distributors across the nation.

Akio Oiso, M.D., L.Ac., FAAP, a pediatrician, is the Medical Director of Nippon Clinic in Chicago. Nippon Clinic provides both Western & Oriental medical care to patients and located in Chicago, San Diego, Atlanta, and New York. Dr. Oiso was licensed as an acupuncturist in 1973 in Tokyo Japan and came to USA in 1975 for the purpose of teaching acupuncture.  He eventually developed his career to become a board certified pediatrician in 1986 and worked in medical practice ever since.  Dr. Oiso has published in the North American Journal of Oriental Medicine as well as various Japanese publications in the US. He is a member of, among other medical associations, American Academy of Medical Acupuncture. He lectures occasionally in the Chicago area and is affiliated with several Chicago hospitals.

Joseph Garner, L.Ac., Dipl.Ac., Dipl.C.H., conducting this interview, trained at Colorado School of TCM in Denver and is a licensed acupuncturist working in Tempe, Arizona and a faculty member at Phoenix Institute of Herbal Medicine & Acupuncture.

J.G.: Dr. Oiso, you are a medical pediatrician. Please tell me how you integrate Honso granular herbal products into your practice.

Dr. O.: Certainly. The main situations in which I use Chinese herbal medicine are with cases of asthma, functional gastritis and dermatitis. I use Western medicine as my main modality of treatment, as is required by my profession’s standard of care, and usually this works well. But some cases do not respond for any apparent reason. These cases often do respond well to treatment using Kampo formulas in granular form, such as those provided by Honso.

J.G.: Can you please elaborate?

Dr. O.: Yes of course. When a pediatric patient has an acute asthma attack period, I initially use only Western medicine such as bronchodilator. Often when the asthma attack subsides and the patient is stabilized, I would recommend H19/Xiao Qing Long Tang. The parents are usually amenable to this, or they may even request something besides the usual steroids. The steroids, especially the newer ones, tend to work well, but parental anxiety and concern over the use of “steroid” remain, despite recent improved steroid formula has fewer side effects. Gradually the wheezing goes away with the H19/Xiao Qing Long Tang. If that does not work, I may try H01/Ge Gen Tang, which will often work instead.

J.G.: How do you dose these cases?

Dr. O.: I prescribe the H19/Xiao Qing Long Tang at the full dosage of three packets per day unless the patients are very young (less than 12 year old), in which case I take the dosage down a little. I also have an acupuncturist in the office that I will sometimes send patients to. This will also tend to gradually take away the wheezing. Being a trained acupuncturist myself, I am fully acquainted with its effectiveness. However, as a MD., I usually follow the standard of care for asthma accepted by insurance industry in this country.

J.G.: That’s interesting. But yes indeed, we acupuncturists know how well acupuncture can work for asthma relief. Doctor, I’m curious. How do parents react to your recommendations of herbal medicine?

Dr. O.: Well, I’m Japanese, and the majority of my patients are Japanese. Many of them have experience with herbal medicine and its effectiveness from their time in Japan. Actually most of Honso formulas are accepted by Japanese medical communities. These formulas are prescribed by many physicians and reimbursed by Japanese medical insurance companies.  Under the recent acceptance of so called “Alternative Care” by the US population, we are having more American patients knocking our office door because we do use herbals as one of the treatment modalities.

J.G.: I see. Dr. Oiso, can you describe the flow of treatment in asthma cases?

Dr. O.: Asthma is tricky. I have a specific protocol I must follow during acute periods. I use a nebulizer with a bronchodilator such as Alubuterol or Xopenix. This tends to stabilize the patient. I never use herbal medicine during acute asthma attacks. But then, if parents agree, I usually have the child go on H19/Xiao Qing Long Tang at full dosage for about two months and sometime even longer. This usually does the trick. Chinese medicine tends to work well with long-term use for asthma, but allergy cases are often tougher to resolve.

J.G.: OK, thank you. What about gastritis cases?

Dr. O.: Ah yes, this is very interesting. Many times children of approximately kindergarten through grade school age come in complaining of non-specific pains in their abdominal region. Often in such cases we can find no cause from a Western medical standpoint—no medical gastritis, appendicitis, or ulcer. This is what I call functional gastritis. The diagnosis in this situation is actually a diagnosis of exclusion. It requires some costly diagnostic work up and all work up have to be negative. In such cases I would use H79/Ping Wei San as trial treatment for one week before ordering test as long as Child’s physical examination is completely negative for suspicion of underlying medical illness, and it tends to work like magic. It is very gratifying to see such cases turn around so well. But if one week trial of the herbs does not have any effect on child’s condition, I become diligent and ordering medical diagnostic work such as barium swallow (UGI), etc. So, H79 is my screening formula for children to decide if the child need any more work up or not.

J.G.: That’s great. And you say that you use herbal medicine in treating dermatitis?

Dr. O.: Yes. Again, these are cases that tend to be difficult to treat from a Western medical perspective. If there is difficulty in diagnosing or Western medicine does not work, I will try H06/Shi Wei Bai Du Tang, and this very often does the trick.

J.G.: Can you describe a case?

Dr. O.: Yes. I had a six-month-old female infant who had had dry skin since she was two months old, then her skin began to ooze. I tried antibiotics and steroid creams, and these did not help. I asked the parents to take the baby completely off the milk products, which they did, but this did not resolve the case either. So I administered H06/Shi Wei Bai Du Tang at low dose, and this cleared up the problem in short order.

J.G.: Excellent. What would you say is your overall experience with Chinese herbal medicine and the Honso Kampo granular products?

Dr. O.: I would say that in cases that do not respond to Western medicine, Chinese herbal medicine will often resolve the case. Chinese medicine does not always work, of course, but when it does work it can work like magic.

J.G.: Very true in my experience also. Thank you for your time, Dr. Oiso. I know you are a very busy man.

Dr. O.: Yes, very busy. You are most welcome.

The above contents are for the purpose of professional exchanging of information only. They are not necessarily representing Honso USA’s opinion. If you are a practitioner who has been using Honso products in your practice for some time and you would like to be interviewed for this format, please send email to info@honso.com.

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