What will a consultation involve?
A western modern herbalism consultation involves an in-depth assessment of your current health condition and presenting symptoms, including taking blood pressure and other clinical diagnostic tests where appropriate. The consultation will go through yours and your family's medical history, medication, plus lifestyle factors such as diet and sleep pattern.
Can you diagnose health conditions?
Although Medical Herbalists have received in-depth medical training over a 3-5 year science degree of equivalent qualification, we cannot legally diagnose health conditions.
We may write to your GP if necessary and/or will advise you to make an GP appointment if there are any cause for concern. We often work together as a multi-disciplinary team so we can best support you.
How long does it take to see results?
We are all very different so unfortunately there is not just one definitive answer to this question.
Some factors may influence the time length of treatment. Broadly speaking, treatment may vary anywhere between 1 - 12 months depending on if the conditions are acute (first aid, common colds, sprains, allergy etc.) to chronic conditions (auto-immune, gynaecology conditions, heart health, diabetes etc.).
Can I take herbal medicine alongside my medication?
Yes, under supervision from a herbalist, it is safe to take herbal medicine with your medication. In some cases, herbal medicine may be able to help decrease dosage of your medication, with consent from your GP and close monitoring from your herbalist. There are some herbs that have been known to interact with pharmaceutical drugs, so depending on the medication, those will be avoided.
Can you treat my pets?
No, unfortunately not. Only vets that have undergone further herbalism training are able to treat animals with herbal medicine.
Please see here for more information: https://herbalvets.org.uk/
How will it work with women's health?
Depending on the condition, I will track your symptoms over the course of 2 -3 months.
For example, for endometriosis, I will want to know your symptoms at each stage of your menstrual cycle (there are four stages). This helps me understand how mood, pain levels, cravings and energy levels differ at each stage. It will allow me to work out how to best support your health and ultimately how you can feel better, for the long term.
Another example is treating menopausal symptoms such as anxiety, brain fog, low energy, hot flushes etc. I will want to monitor your symptoms over 1-3 months to really get to the root cause.
Any questions - please reach out.