"Is she going to try to sell me some herbs?"
Chinese herbal prescriptions are a useful adjunct to a regular acupuncture regimen. They can be used to boost immunity, improve mood, alleviate feelings of stress and fatigue, and relieve pain. Acupuncture needles act similarly, but if time and money are a constraint to twice-weekly acupuncture treatments, then Chinese herbal prescriptions can bridge the gap between treatments. They can enhance, support and sustain clinical treatments so that pain relief lasts longer or gastrointestinal distress lessens or mood improves.
That said, it is not necessary to rely solely on Chinese herbs to achieve health. Food is also medicine. A well-balanced, varied diet is often just as important to health as Chinese herbs can be. In fact, if you are eating too much sugar, for example, some herbs will not have the intended effect, or the effect may not last as long.
Chinese herbal medicine in the West is at once a truly traditional medicine with modern growth, refinement and adaptation. It acknowledges and respects the wisdom of the past, but also incorporates innovations based upon clinical experience and scientific investigation. Much of China is farther north than we are here in southern California, so many of the traditional formulas were based upon climatic factors that we do not encounter. In this way, traditional formulas can be modified to better suit our current lifestyle and our living situations.
Chinese herbal medicine draws upon a wide variety of sources for medicinal substances, including plants, animals, insects and minerals. Though not all of these are, strictly speaking, ‘botanical substances,’ they are generally referred to as a whole as ‘Chinese Herbal Medicine.’ If you have known allergies, sensitivities, or dietary restrictions, it is important to let me know, as formulas can be adjusted around these limitations.
One of the prominent features of traditional Chinese medicine is its focus on treating the cause of the disease, instead of the symptom or disorder. For this reason, any symptom or disorder can have a multitude of possible treatments, depending on the nature of the underlying pathological mechanisms.
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*The information contained in these pages is not intended to replace the advice of any medical doctor whose care you may be under.