Frequently Asked Questions
How much?
Custom formulas vary in price, but average between $10-20/week.
Consultations cost $110 the first time, and $80 for follow-ups.
Time wise, you will need to “cook” your herbs about twice a week. This is usually pretty simple: soak the herbs in a thermos overnight. The next day, strain the “tea” and keep it in the refrigerator. You’ve made 3-4 days worth of medicine.
Patients usually schedule a follow-up consultation once every 3-4 weeks, until the problem is solved.
How long?
How long you will need to take herbs varies depending on what we are treating. For something acute - a cold or flu - it might just take a week of herbs. For something more chronic it could take 3-6 months of herbs in order to solve the symptoms and make sure they don’t return. Some patients will take herbs only “as needed”, for seasonal allergies or menstrual cramps, for example.
Customized medicine!
Sarah will customize a formula just for you. Usually, anywhere from 3 to 15 herbs are combined to focus on your symptoms and resolve the root of the problem. Your medicine will be updated to match your progress as symptoms improve and the disease is resolved. All formulas can be customized to accommodate any allergies or preferences, and to avoid unintended side-effects or negative interactions with pharmaceuticals.
What are Chinese herbs?
“Chinese herbs” are plants. A few animal and mineral derived substances are also recognized to have medicinal value.
Chinese Medicine is an entire framework and philosophy that explains how the human body works, and how to treat disease. Along with herbal medicine, a Chinese Medicine doctor may prescribe acupuncture, qigong, body work, and dietary changes.
Many of the most commonly used Chinese herbs are plants that are plainly recognizable to Americans: ginger, cinnamon, peppermint, and various citrus peels, to name a few. There are also many Chinese herbs that are used as medicine in traditions outside of China (though, called by different names): Angelica, Artemisia, Astragalus, Schizandra, Hawthorne, and Salvia, to name a few.
The herbs found in the oldest medical books are native to China. Over centuries, as Chinese doctors gained access to more global trade and exchange of ideas, they adopted plants that grow further afield into their own medical practices. Conversely, plants that were originally native to China have now been naturalized in other regions, and have become part of medical traditions around the globe.
Thus Chinese herbs are just plants (and, rarely, animals or minerals). It is the way they are used in combination with the unique philosophy and medical perspective of the herbalist that makes them “Chinese herbs”.
Do herbs work?
Plants make potent and effective medicine. Because they are rooted in place and can’t run away from pests and disease, they have developed sophisticated chemistry in order to defend themselves.
Plants and animals have been evolving in cooperation with each other for as long as there have been plants and animals; all life forms benefit from maintaining a healthy ecosystem. Humans, as a species, have nearly always had a close relationship with plants. Archaeological evidence suggests that people have been using plants as medicine as early as the Paleolithic era.
Today, most people’s connection to plants has become less immediate. The average American seeking herbal medicine can be found in the grocery store aisle trying to diagnose themselves and figuring out which supplement is right for them. Capsules and powders come in plastic bottles, unrecognizable from the organic lives they once lived. While some savvy people may find success with this guessing game, others will have no luck and will conclude “herbs don’t work”.
Phytochemistry, medicine, and the human body are complex. Herbalists are doctors who specialize in knowing how plants and bodies interact. An experienced herbalist can guide you to the plants that are most appropriate for you and in what dosage, and will make sure to prevent unintended side-effects and interactions with pharmaceuticals.
What can herbs treat?
Herbs can treat anything you’d go to your regular doctor for, and many things that you wouldn’t. Whether you’ve caught the latest cold/flu going around, are suffering from headaches, insomnia, menstrual pain, menopause symptoms, digestive problems, autoimmune diseases, allergies, skin problems, or whatever way your body has decided to malfunction, there are herbs for you. Herbal medicine especially shines for the “weird” symptoms that may be dismissed by other doctors, and for the problems that conventional pharmaceuticals haven’t been able to resolve.
Are herbs safe?
Herbal medicine can be safe and effective when used appropriately, but just because they are “natural” does not necessarily mean they are without risk. Anything strong enough to be medicine is also strong enough to cause harm. Your herbalist’s first priority is always safety when prescribing your medicine.
Some major factors that must be considered:
The herbal formula must be appropriate for the patient. While the latest trendy supplement or “superfood” may be effective for certain conditions in some people, there is no herb or supplement that is right for everyone all the time. Even though your friend/partner/neighbor had great success, taking the wrong herb at the wrong time can cause harm.
