Chinese Medicine & Herbal Therapy
Chinese herbal medicine is a separate service in my practice, not simply an add-on to manual therapy.
I most often use it when someone is dealing with several things at once—fatigue, digestive problems, poor sleep, headaches, temperature changes, menstrual symptoms, persistent post-viral symptoms, or other complaints that seem to move together.
The goal is not to attach one permanent label to the person and give the same formula indefinitely.
The question is more practical:
What pattern is showing up now, what seems most important, and what treatment direction makes sense from here?
Treatment is individualized
Two people with the same Western diagnosis may receive very different herbal formulas.
And the same person may need a different formula several weeks into treatment than they did at the beginning.
I look at the whole pattern: what symptoms are present, which ones change together, how things have changed over time, tongue and pulse findings, previous treatment responses, and what appears to be happening between visits.
Then I build the formula for that person at that stage of the process.
This is not “one symptom, one herb.”
It is also not a fixed prescription that is automatically repeated because it worked once.
The first appointment
All appointments are one hour.
Before the visit, I review the intake information about your symptoms, medical history, medications and supplements.
At the appointment, I also examine the tongue and pulse and give you time to tell me what has actually been happening in your own words.
That part matters.
A form can tell me that you have reflux, fatigue, headaches and poor sleep.
It cannot necessarily tell me what changed first, what a bad week actually feels like, what is causing the most suffering, what you have already tried, or what you are most worried about.
You do not need to organize the story perfectly.
Part of my job is to listen, help sort through it, and figure out which details appear most useful.
Tongue and pulse are followed over time
Tongue and pulse assessment are traditional parts of Chinese medicine.
I use them as repeated clinical observations rather than as Western medical tests.
At each herbal visit, I compare them with previous appointments and with the way your symptoms have changed over the same period.
For the tongue, I use consistent daylight-style lighting so I am not comparing one visit under warm yellow light with another under blue-white light.
Pulse assessment is more subjective, so I do not treat it as laboratory-style certainty. Its usefulness comes from examining it in a consistent way, documenting what I find, and seeing whether changes fit—or do not fit—with the rest of the picture.
No single tongue or pulse finding determines the formula by itself.
I care more about the pattern of change than how you feel today
Symptoms fluctuate.
You may arrive on an unusually good day after a difficult week.
Or you may happen to feel terrible on the morning of an appointment despite having made substantial progress overall.
So at follow-ups, I am interested in what happened across the whole two weeks.
If constipation changed to loose stools, then smaller dry stools, then gradually became normal, that tells me more than simply hearing that the last two days were fine.
The same is true for sleep, headaches, energy, digestion, temperature changes and other symptoms.
The question is not only:
“How are you today?”
It is:
“What has your body been doing since I last saw you?”
Formulas change when the picture changes
During active treatment, I usually reassess about every two weeks.
At each follow-up, I review what has happened, recheck tongue and pulse, answer questions, and decide whether the current formula still fits.
Sometimes only a small adjustment is needed.
Sometimes the response tells me that the original direction was incomplete.
Sometimes the formula did what it needed to do and the next stage requires something different.
Changing the formula does not necessarily mean the previous one failed.
The point of individualized treatment is to keep responding to the person who is actually in front of me now.
As things become more stable, visits can be spread farther apart and the amount of herbal support can be reduced.
The goal is not to keep someone dependent on herbs indefinitely.
The herbs themselves
I use concentrated granule/powder formulas rather than asking patients to cook raw herbs at home.
Nearly all of the herbs I use come from KPC Herbs, an established Chinese-herbal manufacturer with formal quality-control procedures for ingredient identity and contaminant testing.
I mix the formula in the office.
Most patients receive roughly a two-week supply and take the same number of scoops each day. I make most of the dosing adjustments by changing the composition of the formula rather than asking the patient to constantly change their own dose.
The granules are dissolved in hot water and taken as directed.
Medication and medical safety matter
“Natural” does not mean automatically safe.
Before prescribing herbs, I review medications, supplements, allergies and relevant medical conditions and check for known interactions with the herbs I am considering.
If the situation is higher-risk, medications are changing, or the consequences of an interaction could be serious, I prefer to involve the patient’s physician, medication manager or pharmacist rather than assume the combination is safe.
If laboratory findings or other medical issues need investigation first, I may pause herbal treatment until that has been addressed.
I also intentionally do not take on some higher-risk medical conditions with herbs, including cancer and heart disease.
That is not a claim that herbs can never be used in those situations.
It reflects the level of medical complexity and interaction risk I am willing to manage in my practice.
What if you have a reaction?
Unexpected reactions have been uncommon in my practice, but they can happen.
If you develop a concerning new reaction after starting a formula, stop taking it and contact me.
I review the exact herbs, medications and supplements, check known adverse reactions and interactions, and decide whether reformulation is appropriate.
If I identify a reasonable suspected ingredient, I can remake the formula without it at no additional charge.
If the reaction continues, the cause is unclear, or there is reason for medical concern, herbal treatment is paused and I recommend appropriate medical or pharmacy evaluation.
Symptoms suggesting a serious allergic reaction or another emergency require urgent medical care rather than waiting for me to respond.
Chinese medicine does not replace Western medicine
The language of Chinese medicine belongs to a traditional clinical system.
Terms such as Qi, Blood, Yin, Yang, Heat, Cold or a “Liver pattern” are not meant to imply that the anatomical liver, heart, stomach or another organ is diseased in the Western medical sense.
I use the model when it helps organize the information and gives us a useful direction for treatment.
When a Western medical question needs a Western medical answer, that takes priority.
The two systems do not have to compete.
You do not have to learn Chinese medicine
Some people want a detailed explanation of every pattern and formula change.
Others mainly want to know what we are doing, what I am watching for, and whether things are moving in a useful direction.
Both are fine.
I will usually use enough Chinese terminology to be honest about the framework I am using, then translate it into ordinary language and connect it to what you are actually experiencing.
The point is orientation, not vocabulary.
Where herbal care tends to fit best
In my practice, herbal care is most often useful when several symptoms appear to belong to the same broader change in health.
That might be digestive problems plus fatigue.
Poor sleep plus headaches and temperature changes.
Persistent symptoms after an illness.
Menstrual changes that move with headaches or digestion.
Or a more general feeling that several systems stopped working well together around the same time.
That does not prove that everything has one biomedical cause.
It does give us a pattern worth examining.
Cost and scheduling
Herbal visits are one hour, and the custom formula is included in the visit price.
Active treatment is usually reassessed about every two weeks. When things become stable enough, visits can be spread farther apart.
Not sure whether herbs are the right place to start?
You do not need to decide that before contacting me.
Tell me what has been going on.
If herbal care, manual therapy, some combination, or another kind of provider appears to make more sense, we can sort that out together.