Another thing to be wary of, with regard to chinese medicinal treatments, it to ensure your practitioner is properly qualified and not just a bogus doctor in disguise. TCM is a very powerful medicinal system with quite an ancient lineage and as such it needs to be treated with utmost respect. Cases have arisen where fraudsters have been posing as bogus doctors. There have also been cases where bona fide doctors, especially here in the West, have bee n prescribing chinese herbal treatments without being properly qualified to do so, and without knowing the full power of the medicine they are prescribing. Dr. Monika Schiffer