An apothecary of 140 classical formulas, a careful pulse-and-tongue diagnosis, and a written prescription built around the pattern you actually present with today — not the diagnosis written on your discharge summary three years ago.
The most common misunderstanding about Chinese herbal medicine, at least in Metro Manila, is that it is the medicinal equivalent of a supplement — a named product bought off a shelf for a named complaint. That is not what we do here. A classical Chinese formula is a written instruction for a combination of ingredients, usually between six and fifteen, weighted to the gram, designed around a specific syndrome — a pattern of pulse, tongue, bowel habit, sleep architecture, menstrual detail, and emotional tone that distinguishes your presentation from that of the next patient with the same surface complaint.
Two patients with knee osteoarthritis may leave the clinic with very different formulas. One presents with a cold-damp pattern — a slow, deep pulse, a pale tongue with a white coat, worse on rainy days — and receives something in the Du Huo Ji Sheng Tang family. Another presents with liver-blood deficiency and mild heat — a thin wiry pulse, a reddened tongue tip, worse after long standing — and receives something quite different, perhaps built around Shao Yao Gan Cao Tang. Both are legitimate; both derive from texts that have been continuously in clinical use since the Han dynasty.
Our apothecary holds around 140 formulas, drawn primarily from the Shang Han Lun and Jin Gui Yao Lue of Zhang Zhongjing, supplemented by the later Wen Bing and Qing-dynasty literature. They are dispensed as high-grade granule extracts from an audited Taiwanese pharmacy — not raw herbs to simmer — because granule formulas are cleaner, dose-verifiable, and far more compatible with modern Makati life. The taste is still honestly herbal; most patients grow to tolerate it, and a few even come to prefer it.
Herbal medicine often does its best work alongside other modalities. For chronic joint pain we usually begin with acupuncture and layer herbs in from the third or fourth visit, once the pattern is clearly mapped. For deeper constitutional work — sleep, digestion, menstrual regulation, recurrent respiratory susceptibility — herbs frequently do the heavy lifting on their own. Patients curious about how syndrome differentiation actually works will find a readable account in our notes on pattern-based prescribing.
An unhurried forty-five-minute conversation: presenting complaint, medical history, medications, sleep, digestion, bowel movements, appetite, energy across the day, mood, menstrual history, sweating patterns, and preferences for temperature and food.
The physician reads both wrists in the classical six-position, three-depth method. Quality, rhythm, depth, and strength are recorded by channel. This takes longer than most patients expect; it should.
Under natural west-window light, the body colour, shape, moisture, coating, and any cracks or deviations of the tongue are noted. A photograph is taken for the chart, with your consent.
The physician writes out a syndrome diagnosis in both Chinese and English, selects a base formula from our 140-formula apothecary, and modifies it with one to three additions or substitutions for your specific presentation.
Granules are weighed from our audited Taiwanese stock. You receive seven to fourteen days of herbs in sealed sachets, with written dosing instructions, expected effects, and early warning signs to report.
Brief pulse re-check, tongue re-photograph, and revision of the formula. Chinese herbal medicine is iterative; the prescription in week four is rarely identical to the prescription in week one.
Consultation and herbs are priced separately, so you only pay for the herbs you actually receive. Formulas are revised every one to two weeks during active treatment.
"The formula is written for the pattern, not for the disease. Ten patients with one disease may receive ten different formulas; one patient, over ten visits, may receive ten different formulas as well."— Paraphrase of Zhang Zhongjing, Shang Han Lun
For most patients, yes, with careful screening. We review your full medication list, look specifically for interactions with warfarin, DOACs, certain antihypertensives, and immune-modulating drugs, and adjust or decline accordingly. For diabetic patients on sulfonylureas or insulin we monitor blood sugar carefully through the first two weeks.
We source granule extracts exclusively from a single GMP-certified pharmacy in Taiwan that runs heavy-metal and pesticide assays on every batch. Certificates of analysis are available on request. We do not compound raw herbs on-site.
No. Granules dissolve in warm water in about a minute. We prescribe raw-herb decoctions only on rare request, usually for paediatric or classical cases where the taste profile of the raw preparation is part of the therapeutic intent.
For acute conditions — a stubborn cough, acute gastritis, post-viral fatigue — often within three to seven days. For chronic patterns such as insomnia or longstanding joint pain we assess at the two-week follow-up and plan for a six to eight-week arc. Our reading on chronic pain and the pace of internal treatment sets fair expectations.
Sometimes. The two modalities address the same body from different directions — surface-and-channel for acupuncture, depth-and-organ for herbs — and many conditions benefit from both in the same month. Your physician will recommend a sequence based on the pattern.
We do not dispense herbs without a first consultation. The hour is mostly spent listening — to your story and to your pulse — and it is from that hour that everything else follows.
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