alternative medicine and Chinese cream treatment

https://www.reddit.com/r/Psoriasis/comments/jon9tu/has_anyone_used_or_read_about_qicaogangmu_caoben/

Having visited a Chinese herbalist shop 30 years ago, I got some 'herbs' to try for my psoriasis, & I later saw it on TV about one of the ingredients being toxic! A red flag to me is why don't they have the ingredients listed? Plus if I can't understand or google the ingredients listed then I do tend to avoid it, as why wouldn't I be able to find such a 'miracle' product made in the UK instead - everyone would be copying it to cash in on us psoriasis sufferers who are desperate to trial anything?! Sorry if my answer doesn't help, just trying to give you some food for thought!!

My dermatologist advised me against using Chinese medications because of the lack of regulation - he pointed out that whilst some of our treatments were also pretty toxic, we were always monitored and so it could never get out of hand.

that's sound advice from your derm Lizziep - thank you for sharing...

Yeah, there's three issues really: 1 - Pharma are generally quick to isolate, patent and profit on compounds from plants that actually work. With the age of Chinese and alternative medicine, if there actually was a herbal formulation that worked, that would have been known for centuries and probably already would have been investigated. 2 - going "alternative" often means not treating the psoriasis with medication that works (i completely understand not wanting to take medication, but I think in that instance people need more education on the effect of psoriasis on health generally - cancer and CVD risk rocket, and treatment tends to attenuate that risk). 3 - Many "herbs" (plants) do have biologically active compounds. Lemon Balm can mess up your thyroid gland, St John's Wort can give you serotonin syndrome, Fox Glove can cause your heart to go into fatal arrhythmia. The industry that sells these isn't regulated. Actual ingredient % varies dramatically, and even then - the compound concentration varies from leaf to leaf, plant to plant, and you're ultimately just taking a drug that's probably already been isolated (or similar) but in a wildly uncontrolled and impure way. So yeah- sounds harmless, and many of my colleagues happily say "if they want to try alternative stuff, what's the harm" but my position is that the above are the reasons for harm.

Is there anyone on here with any positive experiences of alternative treatments? I've heard acupuncture helps. Is there already a thread for this. Thanks