Hi,

My girlfriend and I bought a pack of raw ginseng bits from this store China town, Winnipeg in a visit back in December. My girlfriend has taken it on and off since then to give her energy during her semester in university.

I have just today taken a small amount and steeped it in hot water for about 5 minutes and drank it. While I notice that the effects were correct in that i feel more energized and more focused, after the initial effects wore off i felt a slight numbing in my tongue which i thought was unusual.

Could it be that i burned my tongue yesterday causing it to be numb and somewhat tingly after subjecting it to some hot water or could it possibly be that it was a fake ginseng by substituting it with another herb that gave the numbness to my tongue? For now we'll stop taking it until my tongue gets better from being burned and perhaps try it again next time to see if it still does that.

However is there any known fake ginseng (that uses similar looking and smelling herbs that substitutes it) that is known to numb the tongue?