Chinese Herbal Medicine
Powerful Healing Properties
Chinese Herbal Medicine is based on thousands of years of research and clinical experience and is the main treatment method of Traditional Oriental Medicine (TOM). The Chinese adopted and incorporated herbs from all over the world. What makes them Chinese herbs is that they are prescribed according to Chinese Medical theory and a TOM pattern diagnosis as well as a disease diagnosis. This personalized prescription which usually contains anywhere from 6-18 herbs, is designed to treat your individual pattern as well as the symptoms or disease that prompted you to seek treatment.
Plants, Minerals, Animals
The herbal remedies may include vegetable, animal and mineral ingredients, but the majority are from vegetable sources such as leaves, flowers, twigs, stems, roots, tubers, rhizomes and bark. I prescribe herbs in pill form, tinctures, as well as powdered granules, which can be formulated specifically for the individual needs of each patient.
Safety
The first step in healing imbalance in the body, before we even look to acupuncture and herbal medicine, is optimizing our own nutrition. When we give ourselves the right foods for our own bodies, we can overcome personal imbalances and maximize our own vitality.
Nutrition: Whole Foods as Medicine
While these herbs are considered safe, are processed under GMP standards, and have fewer side effects than Western Medicine’s pharmaceuticals, herbal medicines have very real and powerful healing compounds. As such, I treat each case with extreme care and respect for the strength of the medicine. If while taking an herbal formula, you begin to have any unusual side effects, please stop taking the medicine immediately so we can discuss an alternative formulation to better suit your body.
Food acts according to its various therapeutic properties, although its properties are often less specific and its actions less dramatic than those of herbs and other medicine.
However subtle, often these small changes made consistently over time are enough to lead us on a path towards more optimum health. As part of your treatment plan, I can work with you to examine your lifestyle and diet to determine if there are natural ways to support your healing through food.