Chinese people always believe in herbal medicine, but recent studies on genetic research have proven that some Chinese herbs have adverse effects on pregnant women and fetus.
Chinese herbs such as safflower, bitter orange, realgar, musk, and angelica have the effect of stimulating the uterus, which can easily lead to fetal ischemia and hypoxia, resulting in poor fetal development and deformities, and even miscarriage, premature birth, and stillbirth. Chinese herbs such as rhubarb, mirabilite, Euphorbia, Clematis, Croton, Datura, morning glory seed, and crocus can stimulate the intestines and reflexively cause strong contractions of the uterus, leading to miscarriage or premature birth.
Some Chinese herbs themselves have certain toxicity, such as blister beetle, Chinese aconite, aconite, calamus, ajowan, Sichuan pepper, centipede, Croton, Datura, cinnabar, realgar, Euphorbia, and crocus. They contain various alkaloids and chemical components that can directly or indirectly affect the growth and development of the fetus.
Especially in the first three months of pregnancy, in addition to being cautious with Western medicine, Chinese herbs should also be used with caution to avoid fetal deformities. Realgar in Chinese medicine definitely has teratogenic effects and should be absolutely avoided by pregnant women. Cinnabar contains soluble mercury salts, which can accumulate in the body of pregnant women, leading to microcephaly, deafness, strabismus, and intellectual disability in newborns.
Pregnant women should pay attention to the fact that many Chinese patent medicines containing toxic side effects appear in the form of formulas. Therefore, caution should be exercised when using Chinese patent medicines containing the above-mentioned Chinese herbs, and those that are marked as contraindicated or cautioned for pregnant women should be avoided.
Of course, pregnant women should seek timely treatment when they are ill and not avoid medical treatment. Moreover, among the thousands of Chinese herbs, those with adverse effects are ultimately very few. However, when seeking medical treatment, pregnant women should inform the doctor that they are already pregnant, and the doctor should weigh the pros and cons and choose drugs that are safe and have no side effects as much as possible.