Care must be taken to avoid negative interactions with pharmaceuticals. Many patients have already sought medical treatment from an MD before they ever make it to the herbalist’s clinic. Thus, they come to us with pharmaceuticals already in their system. Because pharmaceuticals can drastically change the way a body is functioning, care must be taken to make sure that the herbal prescription will not counteract or exponentiate the drugs’ effects.
Additionally, it is crucial to make sure that the medicinal herbs have been identified correctly and are free of adulterants. Herbal medicine is regulated by the FDA not as food or drug, but as a “supplement”. Under these regulations, products may be put on the market without prior FDA approval. The FDA is tasked with pulling a supplement off the market if problems arise, but this usually only happens after complaints have been made. Thus, the burden of monitoring quality, safety and appropriateness rests on the consumer. Further, with modern agricultural practices, some plants are grown with pesticides or are contaminated with other environmental pollutants. It is an herbalists job to ensure that the herbs they are providing are indeed the plants they claim to be, and that they don’t contain any toxic adulterants. Your herbalist should be able to tell you where the plants in your prescription came from and that the product is free of toxic adulterants.
How is herbal medicine different from pharmaceuticals?
Plants are alive. They are sophisticated and dynamic beings. Similar to animals, plants survive harsh environmental factors, disease, and predation. But, they can’t move around to fight or flee from a predator, and they have no hands with which to get food, tend to wounds, or swat away pests. In order to survive, plants have evolved some of the most complex chemistry known to humans. The number of “constituents” in any given plant is usually in the hundreds or thousands. Compared to pharmaceuticals that usually have only one or two active constituents, plants represent biodiversity.
In nature, biodiversity indicates health. Any individual part of an ecosystem - a plant, animal, or chemical – will play a role in the system in its own particular way. The health of the whole ecosystem requires dynamic tension between the individual parts, each pulling in their own unique directions. By pulling in different directions, and sometimes even against each other, the individual parts of the ecosystem maintain the balance of the whole. The more variety of plants, animals, and chemicals each leaving their own mark, the more stable the whole system will be.
Most pharmaceuticals, having isolated one or two active constituents, will make focused and forceful change in bodily function; results can usually be noticed rather quickly, as if you have suddenly walked off a cliff. Meanwhile, the dynamic and biodiverse system that is your body will attempt to compensate for such a disturbance in equilibrium. As Sir Isaac Newton described, any action will have an equal and opposite reaction. The body’s attempt to compensate often manifests as “side-effects”.
Herbal medicine, by comparison, works with thousands of chemicals; their influence is less focused, less forceful. When the right herbs are chosen for a patient, the prescription overall will be weighted to move the body in the right direction over time, while still balancing and protecting the dynamic tension of the whole. The intended effect on the body should feel more like wandering down a rolling hill than walking off a cliff. The body has time to adjust and grow into its new state of equilibrium. Thus, herbal prescriptions can achieve longer lasting results with fewer side-effects.
In short, diversity promotes health. Herbal medicine guides the body toward lasting change by protecting the balance while the body grows into its new “way to be”. A skilled herbalist can predict and prevent unwanted side-effects because the chemical diversity of plants works to protect the system as a whole.
Will I be on Chinese herbs forever?
Chinese medicine focuses on getting to the root of the problem. Your herbalist is working not only to relieve the symptoms today, but to make sure they don’t come back once you stop taking herbs. The specific nature of the disease will determine how long herbal medicine is needed. Acute conditions can usually be resolved quickly, while more severe or chronic diseases may require longer term care. In the end, your herbalist’s goal is to re-balance the system so that your body maintains health on its own, without the need for ongoing medical treatments.
Do Chinese herbs include endangered species?
There is a lot of press about the use of endangered species and other unethically harvested substances in Chinese Medicine, from rhino horns and tiger bones to seahorses and bear bile. While there certainly are historical references indicating the use of now endangered species, all ethical herbalists today will use sustainable substitutes.
An herbalist’s life and profession is built on respect and working with nature, and their “tools of the trade,” the plant medicines themselves, are at stake. Herbalists take care to make sure that the medicines they are using are grown and harvested ethically, sustainably, and in the best interest of the plants, the ecosystem, and the patient.
Talk to your herbalist, ask what is in your formula, get to know where the herbs come from. Your herbalist will probably love to talk to you about species conservation!